March morning storm!

SPRING Storm on Monday, March 28th.

7:15am, I was about to leave for work and BAM! The sky starts falling, literally, with 1-3 inch hail stones/rocks

A melted piece Paul retrieved after the raining stopped:



The backyard - and if you look real close, you might see some of the CHUNKS of ice (thankfully, the hail was short lived)



The waterfall at the side of the house, with pond. Yay..., not really.



The mailbox rapids... and the destroyed newspaper. At least the tuplips were happy.

Easter in Asheville (continued)

Grove Park Inn, Easter Sunday

Since it was a rainy and chilly day, we headed over to the Grove Park for brunch and walking around. We ate at the Grovewood Cafe, thankfully someone had JUST cancelled their party of 5, so we got a table right away ("we don't have a reservation!)

Outside the Cafe - interesting metalworks that danced in the breeze.



On the terrace of the Inn, looking towards downtown Asheville



Looking towards the campus of UNCA - you can just see the rooftops



The old Inn



Mom and Dad



Paul and Julie



Justin, Paul and Julie (in the shadows!)

Easter trip to Asheville, NC

Easter in Asheville, NC with Julie's parents and brother

Making the trek west on I-40 - the wall of mnts!



A quick visit to UNCA, where spring is nearly sprung (at least the early stuff).

Looking from the Ramsey Library steps and out to Mt. Pisgah.



Pretty, fragant flowers at the library



Flowers along the walkway leading up to the quad.



The new Highsmith University Union



Saturday morning walking tour of downtown. My parents had never had a chance to walk around downtown Asheville. Thankfully, it is much more welcoming than it was even 3 years ago. We had a great time. here's what we saw:
The great S & W Cafeteria, now for sale. One of the great examples of Art Deco in Asheville.



Detail



Urban trail marker for S & W



Corner of Patton & College St. at Pritchard Park, looking towards Pack Place



Mom on Wall St. at the "Catwalk" Urban Trail art marker.



Justin checking out the cats



The recently restored Grove Arcade.



Inside the Grove Arcarde. Awesome antique/mission style furniture store on right.



Julie outside the Grove Arcarde



Exterior detail



Faces of Grove's indebtors



Mom & Justin on Urban Trail art piece, Patton Ave.
"On the side of the Wachovia Bank Building on Patton Avenue is a metal bower of medicinal herbs that surrounds a bust of Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell. "Dr. Blackwell is known worldwide as the first woman in America to receive her degree as a Doctor of Medicine, Elizabeth Blackwell
represents a historic moment in modern medicine and women's liberation."



The Central United Methodist Church tower (1837) on Church Street. Sang at it for several UNCA Chorus productions.



The Vance Monument on Pack Square.



Paul and Julie at its base



Mom & Dad at the base



Justin, not to be left out, at the base with the Urban Trail marker, "Crossroads" I don't think
he cares much for the turkeys...



But Julie likes the pig...the artwork is described as the follwing, "a curving path between metal
rails, which bears footprints of the people and animals that once walked this way. This site represents the crossing of the ancient Native American trade routes and what later became the
Buncombe Turnpike. Farmers from Tennessee herded their turkeys, hogs and cattle along this
route through the public square to southern markets. The rails outlining the path symbolize
the "iron horse" which streamed into Asheville in 1880 and the streetcars, which were important to Asheville's economy. Asheville had the second electric streetcar system in the United States"



Basilica of Saint Lawrence - Spanish Renaissance architectiture (1909). The only Basilica in the southeast (and only one of 33 in the US)



Packing the car and getting ready to head up to the Elk Mnt Scenic Hwy.



Looking across I-240 towards the Grove Park Inn



At the scenic stop on Elk Mnt. Quite popular.



Mom & the bubbles - quite fun on a windy day



For old times sake, the "self portrait"



Looking down into the Valley and Asheville below (with rain clouds on their way)



More pictures to come... having internet issues!

A Day at the NASCAR race

The Golden Corral 500, Atlanta Motor Speedway, Hampton, GA
Sunday, March 20, 2005

Julie’s first NASCAR race (and Ron’s)!

It was a fine day for racing in Georgia, even though it was way too early to be in the throngs of thousands of race fans… Paul and Ron outside the speedway

9:30am – the crowds are slowing growing… can’t miss out on the FREE STUFF fair

11:00am – it’s a bit more crowded

The Orange County Choppers were in attendance – along with some of their bikes:
“Black Widow”

“POW” & the “Fire” bikes

Airforce inspired bike “Jet”and an F-16

Paul Teutul Sr. climbing the truck to throw Frisbees (sadly, we didn’t get one!)

Mikey climbing the truck

Backlit picture of Paul Sr., Mikey and other OCC team member

Ron checking out an Army Hummer (with some random guy who wanted to be in my picture!)

Driver of car #25, Brian Vickers (although his car was the GMAC/Ditech for this race)

Paul and Julie hanging out before heading into the speedway

Atlanta track: (we sat at the North Turn, Champions Grandstand, section 129, row 4)

All lined up and ready to go – pre-race, qualifying line-up

Driver “parade”, car #45 Kyle Petty

The crowd favorite, Dale Earnhardt, Jr.

Drivers 07 and 8

Drivers in their cars waiting for the legendary words, “Gentlemen Start your Engines!”

The pace car and the first lap

Another lap around with the pace car


The pace car is out of the way – engines full throttle!

Coming out of turn 4 – about 165 mph and gaining speed!

Here they come!

Flying by in a BLUR

Going into/through turn 1

Are we having fun yet? Around lap 220

It’s a rush to sit on the 4 th row from the track! Earplugs are a MUST

Here comes the herd!

The pits are prepared

Quick pit-stop – heading into the pit area (what fun seats we had!)

It’s a race! Who can get out the fastest?

It does get a little old after about lap 275… some of the crowd was leaving since Jr. wasn’t going to have a chance…

However, getting back on it after a caution is quite a rush!

Earnhardt Jr. zooming past

The LAST LAP – VERY close finish between Carl Edwards and Jimmie Johnson

GO Carl! From NASCAR: “The 25-year-old driver hardly resembled someone in his first full year on the circuit, hugging the wall and actually tapping Johnson's car as they roared through the trioval. Johnson's car bobbled slightly just a few feet from the finish, and Edwards slipped by on the outside to win by a minuscule 0.028 seconds -- about half a car length.

"Let me tell you, Jimmie Johnson is an amazing competitor," Edwards said. "That's the hardest I've ever driven in my life. I'm pretty proud of that."

Edwards completed a weekend sweep in Atlanta. On Saturday, he held off Johnson and Tony Stewart to win the Busch race -- his first victory in that series, as well.”

Doing a quick burnout (without ANY tires left!)

The end of the race – everyone heading back to the garage

Final standings

Lots of tires

Award presentation – look for Carl on the big screen

And that was just another day at the races.