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.

To Asheville

Last fall, Tammy and I took a weekend trip down to Asheville, NC. We had attended a home Virginia Tech football game on a Thursday night, and left for Asheville from Blacksburg on Friday morning. Because we were already in the western part of Virginia, we took the opportunity to travel to Asheville via the very scenic Blue Ridge Parkway. This route, coupled with the fall foliage, made it a very enjoyable. The fall foliage was maybe past its peak, but it was still definitely worth the view.

Another attraction along the Blue Ridge Parkway is Mabry Mill. The mill, and its reflection in the adjacent pond, is the subject of a myriad of photographers. The restored mill provides a glimpse into the history of western Virginia, and an opportunity for you to try your hand at capturing one of the most photographed scenes to be found along the Blue Ridge Parkway. My attempt was done near mid-day, and is a bit too over-exposed for my tastes.

The area surrounding Asheville, North Carolina has its own set of unique attractions. The most famous is probably the Biltmore Estate (the subject of another blog post). Another option, one that Tammy and I took advantage of, is Chimney Rock.

Chimney Rock is part of the North Carolina state park system. It is really more a tourist attraction than a place to get back to nature. The center-piece of the attraction is a 325 foot high column of granite, perched on the side of a mountain, that gives astounding views. Your drive into the park gets you most of the way up. After you park your vehicle, you get to pick which phobia you would like to appease in order to get to the top. You can either climb up a series of wooden boardwalks and staircases (and deal with your acrophobia), or just take an elevator (and deal with your claustrophobia).

Ultimately, the final ascent to the top of the rock requires you to climb a short flight of wooden steps. I have a bit of acrophobia, but I managed to get all the way to the top with some additional stress, but otherwise without incident. The views are simply incredible.

Fall Foliage

Back in November, on a Sunday after a home football game at Virginia Tech, Tammy and I made our way back home via the Blue Ridge Parkway, heading north from Roanoke. The fall colors were still vivid, and this drive gave me the opportunity for several photos.

The pictures almost did not happen, however, since the morning started with my camera giving me fits (the "dreaded" Canon error 99). A couple quick emails later with Rich, and he had provided me with a nice set of troubleshooting steps that eventually got my camera back in working order.

Speaking of pictures. In my last post I mentioned that a change at my current photo hosting company has led to the decision to switch to Flickr. I have begun the massive effort of moving all my photos to Flickr. As I write this post, I have uploaded 7900 pictures to Flickr (spanning from 2005 through the Rapidan Loop hike from July of this year). I still have the remainder of the photos from this year to get uploaded before I begin to convert the posts in this blog to reference Flickr hosted photos. My goal is to have all my pictures uploaded to Flickr before my next trip (flying to Miami on New Year's Day...next Tuesday!) so that whatever pictures I take on that trip go straight to Flickr. I have no idea how long it will take me to convert this blog :-/

Anyhow, this blog post is about fall foliage. Here are a few photos of the leaves.

Fall Colors

Today was a perfect day to visit the mountains and to enjoy the fall foliage. It started out cold (when we left at 6am, the thermometer at my house said it was 33 degrees outside), but it warmed up to be comfortable by the time we were actually hiking. We entered Shenandoah National Park on Route 33 and then drove south to the Loft Mountain Wayside where we parked the car and began our hike. We hiked about a 5 mile loop that took us over Loft Mountain. After hiking we ate lunch, and then continued driving south on the Skyline Drive and exited the park onto Interstate 64. Here are the three pictures I selected as the best of the bunch.