A very Biltmore weekend

Last week we took a long weekend to visit Biltmore House in Asheville, NC with Nate's parents. Visiting Biltmore at Christmas has been on my list of Things To Do Before I Die for at least a decade. Despite living within four hours of it since I was 10 years old, I'd never managed to get there any time of the year, let alone Christmas. Biltmore House is, of course, not on Nate's list of Things to Die Before He Dies, or even after he dies for that matter. In fact, to hear him tell it, visiting such a boring place might just be the death of him.

Well, I'm happy to report that I have now been to a Biltmore Christmas and that Nate did indeed survive his trip there, too. Many thanks to the in-laws for the invitation that finally, finally got me there!!


It totally blows my mind that they designed and built this castle back in the 1800's - basically with a pencil and string. I mean, that's crazy!



We ate dinner at The Stable restaurant. The original stables have been converted into a restaurant - all those stalls along the wall are actually booths. How cool, is that?


The trees out front were stunning. The pictures really don't do the place justice. The big tree is orange/amber lights and opaque white lights - it looks like spun gold. Which is why I spent three hours yesterday hunting for orange and opaque Christmas lights for one of our trees!


Friday night we did dinner and the Candlelight House tour. No pictures in the house - boo. If you are ever near Asheville, you need to make sure you go. It is just amazing. On Saturday we went back and toured the greenhouses, the grounds and the winery. Free wine tasting? Don't mind if I do!


The leaves were past their peak, so it wasn't quite the same as autumn in Tennessee, but it was awfully good to be in the South!!


Guess who didn't want to have his picture taken?


Got him anyway! For all the pictures from our weekend, check us out on Flickr.