Saturday, September 11, 2010

the biltmore

As I'm typing this, I think it's pertinent to note these things:
  1. My feet are absolutely humongous. I had no idea peripheral edema could be this bad or I never would have made "cankle" comments so flippantly. So, I'm propped in my bedroom with an icepack which is doing nothing, but there nonetheless.
  2. I just saw a mouse crawl from my bedroom door to my bathroom.
  3. I freaked just a bit.
  4. I set my first mouse-trap without amputating any phalanges.
  5. I'm now waiting for said trap to snap so I can sleep tonight.
  6. I didn't see a single mouse at the Biltmore.
Per my last post, Greg and I stayed one night at the Biltmore Inn in Asheville, North Carolina. One of the reasons we stayed there was because they run specials (I'm always looking for a deal) and part of the stay included tickets to tour the mansion.

Just a little bit about the Biltmore, per our retired-science-teacher shuttle driver, who was way more informative than the headphones we listened to as we walked through the mansion.
  • The Biltmore was built in 3 years by George Vanderbilt. Makes me feel silly to say our farmhouse renovation took a year.
  • It's the largest private residence in the country.
  • He was a bit eccentric, and was the youngest of his siblings. He didn't care to go into business as his father had, but liked art and architecture much more.
  • He built this with his inheritance of $100 million. That was before income tax or inheritance tax (oh to live in that time, not that I stand to inherit anything, I'd just like to keep what I make).
  • Originally, the property was 125,000 acres, the size of a county, but now it is about 9,000.
  • There are 1200 staff on property, and more when it's time to harvest the grapes.
  • It's owned and operated by George's grandson. He takes great pride in keeping the place restored and making sure it stays in the condition his grandfather would have approved.
  • You have to see this place to believe it!





The mouse just exited the room without taking the bait. Crud!

6 comments:

sarah said...

i highly recommend these mouse traps:

http://www.d-conproducts.com/traps/ultra-set.html

seriously, the best traps because you don't have to see the dead mouse. just it's tail (unless it's a fatty, then you see legs too). my stepdad got some for me one year after my cat failed to catch the mice that moved into my apartment building.

good luck with the mouse and stay off those feet!

Kelly Goree Photography said...

eww to the mouse but lol!
and the builtmore is phenominal. when i was a little girl, i so wanted to get married there, coming down that grand spiraling staircase. sigh.

Kathy Martin said...

Love the Builtmore house. We moved to NC six years ago and three years ago spent a few days on the estate! It's so beautiful! The gardens too! Your lovely photos bring back fond memories of our stay.

Nicole said...

never been to the Biltmore, or North Carolina for that matter... i just love that you worked the word 'phalanges' into your post.

:)

Jennifer Larson said...

Sorry about the ankles--I had massive edema when I was pregnant, especially when I went to Florida for work. Here's to cooler weather ahead!

ZoezMom said...

LOVE Biltmore! So glad you stayed there and experienced the grandness of it. Wasn't that swimming pool just amazing!?