Wednesday, April 30

Asheville, North Carolina

This morning we were up by 8AM to meet our friend Liz for breakfast. On our way out the door we made a friend:We met Liz at Over Easy Café before her work day started. Liz moved to Asheville from Oregon a few years ago and she gave us lots of great tips for our visit, and discounted tickets to the Biltmore Estate, which was on the agenda for later in the day.

At the café Dennis and I shared French toast and granola with lavender yogurt. It was very tasty.

After breakfast we said goodbye to Liz (until later) and took a 15-minute drive to the entrance to the Biltmore Estate. 

Biltmore House was completed in 1895 by George Washington Vanderbilt and is the largest privately owned house in the United States with more than 178,900 square feet of floor space and 250 rooms. The estate is currently run as a tourist attraction by Vanderbilt’s grandson. They charge a pretty penny for entrance ($59 per person) but it is surprisingly worth it. We planned to spend most of the day at the Biltmore and we started out on a self-guided tour around the property.

The view from the back of the house is stunning. The estate boasts 8,000 acres of land, which includes fields, forests, a river, farmland, a vineyard and winery, and an elegant hotel.

The Blue Ridge mountains are in the distance. We spent a long time taking in the scenery. It is such a change of pace from DC!

From the side patio we entered the garden and strolled down to the greenhouse.

Our wedding flowers were growing right next to each other!

We came across a wild hare

After our stroll through the gardens we walked past the main house-– on the way to the carriage house and stables, which have been converted into a food court. I loved looking around and imagining horse-drawn buggies pulling into the courtyard and people bustling about, caring for the animals. Dennis got a Polish sausage with chili and I had a mocha and lemon poppyseed scone.

Dennis relaxed in the courtyard while I visited the gift shops. And then it was time to enter the main house. Unfortunately, they do not allow photography inside the house and I played by the rules. It’s a shame, though, because I’d love to share some of the beauty with you. The house truly was amazing. Dennis’ favorite room was a just inside the front doors. There is an atrium with a domed glass ceiling, filled with plants and a water fountain. It’s peaceful, stunning, and huge, and right in the middle of the foyer.

I wasn’t able to pick a favorite room. I loved the game room (parlor?) with multiple pool tables, 40 foot ceilings, many separate sitting areas with game tables, and giant, walk-in fireplace. I also loved the gentlemen’s parlor, where the men would retire to smoke cigars. I would have hated not being allowed to join in! The library is incredible, and the tiled pool in the basement is so cool! There is also an indoor bowling alley. It really is a very impressive house.

If you’re ever in Asheville I certainly recommend a trip to the Biltmore. We spent about 4 hours wandering the grounds and the house before we got back in the car and drove the 4 miles to the vineyard for a complimentary wine tasting.

Dennis and I are not big wine drinkers so it was fun to try different types and figure out what we did and didn’t like. We also sampled some dips that Dennis really enjoyed and picked up some souvenir chocolates and a bottle of red for a friend.

From the Biltmore we headed back to downtown Asheville to visit Malaprops Bookstore and some little shops in the area. We picked up a Mother’s Day present for Dennis’ mom at a cute shop called Bloomin’ Art. My favorite spot was Woolworth Walk, an indoor space filled with booths featuring art from a variety of local artists. I fell in love with a number of pieces and was struck again by my desire to own a home just so I could decorate it. Dennis and I tend to have different tastes in artwork but both of us were equally fond of this piece:

It’s much larger than it looks and it is painted on a glass window. It also cost $900, which is a little outside our price range, especially considering we have absolutely nowhere to hang it. Someday.

After meandering about we stopped by White Duck Tacos to pick up some well-reviewed tacos for dinner. Dennis got a shrimp taco and a fish taco and we picked up 2 BBQ carnitas tacos, one each for me and Liz. With tacos in hand we headed to Liz’s house to eat and meet her pups!Liz bought this ADORABLE house about a year ago and I couldn’t be more jealous (and happy for her, of course). We loved meeting her dogs, Gibson and Lucy, and then dived into our delicious taco dinner. After dinner we checked out the backyard and Dennis spent some time on the swing. I try to avoid being overly gushy in general but I am seriously in love with this man. He’s so stinkin’ cute. Eventually we said goodbye to Liz since she was in the middle of finals week for grad school and Dennis was anxious to catch Game 7 of the Stanley Cup semi-finals (the Flyers lost). It was a great day and we were exhausted.

At 1 AM the fire alarm battery started beeping and we woke up covered in ants, so that wasn’t a lot of fun. After some creative thinking we were able to get to the fire alarm (vaulted ceiling) and make it back to sleep. It was our last night in Asheville and we were ready to move to our next AirBnB rental in the morning!