The Getaway ~ Continued

The Indian food didn't kill me, and I'm sure my taste buds will grow back in time. At least I hope. lol


With snow everywhere and most of the town closed we decided to spend Saturday night snuggled up at the hotel watching movies. It was perfect just to lay around and relax. All the while of course watching the snow continue to fall outside the window.


Sunday we ventured out into the snow and headed to the Biltmore Estate. Despite the snow the parking lots were still crowed with tourists like ourselves, bundled up and ready to view the beautiful estates.


Some of the estate, like the greenhouses and deer park, were closed due to the weather but we still enjoyed driving around the estate and of course I took a ton of pictures (see below slideshow)!

After driving around for a bit we made our way to the winery (photo taken from Biltmore website), where we entered and got in line to for the wine tour.




I have never really been much of wine drinker.... mainly because I have just never really tried wine enough to find one that I would like. The wine tasting was perfect for that!


My favorite was the, Christmas at Biltmore™ White Wine - which was described as "A seasonal favorite, this semi-sweet white wine is an excellent complement to your favorite holiday dishes." So of course I had to purchase a bottle. Marine preferred the rose wines his favorite being the Blanc de Noir. Of course we ended up purchasing a bottle, I mean after drinking tons of wine before you enter the store does not to lead to good purchasing decisions!........ we left with four bottles. Yes four. Us the non wine drinkers. We each got a bottle of our favorite and then we purchased both of our mom's a bottle for a Christmas present.




So yes the Biltmore's marketing strategy worked on us quite nicely. Well done Biltmore. Well done.




After this of course we are hungry, so we walk across to the Bistro (picture taken from Biltmore website) - which is very conveniently located next to the winery. This is a rather late lunch and so not to spoil our diner we each order lightly; I order a bowl of potato soup and Marine orders the French onion. Mine was delicious! Was it $8 good for a small bowl? No, not really. But I was hungry and on the over priced menu, it was acceptable.


We wondered around the village after this and wasted time till we would need to return for our scheduled Candlelight tour.





The night was cold and we were bundled up as we exited the shuttle bus in front of the enormous house. It was breathtaking.


And that is putting it mildly. We paused for a picture on the front steps before leaving the chilled night air for the comfort of the enormous house.





Inside the rooms were even more amazing. Each room so different from the last; all so well staged with antique beds and old timey desks that made my imagination ponder about what had been written at them so long ago as guests of Mr. Biltmore probably sat and wrote about the adventures they had while on their stay at the Estate.



Of course photography was not allowed in the house or I would have a ton of pictures to put post here. But lets just say it was well worth the while taking the candlelight tour.



The house is HUGE!!! I could never imagine having lived their. Especially as a child!? I mean there were so many places that one could get lost and my imagination would have pictured monsters behind every corner. The plus, however, would have been that it would have been a great place to play hide-and-seek with your friends.



The next day (Monday December 21) we packed the LandRover and headed toward home. Deciding to take the scenic route and in being in no rush we stopped at a Casino and gambled a little bit.

Marine and I each decided to only gamble $10 each. We played for about an hour before deciding to continue on our journey home. Marine lost all his money. I started with $10 and left with $12 so I was pleased. Seems I'm pretty good at the penny slots..... now the dollar slots.... yeah they like to take my money! hehe

Overall it was a great weekend getaway. I was so surprised and quite impressed that Marine had booked everything himself and kept it a surprise for over a month. It was so thoughtful and the unexpected snow added a magical feel to the weekend. I was not ready to come home.

Chandler: (Jumping on the hotel bed) "I can't believe it! We're here!"

Monica: "Ooh, chocolates on the pillows! I love that!"

Chandler: "Oh, you should live with Joey. Rolos everywhere."

~ Friends ~