We took off this morning about 9:30am for the 3 hour flight to our first destination on this journey: Asheville, NC. There was a lot of rain along the West coast of Florida, but most of our route was smooth & clear. I kept a close eye on the radar as we continued on, as there was quite a bit of rain & thunderstorms in the Asheville area. Luckily for us, they were all north of the airport, so we didn’t have to worry about that. We had low ceilings & visibility and light rain, but we flew an ILS instrument approach and we touched down around 12:30pm.
The FBO wasn’t able to find a van big enough for all 8 of us + luggage, so we had to rent two vehicles. Everything fit in just fine and we were soon on our way to the Biltmore. We headed north on the interstate and encountered the heavy rain that I saw on the radar as we were coming in. It rained so hard, we could barely see –I’m glad we weren’t flying in that!
We grabbed a quick lunch at Wendy’s and then checked into our hotel, The Inn on Biltmore Estate. After being cooped up all morning, the boys really needed to get out and release some energy. But what to do on a rainy afternoon? Well, we’re going to be wet one way or another, so we decided to go swimming. Roland & I took the boys to the pool, while Michele, Megan, & Sandy relaxed in the room.
Fortune smiled on us and the weather began clearing. By the time we jumped in the pool, the sun was starting to poke through. We had a great time splashing, playing, and wrestling around and I took a bunch of photos of the boys jumping in the water. I let them swim for a long time, then we went back to the room and got cleaned up for dinner.
We had reservations at the Bistro, which is adjacent to the winery on property here at the Biltmore. We enjoyed a 10 – 15 minutes stroll to the restaurant. The boys ran and played in the grass, while I snapped photos of them, the hotel & grounds. It is so beautiful here!
We enjoyed a delicious meal (an unusual surf & turf: pork & scallops) and then caught the shuttle bus back up the hill to the Inn. We lingered out on the lawn as the sun went down behind the mountains in the distance. The boys spied a gopher, a rabbit, and countless lightning bugs. It was Michele’s turn to play with the boys while I relaxed in one of the chairs.
Tomorrow, we are scheduled to go on a rafting trip at 10am, with the rest of the day free. I hope the rain holds off for us, but even if it doesn’t, we’re going to get wet anyway, right?
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