Biltmore Estate - Asheville, NC - Day 3

About 8 PM last night, our photo was delivered from the Biltmore House. So, here we are in all our splendor and glory! Note the audio tapes hanging from our necks and the "tour guide" in my hand. Aren't we just the epitome of tourists?



As for today, Dave was rudely awaken by me pulling the curtains open to reveal the beautiful sunshine. It was only 8 AM, and his eyes took not to kindly to the sunshine. However, he dutifully rolled out of bed as he was looking forward to the adventure we had scheduled for today.

We decided that eating breakfast in the dining room at the hotel was our best bet for getting an early start without getting up before sunrise. Our budget felt otherwise, but nevertheless, we had a very posh and tasty breakfast. Dave chose Eggs Benedict and I had scrambled eggs, bacon, cheese grits (just can't seem to develop a hankering for that southern dish), and a biscuit.

We rushed back to the room to ready ourselves for our Legacy of the Land tour this morning. We had to be at the House (about a 20-minute drive from the hotel) by 11 AM. We decided to try and make the 10 AM van ride and get there early to people watch. We made it with a couple of minutes to spare and hopped on board.

Our van driver this morning was much more informative than the one we had yesterday. As we traveled the grounds, Jim (driver) shared much of the finer details. For example, the roads to the House are winding on purpose so that the guests to the House (in the horse and buggy days) would have about an hour's drive from the train station to the House. This trip was highlighted by stops along the way for a picnic lunch. The winding roads were developed to relax the guests from their hectic east-coast business lives to the forsaken North Carolina territory. At the time Mr. Vanderbilt purchased the land, it was barren land. All of the timber had been farmed. He created streams and sitting areas and his forestry staff planted over 3 million trees and plants on the estate.

Did you know that the Biltmore Estate is on the historic registry, not because of the House, but because of it's forestry school and history? That's some trivia for you buffs.

After departing from the van, we were told that we were to meet the Legacy van near the House gardens. So, being good little tourists, we walked up to the veranda to bask in the luxurious life as Mr. & Mrs. Vanderbilt created for "our" enjoyment. Here's some views and some of the unusual vine trunks that support the vegetation canopy.





This photo of the walled garden is taken from the veranda.



This picture is of the esplanade.



At the top of the hill is a statue of Diana--the goddess of the hunt. Mr. Vanderbilt would have his horses and their carriages go up the ramps to the top of the hill to begin the hunt. There are steps in the center of the ramp that are perfectly suited to a horse's gait. Then on each side of the steps the ramp is smooth to allow the carriage wheels to go up the ramp unhindered. It's amazing to me the thought that went into each and every aspect of this estate. These estates were built with entertaining guests in mind. Everything was included for their benefit.

At the beginning of the Legacy tour, we had a nice explanation of the view and how Mr. Vanderbilt acquired the land for the estate. As the guide told stories along the way, I was struck by how generous he was to the residents of the area. He not only paid them far more for their land than it was valued, but he moved homes, churches, communities, and purchased that new land for their use. Then, he provided jobs to all residents in the area. If they needed a skill, he paid for their training. Seems Mr. William Vanderbilt did not want to have the reputation for being ruthless that his grandfather, Mr. Cornelius Vanderbilt, had established for himself.

We then headed for the van and began our tour. After a brief stop at where the village had been that Mr. Vanderbilt moved, a stop at the reservoir that took care of the House's needs, and a stop at the gatekeepers cottage (I'd take it, it was more like a mini-estate), we headed for the lover's pond.

Mr. William Vanderbilt loved to take Mrs. Edith Vanderbilt on canoe/boat rides on the pond. Side note: Mr. William was only married to Edith for 14 years before he died of complications from an appendectomy. They were very much in love and adored each other. They had only one daughter, Cornelia. Her two grandsons now own the estate. Once has 8,000 acres and runs the House (and now the Inn), and the other took 7,000 acres and runs the dairy and winery. They hope the house will remain in the family as long as it stands.

Back to the pond: During heavy rains, the pond would fill with silt. So, Mr. Vanderbilt charged his caretaker with figuring out a way to contain the silt within one area, while allowing the waters to flow into the main pond area. I'm sure I can't explain it satisfactorily without a tour guide's expertise, but the following picture may help you visualize the details that follow.



If you look at the picture above, you can visualize some of what I'm about to share. There is a pipe with an opening about a foot in diameter under the water level (to the right of the arched bridge) that carried only water (no silt) under the road and across (to the left) to the main pond. This pipe was only used when the silt level was too high. Because this system of elaborate "automatic" shutoffs and controls was developed over a hundred years ago and no plans have been found to date, no current engineer has been able to completely recreate all the details of its operation. Now, that's progress!

The following picture is a bridge over the main pond. I have to admit, I'm so proud of this photo. The reflection and the ducks (under the arch) are just too perfect!



Here's a picture of us with the Estate's Lagoon and the House in the background. Aren't we just so cute?



There were so many details shared about the lives of the residents and the history of the land, I can't begin to share it all with you. But, if you are ever in Asheville, I strongly suggest you stop for a visit--and be sure to take the Legacy of the Land tour. It will add richly to your experience.

Back at the House, we took our "return" passes and obtained our video tape and headsets to see the second, third, and fourth floors of the House. Of course, no pictures can be taken in the House, so I have little to share in the way of pictures.

Here's the website for the Biltmore Estate, which I should have provided earlier. But, as they say, "better late than never."

www.biltmore.com

Here's an outside picture of the spiral staircase that we had to come "down." We, of course, went "up" but it was done in small increments so not as tiring as it might be otherwise.



I took a couple of pictures out of the windows and unfortunately, I didn't realize I had the incorrect setting selected on the camera, and I received some "screening" in the pictures. The is the top of the atrium (where Dave and I had our picture take at the beginning of the tour).



Here's a great picture of one of Dave's gargoyles taken from inside the fourth floor of the House.



I was surprised as we continued our tour inside just how many people were taking pictures of the interior. I would have loved to done so because I found out that there are no pictures of the third and fourth floors in their books for sale. These floors had just opened this year and I was told that it will be another year before the books include those floors.

After our spiraling-down experience, we headed for the gift shop. If you've read our USA Tour blog, you know I must purchase my charm. I also found some great key lime cheese ball flavoring. Yum. I think I dipped into their sample at least 4 times, and each tip contained more "dip" than the previous cracker had held. That would have been fine for me for dinner, but Dave, not being into the "weird" foods, wanted something more substantial. So, our next stop was the Stable Cafe. Well, truth be told, we headed for the Stable Pastry Shop. We purchased a couple of sandwiches and some exquisite pastries to take back to the room for our dinner.

Meals, treats, and souvenirs in hand, we headed for the van pick-up station. Of course, we had just missed the van and had to sit and people watch for about 30 minutes. My nostrils were so consumed by the drift of the sandwiches and pastries, it was pure torture to wait.

When the van arrived, we hopped aboard for the 20 minute ride back to the Inn. And, as luck would have it, I sat in the same seat with the nail sticking out of the back of the seat. This time, my new trousers were snagged as I got up from my seat.

therefore, instead of heading to the room to eat that dinner that had been keeping my stomach growling for almost an hour, I headed to the front desk to report the damage. Because I had reported this yesterday, I felt it should have been fixed and it would not have happened. After waiting about 15 minutes for the manager, he came out and said he'd credit our room for the cost of my trousers. See, once again, it pays to say something. Dave sat in the lobby while his Pam Police did her thing.

Finally, at nearly 6 PM, we were off to our room. I think Dave and I could have gnawed our way through the box by this time. Our breakfast had long worn off and we had only had a few free sample dippings since then. The sandwiches were super yummy. And, I won't even begin to tell you how scrumptious the pastries were--else you'll be drooling on your keyboard--not a pretty sight!

We settled in for our evening of TV watching and enjoyed the peaceful view out of the window. So far, it has been a great 40th Anniversary trip--18 months later!

We plan to leisurely drive home in the morning. We have to be home in time to meet the lawncare guy so he can mow without letting Kalli out of the back yard. We are missing our four-legged children and are anxious to hug their necks, feed LD's fish, and settle into our humble home unadorned with gargoyles and spires.

Our next journey will probably be in the summer of 2010, when we hope to extensively travel the east coast. However, in a month, we may be building our next home. I will keep a journal of that progress (mostly so as we age, we can remember the details). This will be our third home-build, but we have no journal of the others--only some occasional photos. Again, thanks for taking this trip with us.

Adios and hasta lavista.

Biltmore Estate - Asheville, NC - Day 2

This morning we slept in and just puttered around getting ready to visit the Biltmore House today. We decided to go to town to get our breakfast.

We called the valet service to fetch our car. We were told it would be about 5 minutes. We headed downstairs and went outside. It was approximately 40 degrees this morning, but just lovely. Air is fresh and clean, flowers are in bloom, and everything seems right with the world up here in the hills.

After several valets came to see if they could help, and 20 minutes passed, a head valet finally came to tell us that our car keys had been lost. Naturally, I didn't bring a second set with me. They reassured us that they would find them before long. By now, it's 10:45 AM, and Dave's starting to wane from hunger. Hoping that I could work this key loss to our favor, I mentioned he was a diabetic and needed to eat soon. The valet went off to see if he could comp us a breakfast at the hotel. We headed inside to wait the decision, when shortly thereafter, they appeared with the keys. A sigh of relief and a disappointment at not receiving a free breakfast. Seems the keys had been dropped in another car.

We were off and running. But, Dave's navigator got us lost (yup, me). Finally, we found our way to the correct street and headed toward the Asheville Mall where more restaurants are available. We had a nice breakfast at IHOP and headed back to the hotel to get the free shuttle to take us to the house. If we took the car, I was afraid we'd have a long walk from the parking lot.

Our tour of the house is included with our stay here at the Inn. Normally, it's fairly expensive, but can't remember how much--maybe $30 each. We opted for the headsets that explain the house in detail. They are $8 each, but certainly well-worth the great explanations provided.

The Biltmore House is the largest single-family residence in the United States. It is only 175,000 square feet.

The ornate exterior is French in design and covered with gargoyles and other designs.



Here's some of the architectural elements.





The entire tour of the house for the basement and first through fourth floors is two-and-a-half miles. We managed to do the basement and first floor. Then, it was time for a break. We turned in our headsets and got return tickets to pick them up later in the afternoon. As we exited the house to head to the Stable Cafe and restrooms, we were faced with purchasing a photo of us that was taken a picture by the atrium. Of course, I purchased it as a nice souvenir and will scan it in when we get home.

I had an ice cream after in the courtyard of the Stable. The weather could not be nicer. It is a beautiful 72 degrees with a gentle wind.

After our break, we headed back to pick up our headsets. We had decided to try to finish the house today so as to avoid paying another $8 each for headsets tomorrow. But, by now, we are pretty tired.

When we arrived back at the headset station, I thought I'd ask if we could get them again tomorrow without paying for them again. The woman looked at our tickets and said that it didn't include free headsets, which of course I knew. But, she pulled us aside from the earshot of others and told us that if we came back tomorrow at a time when it would have been possible for us to have gone through some of the house and we showed the headset attendees our tickets, they would not know that the return ticket was from today and not from tomorrow. It never hurts to ask, and in this circumstance, paid off royally. We were much relived as we could go back to the hotel and rest. We had not taken additional Advil with us to get us through the house walk!

We decided that we'd head to the winery and check that out before going back to the hotel.

Here's Dave waiting for the shuttle with a Lion standing guard.



We hopped on the shuttle and got off at the winery to drink the afternoon away. The tour was not too long. Here's one of the storage rooms.



Naturally, we found shortcuts to lose the others on the tour and head for the tasting station. I think I had about 7 samples and Dave had about 4. That was enough to send our blood sugar over the top and my inner air-conditioner to go on the fritz. I started extruding my own pool of water. We didn't really like any of the wines we tasted. So, we decided to shop for other items.

We then went to the Bistro to get some sandwiches to take back to the room for our evening meal. There were no sandwiches on the menu that suited our taste and simple style, so we asked if the chef could just make us a ham & cheese sandwich, which he kindly did.

We went back outside to wait for the Inn shuttle (only runs every half-hour on the hour or the half). While we were waiting, I took some great pictures of the variety of poppies in the garden. Dave called it the opium field!





We hopped on the shuttle and headed for the Inn. Of course, leave it to me to find a nail sticking out of the back of the seat and scratch my knee. It didn't tear my pants, but could have. So, upon exiting the van, I informed the driver. Of course, Dave was somewhat annoyed with his Pam Police.

When we got back to the Inn, we purchased tickets for the Legacy of the Land tour for 11 AM tomorrow. We decided we'd do the riding tour in the morning and finish up with the rest of the house in the afternoon.

We took our sandwiches and headed to our room to indulge for the evening and settle in for a night of relaxing TV and Internet chatting. We had to get up early in the morning (anything earlier than 9 AM is early to Dave) to get the shuttle to take us back to the House where we were to begin the Legacy tour.

With our tummies now full and the finals for Dancing With The Stars to entertain us, we settled in for the night.

Biltmore Estate - Asheville, NC - Day 1

For our 40th anniversary in December 2007, I had planned a surprise trip for Dave to the Biltmore Estate (a Vanderbilt home) in Asheville, NC. However, our church began an extensive building campaign, which Dave and I felt was more urgent for us to attend than an anniversary celebration. So, we postponed the reservations.

After the campaign, we left on our trek across the USA. In June, while on our trek, I re-reserved our accommodations at the Inn on Biltmore Estate for our anniversary in December 2008 (now our 41st anniversary). However, in December, Dave was attacked by vicious kidney stones, which lasted for over 6 weeks. So, once again, we postponed our anniversary celebration to view the Christmas decorations at the Biltmore Estate. By now, I have shared with Dave where the mystery anniversary celebration was to be held.

As many of you know, we are trying to build a smaller home in Lavonia, Georgia. Now that it appears to be a "go," we decided it we didn't go to Biltmore now, we might not ever get this trip accomplished. So, we hastily re-scheduled the trip to Biltmore for mid-May.

Our friends, the Nordmans, are kindly checking in on our two remaining pets: Kalli (dog) and Graykitty (yup, it's a cat). Since our last blog entry, my mother's cat (Scooter) has joined her in heaven.

We left the house around noon and stopped at Arby's to grab a sandwich for our journey. It is approximately a 3-hour drive to Asheville, NC, from our house. The drive is about half freeway, and the remainder mostly city and highway streets.

Once on the estate, it is a 3-mile drive to the Inn. You can see a glimpse of the Inn as you round the hills.



We arrived at 3 PM, but our room was not ready. The front desk staff told us they would call my cell phone when the room was ready.

So, we took the opportunity to drive around the estate, which is now over 8,000 acres. The roads are scenic with rolling hills and spectacular mountain views of the eastern Continental Divide, the French Broad River (third oldest river in the world), and some critters (mostly cattle, sheep, and Canadian geese). As you can see, the geese rule the road!



At 4:10 PM, we arrived back at the Inn. Our room was ready, but no one had called us.

The room is really nice; however, we are just simple folks and miss the microwave and refrigerator! We did call down for a frig for Dave's insulin, so we received that quickly and at no charge.





The bathroom is quite luxurious with its granite countertops and separate shower, but not into using a spa tub that is not my own.

The view is beautiful, but we paid extra for it. Unfortunately, we overlook the roof of the winery and construction for a new parking lot at the being-constructed Antler Park (a new shopping village). But the distant view is really beautiful, as you can see.





Because we have a handicapped parking pass, we did not have to pay for valet service with the car. The parking lot is down the hill from the Inn, which would be easy to access, but it's the up-the-hill walk that would have had us huffing and puffing. So, that was a really nice perk.

We had brought along snacks for our evening munchies, so we opted not to go out for dinner. We were still mostly full from our Arby's lunch. We settled in for the night, when we had a knock on the door. It was our turn-down service. Dave had already crawled into the comfy bed, so not turn-down required. However, we were presented with a rose for our room (to replace the one already in the room), a "box" of chocolates (2 pieces), and a card with tomorrow's weather report. All systems GO for a beautiful day tomorrow.