The Degree Family Adventures: The Biltmore

Monday was our trip to the Biltmore. Mom and I had been before, but Jamie hadn't ever been and when you are in the Asheville area it is something you HAVE to go and see. The home took 6 years to build, was built on 125, 000 acres and it gi-normous!! If you have ever seen the movie "Richie Rich", they use that house as Richie's house. We weren't able to take any photos inside, but we were able to take photos of the grounds and the outside of the house. Can you imagine living there or growing up there as a child?!

It is really something considering they build this at the end of the 19th century. George Vanderbuilt built this home before he was even married and had children! The grounds are just as impressive. The gardens are beautiful, we were lucky to catch the end of the tulips, the azaleas were in full bloom though. Here are some photos of the grounds.

The flowers up above is wisteria, it was all over the place, and sooo pretty!

Once the tulips go by they replace them with some annuals, like pansies.

Here is a little fountain on a part of the grounds where they hold concerts and such in the summertime.

Here is Meme enjoying some of the tulips. We had to get a photo of Miles enjoying the tulips as well...

We walked down to check out the green houses, also some very beautiful flowers.

So impressive!

This is called a lollipop plant....

Beautiful orchids, right?!

This is the Inn where you can stay right on the property...

We went to Cedric's for lunch, it is a 'pub', pretty fancy if you ask me, delicious food though! Cedric was the family's beloved St. Bernard. There were Vanderbuilt family photos all over the place.

Mies was doing well this whole time, considering he hadn't really slept all day. In this picture he clearly is not thrilled with whatever story was being told...