12th Installment - Biltmore Estate, Asheville, NC, June 29 Wednesday

Biltmore Estate, Asheville, NC

June 29 Wednesday

From Maggie Valley, we drove east about 60 miles to Asheville, NC via US19 and I40 and cut 70 or so miles out of the

Blue Ridge Parkway

.  While I had heard a bit about the Biltmore Estate it wasn’t on our thoughts of places to visit, but I’m glad we took the time.  Biltmore was opened to visitors for the first time on Christmas Eve in 1895.  It had been built over the prior 6 years by George Washington Vanderbilt III who was 33 and a bachelor at the time.  Big and beautiful are not sufficient, but they are accurate. 

Vanderbilt brought all he could buy in Europe to decorate his new estate just like Hearst did later to build the Hearst Castle in California.  The resulting 250-room Biltmore mansion has 135,000 or maybe 175,000 square feet of space depending on which source you believe - 4 acres under the roof.  Either way it has plenty of room for 33 family and guest bedrooms, 43 bathrooms (indoor you know, which was a new thing in the 1890s), 65 fireplaces, three kitchens, and an indoor swimming pool.  Unfortunately you’re not permitted to take photos inside, so you’ll just have to google Biltmore if you want to see the interior.  We did rent the audio tour at the Biltmore which is something we had never done at any other museum or site.  It added to my enjoyment and understanding and would recommend it if you visit.  We spent about 3 hours inside the house.  Reyna made it through 3 floors, and then I continued on to the basement with kitchens and the bachelor wing while she rested.   

As our souvenir book “A Pictorial Guide to the Biltmore” points out, the “surrounding grounds are equally impressive, encompassing 125,000 acres of forests, farms and a dairy, a 250-acre wooded park, five pleasure gardens, and 30 miles of macadamized roadways.”  The grounds were designed (much of the native forest had been logged and farmed – Vanderbilt acquired many properties) by Frederick Law Olmstead architect of New York’s Grand Central Park.  It also has a winery with free tasting, which we enjoyed after our tour.

Entrance to Biltmore

The Approach Road to Biltmore – some of that “macadamized roadway”



still not to the Biltmore – the

Approach Road

is 3 miles I read





Biltmore – the shuttle buses lined up in front bring visitors from the parking area



Could be a cathedral?

In the Italian Garden

Water lilies in pond in the Italian Garden

View in Japanese Garden

View of the grounds designed by Olmstead – hard to believe this is man-built.

When these swans heard my car door open, they headed straight toward me.  I’m pretty sure they expected a handout, but they were disappointed.

Back side of Biltmore

Having spent the day at Biltmore, we found a motel for the night (Howard Johnsons) and went out to dinner where we enjoyed an outstanding Thai meal at Thai Orchid at 11 Broadway in Asheville, 28801.  Phone 828 281 8151.  Hope you enjoy this place.  Their PadThai was really outstanding.  Ask the owner if he might share some of his homemade chili sauce with you.

11th Installment – Tail of the Dragon, NC, DollyWood, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Clingmans Dome, Blue Ridge Parkway, Maggie Valley, NC June 28 Tuesday

June 28 Tuesday

We left Robbinsville heading west on 129 along the scenic route marked on our AAA map.  The Tail of the Dragon part of the route started as we crossed the border into Tennessee at Deals Gap, but we were oblivious to it at that time.  There were bill boards at Deals Gap, but I paid them no particular note as they were marketed to motorcyclists.

 

The Tail of the Dragon and then the Foothills Parkway were just beautiful cruising.  Not high speed for sure.  Just right for the VW, mostly 3^rd gear, although we did have to shift a bit.  One of the things we noticed is that there were photographers along the Tail of the Dragon taking pictures of the motorcyclists and everybody else that went by and posting them for sale on the internet.  We went by at least 3 of them.  Here are links to websites with pics of us on Tail of the Dragon.

Pictures 4 – 12 at this link http://www.photoreflect.com/store/Orderpage.aspx?pi=1WPV003F060008&po=8&pc=526

Pictures 45 -51 at this link http://www.photoreflect.com/store/Orderpage.aspx?pi=0QAK00ZG000046&po=46&pc=860



Highway parallels the Little Tennessee River somewhere west of Robinsville





Dam and power plant on the Little Tennessee River



Another dam a bit further down the river



Highway 129 climbing up to NC border with TN



Tennessee border with NC on Hwy 129 – Deals Gap is name of town near here and the beginning of the Tail of the Dragon.



Rock along side of highway 129 east of

Foothills Parkway

junction



Sorry that there are no pictures of the Tail of the Dragon highway except for the links.  I had to pay too much attention to the road for my usual pictures out the window while driving.  A short ways after entering TN, we turned off US129 to follow the

Foothills Parkway

on southwest side of Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

**************put scan of tail of dragoon map

At junction with 129

Typical “parkway” style road with no shoulders.

Great Smoky Mountains Park living up to its name.

Aptly named turnout



Look Rock -- people used to go out onthe rock and it's straight down over the edge. Now there is a viewing spot just above it with nice concrete wall to stay behind.



The view from Look Rock

The Foothills Parkway took us to US321 TN73 and on to Pigeon Forge, TN, which is home to DollyWood (Dolly Parton’s theme park) and just outside the western entrance of Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  The highway through Pigeon Forge is 6 lanes wide and lined with businesses catering to the tourists visiting Dollyville.  One has to marvel at what Dolly Parton developed and the boon/boom it’s been for local commerce.  We did not stop, but just drove up to the gates of Dollyville which are like Disneyland with dozens of lanes for cars to enter.

Feels just like LA.

We returned to the main highway and on to Great Smoky Mountains National Park via Gatlinburg, TN except there is a bypass into the Park which we took.

Little Pigeon River is quite scenic on way into Park.

And unfortunately it seems to be quite polluted.

US441 bisects Great Smoky Mountains National Park as it travels 30 miles from Gatlinburg, TN to the Park's southern border.  Along the way it crosses the crest of the Appalachians.



The clouds cleared to allow view of the Chimney Tops.



60 inches of rain per  year.  Imagine.



Walter Camp Prong



Going up the highway toward the TN/NC border.



Appalachian Trail – I walked 100 yards or so and came back to the car.



  


Along the road to Clingman’s Dome.  Doesn’t look too promising for any views today.



It’s ½ mile hike and 330 feet up to the Obserevation Tower at 6643’ summit of Clingman’s Dome.  Limited visitblity today.

Raspberry blossom along the trail back down from Clingman’s Dome.

A bit cloudy on the way back down to main highway from Clingman’s Dome.

View became clear, but allowed us to see  all the gray/brown hemlock trees that are dead/dying from hemlock Woolly Adelgid insect infestation.  Prognosis for hemlocks in the Park is not good.  May lose all of them. http://www.nps.gov/grsm/naturescience/hemlock-woolly-adelgid.htm

Mushroom about 2” tall along a short trail at turnout along US hwy 441 through Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Trail led to nice little creek.  Remember – 60” of rain per year!

  I had read about elk in NC, but never expected to see one.  I couldn’t get picture with head up, and he kept his head down as he browsed into the forest behind the edge of the meadow.

Southern end of the 400 and something mile

Blue Ridge Parkway

.

No shoulders and no services along the Parkway.

Ridges for a long ways into the distance.



We drove off the Blue Ridge Parkway to find a place for the night and stopped in Maggie Valley at the Abbey Inn.  

 


Nice place.  Friendly owners.  Notice the yuccas in the foreground in front of the sign.  Yuccas belong in the desert in my mind, so this was a surprise.



View from Robbers Roost restaurant near the Abbey Inn.  Imagine those green hills in fall colors.  We saw lots of postcards.  We ate dinner and then breakfast here --10% off with room key from Abbey Inn. :)

Aren’t they cute?  This is porch at Robbers Roost Restaurant with goats and motorcycle – this neck of the woods is biker friendly for sure.

The restaurant owner didn’t think the goats' work on her sunflowers was so great.

Nope, we didn't try any of these local delicacies.