I had to steal another picture from the web ℅ The Luxury Columnist because the day was actually rather bleak and rain.
The Biltmore was constructed from 1889 to 1895. It was much farther from the Village Inn, where we were staying, than we expected. At every wooded curve, I anticipated that the land would open up to this most beautiful site known as the Biltmore. It wasn’t that dramatic but once in sight there it was the largest house in America (175,000 sq ft), #4 in the world, the grounds and home of George and Edith Vanderbilt and it was breathtaking to behold even on this gray day. George and Edith were great adventurers and they memorialized their adventures throughout this enormous house. What with the foyers, the sitting rooms with fireplaces almost as tall as me (5’4”), the Louis XVI room which actually seemed to extend to a wing, the kitchens and dining rooms, the staircase which you can see in the picture from the outside, corridors wide enough and high enough for horses and cars to pass through, down to the polished bowling lane in the basement..oh the stories these walls must hold!
After the grand tour, we were relaxing in our Village Inn room when word came in that Blake and Kate had made it to Maidens, VA. A video of a long wooded drive opened up to a huge house which would become their new home. (Finally the grand entrance I expected with the Biltmore.) Congrats to them and us for another great road trip excuse!
There is no doubt about it, B and I have totally different agendas when it comes to food. For breakfast B brought packaged muffins for the trip. Apparently I’m used to a bit more in the morning. I wanted to stick with his schedule but found myself snacking on chips and bites of sweets which never really satisfies long term. We also have different sleep schedules. I crash early and he sleeps in from a long night of personal party time. So, I was pleased to find a window of time this last morning on the Biltmore Estate to sneak away for a crab and pesto egg scramble at the Village Social dining room. Sigh…so lovely on the tongue! And once again the third out of four days, my soul was so satiated, I blinked back those tears of new experience, relaxing joy.
We left the Biltmore around 10:30 excited now for a glimpse of the beach. Folly Beach. I was reading a book by Bill Noel named Folly. Its the first in a series of I think 18 books centered at Folly Beach solving murder mysteries or maybe just mysteries in general. I hadn’t gotten far enough into the book to exclaim familiarity with too much but it appeared to be a light read well, as murders go.
Folly fun is contained within a few blocks of Center Street. We were able to visit Rita’s bar where I struck up a conversation with a woman my age who had moved there 4 years ago with her husband, who was managing the bar that night, and we suspected her son, who was bartending. They are set for retirement in a fabulous community and loving it even though they still have to work to maintain it. We also stopped at Snapper Jack’s for a beer. They were serving up some fine looking sushi rolls but B said "No way Jose!". The WashOut was my favorite. Bought B a t-shirt there. He looks great in it.
We had dinner at Tides Hotel’s BLU restaurant. Too chilly to eat outside but I wanted to eat overlooking the ocean which turns out was hard to see. We did pop out into the salty air after and the night sky opened up to a perfect view of Orion! What a treat that was for me. I have studied Orion over the years including using it to find other closeby constellations and stars such as Taurus and Pleiades, the seven sisters, which is depicted on every Subaru vehicle as a reminder to look up and see the stars!
This picture is from our Tide’s room the next morning. Again a gray and stormy day. Even so, it was 50 degrees plus, a good 20 degrees or so above the Ohio weather we came from. Next stop, Amelia Beach where it will be another 10 degrees warmer!
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