We wanted to take the girls to see the Biltmore house. What girl wouldn’t want to see a real castle. In addition we recently read a fictional story that takes place at the house at the turn of the century. We wanted to see the house details that were in the story. Our tour time was for the afternoon and we arrived with time to see a storm brewing close by. To our great luck the rain did not start until we entered the home and it ended before we exited the home.

Nothing shows the grandness of the house more than the scale of each room and space.

The spaces inside and out were decorated with beautiful plants and flowers.

Watch out where you go, you might find a lion that will sneeze on you. There is a family photo of the Vanderbilts around this lion with Mr. V sitting on top of the statue. It was great to see that they lived and loved their house as a home and did not treat it only as a museum. The pair of lions were referenced in the story we read so we needed our own family photo by one.

The house was amazing! Not that we didn’t expect to be impressed, but the grandness was evident in every room. One special gift for us was that someone played the pipe organ while we visited the first floor. The music moved into the rooms we were in just like we were in the same room as the organ. Our favorites were (Robby) the library, (Emily) the library and Mrs. Vanderbilt’s Room, (Julia) the whole house, and (Rachelle) the billiard room.

The house was to be lived in and enjoyed. It had its own bowling alley. Maybe one day there will be a tour that allows people to play a bit.

The stairway was inside and built into the outside. Two of each window sets were “doors” that could open and allow access to the balcony outside and allow fresh air into the house when needed. What cool detail.

Part of the “working” farm included sunflowers planted along a crop line.

Robby and I have wanted to take a trip and we decided that we should make a day trip to learn what it would be like to travel with Emily. We drove to North Carolina and visited Chimney Rock. The temperature had been dropping over the last couple of days and the day we had chosen to go was the day the temperature bottomed out. Because of the low temperature two of the trails were closed at Chimney Rock and Robby and I were disappointed to not be able to hike them. We were able to take in the vistas and do some light hiking around some large rock formations. Emily enjoyed the hike, but not the blustery winds. She would fuss when hit with a blow. For the most part Emily slept the whole day. She slept in the car and while hiking. Other than working out the hiking gear with Emily and her feedings, it was a pretty normal trip for us. I don’t think we will be taking any 7 mile hikes any time soon, but shorter excursions will be quite enjoyable!