Gatlinburg 2011 Trip Report: Tues. Oct. 18

On Tuesday, we had tickets to the Biltmore House in Asheville, North Carolina.  When I bought the tickets for that day, the weather was supposed to be warm and sunny.   Closer to the day to go, the weather forecast changed to rain.  We were blessed with a great warm, sunny day and no rain, except for a few sprinkles on the way home.  We got up a little later than had planned, but we were off and headed down the road at 9:00 a.m.  It was about a 2 hours drive to Asheville from Gatlinburg, and the scenery along I-40 was absolutely beautiful.  Once we arrived at the Biltmore, I was in awe of how beautiful it was and how big it is.  The Biltmore House is a 250+ room home.  Home is putting it mildly!  You can click on the link to read more about it.  We were able to tour the inside of the house, but weren’t allowed to take any pictures inside L, and then we toured the property, flower gardens, farm, winery and just the property in general.   We had lunch at the Stable Café and it was yummy.  I had a salad with romaine lettuce, cheddar cheese strips, fried okra, tomatoes, deviled eggs, rotisserie chicken, and brown sugar bacon, and then I had a cup of potato soup. 

On our way back home, we took a short cut across the Blue Ridge Parkway, which is another beautiful drive through the mountains.  We drove into Pigeon Forge for dinner that night at the Applewood Farmhouse Grill, which was delish too.  I had the sampler platter with chicken and dumplings, fried chicken, and chicken pot pie, fried apples, and mashed potatoes and gravy.  All meals were served with apple julep, apple fritters, and apple butter.   And of course, we ate too much and then stopped for dessert on the way back to the hotel L



Shawnie and I at the Biltmore House

The Biltmore House

Shawnie and I at the Biltmore House

The view off the back veranda.  Would it be amazing to have this view each morning!

The back veranda with the amazing view of the countryside.  This porch was huge and had about 5 or 6 sets of these chairs spaced down the porch.

My lunch at the Stable Cafe

Inside the green house

When I took this picture, I was just taking a close up of the grasshopper on the plant.  Upon further inspection of the picture, I realize the grasshopper is pooping on the plant.  LOL!!

The green house on the Biltmore property