Autumn in Asheville - Part 2

Our second day in Asheville was a little more adveturous than the first. We decided to take a beautiful drive to a park called Chimney Rock. We didn't really know what to expect and we certainly didn't bring clothing for hiking, etc., but we knew that we could see spectacular views so we decided to head there anyway. Did I mention the drive was beautiful?

We pulled into the park and looked up to see Chimney Rock.

This was the view from the parking lot.  Our destination was that little American flag that is barely visible.  Thankfully, they had a shuttle that took us half way up the mountain!

Here is a view from the shuttle drop off.  This looked a tiny bit less intimidating.

Here is my pretty momma posing for a picture before we started our "hike".  That is Lake Lure behind her.  Again, the views were amazing!

Here is a picture of both of us as we were psyching ourselves up for our "hike".  We deemed ourselves the best dressed hikers of the day :)  Everyone else seemed to throw fashion out the window and wore tennis shoes and exercise clothing.  Don't know what they were thinking?!  Ha ha!

Another view of the rock.

 
Mom wanted me to snap a pic of the last set of stairs that we had to climb.  In total, I think we climbed close to 1100 steps that day.  Whew!!!

A view from the top.  It was super windy up there!

And then there is me, posing like I've conquered the world!  Don't I look like a natural hiker?!?!

After our climb down (which seemed to go faster than the climb up) we headed to the little town of Lake Lure for lunch and a little break for our feet.  After lunch we ended up taking a boat tour of the lake.  By the time we arrived and went to purchase our tickets they had apparently sold out for the day, so we were pretty bummed.  We decided to walk around a little bit to kill some time and ended up close to dock where the tours were departing.  We heard a couple of the guides talking about how part of their group was late so I piped up and told them that we really wanted to take a tour and if their group didn't show up we would take their spots.  Well, the guides must have taken pity on us because they let us on the boat even though the group showed up!  The lake was beautiful and and also had breathtaking views. 

However, the most exciting thing about Lake Lure was this:

You may be wondering what is so exciting about a quiet little cove and a set of old stone steps.  Well, maybe this video will help (I tried to embed it but couldn't.)  Or how about this one?  That's right!  We got to see where these two scenes from Dirty Dancing were filmed!!  That little cove pictured above is where all of the water scenes were filmed.  Apparently, they had to film in October so it was very cold and since the leaves turn beautiful shades of red and orange in October, they had to spray paint them greeb every morning to make it look like it was summer.  I need to go back and watch the movie again because our guide said if you look closely you can see leaves falling from the trees. The steps obviously need a little repair as they were white in the movie, but these are the exact stairs that Baby danced down!  Crazy huh!

After our adventurous day, we headed back to town to clean up for dinner at the Grove Park Inn that we had visited the day we arrived.  We had a delicious dinner overlooking the mountains and got to watch a beautiful sunset.  It was a perfect evening.

Our final day in Asheville was Sunday and since our flight didn't leave until later in the afternoon, we decided to take another beautiful drive along the Blue Ridge Parkway.  Our pictures do not do the scenery justice.  It was amazing and we were still about ten days too early for the full color!  As we stood at the overlooks, we were reminded of how big God is and how amazing His creation is. 

My mom and I had a wonderful time together and this is a trip I will remember forever!  We have never traveled together, just the two of us, and I can't wait until we do it again. 



Autumn in Asheville - Part One

Last week, my mom and I took a Mother Daughter vacation to Asheville, NC.  We heard autumn in that part of the country is spectacular and I had some down time at work so the timing worked out perfect for a beautiful and relaxing trip!

I really didn't know much about Asheville prior to leaving, except that it is the home of the Biltmore Estate, which was one of the main attractions during our visit.  When we arrived on Thursday afternoon, we were greated with beautiful trees and wonderful weather.  We ventured downtown for lunch and some shopping.  Downtown Asheville reminds me a lot of Boulder, CO.  Its very eclectic with a little hippy flair.  There were dogs lounging near cafe tables that were on the sidewalk, dogs being walked up and down the streets, and there were even dogs in a few stores.  There was also a strong "Buy Local" message downtown and a lot of the shops were little mom and pop type shops and boutiques as opposed to chain stores.  Mom and I stopped for lunch at a crepe restautrant and had a delicious crepe sandwich and a dessert crepe called a "Dirty Banana".  It was stuffed with Nutella and bananas and drizzled with caramel.  Delicious!

After we browsed around downtown, we decided to drive around and see what we could stumble upon.  After noticing a few signs for the Historic Grove Park Inn, we decided to go check it out.  One of my mom's friends, who is actually from the area, told us to make dinner reservations at the Inn, so we thought we would do that while we were there.  It is a very old hotel and resort nestled back in the trees and many famous people have stayed there including Eleanor Roosevelt, Henry Ford, and most recently President Obama.



{That is one of the two fireplaces in the lobby area of the hotel.  It was HUGE!}

 Since we had been traveling all day, we headed back to the hotel and decided to catch a movie that evening.  We ended up seeing The Help and it was fabulous.  Mom had read the book, but I had not so it was all new to me.  I'm usually not a crier, but the ending killed me!

The next morning, we got up and headed to the Biltmore Estate, which was the main focus of our trip.  The only word I can think of to describe this place is "unfathomable"!  The place was enormous and lavish and I just can't imagine having that kind of money during that time period.  We were not allowed to take pictures inside, but here are a few from the outside:

And a few stats:

• The estate sits on 125,000 acres.  The landscaping was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, the creator of New York's Central Park.
• It took five years to build the estate.
• There are 250 rooms inside.
• George Vanderbilt was a bachelor when he built the estate.
• The land was pretty much beran so he planted 3 million trees on the property.
• They opened a dairy on the property, not for milk but for the manure so they could plant all of those trees. 
• In the basement there is a 70,000 gallon pool, a bowling alley, a workout facility, and a party room.  And that doesn't even begin to include the multiple kitchens, pantries, changing rooms, etc.

The craftsmanship inside the home is beautiful.  The banquet room reminded us of a church sactuary because of the high ceilings, the organ pipes, and the large chairs.  The textiles that were used for the bedding and drapery were exquisite.  The views that looked out over the Blue Ridge Mountains were breathtaking.  It is just something you have to see to believe. 

The estate is still the largest privately owned estate in the country and the family has put a lot of effort into preserving it and keeping it in the family.  They turned the carriage house, which is not shown in these pictures, into a little gift shop and restaurant corridor.  There are a couple of outdoor cafes, along with the Stable Cafe, which is where we had lunch, and then several shops.  Here is a picture from our lunch:

After lunch we headed to Antler Hill Village, which is also on the Biltmore property.  It is the area where the dairy, turned winery, is located along with the barns and a produce garden.  We had to drive a couple of miles to reach Antler Hill and passed through the Biltmore Gardens on our way.  They were busy preparing for fall, so the gardens were full of beautiful mums!

A few pics from Antler Hill:



{The large hotel in the back of the picture is the Biltmore Inn}



{Produce garden}

We toured the winery while we were there and then headed up to the Biltmore Inn for afternoon tea.  The Inn is a very nice hotel that is located on the property.  It also provided amazing views of the mountains and we had a lovely afternoon tea.  We were still full from lunch so we ended up taking half of our tea goodies to-go.

Here are a few pictures from the Inn:

{If you look close, you can see the roofline of the Biltmore Estate.}

By the end fo the day, we were pretty wiped out!  We headed back to the hotel to rest up for our adventures the next day.  Stay tuned!