Biltmore Estate House & Garden

Karen is standing in front of the water feature at the front door of the Inn On Biltmore Estate. We were waiting for a shuttle to take us to the Biltmore House for our audio tour. It was a rainy day, perfect for touring the house.	Biltmore House: 175,000 square feet 4 acres 250 rooms 30 bedrooms 43 bathrooms Indoor swimming pool Indoor bowling alley No wood at all -- steel and brick frame (to be fireproof)
Forty-three bathrooms in the house, but none are for public use! The shuttle driver warned us about that, so Karen ran off to the ladies room near the stables while Lou wandered around taking these pictures.
Lou backed up all the way to the fountain to get this picture, and he still could not get the entire structure in one shot.	The exterior is a beautiful limestone facade, 4 to 6 inches thick.
Gosh, now it is two days later!  The sun is out, and we are touring the 90 acre gardens.  Ooh, Karen is wearing the same jacket!  It's from Wicked, which we just saw at DPAC, and she won't take it off.	The azaleas, one shuttle driver told us, are in full bloom and well worth the walk. The azaleas were beautiful and huge.
	Karen loved all the pink flowers.
	Here is the entrance to the gardens.
	This reminded us of the tulip festival in Washington State, but on a much smaller scale.
	Inside the Conservatory, there were amazing orchids and other exotic plants.
	Karen's hand (upper left corner) directing Lou to try to capture a tiny orangey flower.
	There were no written maps to carry with us! I kept getting lost. There were two of these map displays, one at the top of the garden, and this one at the very bottom. Lou took this picture so that we might consult it as we blundered around looking for the Rhododendron Loop.
Lou took this picture standing underneath the azalea, looking up at the blue sky.
	"We're on a road to nowhere" We went over the lawn and walked on that wooden walkway, but it lead nowhere.
There were many pinks and orangey coral azaleas, but only this one truly red one.	Here we are at the Bass Pond. There were fish and geese and turtles to admire.
	We followed a dirt path to see the waterfall, and it was worth it.
You might notice that there are no photos of the Rhododendron Loop. That is because when we finally found it, it was little more than an straggly path through the woods with mostly dead rhodies!	Now we are standing on top of the waterfall looking down at some teenagers climbing on the rocks.
	It is good to stay at the Inn On Biltmore Estate, because all you have to do is stand by the road and wave your white guest card at a shuttle -- and they pick you up! Here we are at the very bottom of the garden, waiting to be picked up.

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