Bloggers Weekend in Asheville Days 3 & 4

 Day 3 was Sunday and Maria was leaving early in the morning since she had a long term substitute teaching job she had to get back to on Monday and also wanted to pop in and see her daughter since she was driving right through the town Abby lives in. Tanya and I really wanted to check out The Biltmore Estate and Marilyn reluctantly agreed (in her defense she has been there before and it is SUUUUPER expensive... like $125! for the day). 

That said we ended up spending over 5 hours there and we still didn't see everything. I mean we saw the whole inside of the house and most of the gardens but while we drove over the village and went inside one of the buildings for a wine tasting we didn't see much else of the village and if we hadn't been lagging in all energy we might have been able to spend even more time exploring. I have zero regrets as I just LOVE architecture and hearing about life during the gilded age. I have had this quintessential American Castle on my "must see" list forever and I was so afraid it would not live up to my expectations but it so absolutely did.  

I was up early and dressed then we ate leftovers from the day before for breakfast and sent Maria off with hugs and well wishes before we set off for the estate.

 We parked and walked to a park like area above The Biltmore and took some photos before heading down to the level of the mansion. We were getting close to our ticketed time entry so we went to find a bathroom and then lined up. Our tickets were for 11:30 and we walked into the house at 11:32. I'd like to say we planned it that way but we really didn't.

 I plan to do a whole separate post dedicated to just the Biltmore and the grounds and all the notes I took while listening to the self- guided audio tour for Monday so I'll just leave with you a few highlight photos from our time there.

 

I want this library!! (but filled with my books instead of George's)

 

By the time we finished touring the house it was lunch time. We wandered over The Carriage house and checked out the shops and dining places... and I settled on an ice cream for lunch. What can I say? It's vacation!

After we each ate a snack of some sort we wandered over the gardens and greenhouses. The Biltmore sits on 8,000 acres has 6 gardens, a conservatory, and 20+ miles of nature trails. We spent most of our time in the spring/azalea garden and the greenhouses as the rose garden was not yet in bloom for the year.  

We took the trolley from the gardens back around the house and over to the car/parking areas. Marilyn drove us up the road to the Antler Hill Village for the free wine tasting that is included in the ticket price (I didn't have any as I don't drink wine but it was still neat to see). I can tell I was getting tired as I have hardly any photos from this. 

 By now it was close to 5 and we were all starving.. and tired and fading fast so Marilyn and Tanya picked Tupelo Honey for dinner. Not being from the south I have zero clue what most of these chains are so I was game. I got their grilled chicken BLT with a side salad. It was so good and really hit the spot. 

 We were all ready to head back to the house and relax for the night after that. We had to be up and out of the house early in the morning for my flight home. 

I was up at the crack of dawn.. travel anxiety is not fun. We were all packed and ready to head out by 6:30. Tanya and Marilyn dropped me off at the Asheville airport around 7 for my 8:20 flight and there were literally zero people waiting in TSA lines so I went right through security and over to my gate. They announced the flight was sold out and needed people to volunteer to check their bags to their final destination-- I always take advantage of this! 

 

Asheville is a tiny airport that is undergoing an expansion/remodel so our terminal was an outdoor one. We walked out and down a ramp, through a makeshift hallway and then up another set of ramps to the plane. It was beautiful out! 

We landed in Atlanta a few minutes early around 9:20... and I had a 3 hour layover until my flight home. I spent that time getting a very late breakfast and then just walked both the B & C terminals over and over again until it was time to board. We had a slight 15-20 minute delay once on the plane as maintenance was having trouble changing a light somewhere but other than that it was a very smooth (if long) travel day. 

 We landed in Providence around 3 and by the time I walked down to baggage claim all our luggage was circling around already. I snapped up my bag and took the shuttle to the parking lot, paid my parking fee and drove home. I was home by 4:30 and unpacked while Evan and I chatted. I did some laundry and took a shower. It was great to be back home and as always I had such a wonderful trip with "the girls!"

Day 1 &2 here.

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