The Biltmore Estate

Although I arrived home late on Friday night, I was really excited to keep with our plans to go with Tracy (from work) and her mom the next morning to the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC. We had heard a lot about it and Tracy and Elizabeth had annual passes there last year, so off we went! Tracy and her mom packes us all a wonderful picnic lunch to eat once we got there so long as we brought the blanket-- what fun people they are.

The Biltmore Estate was built in the late 1800's by George Vanderbilt, and is supposed to be one of the largest private estates in America. Even though the place was packed, once you walk away from the house itself, the grounds swallow you up and not a soul can be seen. Here is our secluded picnic spot:

The more manicured garden section has several greenhouses and specialty areas


Paul surveying the backyard

The Biltmore House itself

(we could not take pictures inside)

On the drive home we ended up finishing our lunch by way of a tailgate party/picnic.

We were in the parking lot of Bi-Lo, which let to one or two comments about ourselves as being a bit "red-neck" as the saying goes. Not that anything's wrong with that.... :-)

We ran low on buns so had our sandwiches open-faced, like a halfway In-N-Out Burger's Protein Burger: each person got a bottom or top bun and a lettuce leaf to act as the top bun to hold everything in. It was pretty dang chilly, but note that the Englishman still doesn't need a jacket.