Friday, I left work early to get on my way to Asheville, NC before the freezing weather and possibly snow hit which seems to be an inevitable occurrence every time I have something planned on the weekends. Plus as you are driving from TN into NC you have to cross through the Great Smoky mountains (what the locals call "the gorge".) I knew this area usually gets dangerous when the temp goes below freezing and the rain water turns to ice on the road. Even though I left early I got about half way through the gorge and the rain turned to snow. It wasn't too bad to drive in, though, since it was new snow and had not had time to accumulate on the ground or turn to ice.
Once I arrived in Asheville area I met up with my friend from PT school, Danielle, and we went to her friend's house who was nice enough to let us stay there for the weekend.
The next morning as we left the house the roads were looking good. Of course, we could not have known that the snow would be coming down twice as thick when we arrived at the Biltmore, and the long winding road to the parking lot from the road was a beautiful, but slick. We made it safe and sound and were lucky enough to have made it in and we were touring the house before they had to close the road for a while due to someone getting stuck.
The house was beautiful! It was HUGE. But that should go without saying since it is the largest privately owned residence in the country.
Some facts:
It boasts 250 rooms!
384 doors
35 bedrooms
65 fireplaces
43 bathrooms
a 70,000 gallon indoor swimming pool with electric lights under the water (unheard of in that time)
a bowling alley
the same person who designed the gardens for the Biltmore also designed Central Park (Frederick Law Olmsted)
many examples of one of a kind paintings and tapestry's
and my personal favorite a two story library with over 10,000 books! It was magnificent.
After touring the house we went to the Conservatory where some of the plants for the gardens are grown. It was nice and warm in there. Then we drove around the grounds and over to Antler Village.
Antler Village is where the old dairy used to be. Now it serves as a little town with a restaurant, winery, creamery and a couple other little shops. The creamery makes ice cream from the cows on the Biltmore Estate. These cows are known for producing milk with a higher fat content. Therefore, the ice cream is much richer and tastier. I only had a sample, but it was so rich that just a spoonful was enough! Danielle and I also did the complementary wine tasting and bought one of the Biltmore's Limited Edition white wines.
Later that evening we braved the weather to go out in downtown Asheville. I was really cool and we ate dinner at an all organic restaurant Tupelo Honey. Very cool atmosphere and the food was great.
As if the bite of ice cream wasn't tempting enough we then went over to the "Chocolate Lounge." This was an awesome chocolate/coffee shop. They had a band playing folk music and an assortment of chocolate that was to die for! Truffles, chocolate mousse, chocolate cake... well I couldn't resist the house specialty, the dark chocolate liquid truffle.
WOW! Literally, the best thing I have ever tasted. It was the thickest cup of hot chocolate you can imagine and it really tasted like a truffle. Don't worry it was only a 4 oz glass and I couldn't even finish half. (But I did take the rest home and stick it in the frige for later. Hopefully, it will last.)
The ride back home was relatively uneventful except for one incident in the gorge where the person in front of me swerved off the road and into a pile of snow to avoid hitting the person in front of him when we came upon an icy spot.
However, that was nothing compared to the snow fall we had last night. We got about 8 inches and I could not get out of the driveway. Thankfully, one of Mrs. Richey's friends who has a FWD truck was able to take me in. Tomorrow may be a different story though.
