Birthday Trip - The Biltmore

Ever since I read the book "Serafina and the Black Cloak" with the kids, I have wanted to visit the Biltmore estate. So, for my birthday this year, that's what we did! We flew to North Carolina on Thursday morning and then drove to Asheville, about a 2 hour drive from the airport. Our first stop was The Antler Hill Village, a part of the estate that has shops, restaurants, a winery, and a farmyard.

Some cool displays about George Vanderbilt's farming legacy.

The botanical model train display - the Biltmore Garden Railway.

The winery which we didn't visit, ha ha!

We had a tasty lunch!

Cornelia Vanderbilt and the family St. Bernard.

Finally it was time for the house. It was spectacular!!

We wandered around the outside for a bit until it was time for our tour. Absolutely stunning!!

One of my favorite spots - this magical little patio. We hung out here for a bit just soaking in the view.

One of the super cool lions that guard the entrance.

Time to tour the house! I loved it!! So many rooms, paintings, tapestries, books, statues, priceless objects..I'm just basically dumping photos of this amazing home, though it's hard to think of it as a home, it is so huge!

The Banquet Hall has a 70 foot ceiling, 16th century tapestries, and a humongous fireplace!!

This ceiling!

I loved these guys!!

The view!!

The library has over 10,000 volumes!!

This creepy hallway in the basement had me feeling like Serafina!

There's a bowling alley...

a swimming pool, though it had a crack in it so they never really got to use it...

and of course a work out room.

One of the nifty dumbwaiters.

We finished with the house tour in time to see this lovely sunset.

We walked to to the top of a hill to check out the statue of Diana and to take in the beautiful view of the Biltmore House and the Blue Ridge mountains.

We finished up our day eating pizza at a restaurant by our hotel. What a great day!!