Biltmore in my backyard

One of my favorite things about Asheville is the Biltmore Estate. I can often see it from the interstate (locals know where I’m talking about) and as a job perk, I get free tickets. I can also cover certain events (Christmas tree raising being the biggest) and see really cool behind-the-scenes things at the Estate.

I took today off, grabbed my two free tickets and headed to Biltmore around noon. My mom and Jason joined me. Get ready. This is a picture-filled post! (Click on the photos to see a really huge version!)

The house from the Vista. I love the lawn (they had recently laid down new sod) but I’d hate to be the groundskeeper:

The family shots (sorry about the poor cropping….)

I love everything about the house:

This was Jason’s first visit EVER to the house! What?!?!? Yep. First visit. I usually drag the husband there on Veteran’s Day, when he’s out of school and when I realize I haven’t used my free tickets yet. This year, I took advantage of the tickets and the fact that the Festival of Flowers starts tomorrow!

First, Jason:

Now, the flowers:

And my favorite flower (I don’t even know what it is….it was with some tulips, though):

Want to see more? I created a gallery…just click here to check it out.

After the gardens, we headed to the winery for a tasting. I didn’t taste…I was along for the ride.

All in all, it was a good day. We spent over 5 hours and took a ton of photos. I’m definitely going to hit up the estate again in the spring. There’s a race there in May. Maybe I’ll look into it!

And I hope the family enjoyed all of the pictures 🙂 Scroll down to see more from earlier tonight!