Fly, Fly Away!

Jon and I flew away for a week. My mom graciously caught a flight to our home and kept our 5 nestlings for 5 days. Jon and I hit the trail and headed for the mountains. We didn't even have reservations anywhere. We just flew! Based on the results, I recommend doing this once in your life.

First night: The Inn on Biltmore Estate. Ritzy and pricey, but luxurious. It was lovely.

Our truck, parked in front of the Inn on Biltmore Estate.



The mansion: 4 acres of floor space, 250 rooms, 34 bedrooms, 43 bathrooms, and 65 fireplaces. The basement alone houses a swimming pool, gymnasium and changing rooms, bowling alley, servants' quarters, kitchens, and more. The grounds were originally 127,000 acres. To put that in perspective, the college where Jon works, including their woods that have miles of trails, is only 350 acres. This is basically a county unto itself. "See that mountain in the distance? The original border was just on the other side," said a tour guide. Apparently, Edith sold off all but 8 or 9 thousand acres when the government decided to invoke a land tax. Ahhh! Sigh. Only a minute fraction of the original. A small town serviced the estate.



Me posing on a garden bench, pretending to be a guest of the Vanderbilts. But they made husband and wife guests have separate rooms. No thank you. I'll just be a tourist.



I love that smile even more than the view from the veranda.



Here we are with lots of back lighting and severe morning sun on the facade of the house.



Next, we headed west to the Smoky Mountains. Contrasting Pigeon Forge and the Biltmore Estate in the same day was a study in hilarity: both ridiculous, one in high brow extravagance and one in the style of Hillbilly Vegas.

Of course, because the fall leaves were almost at peak and there was a conference in town that hosted 9,000 old people, all the decent hotel rooms were booked. I kid you not, we probably called 13 hotels before finally nailing down a room that was just passable. But really, I was very grateful that I didn't have to sleep in the truck. When you call that many hotels and get the "No room in the Inn" response, you're happy for even a stable. Ours was outdated but clean. I'll take it.

The first day we shopped at the great outlet mall that they have. I bought a great pair of shoes and jeans and a sweatshirt that doesn't make me look like a sack of potatoes. Jon made a great haul.

The next day we headed to Smoky Mountain National Park and hiked. The drive to the trail head was gorgeous. The colors arched over the parkway and entertained us with an occasional burst of red and lots of orange an yellow.

View from one of 4 bridges that we crossed along our trail.



We chose a trail that we hiked on our honeymoon (14 years ago).

Our destination.



It is the most strenuous trail in the park. It's about 4 miles round trip, but 1.1 of that hike is straight up. It's the hardest stairmaster workout you could wish for. We took our time but did well. It's called Chimney Tops. It's a mountain peak that is a rock outcropping.

To get to the summit, you have to scale the rocks. Jon chose the side that is almost straight up but short. I chose the longer and more gradual slope. Both deter a lot of hikers, but the summit is worth the final climb--panoramic mountain views for miles and miles. Just beautiful!

The ascent I chose.



One of the views from the top. It was panoramic like this.



Here we are at the top.



That afternoon we found a great two bedroom condo that had just been built. The only detractor was a busy road right outside the window. It was gorgeous though! What a blessing. We stayed there two more nights. We shopped some more and slept in and just enjoyed one another without thought of changing diapers or arranging schedules. What a great experience!