Magnificent Spendor - a trip to the Biltmore

After getting through graduation weekend, the wifey-pooh and I decided to kick the family out of the house (and town) and head for the mountains of Asheville, NC to spend some Christmas time with the Vanderbilts of 1895. While my wife had been when she was younger, I had never been, so the first two words that came to my mind when I saw the house is also the title of this post - magnificent splendor.

First of all, as you will notice in the slideshow, we arrived in Asheville to the beginnings of a rare snow flurry. I say "rare" because everybody we talked to that lived there was surprised to see it. By the time we left the Crown Plaza Resort for our candlelight tour, it was full on snowing (but thankfully not sticking).

The candlelight tour was amazing, and really changed the way the interior of the house looked. Several of the hallways would've been downright spooky before electricity or without a candle; most would've been pitch dark. Alas, you will not find any pictures of the interior in the slideshow - photography was frowned upon. And by frowned upon, I mean they would beat you with a large stick if you snapped a photo.

Outside, however, was a different story. While the nearby gardens were not even close to blooming, the greenhouses bore flora and fauna that were in full and gorgeous bloom. Poinsettas of every different color; palm trees with leaves larger than my (sympathy weight induced) belly; irises, orchids, even "shrimp plants"... all were beautiful and fragrant (achoo!).

A short (but bitterly cold) walk down sat the Bass pond, full of geese and a few ducks. A couple of them were quite friendly guys, probably used to being fed by other bi-peds; apparently, my wife's reputation for "animals don't eat people food" has not reached the mountains. Anyhoo, we hiked and strolled til we could hike and stroll no more in the frigid weather, then made for the local farms to check out the animals.

In all it was really a fantastic trip that I highly recommend anybody to take. Even if fancy houses, history, flowers, and such aren't your thing, there's still plenty more to do including hiking, horseback riding, even a Land Rover adventure course. Enjoy the slideshow.