Biltmore House Road Trip - Shenandoah Caverns
How I spend my summer vacation: Biltmore House Road Trip
For the longest time my wife has wanted to see the Biltmore House, a mansion built near
Asheville, North Carolina by George Washington Vanderbilt II between 1889 and 1895 and still
stands as the largest privately-owned home in the United States. Even though the last couple of
summers things came up that prevented me from keeping my promise to take her there this
summer we were able to go on what I like to call our Biltmore House Roadtrip
According to Mapquest the trip from Allentown, PA to Asheville, NC should take around 10
hours, if driven non-stop. That was a bit much to do non-stop so we decided to stop at a couple
of places on the way down and on the way back.
I used to do a lot of caving in my younger days so I enjoy visiting different commercial caves
whenever I can and this Road trip gave me several opportunities since we drove through
Virginia to get to Asheville, North Carolina.
The itinerary of the visits we decided on was in the order as follows:
Day 1
Shenandoah Caverns - in Shenandoah Caverns, Virginia
Day 2
Dixie Caverns - Salem, Virginia
Biltmore House - Asheville, North Carolina
Day 3
Biltmore House - Asheville, North Carolina
Day 4
Great Smokey Mountains Railroad - Bryson City, North Carolina
Smokey Mountain Trains - Bryson City, North Carolina
Day 5
Chimney Road - Chimney Rock, North Carolina
P. Buckley Moss Museum - Waynesboro, Virginia
Day 6
Grand Caverns - Grottoes, Virginia
Day 1 - Shenandoah Caverns
Our first stop on the Biltmore House Road trip was at the Shenandoah Caverns in Shenandoah
Caverns, Virginia.
The cavern is known for it's famous Breakfast Bacon limestone formations that I first saw in
the 1964 National Geographic magazine. It's also the only cavern I've been in that has an
elevator to get down in the cavern.
Included at this stop was a visit to the American Celebration on Parade display just down the hill
from Shenandoah Caverns. According to the American Celebration on Parade display ad, you
will see spectacular parade floats from famous national celebrations such as the Rose Parade,
Presidential Inaugurals, the Miss America Parade, the Thanksgiving Day Parade, and many
more! It's an amazing exhibition that fills 40,000 square feet of floor space with huge floats and
delightful animated figures.
So this was a pretty good start to our road trip because there was something for me, the
Shenandoah Caverns, and something for my wife, the American Celebration on Parade display.
For more info on Shenandoah Caverns and American Celebration on Parade goto:
Biltmore House Road Trip - Dixie Caverns
How I spend my summer vacation: Biltmore House Road Trip
For the longest time my wife has wanted to see the Biltmore House, a mansion built near Asheville, North Carolina by George Washington Vanderbilt II between 1889 and 1895 and still stands as the largest privately-owned home in the United States. Even though the last couple of summers things came up that prevented me from keeping my promise to take her there this summer we were able to go on what I like to call our Biltmore House Roadtrip
According to Mapquest the trip from Allentown, PA to Asheville, NC should take around 10 hours, if driven non-stop. That was a bit much to do non-stop so we decided to stop at a couple of places on the way down and on the way back.
I used to do a lot of caving in my younger days so I enjoy visiting different commercial caves whenever I can and this Road trip gave me several opportunities since we drove through Virginia to get to Asheville, North Carolina.
The itinerary of the visits we decided on was in the order as follows:
Day 1
Shenandoah Caverns - in Shenandoah Caverns, Virginia
Day 2
Dixie Caverns - Salem, Virginia
Biltmore House - Asheville, North Carolina
Day 3
Biltmore House - Asheville, North Carolina
Day 4
Great Smokey Mountains Railroad - Bryson City, North Carolina
Smokey Mountain Trains - Bryson City, North Carolina
Day 5
Chimney Road - Chimney Rock, North Carolina
P. Buckley Moss Museum - Waynesboro, Virginia
Day 6
Grand Caverns - Grottoes, Virginia
Day 2 - Dixie Caverns
Yesterday we left Shenandoah Caverns and drove down to Salem, Virginia to get a motel room near Dixie caverns. That way we could get an early start, see the caverns and then head down to the Biltmore House in Asheville, North Carolina.
We ended up as the first people there, even beating the people that run the place. That turned out to be lucky for us because it ended up being only the two of us and three other people on the first tour. Even more luckier when you see all the buses full of kids that waited in the parking lot when we came back from the tour.
Dixie Caverns reminded me of the caves I used to cave in. It was kinda dark and very wet. I liked it but Kathy didn't care for it because she found the steps, of which there was a lot, wet and slippery.
Unfortunately because of how dark the cavern was the video I took was to dark to use, except for the video I did of the buses I mentioned before.
If you find yourself in the Dixie Caverns area do stop in. I think you'll enjoy it if you like caves. If your SO doesn't care for caves or caverns the is a fairly large antique mall, gift shop and rock and mineral shop that might keep then busy while you take the tour.
For more info on Dixie Caverns goto:
Biltmore House Road Trip - House & Gardens - Day 1
How I spend my summer vacation: Biltmore House Road Trip
For the longest time my wife has wanted to see the Biltmore House, a mansion built near Asheville, North Carolina by George Washington Vanderbilt II between 1889 and 1895 and still stands as the largest privately-owned home in the United States. Even though the last couple of summers things came up that prevented me from keeping my promise to take her there this summer we were able to go on what I like to call our Biltmore House Roadtrip
According to Mapquest the trip from Allentown, PA to Asheville, NC should take around 10 hours, if driven non-stop. That was a bit much to do non-stop so we decided to stop at a couple of places on the way down and on the way back.
I used to do a lot of caving in my younger days so I enjoy visiting different commercial caves whenever I can and this Road trip gave me several opportunities since we drove through Virginia to get to Asheville, North Carolina.
The itinerary of the visits we decided on was in the order as follows:
Day 1
Shenandoah Caverns - in Shenandoah Caverns, Virginia
Day 2
Dixie Caverns - Salem, Virginia
Biltmore House - Asheville, North Carolina
Day 3
Biltmore House - Asheville, North Carolina
Day 4
Great Smokey Mountains Railroad - Bryson City, North Carolina
Smokey Mountain Trains - Bryson City, North Carolina
Day 5
Chimney Road - Chimney Rock, North Carolina
P. Buckley Moss Museum - Waynesboro, Virginia
Day 6
Grand Caverns - Grottoes, Virginia
Day 2 - Biltmore House
From Dixie caverns we drove down to Asheville, North Carolina. Man did we hit some rain storms. One so bad we had to pull over to wait it out. Even so we got to Asheville early enough that we were able to check into our motel and then head over to the Biltmore Hourse.
They have a special deal at the Biltmore House that you can get into the grounds after four o'clock and still have your ticket to use for the next day, so that's what we did. It was like getting a two day ticket for the price of one.
Kathy went nuts over the gardens, being a gardener herself. I thought the gardens looked a little rough so I asked around and found out that they hadn't had much rain there except for the day before. Ten-to-one I bet the rain they got then was the storm we drove through getting there.
We didn't go in the House today, but will do that tomorrow since you have to get an assigned time to be able to get in. So what we have in this video is some of the videos and pictures from the gardens and the outside of the house.
For more info on the Biltmore House goto:
The Pacific Coast - Best is Yet to Come - YouTube
Absolutely beautiful Pacific Coast of Oregon. Weather you want to just pull off the road and marvel at the scenery or take time to explore and beach comb, it's hard to imagine a a more beautiful place to indulge in along the Pacific Northwest.
In my opinion it's not possible to single out any one pace as the best or most beautiful since there are so many out there, but this part of our world sure qualifies as one of the most spectacular.
music by Artist: CHRISS ONAC Title: domaine
music by Artist: CHRISS ONAC Title: rien ne va plus
music by Artist: CHRISS ONAC Title: Relax
First kayak ride of the year on the James River in Virginia.
Here is a train trussel on our trip from the Hardware boat ramp to the New Canton Boat ramp. Cool place to see.