Day 19 - Biltmore Part Deux and Asheville

Wednesday, May 25, 2022

Weather - Cloudy, with a high of 74F

Steps - Shaun: 17,127, Shannon: 17,090

Varmints - bunnies again, downy woodpecker, turkeys, and a gargantuan gaggle of goats

Such a good day today! We returned to the Biltmore Estate to explore the gardens to their fullest, and then we ventured into Asheville to shop til we dropped! Along the way we had some awesome food, saw some pretty things, and walked A LOT.

We started the day out right, with breakfast at Biscuit Head, a well-known restaurant that serves cat's head biscuits, or drop biscuits so big they are the size of a cat's head! Shaun was really pleased because not only did they have vegan biscuits, but they had vegan gravy and sausage as well. So, she got vegan biscuits and sausage gravy, while Shannon got a breakfast biscuit with egg and cheese and a side of loaded potatoes (potato hash with gravy, bacon, and chives). All were delicious, and we got biscuit donuts (that look like beignets) along with more regular biscuits to go to enjoy later.

It's at this point that we should probably mention that Shaun forgot her wallet after changing purses, so Shannon was playing Miss Moneybags all day. That didn't hinder either of us in the slightest, and we still did our part to support the economy of Asheville.

Leaving Biscuit Head fully fed and watered, we returned to the Biltmore Estate. We were able to bypass the house parking areas and go directly to the gardens, which have their own parking lot. They also have a really nice store, though we didn't end up buying anything there (Shaun thought about buying a beautiful wood, turquoise, and copper lamp, but it was over $300, so....nope). 

Like many botanical gardens, the gardens at the Biltmore are broken up into rooms, with some appearing very formal, while others feel more naturalistic. All were meticulously planned out by Frederick Law Olmsted (who also designed Central Park and the Smith College campus), just as the forests and streams and lake were also placed according to his design. The land on which the estate sits used to be overworked farm land, so Olmsted basically started from scratch. Most everything we saw in the gardens today was planted after the house was built in 1895, and much of it more recently, yet still according to Olmsted's plan. It's incredible what beauty they were able to create almost wholecloth, isn't it?

We visited the Conservatory first, which had cool, hot, and dry rooms. It was a multisensory experience, with the explosion of colors and textures, the sweet smells, and the sounds of water falling into fountains (often drowned out by screaming children). We were amazed at the displays of plants they put together, including an orchid room and a bed with canopy made entirely from plants. The only bad thing was the aforementioned screaming children; there were multiple school groups on the grounds today, so we had to dodge flocks of kids roaming around more than once.

Outside the Conservatory was the Rose Garden, and we timed our visit perfectly because all the rose bushes were in bloom. Boy did it smell wonderful! Every variety of rose you can imagine, including climbing, miniature, old fashioned, and floribunda, were in that garden.

From there we wandered up to the Walled Garden, which is where they put in their seasonal flower displays. We were between plantings, as the spring tulips are gone, but the summer plants aren't established yet. The perennial borders were pretty spectacular, though, mixing purple, chartreuse, and red with pops of white and lots of different textures to make quite a statement.

We continued up the hill toward the house, through part of the Shrub Garden, and found ourselves at the opposite end of the Italian Garden, which we had seen from the house the previous day. This section was cool because it had three large water gardens stocked with water lilies, irises, and koi. We walked the length of the Italian Garden, which borders the huge lawn in front of the Biltmore, and ended up back at the house. Rather than revisit the ground we had covered yesterday, we turned back into the Shrub Garden, but this time found ourselves under a beautiful wisteria-covered pergola. There were statues along the path and a fountain and it looked like it had been there forever.

Cutting through the Shrub Garden toward the Spring and Azalea Gardens, we saw lots of old favorites, such as flowering honeysuckle vines, Japanese maples, and a lilac tree. The Spring Garden was on its way out since North Carolina is much further along in the growing season than we are, but there were still some azaleas and dogwoods blooming. This continued into the Azalea Garden (obviously), with the addition of rhododendrons, mountain laurels, and deutzias. 

These areas were much more naturalistic than the more formal Italian, Walled, and Rose Gardens, and it felt almost like being on a hike. We took a gravel path through the woods along a stream, occasionally going over rock or wooden bridges, and it was a more curated version of going on the nature trail in the national park. 

We ended up going a bit further than we had intended on that gravel path, walking most of the way to the Bass Pond, so we decided to just continue on and check that area out too. It ended up being worth the extra walk, with a very cool rustic boathouse, beautiful reflections in the still water, and a waterfall where the pond spills out and continues its course as a river.

We were tired of walking by that point, and luckily the way back was shorter since we weren't taking a meandering course. We got to our car in good time, and we left the Biltmore Estate, well pleased with our experiences.

The gargantuan gaggle of goats—the Biltmore folks
use them as lawn mowers

From the Biltmore, we once again drove into Asheville, found a place to park, and set out to find a lunch spot. Shannon, our tour guide, found a wonderful Mexican restaurant that had both vegan “meat” and vegan queso! Shaun was in heaven, so we ordered a guacamole/salsa/queso appetizer plate, and then Shannon ordered some empanadas and Shaun ordered avocados stuffed with vegan chorizo. Our favorite of the three appetizers was the salsa. The guac was kind of tasteless, and the queso was made with sweet potato and carrots, and it just didn’t meet the cheesy taste and consistency need. Oh well, the meal still filled us up and got us ready to attack the city.

We really didn’t have anything in particular we needed to shop for except for some gifts for Shannon, but we knew we wanted to get chocolate chip cookies from a store we heard about on a podcast a couple years ago and to visit the Malaprop’s Bookstore, so off we went. Naturally, we got distracted right off the bat and went into an Asheville gifts store called MTN Merch, and it was all downhill from there. We found all kinds of cool stuff in there including some gifts that Shannon bought, some food items (including the peach rosemary jam Shaun had wanted from Biscuit Head at breakfast but forgot to buy), a t-shirt for Shan, and a bunch of stickers.

The biggest (and certainly most important thing) we bought, however, was a glorious picture of the Smokies at dawn printed on metal. We’ve been really interested in metal pictures since the Southwest trip, but they tend to be more expensive than canvas ones, so we’ve never pulled the trigger. However, when we were in Bryson City, we met a couple who owned a gallery that had a ton of metal pictures, and it rejuvenated our interest. There were some shots Shaun liked at that gallery, but at MTN Merch they were featuring an artist who had an absolutely incredible eye, and Shaun just couldn’t resist. And she definitely tried! She had taken the beautiful shot at the top of this blog in the morning, and it’s similar to the metal picture that was her favorite. She tried to talk herself into just printing her own picture, but she used her phone, so it just won't work. Needless to say, she bought the picture, which is about 2 foot wide by 1 foot tall, and she love love loves it! It perfectly captures the essence of our trip, and she can’t wait to figure out where to put it at her house.

Once we’d dropped all our loot off at the car, we decided to go to the chocolate shop (which wasn’t the one with the cookies we wanted because they were closed, so we made the supreme sacrifice and visited another one and had gelato. Shannon had a weird combination flavored with knot weed (a bit like rhubarb), strawberry, and cardamom, which tasted good and was refreshing, almost like the feeling left in your mouth after you've brushed your teeth, and Shaun had a vegan blueberry lavender sorbet.  Every restaurant we’ve been to in Asheville has had specific vegan offerings, so that should tell you a bit about the type of folks who live here. They’re definitely on the hippy side of the spectrum (which Shaun loves, of course!).

One of the many metal sculptures we saw around Asheville

We did make it to Malaprop’s, but it was only 20 minutes before they closed. Shannon found a book to buy (shocker!), but it wasn’t a very exciting store. It was one more data point for us as far as what to do and what not to do with Sanctuary, so it was a worthwhile stop.

We wandered around a bit more, but the city was starting to shut down. Shannon had one more person to buy for, so we brainstormed and figured out a place to visit (we can’t divulge the specifics to protect the surprise for this person). We actually spent a considerable amount of time there and had a ball with the proprietor. He was one of the creators of the products, and we really liked his wares, so we bought several things that included stuff for both of us, plus Shan's gift recipient. It was super fun, so we can’t wait to see if we like the stuff as much as we thought we would.

Once all the gifts were bought, we headed back to the car and drove back to the cottage in Marshall.  We had to make a quick stop to buy ketchup and whipping crème at WalMart (seriously, don’t ask).  After unloading our treasures, we ate dinner and settled down to write this blog. Tomorrow we are taking the day off and staying at the cottage. It's supposed to be a wash out rain day, so we decided to just take it easy and regather our strength for the last two days of our trip.

Day 18 - The Biltmore Estate

 

Tuesday - May 24, 2022

Weather - Mostly sunny with a high of 74 degree - very nice!

Steps - Shaun:  10,346, Shannon:  10,201

Varmints - Bunnies galore and a lone deer in the yard

Sorry about how crappy the picture is, but I was taking it through a very dirty window!

Today we had scheduled a behind-the-scenes tour of the Biltmore Estate, as well as a viewing of the Monet and Friends presentation that was much the same as the Van Gogh one we each saw in our respective cities (but we like Monet a lot better than Van Gogh, so we were excited!).

This is the view from the back porch of the house.  Incredible isn't it?

We got up at 7:30, had breakfast, saw a cute little deer out the window of the cottage, and headed back down the mountain and south to Asheville. We arrived in plenty of time for our 90-minute tour, and boy was it wonderful! We had a very learned docent named Wilma, and the other great thing about just the logistics of the tour was that everyone had their own little speaker that allowed Wilma to talk right into our ears. This really helped when we passed through areas where everyone else was making noise. I wish all tours would use this technology!

Let's just lay out a few basic facts about the Biltmore Estate first, shall we? It is the largest privately held home in the United States that started out as a dream of George Vanderbilt's to build a 6,000-square-foot hunting lodge but wound up becoming a 175,000-square-foot gigantic French chateau (no, that's not a typo). The property was once 125,000 acres, which included all of Mount Pisgah, but at some point about 85,000 acres were sold to the federal government and is now a part of the Pisgah National Forest. There are 250 total rooms, 35 of which are bedrooms, 43 bathrooms, and 65 fireplaces. Every finish is first class, and it's a marvel of wood, metal, and stone. Let me tell you, it's quite a house!

The tour took us to many places we would have never gotten to see, but it also left out many of the places that could be seen from the normal audio tour, so we had a wonderful lunch in the café in the converted stables, and then we went back into the house and took the audio tour so that we could see everything we had missed.

This gave us an hour or so to get out to the venue where the Monet presentation was being held, so we just hung out there until we could get in. We enjoyed all the pretty pictures (which lasted about 45 minutes), as well as the information about all the artists and the history of their lives. However, it wasn't done as well as the Van Gogh exhibit because the pictures weren't projected onto the entire floor, creating the immersive quality we had experienced with the Van Gogh one, and there were weird transitions where the screens just displayed a color. One thing that bothered Shannon in particular as well was that they were dispensing a fragrance in the room to create a multi-sensory experience, but the smell just caused her to sneeze and her nose to run. Probably not the kind of experience they were going for. All-in-all, it was a bit disappointing, but we still enjoyed it.

After the Monet exhibit, we drove into Asheville and picked up some Italian carry out and then went to a pizza place we'd been to in Cleveland called the Mellow Mushroom, and it had vegan cheese for Shaun! It was a lovely meal, and now we have dinners to last through the rest of the trip. We've decided to go back to the Biltmore tomorrow since we didn't get a chance to see the gardens, and then we'll go through downtown Asheville to see what's what.