Biltmore

One of the attractions that Tammy and I enjoyed during our fall visit to Asheville, NC was the Biltmore Estate. The first phrase that comes to mind when I attempt to describe Biltmore is "jaw dropping". The place is huge - the house is 175,000 square feet with 255 rooms, and the land encompasses 8,000 acres. It is the largest privately held home in the United States.

Arriving at the estate is somewhat like arriving at a large theme park - except that it is immensely prettier. You are directed to one of several parking lots and then ride a shuttle bus to get to the front door. All along the route to the home, however, you are passing through cultivated farm land, or forest with subtle hints of planning, such as a raised bed of flowers nestled back in what would otherwise be a natural stand of trees.

We toured the inside of the house, and saw the grandeur of the place, as well as portions that were the behind-the-scenes support for the household - kitchen, servants quarters, laundry, etc. They have rules against photography inside the house, so your image of the place is going to have to be built from photos found on the official Biltmore website.

Luckily they do not have any rules against photography outside of the house. There you will find plenty of subjects to keep your photographic attention.

I am thinking of getting downspouts like these installed at my house ;-)

Besides the immediate vicinity of the house, there are several trails you can wander to explore the manicured grounds.

All things considered, the Biltmore Estate was a fantastic way to spend a day.

Farewell To Alaska

As we took our boat ride to Seldovia and back, we both enjoyed the scenery and the out-of-nowhere sunny blue sky. But we both were already thinking about the next day. The day where we drove back to Anchorage. The next day was the day before flying home. The end of the vacation was close enough to feel...to think about and plan for.

This post is all about the end of the vacation. One more post. One more batch of photos...the loose ends pulled together, so to speak. I suspect it is about time anyway. I have milked the Alaska trip for three months now. Heh...I need to blog about something other than my trip to Alaska. So, these last photos bid a fond farewell to Alaska.

First off is the ubiquitous combination of light post and gull. In this case the gull is Glaucous-winged, and clearly feels that it owns that light post.

Next up is a fine example of lawn art from the quaint town of Seldovia. Yes, this amazing wood carving was in a gazebo on someone's lawn.

While in Seldovia, we sat down for a quick drink at a coffee house. The sun was out and it was a tad warm, so we sat outside enjoying having no other obligation than getting back on the boat in an hour. And while we enjoyed our drink and the sun, this Common Raven joined us. I think he was expecting a handout.

These red berries were on the side of the road heading back to Anchorage. We had pulled over to enjoy the view of a distant snow-capped mountain, and the berries refused to be ignored.

And here is that view. I have since forgotten the name of the mountain, but it kept distracting me from what I should have been paying attention to: the road. So I pulled over to give the mountain one last look.

Newport Afternoon

Newport is a beach town. But on the back side of the town there is this little section on a bay, with its own row of shops and restaurants. All through this section, the sides of buildings have murals painted on them. And, today at least, there were lots of sleepy dogs hanging out on the sidewalk.

Pretty Realistic

The combination of the detail in this statue and the black and white image makes it easy to trick yourself into thinking that this is a real person sitting here.

Under Attack

The angle of this shot makes it look like the statue is throwing something at me.

I wish I could say something artistic sounding on why I chose to take this picture in black and white. In reality, I simply learned how to make my camera take pictures in black and white, and therefore had to exploit that knowledge.

Hollywood Cemetery

Tammy and I decided to go to Maymont Park today, but it did not open until 10am. Since we were out and about around 8:30am, we had some time to kill. So we decided to pop into Hollywood Cemetery and explore a little before going to Maymont.

There are plenty of creative photographic composition opportunities within Hollywood Cemetery. I tried to capture a few.

Moose

This is the only moose that I have seen this trip. Oh well.