Obnoxiously Rich For A Day

On the road to the Biltmore

As soon as my mom realized we would all be heading to Asheville, NC her only request was that we take a day to go visit the Biltmore mansion and I'm so glad we did, it was amazing! It's the largest home in America and was built in the 1800's. Large doesn't even begin to describe it. The tour of the inside of the house alone took about 2 hours and they don't show you everything. Then there were the gardens, the greenhouse, the trails, the winery, the petting zoo...wow! It really took the entire day! The boys were so amazingly good, I can't believe they survived the whole day without a meltdown.

First stop: McDonald's! But this was no run of the mill McD's it was decked out and topped off with a player piano! When the Biltmore mansion was built they also built a matching community, Biltmore Village, at the entrance. No there wasn't a McDonald's there back in the 1800's but they now have to follow strict architectural/design standards so it was pretty stellar!

The Biltmore's exterior, I couldn't fit it all in the frame from so close up! Somewhere in there is my husband and the boys! No photos were allowed inside, sorry, so we came out for a lunch of mini cakes in the outdoor plaza then headed to the side where the gardens are.

Lil' Spitfire was happy to run a bit, the inside tour is tough on little boys!

The view over the wall of the side gardens

Now this I could take home with me! The most incredible greenhouse I've ever seen!

Lil' Spitfire outside the greenhouse, which he loved too. He's already starting with the fake smiles for photos, isn't he too young for that?

On top of the formal gardens, the rose garden, the Italian water garden and the greenhouse there were the trails that took you around the pond, boat house and water falls. It was quite a trek!

I spy with my little eye a really cool fountain, some little boys who are getting tired, and some adults who are looking forward more and more to the winery part of this visit.

Ah, that's better! After the winery the boys get to run to the farm/petting zoo. The winery was really cool, it was my first wine tasting experience.

The petting zoo was just closing as we arrived but the boys didn't mind. They peeked through the slats at the animals and played on the tractor and that was just fine with them.


Then it was time to head back to our cabin. On the way back we had the most wonderful pizza and live blue grass music at Blue Mountain Pizza in downtown Weaverville. It was a tiny little place jam packed with people but so much fun.