August 6, 2025–Northeast Odyssey, Part 1: Greensboro, Georgia to Fancy Gap, Virginia

On Sunday, August 3rd, we began yet another exciting adventure in Vanna White beginning in Greensboro, Georgia, heading to North Carolina, Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York and on to Canada. After that we head down the eastern seaboard to Maine and points south until we reach Georgetown, South Carolina, and then on back to Greensboro. It was raining when we left, and it has rained off and on the last four days thanks to Tropical Storm Debbie.  Or is it Dexter?  Can’t remember.  Surprisingly, we get the tail end of many hurricanes and tropical depressions in the southeast, even though we are about 200 miles from any coast.   

We spent the first two nights in Asheville, North Carolina at the Grove Park Inn.  The Grove Park Inn was built in 1913 in the arts and crafts style, originally with 153 rooms, which was quite large for that time.  It has a storied history, complete with resident ghosts and visiting authors, movie stars and presidents.  F. Scott Fitzgerald spent the summers of 1935 and 1936 at the Grove Park while Zelda was in a psychiatric facility in Asheville.  Poor Zelda.  

The most famous ghost of Grove Park Inn is the “Pink Lady,” a young woman who fell from the fifth floor balcony in the 20’s and died on the Palm Court Floor.  The “Pink Lady” ghost version is often described as a blonde woman in a pink sequined dress, sometimes enveloped in a pink mist or glow.  She is said to be friendly and may offer assistance, particularly to children. Sometimes she plays harmless pranks, like turning lights and electronics on and off, rearranging items and tickling people’s feet. Her room was #545.  We stayed in room #546. 

If you ever visit Asheville, you just have to see the Biltmore Mansion and Gardens.   The house is a Chateau style mansion built for George Washington Vanderbilt II between 1889 and 1895.  It is the largest privately owned house in the United States at 178,926 sq ft of floor space and 135,280 sq ft of living area.  It is still owned by George Vanderbilt’s descendants and is one of the most prominent examples of the Gilded Age Mansions.  We did not go in the house this time because it’s huge, exhausting and we have already seen it several times.  But it is impressive. We did walk the gardens and visit the winery.  

In case you are wondering, the after effects of Helene from September 27th, 2024 are still quite evident in and around Asheville.  For instance, Biltmore Village, which is close to the Biltmore House, is a sweet little historic area with an old village church, historic buildings, and locally owned shops and restaurants.  Helene just completely wiped the town out.  All of the buildings are still there but they are now empty.  The cobblestone streets are empty.  It’s like a ghost town. So sad.  

Last night we spent the night in Vanna at the Fancy Gap KOA campground in Fancy Gap, Virginia right off the Blue Ridge Parkway. As a side note, Fancy Gap is not all that fancy. We planned to take the Parkway from Asheville to Fancy Gap, but there was a lot of damage to the Parkway from Helene and most of the Parkway is closed in North Carolina. A section of it will open this fall, but a large part won’t be repaired for at least another year.

Next stop: Charlottesville, Virginia.