We got on the road by 6:30 am. We drove to Asheville, the home of the Biltmore Estate, a huge
facility constructed for George Washington Vanderbilt between 1889 and 1895. We got to the Estate
around noon and the earliest entry we could get for the estate mansion tour was 3:30.
While waiting, we went to one of the out buildings
(Amherst at Deerpark) that is currently exhibiting a large collection of Chihuly glass. We also
had lunch at the Stable Cafe next to the mansion. When we finished our tour, we drove to Knoxville
for the night. We had a reservation at a Holiday Inn. When we checked in, Bruce took our bags
up to the room as I parked the car. His key opened the room but there was already somebody sleeping
in one of the beds. It turned out that the entire Holiday Inn chain was having computer problems
and didn't know which rooms were clean and empty. They said it might several hours to resolve the room situation. Because it was 10:30PM we declined and reloaded the car, found a nearby room at the Hotel Baymont by Wyndham. We were in bed by 11:45 after an exhausting but fun day.
We left the hotel really early so we had breakfast when we stopped to recharge. We often
go to McDonalds for breakfast but couldn't resist this Denny's.
When we went to the Chihuly exhibit, there was a really nice video with Chihuly describing his career and creative process. Here are a few pictures of the spectacular exhibit:
There was a room that had a "Persian Ceiling". Here are two pictures; one of them is Dick taking a "selfie".
There was a gift shop where you could purchase Chihuly wares. This nice bowl was a mere Eight Thousand Dollars! Here is what you could purchase:
In a darkened room there were sculpted glass tubing that glowed. Here is what it looked like:
They actually let us into the mansion around 3:15. Here is a picture of a photo that they had
showing the mansion and the adjoining gardens.
Here is our view of the front of the mansion. Near the front door was a Chihuly sculpture.
Every dining room should have a pipe organ.
There is the library.
This room had amazing skylights.
There was a lot of art around the mansion. Here are a couple of Renoirs.
Here is a view from the sitting room.
Finally, at the end of the day, we had put in 414 miles.
