Leslie and David's Wanderings: 31 October 2022 Vanderbilts and Leaves

We had planned to get up early this morning and drive the Blue Ridge parkway before our tour time, but when the alarm went off, it was raining hard. So we decided to sleep in and let the rain blow through since the low clouds would have blocked the views. After breakfast we made our way to the Biltmore Estate for our 12:15 tour time ($100 a piece). Touring the Biltmore was one of Leslie’s bucket list items. So, we planned this break in our power drive so we could explore the estate of the Vanderbilts. We got lucky in that the house is 90% decorated for Christmas. It takes them 6-8 weeks for them to decorate the estate for Christmas. The main thing missing is the 35 foot fresh Douglas Fir which will arrive on Thursday and they will open for Christmas the following day. We spent about 3 hours touring the Biltmore. The craftsmanship is totally amazing. They started construction in 1895 and mostly complete in 1903. They wired the house for both AC and DC since it was not clear at the time whether Tesla or Edison would win the power war. They included two OTIS elevators, two bowling lanes, and indoor pool, central heating, multiple huge refrigerators, etc. All cutting edge technology at the time. The house is built of locally quarried stone, and iron. Very little wood was used in the structure to reduce the impact of fires. Even the roof trusses are iron. They built a railway spur to bring in the building supplies. There are 33 guest rooms, Mr. and Mrs. Vanderbilts private bedrooms, and 43 bathrooms. We were able to tour the public rooms, the private bedrooms, and some of the quest rooms. The house is over 175,000 square feet, 250 rooms total and 65 fireplaces. Incredible. The Christmas decorations were spectacular.

Following our tour of the mansion, we drove around the property and gardens until we came to the winery. We did not know we had to make reservations for the complimentary wine tasting included in our ticket price. Not wanting to wait, we went to the wine bar and did a flight of their wines each. North Carolina became our 18^th state where we have tasted wines. We found several wines we liked and walked away with a few bottles for the holidays.

By the time we finished our wine, the sun had come out and the day was beautiful. We left the estate and drove down US25 to the Blueridge Park Way. We jumped on the parkway heading east and drove about 15 miles east, stopping at the pull outs to marvel at the beautiful fall colors. We came upon two cars pulled over on the side of the road and as we drove past, Leslie called out BEAR!! So we turned around and came back to see a good sized black bear eating along the edge of the road and then heading onto the road. We took the opportunity of all the cars being stopped to turn around and continue on our way. After turning around at the 15 mile mark, we headed back to US25. As we came to the stretch of road where we had seen the Bear, we found it was still there at the edge of the road. It walked out in the middle of the road as we approached so we put on the emergency flashers and slowly followed the bear down the road snapping many pictures. It finally got tired of us following and turned off into the brush and out of sight. What a special day!