Others may scoff, but I really like and admire Billy
Graham. Yes, I know that some of his
strict, old-fashioned views do not line up with mine, but I’ll tell you what I
do like about him. First, he had one
message and it never faltered during his entire life. He never changed what he had to say based on
politics, popularity or lack thereof, with the whims of his fans. He had one thing to say, and it was the message of John 3:16. God loves you. God. Loves. You.
Now you may not believe in God yourself, and you may not agree with what the Bible says, or think it is a divinely inspired book, or the word of God, or anything at all. But just set that aside for a second. Billy believes that, and he did nothing else in his entire life but speak of that. He told people the basic Protestant Christian message: everyone has fallen short (this is in Romans and other places in the Christian Bible), but God loves you infinitely and unconditionally, no matter what.
Billy Graham refused to accept segragation in the south. If he went to a venue where there were segregated entrances, he wouldn't preach there. He said that God loves everybody the same, and if they told him they couldn't change it, he would just leave.
Billy Graham grew up on a dairy farm, the site of which is now his museum. The whole exhibit was extremely well done and very fun to go through. It started with a talking robotronic cow, and a photo of Billy Graham with one of his favorite cows.
We then went through and saw replicas of a giant tent revival, movies of his crusades in New York and all across the globe, and interviews with some of his close family and friends. All he did was carry the message. He didn't see it as his message, but God's message. He is SO much better and classier than all those other evangelists, at least in my opinion. I remember seeing Billy Graham on TV when I was 13 and learning the basic message that GOD LOVES YOU from him.
I was super excited to go to his house and see all his stuff. In fact, I burst into tears when I first entered. 
The next day, after a lovely visit with my old schoolmate Julie Bradlow, we headed for Asheville, NC. We didn't want to visit the Biltmore Estate, even though it is a huge draw for tourists. It's the giant home of the Vanderbilts, and you have to pay at least 50 bucks to get in, and then spend the whole day walking around looking at their expensive furniture, which seemed like a big waste of time. Instead, we headed for our B and B, and then went out to explore the lovely little town. It's very hippie, sort of like a mini Portland. They even have a bookstore there called Malaprops which is like a mini version of Powell's. We spent a couple hours in there, browsing and drinking coffee before looking for a place to have dinner.
While we were walking down the street, this hippie guy came up and started talking to us. He said, "Hey, how's it going?" and the next thing we knew, he was taking us to hear some live bluegrass jam music. Really cool, and very Portland-esque spontaneous. Bluegrass music is just as spontaneous; at every music venue, there are 8 or 12 or 16 musicians, all joining in. Settlers from Scotland brought the fiddle; slaves brought the banjo; the tunes got all mixed up with guitars and mandolins and voices and dancing, and no matter where you go in North Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee, you hear it. More about this constant music later.
I wish we had had time to drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway. We went up and looked at it, and saw part of a dramatic 24 minute video at the visitor center, but it's really a while trip in itself. People spend weeks driving the 400 miles or so between Virginia and North Carolina, mostly at a speed of about 35 MPH. It's on the bucket list. We were headed to Nashville the next day, for two solid days of music.
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