Mom's arrival & Biltmore Estate & Gardens

My mom flew into Atlanta on Thursday April 17th. Josh had school all day, so I made the 3 hour drive by myself. It was so pretty and peaceful! All of the trees were sooo green and some were blooming :) I am really bad about enjoying the scenery in the car. I either knit/crochet, read, or sleep haha I can sleep just about anywhere, so the second I get in the passenger seat of a car, I start to doze a little :) Anyways... Her flight was scheduled to land at 3pm, so I left early enough to find parking and get inside. I finally navigated construction and made a few laps before finding parking. I got inside at 2:45, and I found out her plane was delayed :( I was so anxious to see her! It had been 3 1/2 months... the longest I have ever been away from either of my parents!! I stood at the arrival gate looking at the board every ten seconds to see if it had landed. It took forever to say arrived after having said landed. I was literally at the front of the line scanning every single head that came up the escalator. (Side note..I did some awesome people watching during this time! You see all kinds coming off planes at an international airport ;) She was finally able to call me and say she was making the 5 mile trek from the plane to the arrival gate since the train was completely full! I finally saw her coming up the escalator, and it was all I could do to stay behind the security line! That first hug was the best feeling ever! I'm sure we looked crazy blocking ALL of the traffic and hugging and smiling and hugging and smiling more for like 5 minutes straight :) Once we finally decided to head to the car, I got lost! I am terrible about figuring out directions. I knew exactly where I was parked, but we could not figure out how to get there! Everyone we asked directions to told us to get on the bus, but I knew we did NOT need to get on the bus. Finally a nice maintenance worker pointed us in the right direction to the escalator! I was so excited to see my mom I had completely forgotten I took an escalator haha We stopped off for a quick dinner so we could drive home in the daylight. My mom picked the perfect time to come, because it is absolutely beautiful this time of year!! My mom was in awe at everything. It was so refreshing to be with someone seeing this place for the first time. We have gotten so used to everything, that I forgot just what we have surrounding us :)

The first night we stayed up visiting for a while. The next day we made plans to visit Biltmore Estate in Asheville. It is America's largest home built my George Vanderbilt in 1895. The estate is 10 square miles, and the home is 178,000 sq. ft. There are 250 rooms in the mansion plus a 70 ft. swimming pool, bowling alley, billiard room, and a 2 story library. There are synchronized clocks and an intercom system throughout the entire house. Even though it was built in the 1800's, it was fully plumbed and wired for electricity. They also had a full time staff with living quarters in one wing of the house. We chose to take a behind the scenes Butler's Tour in order to see where the crew worked and lived. It was very informative and amazing to see! The maids slept right next to the kitchen, and the men slept above the barn. A lot of times, the crew worked from 6am to midnight keeping the house running smoothly. It is now owned by Biltmore Company which is controlled by George Vanderbilts grandson William Cecil. It was opened up to the public as a tourist attraction to raise money during the depression, but family didn't stop living there until 1956 when it was officially declared a house museum. However, one of the families still lives on the estate, and works at the mansion daily. It is truly amazing!

Grand clock above the barn for all of the synchronized clocks

Men's quarters and service entrance

Outside view of the spiral staircase

 

In addition to the amazing mansion with shops in the old barn, there are amazing gardens, a greenhouse, and a winery in the old dairy barn. They have live music down by the other shops at what they call Antler Hill. We were there ALL DAY! We were tired by the end, but it was so fun :) 

 

Selfie in the Greenhouse :)

Rare car: cost $5,000 in 1904 = $110,000 in 2014