honeymooners (part 2)

andrew and i were feeling the need for a romantic excursion, so instead of doing the typical burned-hamburger-cheap-beer-bug-spray-cookout-and-fighting-for-a-spot-fireworks 4th of july, we went to the inn on biltmore (the same place we went for our honeymoon almost 2 years ago). i had gotten a few presents (in monetary form) with directions to "go on a vacation" that i had spent fixing things at the house, so this little getaway was pretty much fully financed by generous benefactors -- thanks to you :-)

we each had friday morning off, so we got up, packed, stuffed all 3 dogs in the car, dropped them off at the new care first at grace park, and set out on our journey. when we got there, it was bright and sunny, so we went and hung out at the pool:

since it was a holiday weekend, they had festivities going on all over the inn, including a poolside bar - yum!

after lounging at the pool, we got all cleaned up for dinner at "the dining room", which is the 4-star restaurant on the bottom floor of the inn:

we had a lovely night. the next day, we went down for the breakfast buffet and enjoyed the brisk mountain morning:

after that, we walked down to the winery and tasted more biltmore wines. we still aren't crazy about their reds, but they do have some pretty nice whites, and their dessert wines/champagnes are excellent. we ended up with a mixed case comprised of chenin blanc, a reserve pinot noir, a reserve red blend called "passport", a few different champagnes, a cabernet rose, and a table white. the lovely inn had it delivered to our room so we wouldn't have to carry it back up the side of the mountain. for the record, while the dining room is phenomenal, the bistro (which is the restaurant adjacent to the winery) is not good, nor is their customer service - quite contrary to the rest of the biltmore feel.

after the lunch and wine, we'd wanted to go biking, but andrew's silly wife was too tired and wanted to go biking on sunday instead - unfortunately, as we would later find out, it rained saturday night and sunday, so we didn't get to go. instead of biking, we took advantage of our room amenities (translation: we watched tv and had chicken strips delivered to our room - gourmet!).

saturday evening, the biltmore put on quite the production for the 4th complete with a cookout, oyster/shrimp boil, square dancing, and fireworks.we had a wonderful time!

after that, i was craving the banana souffle that i'd had at the dining room the night before, so andrew and the waitress from the night before managed to get it run up to us while we sat outside on the balcony. it was amazing to be treated like royalty.

this morning, we woke up reluctantly, and the mountains cried for our departure (it rained). we had another fabulous breakfast buffet in the dining room, had the bellboy take our luggage to the car, drove most of the way home, visited dr. cindi on the way, picked up the crazy dogs, and made it home safe and sound. i am totally bummed about having to go to work in the morning, but i had a wonderful weekend and wouldn't have traded it for the world!

ps. if you want to see more pictures, go to the album on my flickr page.