Our Family of Six: The Biltmore

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

The Biltmore

We planned to go to the Biltmore in Ashville, NC about 2 hours away on day 2 of my families visit. But sadly, Kari became very sick. It actually turned out for the best because it was super rainy and the next day was nice and sunny. So day 3 we headed to Ashville, NC.

The Biltmore was amazing. We weren't allowed to take pictures of the inside. I was kind of sad about that, but then I realized I would have taken way too many pictures. So here are the outdoor photos and what I remember from the audio tour of the Biltmore Mansion.

This was the view from one of the balconies. The Smoky Mountains are those dark blue hills in the distance.

We purchased umbrella strollers for the twins to ride in instead of taking our huge double stroller. We had to carry them up and down stairs so this worked out great.

Here's the crew.

The Biltmore is just huge. I remember it had an indoor pool that took 3 days to fill and warm up. They would swim in it for a day and then drain it.

There was a two lane bowling alley, fitness room, a huge library that looked like the one from Beauty and the Beast. It even had the spiral staircase!

One room was King Louis the 14th or something...anyways it was decorated in reds and velvets. It was where Mrs. Vanderbilt gave birth to her babies and it had a bassinet in the room too. There was a balcony that looked over the gardens.

There were separate changing rooms for men and women and secret doors.
Back of the bus picture.

Kira and Kari hanging out.

The architecture is just amazing.

Cheese.

The four of us. Kari, Melissa, Me and Michael.

Me and Melissa

After the tour we left the estate so we didn't have to pay $20 for a burger. We ate at Zoe's Kitchen. Mmmm good.

I got the steak sandwich with caramelized onions.

Nels bought the kids a frosty and fries from Wendy's across the street. Isak thought it was fun to feed Nels the fries.

Then we headed back to the estate to look at the conservatory and grounds.

So Michael was absolutely wonderful with the babies. He was always pushing one of them in the stroller or carrying them when they got fussy. Wow! I don't know what we would have done without him. Thanks Michael!!

Pretty flowers.

The boys and the babies.

Kari, Melissa and Me.

We noticed this plant named St. Anthony's Rick Rack and we thought of our home town St. Anthony, Idaho.

There was a lot of walking. I am glad we went when it was sunny instead of rainy!

Nels remembers the elevator in the mansion. It was an Otis and still ran on the original motor! Also, the stone was from a quarry in Indiana and the foundation had stones 19 feet thick...or something like that.