Biltmore Estate

For our year end basketball party we hosted the boys for food and a nice highlight video.  We bought a large sub sandwich and reminisced about the season and some of our best memories.  Jill also went to Costco and got a nice cake with a basketball on it.  

Then I showed the boys a really neat highlight video of some of their games.  This year, I posted it on youtube so the boys could share it with their parents.  After watching the video, the boys played football in the backyard.  It was a fun party for the boys to get together and play. 

Friday was "Minutes with Mom" at the school.  That's the new phrase that took over "Moms and Muffins."  Apparently, muffins were costing too much so the PTA switched to donuts.  This year, there was a miscommunication with the grocery store and the order of glazed donuts wasn't ready.  The store sent an assortment of donuts, instead, and sent as many as they had.  PTA members were even racing to other stores to buy any and all donuts they could.  It was a problem for the women in charge, but worked out pretty great for our family.  Alyssa scored a fritter!  The boys had great donuts, too.  

Jill and the kids ate breakfast together and the kids were able to pick out a new book.  Now that they are older, they aren't as interested in reading their books with their mom.  They'd rather go out to the playground to play with their friends!  It was still a nice morning at the school for all of them, though.

Landon completed his 4th grade wax museum project.  We tried and tried to get him to study a historically significant Utahn, but he was determined to do his project on Karl Malone.  He loved reading a book on Karl Malone and would share random Karl Malone quotes with us.  He learned about his early years playing with his mom, playing football and basketball in Louisiana, and career highlights in the NBA.  Landon finished a written report and then memorized important facts that he could share as people came to visit his display.  His display was nice, thanks to Jill, and it included a Nerf basketball hoop.  Landon was so proud.  

The first week in March I spent the week in North Carolina for work.  I worked for the week with my team, who all work in Mooresville.  I go there about once a year but this year was nice because Jill flew out on Thursday to meet me.  I've always thought it would be pretty great to move to North Carolina and have an adventure with our little family on the East coast.  Getting Jill to come check out the area was a fun weekend getaway for her, and I got to show her how nice North Carolina is.  

Jill left the children with Mom and Dad and flew into Charlotte on Thursday afternoon.  I was still at work in Mooresville (about 30 minutes away) so she rented a car at the airport and drove to meet me.  This was a big deal for Jill, because it was the first time she'd ever rented a car.  She was a bit nervous about figuring that out and then driving in an unfamiliar city.  She found out, though, that it's not that hard!  After picking up the car, she was able to figure out her navigation app and made it to Mooresville with no problems.  

We went to dinner on Thursday evening and walked around a shopping area.  Our hotel night was kind of crazy, because in the middle of the night a man was banging on a door down the hall and yelling to his wife or girlfriend to open the door.  Finally I called the lobby to report it and they told me that the police were on their way.  I opened our door and yelled down the hallway for the man to keep it down.  He didn't, but eventually the police came and took him away.  I stay in a lot of hotels, but had never experienced that before. 

Friday morning I took Jill into the office and introduced her to the people I work with.  She was impressed with the office and liked meeting my coworkers.  Then we drove over to my boss' new house that she just bought right on Lake Norman.  It's a beautiful home and we loved how it's right on the water.  Now I just need to convince Jill to move here!

Later Friday morning we drove out to Asheville, North Carolina to tour "America's Castle," the Biltmore Estate.  When Jill was young, she used to see commercials for the Biltmore and decided that someday, she wanted to visit.  We've toured quite a few castles in Europe now and it sounded fun to tour the Biltmore Estate.  

The original Cornelius Vanderbilt dropped out of school at 11 years old and turned a $100 loan into a $100 million enterprise in the early 1800's.  He made his fortune with steamboat transportation in New York (around Staten Island) and then grew his business to include railroads.  He died at an early age and turned his business over to his son, William Henry, who built the business up to $200 million.  They were the wealthiest family in America, by a lot.  His children were able to build huge mansions,  travel the world, and live an aristocratic lifestyle similar to that of Europe's royalty.  George Vanderbilt, one of the sons, built his legacy in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina with the Biltmore Estate.  

A three mile railroad track was built to deliver men and supplies to the house as it was being built (it was finished in 1895).  The home has four acres of rooftop and covers 178,000 square feet of house!  The entire property is almost 7,000 acres (10 square miles) of land. 

The grounds were beautiful, but weren't quite as full as they would have been if we had come later in the spring.    In my mind I hear Jenn Buxton saying "Look at that tiny fountain."  Living in Europe, she and her family get to see amazing fountains. 

We upgraded our tickets so we could have an audio tour of the home.  It was fascinating to hear about many of the rooms and the family that lived here.  When we walked into the house, there was a beautiful atrium called the Winter Garden.  In the center was a statue of a boy holding a goose.  There were many other pieces of art throughout the home.  Also, there were tons of plants that thrive on the sun that comes through the glass rooftop.  It was a regal way to enter the home. 

The library was Vanderbilt's prized room. He read thousands and thousands of books.  He even kept track of every book that he read in a journal.  While we were there, there was also an exhibit of costumes throughout the house.  Each costume came from a movie that was based on a book and each was a book that Vanderbilt had read.  Jill was excited to see these costumes from one of her favorite movies, "Pride and Prejudice."

The house was full of antiques and valuables that had been purchased by Vanderbilt.  In the library, the ceiling was covered by a mural that originally was in a palace in Venice.

The banquet hall has an enormous table that could seat 38 people.  Next to the table are these three fireplaces.  At the other end of the room was an organ loft.  The room was really grand (it had a seven-story high ceiling)!

This room is a smaller dining room.  When you have this much house you have multiple places to eat.

Here is Vanderbilt's bedroom.  It's down the hall from his wife's bedroom.  They needed separate places to dress.  The bed seems so small; we were assured it's a king-sized bed, but it looks small because the room is so big.

This living hall was on the second floor.  It was a gathering area for the many guests that visited the house.

Here is one of the stairwells, along with a chandelier. 

They even have a bowling alley in the basement of the home.  We were told that it was one of the first to be built in a residential home.  One of the servants would stand at the end of the lane to restock the pins and send the ball back along the track.

The indoor pool was epic.  It is no longer full of water, because it has developed a leak.

The basement was the domain of the servants.  The cooks had a huge area in which to prepare the meals.  They would then send the food up on a dumbwaiter to the dining room.

A billiard room to retire to after dinner.

They had guns, of course, in the gun room.

We didn't see all of the rooms, of course, but we really enjoyed our tour through the house.  It's hard to imagine living in such finery today, let alone over 100 years ago.  Next, we walked around the grounds.  The greenhouse was really cool.  Even though it was winter, the plants were thriving inside.

We had a wonderful time at the Biltmore House.  It's a beautiful place with a fascinating history.  Since our trip, we have watched a couple of shows that were filmed in the home.  One show detailed how the PBS series "Downton Abbey" was set in the same time period as the heyday of the Biltmore House.  It compared Biltmore to the home in Downton Abbey.  Then we watched an old film called "Being There."  It was a strange movie about a gardener who gained influence with a wealthy family.  It wasn't Jill's favorite movie, but it was really fun to see the Biltmore and all of the scenes that we had seen in person.

After our visit we drove into town to check into our hotel.  We drove around Asheville for a bit and then had dinner.  The next morning we tried to find breakfast.  The first three restaurants we drove to had lines out the door.  The people of Asheville must love their breakfasts!  Finally we found something to eat and although it was in greasy diner, it was good enough to get us on our way.

We took our time driving back to Charlotte and opted to take the Blue Ridge Parkway.  It's an amazing drive though the Blue Ridge Mountains.  We stopped at a visitor center to learn a bit more about the parkway and found some places to get out and hike.

We opted for two short hikes to waterfalls.  This is a neat looking bridge at the trailhead of one of the hikes we did.

Another waterfall was just off the side of the road.

We left the parkway and drove on an interstate back towards Charlotte.  We decided to take a route that dipped into South Carolina so Jill could cross off that state.  She also wanted to see King's Mountain National Park, a Revolutionary War battlefield.  We stopped at the visitor center and watched a video about this battle.  The Americans surprisingly beat the British forces and were able to help turn the tide of the war.

We finished our drive to Charlotte and checked into our hotel downtown.  It was really fun to be in the heart of the city.  Jill saw a store she went to with Jenn when she was in Europe, called Vapianos.  We saw the stadium where the Panthers play and also some of the bank buildings that Charlotte is famous for.  The downtown was nice and our Courtyard hotel was in a great location to walk to things.  We walked to a nice restaurant and had a good dinner.  We had wanted to find a play or a concert or a game to watch but we couldn't really find anything happening that particular night in Charlotte.  We still had a lot of fun exploring the city.  

Sunday morning we slept in a  bit and then walked to a nice breakfast restaurant downtown in an area that had a ton of restaurants and a movie theater.  I'm sure the nightlife is pretty exciting.  Here is Jill drinking her hot chocolate. 

We had a nice flight home and then were able to unpack before Mom and Dad brought the children home.  They had been to Kandis' place for family dinner.  We had a great reunion with our children when they arrived.  It was fun to catch up on all that had happened while we were gone.  Our trip wouldn't have been possible without Mom and Dad watching our children.  Thank you so much!  Jill and I had a wonderful trip and it was so great to get away together.