It's almost 6 am, but I can't get back to sleep. I am in a motel room in Blowing Rock, a nice suite. In addition to my husband's breathing, which sometimes keeps me awake at home, I have my mother and father in the next bed. There is the overhead fan and a trickling water fountain outside. I have a headache, maybe from the wine I drank last nigh (Vouvray). We are having a good trip, but I have trouble relaxing. I knew I would be grumpy if I stayed home for the three-day weekend, but now I miss it. I think of the things I might have gotten done--in the yard or cleaning up the mess I left looking for my passport two months ago. And the money we are spending--probably about $500 for our half of the trip.

When we decided to come on a little getaway, about a month ago, we looked hard for a place that we would all enjoy that wouldn't be too expensive. I am not sure how we ended up here; maybe it was listed on the state tourism website, but there are certainly many other places to stay in Blowing Rock. This guy quoted me a rate of $179 for this suite and we decided it was the best deal for us. It was quite a drive to get up here, although very nice. We ate a light breakfast and were on the road by 8:30, after dropping off the bird, Van, at the neighbors' and the dog at the vet's. About 10:30 we stopped at a Waffle House in Anderson, SC and had another breakfast. Then we didn't stop again for almost 3 hours, when we stopped at a tourist info. rest area in Marion, east of Asheville. The weather was good, the scenery was nice, the traffic was on the heavy side, but not a problem.

When we got here, we checked in and quickly headed to a place we could have lunch, the Village Cafe. Our host called to make sure they would still seat us at 3. It was very enjoyable, we ate in a courtyard (except for the bumblebee that was too interested in our flower centerpiece). The prices were a little on the high side--we ended up spending almost $100, but we did have drinks and desserts, as we usually do. The 3 of them had grapefruit juice mimosas, which were very good, but a little too grapefruit-y. The town was more crowded with tourists than we like. Although there were some very nice arts and crafts, most of the shops were more the candles and fake flowers variety.

We walked back to our motel, about 2 blocks (downhill this time) and took our things up to our room. It was nice, with a kitchenette and a balcony and a large bathroom with jacuzzi and two sinks. When I got around to looking at the recieipt, though, I was horrified: $443. No way the tax on $179 could bring it to that. Ray went to talk to the guy and he said there was a $15 per night charge for an extra person. Well, I was livid. The reason we drove all this way was because of the price he had quoted me. And he knew full well there were four of us! Why is this suite priced for 3 people, with an extra charge for the fourth? That's crazy. I went down there and told him I was angry and accused him of lying to me. He got really mad and yelled back. His wife came out and made him leave; he was too loud. She was mad, too, but she eventually gave me a credit. Don't come back, though, she said. "And we are not servicing your room in the morning!" It really made the whole experience unpleasant for us. I tried to explain that if we liked it, we would tell everyone and if we didn't, we would also share our experiences. He said, "I can't believe you would get so upset over $30." I wonder how many people fall for that kind of misleading stuff. How could I have avoided it? Get it in writing? I guess, although we make reservations on the phone all the time and trust that people are honest and mostly they are. Obviously, look at what you are signing and ask questions. I don't know what other options we might have found here if we had known from the beginning.

Yesterday, we went up to Price State Park and rented a canoe for an hour ($12). Ray and the Captain took it for half the time and then Ray and I went out. It was pleasant, not too hot or cold, not too much wind. Vanessa said her back first started bothering her just about 3 years ago, after they took Dinda's canoe out, so she was not going to get in a canoe again. We took our shoes off and stuck our toes in the water.

We bought sandwich makings and ate in our room. Three of us (not the Captain) went to tour the Cone estate; I had made a 3:00 reservation. Bertha lived there more than 30 years after her husband died, 6 years after they built it in 1901. No children, she did not want the house to go to the Parkway, but no one else could afford to keep up the 3600 acres. They had planted apple trees to make the estate pay for itself, but they are gone now. He was a textile magnate in Greensboro and this was their summer place. She had two sisters, Sophie and Clementine, who spent about half the year with her, helping run things. He had at least two sisters, Etta and Claribel. Claribel studied at Johns Hopkins and became an ob/gyn when that was quite unusual. Etta and Claribel were friends of Leo and Gertrude Stein and visited often in Paris. They got to know Picasso and Matisse when they were starving artists and bought a lot of their works--they are now in a wing in the Baltimore art museum. Of course, unmarried women did not have income of their own--it was their brother's money.

Today we will head south on the Parkway, taking a picnic lunch with us. I have eaten so many good meals, I don't know how I can be hungry. I suppose I could have some fruit and bread. And tonight we will be home and tomorrow I will go back to work. Such a bittersweet pleasure, to have work to go to again. This time last year I was looking forward to scoring essays for the second time, and happy to have any work. But I am really glad not to be doing that again.