Happiness

About a year ago, Mike and I went to the Biltmore Estate. (Read about it here.) We ended up becoming pass holders because we knew that we would come up again in less than a year and if you only go twice is saves you money. (We went again with his family in August.) Well, our passes expire this coming Friday, so we decided to go one last time.

I worked that morning (the kids and I made cards for their mom) but was off before noon. So, in the dreary weather we took off up through the Carolina mountains--it's a beautiful drive. Even the best artist on Earth doesn't have as many colors on his palate--or computer, as the case may be--as God. :-)

The sun came out and made for a beautiful day! This time, while going through the house, we took the "audio tour" a.k.a. you wander around looking silly because you have headphones attached to you by a bright orange cord. The audio tour is great! I learned so much--though I got confused once and began to hear about the Salon while I was in the big laundry room. (6, 60...sorta the same!) Did you know that all the beds in the house are standard full size beds? The look so small but apparently this is because the rooms are so large.

The gardens (despite the Festival of Flowers not being over yet) were not quite in bloom anymore, but the greenhouse was full of pretty flowers. You can see a few at the bottom and then a few more here.

We skipped the winery tour (it's super short and we've done it twice) and just got in line for the wine tasting. I was carded once, where everyone is carded and then you get a glass with a teeny bit of Biltmore's Reserve Chardonnay and then I was carded again when we got to our table! The woman looked at me quite suspiciously several times before she (as I expected) carded me and she still gave me suspicious looks. She warmed up to me eventually though. The wine tasting was fun and I learned that I still don't like red wine. But I also don't like my two favorite wines (Riesling and Gewürztraminer) together in a blend (Biltmore's White Century).

Instead of dining at the Bistro, we ate at the outdoor Arbor Grille. While waiting for our table, we sat on a bench and were heckled by a very amusing drunk man. I sat down to dinner feeling very content. As we talked, ate, and listened to the guitar strumming, my content feeling grew. I dunno, I was just so happy to be sitting there enjoying dinner (followed by the BEST white chocolate cheesecake ever) with Mike in the nice weather enjoying nice music. It's a blessing to be able to do that.

I had such a fun time and I was so happy! Mike says it was expectations. And you know what? He's right. I was expecting to have just an OK time and I ended up having a fabulous time.

♥Tiffany♥