Maryville, Tennessee to Ashville, North Carolina and the Biltmore.

Tuesday, May 7, Day 15

The morning we left Maryville, the sun was out and the sky looked great.  At least from this angle. 

However, looking east,  from the same place, that pesky storm is looming ahead.  

The Dogwood trees are in full bloom along the highway.

We stopped outside of Marysville to have breakfast with John's friend, Johnny Renna, whom he knew from his days at Riviera Beach High School in Florida.    They had a great visit.

Soon we are crossing more waterways, totally full! 

This is the French Broad River.  We'll see it again later on. 

We are skirting part of the Pisgah National Forest.  The trees are so dense, with lots of varieties.

These beautiful purple trees dot the roadside.  They must be a popular line of inquiry for tourists, because the sign below was posted in several places at the visitors center.

And then, we arrived at the Biltmore in Asheville, North Carolina.

Everyone along the way has told us to be sure and see the Biltmore.  We're thinking, we've seen Hearst Castle, and the other Vanderbilt mansions in Newport, Rhode Island.  How much different can it be?
The answer is -- a lot different!  George Vanderbilt built this 178,000 sq foot home using state of the art items that quickly became the mainstay in American households.  For example, it had something like 43 indoor bathrooms at a time when indoor plumbing was a rarity.  And he had under water lights on his swimming pool when most people didn't have electricity.  He had garden areas on the interior.   It took us a long time just to take the self-guided tour.

Not to be a broken record, but you do see our storm in this picture, don't you?

George Vanderbilt died young, but his wife was determined to save this estate.  And she did!  They had a young daughter, their only child.  It's an interesting story and you should look it up if you want to know more.

The Azaleas are so beautiful.  This is called a Flame Azalea.  I'd never seen an orange azalea before!

After we toured the house, we took a drive around the 80,000 acres of the estate.  The gardens are beautiful.  The estate is designed to be self sufficient, so they also have vegetable gardens. 

Frederick Law Olmstead designed the grounds  And he liked water features, so this little dam is one of  many he built on the property.

Hey, here's the French Broad River that we saw a while back.  It has overflowed its banks on the estate, and the traffic is diverted to service roads until the water subsides.  The gold course is going to need a lot of repair! 

Can't get enough of the geese and goslings! 

These horses looked like Clydesdales.  They do offer horseback riding on the estate - and 80 MILES of trails! And you can bring your own horse.

A white Azalea bush

And a pink one.  Aren't these unbelievable? 

We had barely left the Biltmore estate when we were  on the Blue Ridge Parkway . We'll travel along here for a while and then look for a place to stop for the night.