Sunday, October 24, 2010

The Biltmore House

The last stop on our road trip was the Biltmore House in Asheville, Nc. This house was built by George Vanderbilt in the late 1800s. It was enormous. We were able to tour about 40 of the 250 rooms. It was amazing to me that anyone had a house this big. In reading about its construction, they had to lay 3 miles of railroad track just to bring in the material to build the house. My experience at the Biltmore went like this- I walked around listening to the audiotour with my mouth hanging open in awe... until I realized that one of my children was trying to touch something or get past the ropes. At that point, I quickly came back down to earth and grabbed whichever child it was (this time) before they could mess with anything. Repeat. It did help that my mom was there to help me reign them in.



















After touring the house, we had lunch at The Stable Cafe. As the name suggests, it used to be the horse stable. I actually think that our booth was in a former horse stall. I have a picture of the cafe below. You'll probably notice the Christmas tree. Apparently, Christmas is a big event at the Biltmore House. They were busy putting up holiday decorations in many of the rooms while we were there.



































Following lunch, we did a little shopping, walked around in the gardens and conservatory, and then began our journey back home. Overall, our fall break trip down the Blue Ridge Parkway was a lot of fun. The kids and I had a great time, and my parents did, too. This trip also proved to me that my kids do well with road trips. Maybe my parents will let us tag along when they do the "Big O" in a few years. Hmmm....










































3 comments:

Pam said...

I'm so glad you guys were able to make a few stops during your return trip. Sounds like your folks are warming up for the "Big O" -- I thought that was just a myth! I would love to see it actually happen though! ;-)

Unknown said...

Ooh, I've seen this on the Travel Channel! Its cool that you got to see it first hand. Did you see the McDonald's? Their McDonald's is supposed to be the fanciest one.

The Sanders Family said...

I saw the McDondald's and told my parents that it was the fanciest one, but we didn't eat there.