road trip part 3: biltmore!

We finally arrived at the Biltmore Friday afternoon and our first views were stunning! Biltmore was designed by architect Richard Morris Hunt for George Vanderbilt. It took six years to build and Vanderbilt opened the estate in 1895. It currently sits on 8,000 acres of land but originally he owned much more. Nearly 90,000 acres were sold to the government and became a National Forest. The estate has 4 acres of floor space, 250 rooms, 35 bedrooms, 43 bathrooms, and 65 fireplaces. The basement has a swimming pool, gymnasium and changing rooms, bowling alley, servants' quarters, kitchens, and the biggest pantries you've ever seen. Unfortunately no photos are allowed inside but the details and grand scale of everything inside was just amazing.

Luckily the tour inside the house is self-guided so we were able to go at our own pace. Which was a quick one with cranky pants Oliver. His 3 1/2 hours of sleep the previous night took a toll on him. The best part of the tour was when Ben and I took turns walking through the basement while the other stayed with Oliver. The girls walked through with Ben and then pretended to be my tour guide as they walked me through the basement. They loved exploring the house. The basement had some of the most fun aspects, like the pool and dressing rooms.

The balcony views (and pretty much the views from everywhere on the estate) were gorgeous. Green as far as the eye could see.

 

Everyone needed an ice cream break after touring the house.

The grounds and gardens were designed by Frederick Law Olmsted. It was extremely hot at this point in the day and everyone was pretty worn down but we still enjoyed walking through the gardens and greenhouse (but not lugging our heavy stroller up and down lots of stairs). Despite complaining about being tired (and running out of water) the girls were always running ahead, exploring and imagining.

As it turns out, Oliver is completely afraid of cacti. He stepped into this room and was immediately alarmed and frightened. He stumbled back a few steps only to realize that he was surrounded. He hasn't had any negative encounters with a cactus in the past, but I guess he just immediately realized the potential danger. This was surprising for a kid that doesn't seem to have any sense of what's dangerous. (Hmmm...this gives me an idea of how I can keep him out of certain places...)

Oliver soaked himself in this water feature.

As we were leaving in the evening, several antique milk trucks showed up for display.

We headed to the center of Asheville and had delicious pizza at the Mellow Mushroom before making the drive to Charlotte. We encountered a crazy rain storm on our drive and some ominous looking clouds.