As promised, here are a few more photos from McMinnville – the first two are around the lake near Chip’s family home:
So pretty!!
One of the days we were there I decided to go visit the Isha Institute. It is a huge yoga campus just 7 miles from Chip’s house. This is one of the consecrated spaces – the Adiyogi. Inside the 30,000 square foot building there is a 21 ft tall Buddha head, and mats for sitting and meditating. I meditated there for 15-20 minutes. No photos allowed inside!
The copper dome building – the Mahima – was closed because there were classes in session, but at least I saw the outside.
You can stay at this place, have vegetarian foods, go hiking and take classes. Who knew such a big place was in rural Tennessee?
Anyway, next day it was time to head out. First stop – a short drive through downtown McMinnville and then a spin past the birthing tree.
Then time to get a move on!
So, when I was staying at the Inn at Biltmore, I was talking to one of the doormen – Bob – and telling him that I was about to leave to take a custom art tour. He told me about a very artsy town in KY called Berea that he thought I’d like. I never heard of it but it sounded neat so I decided that would be my next stop after McMinnville. Here are some photos of the drive there:
I was stopped in a little bit of traffic and decided to take a photo of these rock walls – there are a lot of them along the highways in KY. One other thing I noticed is that KY has a ton of Drive-In movies! And all of them were showing scary movies! No thanks!
Anyway, per Bob’s recommendation I stayed at the Historic Boone Hotel and Tavern. Note that Berea KY is the home of Berea College, a totally non-tuition based college. Check this letter out – I think that is amazing! It is one of two non-tuition colleges in KY. Students learn arts, crafts, and trades. Many of these kids were working at the hotel. Very nice!
Though I didn’t take any photos, I had a great dinner at the hotel tavern (also per Bob’s recommendation) – my waitress told me I was her second table ever and she was nervous. But, she did a great job.
Had a nice evening hanging in the room and planning the next leg of my trip. Got up the next morning, got showered and was about to head to the lobby to ask for a late checkout when I saw this:
Oh no!!!!! I threw the bug in the toilet, called the front desk, they came up to take a look, and then had someone else come up and fish it out of the toilet and put it in a baggie. You guessed it – bedbug! Needless to say, I got my room for free, and I changed my mind about late checkout! (And just to update you: I was not infested by bed bugs. This was just one. When I got to my friend Laura’s house in Loveland OH, we followed the protocol of putting all the clothes in the dryer on High, and I baked my suitcase in my car for a day and a half. I wasn’t bitten, and there was no evidence of bedbug poo in the bed. And the assistant to the manager told me all of the mattresses were wrapped in bedbug-proof wrappings. So, I believe this one was an anomaly, although they closed the room and probably fumigated it after I left)
Once I got over that shock, I walked around some of the shops in town and then went to the Artisan Village and Welcome Center, and then over to the Kentucky Artisan Center. These hands were all around the Artisan Village.
The Kentucky Artisan Center is a big rest stop with a lot of artisan crafts plus a cafeteria. Of course I had to have a cornmeal-encrusted fried catfish sandwich with onion rings. Yum! (Too much food though)
Anyway, after lunch it was time to head to Lexington KY. More next time – such a cool town!