Biltmore Weekend Recap

If I had only one word to describe to describe Jon and I's trip to Grove Park Inn and The Biltmore House I would have to say . . . . magical. We had an amazing time! I knew we would have a good time. We're just the type of people who really enjoy being together whether it is at home or Wal-mart or where ever. However, I had no idea it would be as good as it was.





We started off our trip going shopping. Can a girl ask for more than for her husband to want to shop? I already had bought some new things for our trip; however, Jon never ever shops, so we shopped for him. I didn't buy one. single. thing. I was AMAZED! However, I had lots and lots of fun shopping with Jon for things for himself.





When we got to GPI we checked in and went to check out our room. The maid was still cleaning it. So, we decided to go and check out the gingerbread houses scattered throughout the hotel from their national gingerbread competition. I'm tellin' ya . . . it is amazing what people can do.





This was one of our favorites.


Can you believe all of that stuff is edible?

We then went to see if our room was ready. We tried the key once, we tried the key twice, we tried it again and again. So then we called the front desk on a nearby phone. They were sending security. We waited for a long time. Waiting is something my inpatient husband doesn't like to do. What a way to start out a romantic trip, right? I just giggled. After all what do you do when life gives you lemonades? You make lemons! Giggling about it was me making lemons. Jon, on the other hand, was not giggling.

I think this was probably the 20th time he was trying our key.

Look at that face. Do you think he was making lemons? Just kidding. He wasn't so bad, just only a tiny bit aggravated.

Finally we are in our room. You know what happened? They assigned us the wrong room. No wonder our key didn't fit.

We had decided we would eat at this place in downtown Asheville that had gotten really good reviews. Rachael Ray herself has actually gone there on her program $40 a Day. . . Tupelo Honey. It was really good. The company, however, was even better.

Later that night we went to this place called Elaine's Piano Bar at GPI. It was fun. It is amazing to me how the piano players know not only all the words to ALL the songs, but know how to play them! I'm an old school kind-of girl and I really don't know much of the secular songs of the day, but I love me some oldies. It was fun.

The next morning we ate at GPI at the Blue Ridge Dining Room. Our view was gorgeous. For some reason my picture turned out a little fuzzy, but I wanted to share it anyway.

Breakfast was super yummy and I didn't feel guilty about eating more than I normally do because I knew I would be walking it off at The Biltmore House.

The Biltmore House is something everyone should see. I really don't have words to describe it. I was totally obsessed with the Vanderbilt family when we got back home. I was googling everything I could to find out about this family. History is my favorite subject so I was especially drawn to all of the old things. They have a homeschool day and I can't wait to go back and take the kids.

Please don't be disappointed. Notice my boots are flat. Yes flat. It was so hard for me to type that. But, the last thing I wanted to have when our day ended was aching feet. I've seen lots of people wearing these boots around so I got me a pair and they are super-duper comfy. I've forgotten how good flat shoes feel.

Here we are on the back porch of the Biltmore House.

View of Biltmore House behind us

We at lunch at this placed called the Stable Cafe. They had taken the old horse stables and made it into a restaurant. The booths were actually where the horses themselves used to stay. It was so neat!

After walking the grounds for awhile we decided to go and do the wine tasting. Jon was such a good sport. He really doesn't like wine but told me he would have an open mind. We had so much fun. He actually found a few that he liked and we bought some to take back home with us.

While browsing around the winery and deciding what we would buy, they had free samples out of finger foods (our favorites). We sampled all that we could get our hands on. We were trying to wrap things up and Jon walked away from me. I thought to myself, "I bet he is going back to get seconds on the finger foods." Yep, he sure was and I caught him.

Seeing this picture makes me giggle. He was caught and he knew it!

We went back to GPI to rest. We were actually planning on having dinner out at a place in Biltmore Village. We were tired though and opted to eat at one of the restaurants of GPI. So we got all dressed up and headed downstairs. We got to the entertainment/bar area and each had a drink and enjoyed the live music and fire place while we waited on our reservations to Sunset Terrace.

This night was one of the best nights probably of our whole marriage. It was wonderful. We ate on a terrace and, yes, it was cold. But they had heaters in the ceilings. We had a gorgeous view of the Asheville skyline at night. It was such a magical night I literally thought I was dreaming. The food was phenomenal.

At one point during dinner Jon could tell I was cold. I was really trying to play it off like I was fine (just like I would have done when we were dating and I was trying to impress him). He waved the waiter down and ordered me a cup of decaf coffee. The waiter then told me he could bring me a tablecloth to cover up with. "Do people actually do that?" I asked. "Yes, all the time." Sheww. "Bring me one or two."

Here I am wrapped up in the table cloth. I look like I'm in a straight jacket

The last day there we took our time checking out. We had breakfast at Blue Ridge Dining Room again and walked around the hotel a little more. Here we are in front of one of the fireplaces that was decorated for Christmas.

We actually didn't get to do 2 things I had wanted us to do. I had actually planned on us horseback riding when we went to the Biltmore House; however, it started raining, so we opted not to do it. The other thing I wanted to do was for us to get a couple's massage. Weeks before the trip I started asking Jon if he would ever have one of those. He's a tad bit modest. He kept telling me no way. Well once we got to GPI and he saw the amazing spa there, he told he would do it. I was trying to make reservations lickity split. But, we were out of luck. No reservations were available for ANYTHING . . . not even a facial (not that Jon would do that). They were booked solid. Oh, well, just a good excuse to go back.