Matt and I were lucky enough to have his Mom come and watch James for us while we took a little trip to the Biltmore in Asheville! (side note: I've been spelling Asheville wrong for years, haha) We are going to celebrate our 5th anniversary this summer just before our newest little boy is born, so we decided it was a good time for a babymoon. We hadn't actually left James overnight yet, so it took us 14 months, but I wouldn't change a thing.
My favorite thing about the Biltmore: the architects tour where you get to go on all the balconies. I love a beautiful view myself, and they definitely had some. Check me out next to the 'not gargoyle' but 'grotesque' due to it not being hollow.
We had an awesome time. We ate at some really great places, which I know we were both looking forward to. We are food people, we don't go to the movies, we go out to dinner. haha. We were staying at the Grand Bohemian in the Biltmore village, so on Friday night we went to the Corner Kitchen. I want to eat there at least yearly. The best food of my life, seriously.
My handsome hubby and me on the 2nd balcony. We are kinda blocking the gardens behind us, but you can see the Italian landscape gardens, which are the pools behind me on the left. One if full of fish, one is full of water lilies (we missed those, man!), and the third was full of something else, haha, obviously not as cool as the water lilies or fish.
Yes, we had to have special passes on our tour because of their 'police' at the Biltmore. We had two rouge guests try to blend in with our tour and they were dismissed, ha.
This is the view from the last balcony- looking out from the back of the house. Pretty beautiful and it looks totally natural. Believe it or not, it is all landscaped. Yes, it was farmland originally so it was bare. Kinda crazy, but the landscape architect who did central park designed all the property. ps. George Vanderbilt owned all three mountain ranges. wow.
The roof was covered in copper which has oxidized over time. Here you see one of the panels with his initials on it. Can you imagine putting your initials on your house?? haha. Other fun fact: The roof is tiled with slate, which can grow a nasty mold. Guess what cleans it? Rain water over oxidized copper. SMART GV, very smart.
The front lawn. Really very cool when you drive up to the house. You are going through pretty heavy forrest, and then all the sudden, you round the corner and WOAH there it is. It's pretty huge, sorry no pictures of the front. You are actually forbidden to photograph it from the inside, so we took some on the roof top which was allowed.
View of the roof line in the center of the house over the beautiful wood and glass dome. You kinda get an idea of how huge it is. It's actually a little difficult to explain- too complicated! haha.
Matt and I had a great time. We went into Asheville on Saturday night and ate at Table, which was terrible. The most expensive, worst food I've ever had. A double thumbs down. If my mom had made what I ate, when I was a kid, it would have been labeled a mommy-disaster. But, the night was redeemed by the French Broad Chocolate Lounge, where we ate, you guessed it, chocolate. Which made this preggo mommy very happy. :-)
Overall a great weekend away. I am so blessed with an awesome husband and a fantastic son, and we wouldn't know what to do without our awesome family. Love you guys so much.
