I promise this will be my last Christmas post, can you tell what my favorite holiday is? :) Between last minute projects and the usual holiday hustle and bustle I've been slacking off on my blogging lately.
I am a very intense photographer! :)
Anyway, I want to share with you the fun we've had on the our family vacation! My family and I have season passes to the Biltmore Estate in North Carolina and we've been having a wonderful time! Today is our last day here and I'm totally going to do the annoying tourist thing and show you a thousand vacations pics. Sorry! :)
Biltmore Estate
This is one of my favorites, and also the longest. I understand if you glaze over it. :)
What a front yard! Normally the trees in the center aren't there, they're part of their giant Christmas display.
The Biltmore Estate was built by George Vanderbilt, grandson of Cornelius Vanderbilt. He teamed up with architect Richard Morris Hunt and landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted to create the home that continues to hold the title of Largest Privately Owned Home in America! The house was opened to the public originally during the Great Depression to draw tourists into the Asheville area. It is currently run by George's great grandson and his family. They have continued to restore many of the 250 rooms and several are open to tour. Unfortunately, we aren't allowed to take pictures inside the house as it damages the delicate materials so you're going to have to suffer through a thousand shots of the outside. :)
Beautiful
clear skies today! The ponds to the left are part of the water gardens or Italian Garden,
they actually had chunks of ice on top! The original plans for this house show a much smaller home, however Richard Morris Hunt suggested that a large house was necessary in order to stay proportionate to the Blue Ridge Mountain backdrop.
All of these photos were taken from a beautiful retaining wall. The ramp to the upper level lawn has low level steps in the middle, but smooth ramps on the outside. This design allowed a horse to travel up the middle, while the carriage he pulls rides on the smooth outer ramps. I love some 19th century technology! :)
We traveled up the path to do a bit of exploring before it was time for our tour. This lamp post reminded me so much of the one from Narnia! :) lol
This is the statue of Diana, I love the house peeking through the treeline. The surrounding forest is part of the Pisgah National Forest. A beautiful landscape that may not exist had Vanderbilt not intervened. When he purchased the land for his estate, most of it had been clear-cut and over-farmed, however he worked hand in hand with landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted to rejuvenate the tired land. Many actually credit them as the fathers of modern forestry!
I don't know why but this is one of my favorite pictures. It was very chilly while we were there! Does my scarf look familiar? :)
We also took some wonderful photos from the roof while on the Architect's tour. This is one of my favorite tours and I highly recommend it!
This is part of the stonework over the front door. The details added by Vanderbilt and Hunt are incredible! Plus, each shingle was added individually.
This view shows the Bachelor's Wing of the house as well as a portion of the beautiful stable.
Many of the windows have additional stonework details framing them, so beautiful! This view, taken from a veranda, reminds me of Notre Dame.
Look, even George used chevron! He's my kind of guy! :)
The Grand Staircase is one of my favorite architectural features of the house. It has no visible means of support rather the stairs hold each other up. In addition to the intricate carving, it also features two French saints. One is the saint of architecture, the other is Joan of Arc.
This is the wing that contains many of the guest rooms. This view was taken from the top of the Grand Staircase.
I love the roof of the winter garden! I could definitely spend some time here!
Even
the spires had beautiful decorations! You can see the family's
religious inspirations throughout the estate. There are several crosses
decorating the roof as well as carvings in and around the house. The
Vanderbilts and their architect Richard Morris Hunt also designed All
Souls Cathedral in Biltmore Village.
The
stone carvers were allowed a bit more creative freedom on the back
veranda. These statues are off the guest balcony and are much more
'risque' for their time. To the right (not in the shot) is one with a
likeness of Richard Morris Hunt, the architect, who appears to be
scratching his head. Perhaps thinking, "What in the world?!?" Who
doesn't love architect humor?
The
Biltmore is often called 'An English lady in a French dress' because
the interior is heavily inspired by European estates, while the outside
is very reminiscent of French Chateaus. This can be seen in the number
of gargoyles and grotesques that decorate the house, ward off evil
spirits, and previously helped provide drainage. These two are the most
photographed on the estate, the one on top is a bear with a honey pot,
how cute is that?
Okay, I'm done with Biltmore now, I promise. :)
North Carolina
Us Floridians are not used to the chilly weather up north! (yes, this is 'up north' for us) It's barely dropped below 70 lately in Florida, but during the day here it hovered in the 30's and 40's and dropped into the 20's at night! Crazy!
Look Ma, there's frost on the leaf and the sun is out!
Leaves actually fell off the trees around here, amazing! It's actually crazy how different the mountains look once the trees lose their leaves.
But not all the trees are bare! So this is what a coniferous tree in the wild looks like! Like that? I used 'coniferous' just like I learned in ag class! :)
My favorite 'frost' picture was taken by Momma!
Snow Tubing
Unfortunately there wasn't any natural snowfall while we were vacationing, so we found some man-made snow at the tubing section at Wolf Ridge Ski Resort in Mars Hill. This vacation was the first time I've ever seen
snow or icicles! Here are a few things I learned: it's WET, it's NOT fluffy, it's very slick, and it IS painful!
Miranda and I decided to brave tubing...
We started by sliding down the big hill and tried to avoid taking out small children.
Seriously, snow hurts! I always thought it was like fluffy balls of cotton...
We were trying to do all the 'traditional' snow things. Like our little snowman? He likes warm hugs ;)
It may look like I'm striking a pose, but I'm seriously just trying to stay on my feet! Again, did NOT realize how slick snow is!
This was also the first snow for my mom and sister. Like their hats? You'll never guess who crocheted those! ;) Miranda's is a camo toboggan that has a little hole in the back for her ponytail to poke out. Momma's is her favorite teal color with a rolled brim and peacock feather accent.
Again, on a mission to do all the 'traditional' snow activities including a snowball fight!
Miranda was able to get in a lot of deadly-good headshots!
Overall we had an awesome day playing in our first-ever snow! :)
Pisgah Forest
As I previously mentioned, Pisgah forest wouldn't exist like it does now if it weren't for Vanderbilts. Vanderbilt once owned nearly all of what is now Pisgah National Forest, including Mt. Pisgah! George and Olmsted helped restore the tired land. Unfortunately following George's death, his widow, Edith, had to made some tough decisions. Property tax laws went into affect in American shortly after his death and they could not afford to run the estate and pay taxes on their massive expanse of land. Edith cut a deal with the government to sell part of the land for $5 an acre (don't worry, she still kept plenty) provided that it became a part of the Pisgah National Forest and remained largely untouched. Thanks to this deal, we now have a beautiful park here, and the land still shows us George's vision. Anyway, one of the beautiful natural sights in the forest is Looking Glass Falls.
Isn't it beautiful? The bottom of the falls was FREEZING but it was still a beautiful sight!
I like peeking at it through the trees. :) We also drove down a scenic parkway in the park. We were hoping to drive the Blue Ridge Parkway, but it was closed.
The view was beautiful, even without clear skies!
Grove Park Inn/Gingerbread Competition
We also make a quick stop at the Grove Park Inn to take a look at the finalists in the annual gingerbread competition. We've been past it before, but had no idea how massive and grandiose it was until we actually went inside!
This is the view from the back veranda...
My favorite gingerbread was part of the teen competition, it's a Mary Poppins themed house! :)
Isn't that awesome? I love the chimney sweeps on the roofline!
Momma's favorite was also part of the teen competition, it's "Christmas Vacation" themed! How awesome is that? I love cousin Eddie's trailer out front and the extension cords running to the side of the house!
I photographed this one to show my students. Just before Christmas break we allowed the children to make their own graham cracker houses and I thought my boys would especially appreciate this Star Wars house! This amazing house was part of the youth division!
And finally, the only adult house I'm going to show you. It's called "Peace on Earth" (I think) and was the grand prize winner. It really is a beautiful and intricate display! (Check it out, you can see my reflection in the background!)
Okay, okay, I promise I'm finally done now. Hope you enjoyed your Christmas! :)
~Farm Girl Teacher
