Beautiful Biltmore
After my stay in Sylva, I decided I was ready to head a little deeper into the mountains of western North Carolina. On my way out of town, I stopped for a day in Asheville, NC to spend some time with my oldest son. It was a beautiful late summer day and we decided that a trip to the Biltmore House was a great way to take advantage of the weather. As with most things related to van life, this simple trip was a little more complicated than I expected, but in the end so much fun.
The Beautiful Biltmore House
I had a virtual physical therapy visit scheduled with a student for the morning and spent the first few hours of my day driving around Asheville looking for enough cell signal to do a Teams meeting. This took a bit longer than expected, but I’m learning and I know it will get easier. Once I completed my work, I grabbed some picnic food from a nearby grocery and dropped a letter in the mail to my youngest son. Finding a post office is not always an easy feat, so when I find one it makes my day.
My youngest son left for Marine Corps boot camp the day I sold my house. That timing was less than ideal, but the universe likes to toy with me. During bootcamp the only communication I have had with him is through written letters. And while I would give anything to hear his voice, there is something deep and meaningful about writing letters. In this day and age, letter writing is a bit of a forgotten art.
When my son shipped out, I committed to writing him daily which has been a bit more of a challenge than I expected. Writing the letters is fun and has become part of my daily routine. I tell him funny stories about the van, my steep learning curve, and the beautiful things I’m seeing. I send pictures of family and the places I’ve been. The challenging part has been finding somewhere to print the pictures with a van accessible parking lot and a place to mail the letters. But, I am committed!
Once I picked my oldest son up we headed to The Biltmore House. We were grateful to be gifted some complimentary tickets for our visit. However, that meant we did not have a reservation to see the inside of the house. My son and I have both been lucky enough to visit the house several times and didn’t feel disappointed to skip that part on our visit. If you are planning a visit and purchase your tickets online you will be prompted to pick a house tour time so don’t worry. The inside of the home is incredible and a must see if you have the time.
We decided to start our day exploring the gardens. The beauty of van life is that we were able to have a quick picnic lunch in the van and then head off to explore the beautiful gardens. The gardens at Biltmore are other worldly and change with the seasons. During our visit, there were so many beautiful plants, trees, and landscapes to marvel at. The gardens are by far my favorite part. Here are just a few pictures of the gardens during our late summer visit.
After the gardens we headed over to the winery for a tasting. The standard wine tasting is part of your entry fee to the estate and is so much fun. I’m still not quite used to doing things like this with my oldest son. I forget (or maybe deny?) that my boys are no longer babies. I guess that’s just part of the parenting journey. Anyway, my son and I had a great time at the tasting. We both tried lots of different wines, some of which we loved and some of which we didn’t.
After a tearful goodbye with my oldest, I was off to my next adventure. I don’t know if saying goodbye to my boys will ever be easy or without tears, but I see that as a positive. Emotion comes from caring right?
As I said in my last post, my time in western North Carolina was spent before Hurricane Helene. As of the time of this post (December 2024), The Biltmore Estate is open. Here is a link to some important information about traveling to the Estate and the Asheville area.
