Part Two of On The Road Again.....

Just to update everyone, this a fictitious trip. Some bloggers thought I was reliving a recent trip I took. (Any characters, reminding you of anyone, are just coincidence, and soley for the purpose of entertaining others...and myself, of course (ha, ha) except I do own 3.5 acres on Stroud Mountain Trail.)

Refreshed from our early evening, we start off to Asheville, N.C. home of the Biltmore House. The "largest house" in the United States, was built by George Vanderbilt, in 1895. There is a 3 mile approach drive that takes us to the the Biltmore Estate. I can see 100 year old landscaping designed by Mr. Vanderbilt's friend, Fredrick Law Olmsted, who designed Central Park in NYC, as were driving through the winding woods. Looking ahead I see the house, it seems more European than American in design. In fact Mr. Vanderbilt hired the famed Richard Morris Hunt to design his dream home for his wife. Not only is the Biltmore House the largest home in America but it is a totally self sustaining farm, including it's own winery, gardens that flourish veg, fruit and flowers. The estate also raises all its own organic meat that is served in it's many restaurants, now open to the public. We decided to have lunch at a restaurant called The Stable Cafe'.

Even though I was entranced in great conversation, I couldn't stop looking around at the original Stable so beautifully transformed into a Restaurant. Our booth was actually an old stall with original barn tile climbing up the wall. I could only imagine George Vanderbilt’s horses staying here. We sampled Biltmore wines, and organic salad with the largest beef ribs I have ever seen. Mr. Vanderbilt built his own village where his workers lived while the home and gardens were being built. He brought only the best craftsmen from Europe to work on his home.We spent the afternoon exploring the Biltmore, with our bellies full and our minds enhanced we drove north to our next destination, Washington D.C. Our drive from here will be about 470 miles through Virginia, and then north into Maryland, where we will find The District of Columbia.

We will stop somewhere in Virginia along the way for the night. We have decided not to plan everything on our trip as we have no time restraints or obligations, other than to make phone calls and emails in the evenings to our loved ones. The terrain is green here, forests are thick in North Carolina and Virginia. The air smells good and we are definitely stopping to smell the Roses.