Monday, December 28, 2009

Beautiful Biltmore........

Our visit to Asheville was short...too short! I didn't want to leave.. I can't wait to go back!(maybe a bed&breakfast trip without the kids) It was my favorite place so far. It's beautiful! I loved the Biltmore village and the Biltmore house was amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!
To be honest, I've never heard of Biltmore. Until a blog friend suggested we make a stop.
I'm so glad we went! Thank you Beaver bunch:)
The 2nd night we were in Ashveille I made my husband drive around and look at all the houses.
If it wasn't for family and friends back in California, I think Asheville,NC CLICK TO SEE WHY!( would be up there in my places to move and raise our family.
What's your favorite place???? Or where would you raise your family and why????





The Biltmore Estate is known as the largest house in the United States on 8,000 acres of
land. It also features a number of gardens and the backdrop of the Blue Ridge Mountains.(beautiful!)It took six years for a group of builders to build Biltmore, modeled after 16th century French chateaus. Imagine this:The mansion has 250 rooms, including 34 bedrooms, 43 bathrooms, and 65 fireplaces. An inside swimming pool, gymnasium, servants lodging, kitchenS, a bowling alley and more. I was in dreamland:) George Vanderbilt had traveled the world and fell in love with the mountains surrounding Asheville,(like me) and commanded that Biltmore be built on the site.
And to think it was finished in 1895, makes it even more amazing!
Vanderbilt raised his family at Biltmore. He was the youngest of 8 children. The history on his family is pretty amazing too.

front lawn

It was very cold that day! The kids and I tried to find some sun and drank hot cider:)



They didn't allow photography, video taping or cell phones inside:(
It was decorated SO beautiful. I'm glad we got the chance to visit at Christmas time too!



Farrah and Finley started running fevers.(at the same time) They both wanted mommy to carry them. Lots of stairs to climb too. Finley is still pretty light, but Farrah felt like she had rocks in those boots!




Every room was decorated with priceless antiques and paintings.







Mom and Dad,
If I had the money I'd send you this Thomas Kinkade:)
xoxo
After visiting the Biltmore house we headed over to the Grove Park Inn to see the National Gingerbread Competition. (Thanks to another blog friend)

I don't know what I'd do with out all of you! Many of the places we have stopped at are because of you......so thank you so much! It's so nice to know I have friends out there helping us along the way....or we would be lost ha!








7 comments:

Laurel said...

Wow! I've been on the Blue Ridge Parkway, but we had not seen the Biltmore. Incredible!

Where would we live? Right where we're at ... Seriously, we have road tripped to 35 states so far. This past spring we were ready for a career change and a move. We looked at several other states, but we were so glad when the Lord kept us right here in our little corner of the good old USA. We don't have any family that keeps us here ... we're pretty much "on our own" as far as extended family. But, we LOVE our little island in the San Juan Islands.

Hope you'll stop by for a visit. It's BEAUTIFUL ... and a whole lot closer to your family in So. CA.

:) :) :)

Kaylyn said...

We honeymooned at Biltmore 5 years ago and fell in love with Asheville! That is just one of the reasons we moved to NC!! We are heading back next month! I am so sad we keep missing you!

Loni's World said...

aww thats too bad you couldnt take pictures inside.
My grandma lives in Ashville and I have been to the blue ridge mts but not the Biltmore, thanks I will check it out next time I visit.

Lauren said...

So beautiful!! We love the Blue Ridge mountains, and go often to Beech Mountain/Banner Elk NC. But while we've been to Ashville, we've never been to Biltmore. It's on my short list of places to see sometime!

Where would we be if we could be ANYWHERE? Wow, what a question!! I think if my husband could speak Spanish (I do) I'd love to live in South America or Spain for a while. We both would be thrilled to live in the mountains in NC, though!

However, I agree with Laurel - we're so happy where the Lord has us right now. I don't know that either of us would be excited to leave our ministry to students here unless it were for the purpose of entering the foreign mission field. And we've been in our city for so long (almost 7 years) that it's very much home to us now. :)

I hope you guys are enjoying your close time together as a family! Wish you could come back to the Garden City - you wouldn't happen to be interested in golf, are you? ;) There's a sorta big deal happening about 10 minutes away from us the first week in April...

Too Many Kids In The Bathtub said...

Beautiful! My Grandmother is from Ashville! It is so beautiful there! I am sure it was a true sight to behold!

The Beaver Bunch said...

I'm so glad you LOVED Biltmore. I knew y'all would! ;)

Educational AND beautiful. Can't beat the double punch, huh?

Hope y'all are doing well.

Ps: LOVE the new blog look!

Love Being A Nonny said...

I just became a follower and am loving catching up!!

I actually live in NC....a couple of hours from Biltmore. I grew up going there and have always loved it....AND The Grove Park Inn! Oh, and if I could live anywhere....I like calling North Carolina home! (But I really want to visit Maine!)