The Date Inspired by the Letter Y.

I know it seems like this trip is never going to end, but I promise we are ALMOST done!

This particular stop on the trip was a very last minute addition and ended up becoming an alphabetical date, too! We had originally planned to do Mayberry on Friday, spend as much time there as we wanted, start driving home, and see how far we got. At the very latest, we planned to be home by midday on Saturday. But then one of Ryan's co-workers told us about this chocolate shop in Asheville we just had to visit, and while we were there, we should just see the Biltmore, because it's beautiful at Christmas.

So we did some research and ended up adding Asheville as a stop! I had been to the Biltmore the summer before Ryan and I got married, but he had never been, and we both thought seeing it at Christmas sounded fantastic. We had no idea we would also get the rare privilege of seeing it in the snow!

All this made for the perfect YULETIDE date. Thank you, date inspired by the letter Y!

We cut our Mayberry visit short so we could get to the Biltmore before dark and be able to see the outside of it in the daylight first. When you go during the regular part of the year, you can just go on inside whenever you want. But the crowds are so huge at Christmas that the candlelight tours are timed to regulate the number of people in the house at one time. So we couldn't actually go inside until 7:15.

We arrived midafternoon and took some photos with the gorgeous mansion in the snow! So pretty.

(Shout out to the stranger who kindly took our photo so we didn't have to selfie EVERYTHING.)

 I mean...can you even imagine?

 Winter wonderland!

 As you can see, the state may have been panicking, but tourists were still flocking to the place by the busload!

 Snow on the ledge. They said the next day they got 4.5 inches of snow, but by what we saw piled on cars, it had to be at LEAST six inches. Maybe even between 6-8.

We had some major time to kill, so we went over to the shops area to get our Christmas ornament, warm up with some coffee, and share a yummy scone! We were so grateful that in the little outdoor café, the overhang had a heater, so at least we were warm while we sat outside!

The Biltmore has beautiful gardens, but they were buried in snow, not lit, and we were afraid we would get lost if we tried to explore, so we didn't spend long in that area.

As it started to get darker, we went back out to the photo opp point to get some buildings of the place in dark. Stunning!

 Look how little the people are beside the tree!

We finally killed enough time to be able to go inside! Last time I went, photos were prohibited inside the building, but they're allowed now. Obviously I took a billion, but I'll just share a handful with you. You're probably already tired! And I apologize in advance for how grainy our selfies are. We don't have great reverse cameras on our phones.

Also, the snow, while beautiful, was 100% huge and wet, so by this time, my hair had basically had an additional shower. I was so glad I hadn't bothered to curl it. I was SO SOGGY!!!

 Because what dining room doesn't have three fireplaces?

 Be still, my heart.

 The library. It absolutely took my breath away.

 You know...just checking out the indoor pool.

 And the indoor bowling alley...

It was such a grand tour. We loved it, and it was worth the extra time, for sure.

Now. The bus ride back to our car? Questionable at best. There was an old (and I do mean OLD) guy behind us in line that needed to sit down and write a hundred sentences. I have never heard such foul language from a distinguished looking gentlemen out for a Christmas gathering with his wife and friends. He was literally pushing people out of the way to get his own seat on the bus, and his language was incredibly colorful. Our thoughts:

Despite that guy, we had a GREAT time. A great YULETIDE date to almost round out our alphabetical dates!!