Fun Trip in North Carolina

I had a really fun week traveling last week to 

North Carolina on business with my DH

 and have some pictures to share today.  We spent

most of the time in Charlotte, Matthew's and Monroe

but got to travel to the Biltmore on the Vanderbilt Estate

for a couple of days. And was it ever fun!! 

 The timing was perfect for all the trees changing colors 

and even though we see some of it here it is nothing

like the Blue Ridge Mountains of NC.  All we kept

saying was Wow everytime we turned a corner :)

 I opted for seeing the historic sites of the town this

trip and found this beautiful old plantation nestled

among all these gorgeous old trees.  It was really neat

to see this up close and personal and it wasn't really what

I imagined from the history books I read.  My DH 

says there are more of the bigger ones in Miss. where 

his mom is from.  Sounds like another reason for 

a fun trip to visit relatives next spring...

This is actually an old estate that they saved and

made into a hotel.  It is the Duke Mansion and

was part of some amazing Victorian Houses built

for the wealthy aristocrats in the area.  I got to go inside

and look around and it is really beautiful.

 I am trying to take some time in life and drag my DH

to see some amazing things in the US and this is going

to be scrapped as one of my favorites!  George W. Vanderbilt

built this gorgeous 255 room home for himself and his 

family on 126,000 acres of forest.  He had farms, a dairy,

his own lake, a huge river running through his property, 

and the most amazing garden you can imagine with a green

house too.  Puts mine to shame actually :)  They had

flowers everywhere and the estate.... It always amazes me
to see these homes in the victorian era of our country
because they are all so beautiful!!

 This is the hotel on the estate so people can stay

over and have time to relax and do some of the fun

things they have on the estate to do.  The rooms

and the inside of it was just gorgeous.

This is me on the steps on the back side of the house.

 This is a picture of the place we ate for dinner.  

The cooks are amazing here and the food was sooo 

good.  It is called Cetric's Tavern after one of his

pet St. Bernards.  They loved animals and had lot

of dogs on the property.  

 This was my DH's breakfast and was delicious!

Cinnamon streusel pancakes with ham :)  Yummmm!

 I love old cars and they had this rare Motel C that

belonged to Mrs. Vanderbilt at  their winery on display.  

It fits 7 people but I am sure it was crazy windy

 when they went for a drive!! (No windows except 

on the front and back of the car)

My last photo was one of the trees in

the shops at the house.  They had just

decorated for Christmas in the Biltmore but we

were not allowed to take pictures sadly.  They

still have a big family Christmas with all the people

that work for them in the house and it sounds like

it would be fun to go to.  But back to my house I

am in the mood for Christmas now and am rested and

ready to have a fun holiday season!!

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

Hugs, Teresa