We are in Asheville, North Carolina for 5 days at the Lake Powhatan campground in Pisgah National Forest. We came to Asheville to specifically see the largest home in America, the Biltmore. The Biltmore was built for George Washington Vanderbilt, the son of Cornelius Vanderbilt, the railroad tycoon. He started with $1,000 and turned that into 100 million by starting the New York and Penn Central Railroads. The house took 6 years to build, 1889-1895. It has 250 rooms, 101 bedrooms, 103 bathrooms, and at least one of any room you can think of, including a billiard room, bowling alley, indoor pool, servants quarters, library, a men's cigar room, etc. The size is 175,00 square feet, with of lavish furnishings and art from around the world. This is one of the places that you must see. The rules say that there is no indoor photography allowed, so all I get to show you is the exterior and gardens.
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| Our campsite, deep inside Pisgah National Forest |
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| Biltmore, America's largest home |
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| Debbie at the entrance |
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| Out on one of the verandas |
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| One of the many gardens |
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| Debbie in one of the two rose gardens |
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| The sculpture garden |
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| The Arboretum |
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| Debbie shows some very beautiful small flowers |
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| One of hundreds of varieties of orchids |
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| A waterfall coming from Bass Pond |
Day two at the Biltmore was spent seeing the other places on the property and having another fancy lunch. We visited the Heritage Center that told about the Vanderbilt's lives and the family tree. We toured the winery and did a wine tasting. We enjoyed several wines, but they were a bit pricey for our budget. We visited some gift shops and the riding stable, although we did not go for a horse ride on one of the trails. We had an other good day.
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| The entrance to the winery |
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| Some of the holding tanks in the Biltmore Winery, each holds 4,983 gals. |
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| Looking at some barrels through a window at the wineries visitors center |
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| Deb petting horses at the riding stable |
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| More beautiful horses to ride |
We already spent 3 days in Asheville, so we decided to take an hour ride up to Hot Springs, N.C. We spent the early part of the day in one of the hot mineral tubs and then ate and shopped the rest of the afternoon. The weather was great 68 degrees and 102 in the hot mineral tub. Our tub was overlooking French Broad Creek. Another great day in paradise! Tomorrow, Sunday, we are taking the day off to relax around the campsite.
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| Deb is relaxing in the hot mineral tub |
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| One of our views from the tub |
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| Another view from the tub |
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