Best of 2011: BILTMORE

As most of you know,  George and I have season's tickets  to the Biltmore House and Gardens in Asheville, North Carolina.   If you are new to my blog and want more information about Biltmore,  click HERE.  We made SEVERAL trips there during 2011---at different seasons of the year.  Today I will share with you just a FEW of my favorite pictures from Biltmore in 2011.

Above is one of my definite favorites... It was taken from the LAGOON during late Fall --looking at the back of the Biltmore House.  We had hoped to see  the Mums in bloom --but missed them in 2011.  Maybe we'll get there at the right time in 2012.  Be sure and click on the photos to see larger views.

During the Winter,  I would recommend a visit inside the conservatory at Biltmore.  During the Christmas season,  they feature alot of Poinsettias and other 'reds' of Christmas.  They also have a room that is filled with ORCHIDS.  The picture above and below shows only two of the gorgeous orchids from Biltmore.

This ORCHID's color is just awesome I think.

I love HYDRANGEAS also..   This one is pretty --and I loved the pale blue one which they also featured at Biltmore.

As Spring approached,  we took another trip back to Biltmore to see the spring blooms.  This picture was only one of MANY that we took of the DOGWOODS and AZALEAS.  The grounds are at their prettiest in spring I think.

Here's a close-up of one of the AZALEAS.  Isn't the color just gorgeous?

The joy of being at Biltmore in Summer was seeing the fabulous SUNFLOWERS in bloom.  There were so many in that big field that they just took my breath away.   So beautiful ---and definitely worth a trip to Biltmore in summer.

I could have chosen 100 (or more) pictures from Biltmore to share with you.  We love that place.  We're so in tune with the gardens and all of the other facilities that we haven't taken much time (only once) to go inside the home itself.  We hope to do that soon --but no photos are allowed inside.  SO--we won't be able to share that part with you.

Have a great weekend and I'll see you on Monday...   Maybe the rains will finally stop for awhile and give us a BREAK....  Hopefully,  I'll have time to work on my Genealogy this weekend!!!

Hugs,
Betsy

Skyland Resort on Skyline Drive, Virginia

This is my last post from our Thanksgiving Trip of 2011... (No applause please!!!! ha ha)... If you are new to my blog (and I have had several new folks since 2012 began),  and IF you want to see any of those other posts,  you can click HERE.  There are 10 posts total --including this one.  OR---if you want information on the Skyland Resort where we stayed,  you can click HERE for more information.

It took us three days to get to Skyland Resort that week, since we stopped so much and did many more things along the way.   BUT--we finally got there.   As usual for us,  we had alot of rain while there that week.  We did get out and take some pictures --but most all of our pictures this year were taken during the rainy, foggy conditions...

Hope you enjoy our pictures from Skyland.  This is a neat resort with a great restaurant (we had our turkey dinner there)---so we highly recommend it to you.   Be sure and enlarge the pictures for larger views.

This is a picture of us in our room.   I must admit that I was miserable when that picture was taken,  with an incredibly painful stiff neck.. (It went away when I got home and got some muscle relaxant pills from my doctor.)  As you probably know,  I had had hernia surgery in October and was still recooping from that.  I assume this trip --as much as I enjoyed it--was a little too much for me so soon.  BUT--it was great and we did have a good time. 

Here is our room (building) from the outside.   We were on the top floor to the right of the room with the light on...  We had a wonderful balcony in the back with a view of the Shenandoah Valley below.  VERY nice!!!!!

Anytime we got out to take pictures,  this is what we saw!!!!   The fog was thick and stayed with us during our stay there.   The good news about the weather was that it gave us a chance to stay in the room,  relax and read a good book!!!!!  Life was GOOD.

Here's one more fog picture that George took....  We both love taking pictures of trees ---so this one is neat,  surrounded by the fog...  

Because of the fog,  we didn't have much of a view of the Shenandoah Valley this time,  but as the fog lifted and clearer skies took over one night,  George went out on the balcony and took a picture of the lights in the valley below.  Pretty,  don't you think?

I love this photo of the sky ---when we left Skyland and headed home.  If we could have stayed another few days,  we may have had some sunny skies there.  But--it was time to go home!  Isn't that a great picture of the SKY that morning???

Finally,  when we got home to our beautiful Cumberland Plateau,  this is what we saw right before we drove into our driveway...  I think that sunset was welcoming us home.  Pretty,  isn't it????

Hope you enjoyed our pictures.  It was truly a fabulous trip ---and if you haven't traveled on the Blue Ridge Parkway or Skyline Drive,   please do it!!!!!  It's AWESOME.

Have a great day.

Hugs,
Betsy