Christmas at the Biltmore

Everyone says that the Biltmore is beautiful at Christmas.  As luck would have it, our cabin was only about an hour from Asheville, so we made a daytrip to see the Biltmore at its finest.

 Before touring the house we had lunch at the Stable Cafe.  The kids and I had eaten here before when we went with my parents, and we wanted to make a return visit.  This restaurant is cool because it is in the old horse stable.  We sat in a booth that use to be a horse stall.  I like this restaurant because of the historic and unique atmosphere, but the food is also very good.  Everyone enjoyed their meal.

 After lunch we entered the house for our self-guided tour.  We decided not to do the audio tour, and we really didn't need it because there were workers in most rooms who were happy to answer your questions.  Some of our favorite rooms were the winter garden, the banquet hall, and the library.  It was also neat to see where the servants slept and worked.  The house had the whole upstairs/downstairs Downton Abbey thing going on.  You could see passages where the servants would go so that they could do their jobs without being "seen".  The opulence of the house cannot be overstated.  It is lavish.

 Early January turned out to be a great time to visit because the house was still decorated for the Christmas season, but the crowds were virtually non-existent.  The Christmas decorations included 55 decorated Christmas trees, the largest tree of which was 35 feet tall.

This was the first visit for Brian and Barb.  They were both impressed.

Included in our price admission was a free wine tasting at the Biltmore Winery.  The winery is located on property at the site of the old dairy farm.  We tried a few different types of wine.  Some of it was better than others.  The kids had grape juice.  They were excited that there was something there for them. 

Tallulah Gorge

On our way to North Carolina, we passed Tallulah Gorge State Park.  I have always wanted to visit this park, and we had extra time so we pulled over.  We hiked the North Rim Trail to the suspension bridge and back.  It was a short hike (1.5 miles total), but there were a lot of stairs so it was challenging.  The gorge was beautiful and was a  nice little pit stop. 

Maggie Valley

We spent part of the first week of January in the Smoky Mountains. We rented a cabin in Maggie Valley, which is on the North Carolina side of the national park.  We've only stayed on the Tennessee side in the past, and we found the North Carolina area to be far less developed and more quaint than the Gatlinburg / Pigeon Forge area. Brian's dad and Barb drove from Delaware to stay with us. It was really cold all week.  I don't think the temperature was ever above freezing.   Even though it was cold, we still had a great time and did a lot of fun things.

Out With The Old, In With The New

Our Wild Adventures season passes have now expired.  We usually only get them every other year, but due to the kids having field trips to this park in back-to-back years, we were pass holders for both 2016 and 2017.  We have had a great time riding the rides, seeing the animals, and visiting the water park in the summer.  We even saw Andy Grammer and the Harlem Globetrotters here.  It is unlikely that we will visit in 2018, so we wanted to give our local park a proper farewell.  We attended the Christmas in the Park event to get one more go at our favorite attractions.  We also completed a scavenger hunt because we heard that they were going to draw a name from all completed scavenger hunt forms and the winner would get four 5-year season passes.  To complete the scavenger hunt, we had to locate four hidden hearts in the park.  We were given clues to help us locate the hearts.  It took us a while, but we found them all.  Who knows?  Maybe we'll win the drawing and get the 5-year passes.  Fingers crossed.

Since we won't be Wild Adventures pass holders this year, we decided to try getting Six Flags season passes.  The kids and I are in Atlanta several times a year with robotics competitions, so we would have the opportunity to visit enough times to justify the cost.  We can also use the passes at any Six Flags park, so we could visit others when we travel in the spring and summer.  Even though the passes are good at any park, the first visit has to be to your home park.  The kids and I picked up our passes after a robotics competition in November, but Brian did not have his yet.  He had a few days off after New Year's, so we headed to Atlanta to get his pass.  We arrived on the next-to-last operating day of the season, and it was below freezing temperature.  While there, we rode the Georgia Scorcher. The frigid air hitting our skin did not feel the best, so we decided that maybe we should put off riding the other coasters until the park reopens in the spring.  It's going to be fun.

Merry Christmas

 We had a very merry Christmas this year full of food, fun, and family.  The festivities began after the evening church service on Christmas Eve.  We went to my parents' house for our traditional Christmas Eve spaghetti dinner.  Everyone was there except for Sam who had to work.  After the meal, we opened gifts.  Everyone received many nice things.  My siblings and I all went in together to buy a new t.v. for mama and daddy.  Their old one was completely shot; you could barely see anything on the screen.  Needless to say they were surprised. 

Christmas morning brought gifts from Santa.  The kids each received clothes, shoes, a travel pillow, and a video game.   Later that morning, Granny Mel arrived and we opened our family gifts.  Brian and I gave the kids their own Vex robot, and they were really excited to receive those.

We went to Granny and Papa Buie's for lunch. I enjoyed catching up with all of my aunts, uncles, and cousins.  It was a great (and exhausting) day.

Christmas Lights

Christmas Day was on a Monday this year.  Because everyone arrived to town the weekend before Christmas, we were able to spend a few extra days with our family members.  On Saturday night several of us went to see the Lewis Lights in Hortense.  The Lewis family puts up a fantastic display of lights each year and invites the public to see them for free.  Not only this, but they also include a free hay ride and give out free hot chocolate.  We were amazed not only by the lights but also by the generosity of this family. The whole experience definitely put us in a festive mood for Christmas.