Blue Ridge Mountains vacay Day 4 - The Biltmore

In reading back over my previous vacation-related blog entries, I am finding myself a little bored. I can write better than that! It seems like I am trying to get the information about the trip out there, but perhaps not concentrating enough on making it more interesting. Of course, how interesting can it be to someone who wasn't there? Sort of like accepting an invitation to dinner and then finding that you have to sit through the slide show of their trip to Branson first. I will try to do better with day 4 which was a very good day.

Finally the weather had cleared and the temperature was expected to be in the low to mid 70s. We had talked about going into Asheville NC which is about an hour away. Asheville boasts the Biltmore Estate as its best tourist site. I have heard much about the estate. This was on my list of things I felt I must do while on this vacation. There was discussion over breakfast on whether today would be a good day to go. Krista felt that the Biltmore would not be very entertaining to her younger daughter Natalie. She decided to stay home and take Natalie swimming and go on a picnic instead. Her other daughter Brianna would go with Cara, Madison, Darcy and me.

Once again we went to the Wellness Center to get information, driving directions and buy tickets online which would save us $5.oo. It turned out that because it was so early in the season, all kids under 17 were free. Cara bought a ticket for me and herself and we picked up a couple of brochures on the Biltmore.

I would do the driving. It takes about 30 minutes of twisty road to get back to the interstate. The van seemed to appreciate highway driving again after its efforts on the mountain roads. But soon the highway would be very hilly and the van would struggle to get up mountains and down valleys. I couldn't find a good lane to be in. On the way down, I would let the van get up to 80 mph. We would pass slower traffic but would be tailgated by semis. I wanted the van to build up some speed for the hill ahead. It helped but the van still struggled to maintain speed. About halfway up a hill, we would have slowed down to 60 mph and I would have to get over to the right or be rear-ended by a roaring semi behind us. The clouds were clearing out and the skies were crystal blue by the time we reached our exit to the Biltmore.

The Biltmore was easy to find. The entrance was a large stone gate. Once through the gate you drove along a small road for about a mile or so to get to the ticket office. The land all around the road was very well cared for, but still very natural. We passed a forest of bamboo on one side. There were big green open pastures. Then we would hit a wooded area. The landscape kept changing. I imagined myself a visitor to the original occupants of the estate, the George Vanderbilt family. I would be impressed, and was impressed on this day, by the estate. There was no sign of the house, just rolling meadows and woods. We followed the signs to the ticket office and Cara went in to pick up our tickets.

We decided first to visit the River Bend Farm. The road to the farm took us past the winery. Cara was very much interested in touring the winery and attending a wine-tasting. Just past the winery was the farm. There was a restored stable area that had shops in it and displays of ancient farming tools and machinery. The stables formed a square. In the center was a grassy area with games for children. These games were reproductions of early 2oth century games. There was a portable and very small bowling game. There were horseshoes to throw but these were oversized and brightly colored and make of plastic. Clearly not a true-to-life example of a game from the era. We also played a game where you held a simple wooden stick. You would put a wooden hoop on the stick and use the stick to throw the hoop to another person. That other person would try to catch the hoop on their stick. Simple but entertaining. Cara and I were, naturally, quite graceful and adept at this game. We toured the displays of farm equipment and saw the tail end of a blacksmithing demonstration.
We had not had lunch but we were hungry. We stopped at the creamery at the farm and had some ice cream. The ice cream lady encouraged us to have the vanilla. She said it was the original recipe of the Biltmore estate. I had a combo of strawberry and vanilla and Cara had all vanilla. The strawberry was just okay, but the vanilla was really heavenly.

We walked across the street to the animal barn. There seemed to be no one working there and there were no other visitors there either. We walked through the barn to the outside corrals. Immediately I saw two enormous horses standing in the large fenced-in area. To the right of them were 4 curly-haired goats. Soon the guide appeared. His name was Roger. He informed us that the goats were Angora goats. They are clipped twice a year. He told us that the goats were guarded by 2 donkeys who were lying down in a different area of the yard. He said that if a dog or other animal gets too close to the fence, the donkeys will walk over and stare down the intruder. We did not get to see an actual display of their guard-dog abilities however. The two horses were Belgian draft horses who were retired from pulling carriages on the estate. They were the same size as Clydesdales but a different color. He put some hay down by the fence to tempt them closer. Their names were Bert and Ernie. I took a picture of Darcy and Cara standing next to one of them and Darcy looked so tiny in comparison.
At this point, we wondered whether leaving Natalie at the resort was the best decision. She surely would've enjoyed the animals. We saw the chicken coop also. The nests lay above a chute and when they lay an egg, the egg rolls down the chute for easy picking. We left the farm and went back to the car. We would have to drive a bit to get to the next destination. The lady at the ticket office had told us that there were thunderstorms forecast for noon. It was already noon but the skies looked gorgeous, no signs of rain or storms. After some discussion, we decided to hit the gardens first, in case it did rain. Then if it started raining, we could go into the house and tour it.

The drive to the house took quite some time. These people must have really treasured their privacy. The house was situated in such a way that you would not see any sight of it until you were right in front of it. We traveled through more forests and made our way to the parking lot. We arrived just in time to take a shuttle bus to the house. We boarded the shuttle and drove down a hill and then along a winding road. We passed through a large iron gate and the lview opened up. To our right was the house. It looked surprisingly small to us. In front of the house was a large grassy lawn with a circular fountain. The shuttle took us right up to the front door. As we were leaving the shuttle, Cara remembered that the tickets were in the van. She stayed on the shuttle to go back to the parking lot. I and the girls got out and waited for her in front of the house.



To the right was an outdoor terrace, I guess you could call it. There was a trellis above it with thick twisty vines wrapped around it. In the summer, I could imagine the whole canopy flush with greenery, but now the vines were bare. Down the stairs from this terrace was a huge, I mean huge, esplanade (is that the right word?). I don't know what they used this for, but you could have had one helluva great outdoor party there. By walking down the steps, you could see the view from the back of the house. It was all uninterrupted lawn, woods and in the distance, mountains. This vista was truly spectacular! I took many pictures of it.

The views were great but we needed to go back to the front of the house to meet up with Cara. We went back to the front and Cara soon arrived. We went around the side of the house with the esplanade. The girls made a wish in a particularly diabolical-looking fountain. We headed down steps toward the gardens.




I think it was probably a little too early in the season to see the garden at it best but still there were plenty of blossoming trees, tulips, daffodils, pansies and other flowers. Cara and I went into the conservatory, which was quite hot and humid. We looked at some orchids but it was too hot to stay long. The estate had several gardens, Spring Garden, Azalea Garden, Italian Garden etc. We did not spend a long enough time there to see all of it. We missed walking to the Bass Pond too, which Cara wanted to see. We did see the Bass Pond on the way out of the estate and Cara got to snap some pictures from the passenger seat. Cara and I agreed that we should have arrived much earlier at the estate in order to take advantage of all the possibilities.

FORSYTHIA - THE FIRST SIGN OF SPRING!!!!

We went back to the stable area adjacent to the house. The building has been transformed into an outdoor eating area, an inside restaurant (way too pricey for picky children who don't finish their meals), a variety of shops and bathrooms, thank goodness! We ate some crappy (well I didn't think they were very good) soft pretzels and drinks in the outdoor area. Cara had a chili dog. It was hot that day and she was dressed in a black jogging suit kind of thing with long pants and long sleeves. She was carrying a large black backpack. To top it all off, the outdoor dining area contained several large free-standing heaters and some of them were on. One nearly scorched the stubble off my right leg while I ate. To see Cara eating this chili dog in all this heat with all those clothes made me think. Does she realize that there are no public bathrooms in the Biltmore house??? I thought I had an iron-clad stomach, but I wouldn't have attempted that. After a bathroom break and a trip to the ATM for me, we headed into the house.

We did not purchase the audio tour. There were several other tours that costs money and probably gave more information. We went the free route, using a brochure that gave you about 2 sentences of info on each room. There were guides stationed in several of the rooms and they provided more information and answered questions. The girls had a kiddie scavenger hunt of sorts. They had to check off a list of items that could be found in the rooms. For example, How many rabbits do you see on the ceiling of the library? or Can you find the samurai swords in the Third Floor Living Hall? They seemed to enjoy hunting for these items. No photography was allowed inside the house.

I really enjoyed our tour. We saw the bowling alley in the basement -2 lanes - which I believe they said was the oldest bowling alley still in existence in North America. The house had 43 bathrooms at a time when most houses in America did not have indoor bathrooms. These bathrooms were not just for the wealthy inhabitants or guests of the house. There were several bathrooms for the servants. I did not care much for the bedroom of the lady of the house. It was yellow. I like yellow. In fact, I love yellow, but the walls, wallpaper, drapes, bed linens, floor were this sickly kind of golden yellow. There was some purple trim in various fabrics. The whole room looked like a giant Easter egg.

The banquet hall on the main floor was way to macho for me. The walls were gray stone dotted by the stuffed heads of moose, buffalo and deer. There were crossed spears and shields everywhere. It looked a set for the next King Arthur movie. On one end was a very high loft with a gi-normous pipe organ. Did they play this during meals? Not very soothing. Upon hearing the first booming note from that organ during dinner, I think I might have blown wine through my nostrils in surprise. I am definitely not cut out to be rich. In the basement was an entire room devoted to this pipe organ's motor.

Other interesting rooms included the Architectural Model room, with the orginal scale model of the house which was used by the owner and his architect during the planning and construction. It was very impressive. I enjoyed seeing the various guest rooms and the servants bedrooms. These servant bedrooms were not bad at all. I don't know; maybe I was expecting something not much nicer than a prison cell. I would have been happy to stay in any of those rooms. There is more to say, of course, about the estate but my fingers are getting tired of typing. We did hit the gift shops afterward our tour. Some of bought candy from the Confectionary, the girls went into the toy shop and Christmas and we all left with purchases. Cara and I did a little wine tasting at the main gift shop and ended up buying 6 bottles of Biltmore wine.

I recommend you go and see it for yourself. Cara and I decided that it would be nice to come back, arrive earlier, leave children at home and go on a more extensive tour. Then we could visit the winery too. We also agreed that Natalie may not have been able to tolerate this 2 hr+ tour of the house. Leaving her at the resort was looking like the right decision now.

On our drive out of the estate, we did see the Bass Pond, as I mentioned earlier. We saw a waterfall also, and much more landscape and woods. All in all, I felt it was a good visit. We drove back to Lake Lure and relaxed for our next day: Horseback Riding!