Presidential Asheville Weekend - Part 2

After a good night's sleep Friday night, we were up bright and early on Saturday to go to the Biltmore Estate. This was my second trip to the Biltmore this year, and I was worried that it may be boring the second time around, but it wasn't at all.

The Festival of Flowers is April 3-May 16th and this was our first time there during the festival. The home is massive; in fact it's the largest privately owned home in the United States and boasts 43 bathrooms!

After touring the house and walking through the gardens and green house, where they had live music playing, we had lunch at The Bistro. The meal was delicious and affordable. The pizzas are heavenly, and are big enough to share between two people.

Then we proceeded to the winery. In the past, the Bitlmore has offered a free seminar on wine for guests. You needed to only call a few days before and reserve a spot. Unfortunately, when we called to reserve a spot this time, we found out that it is now no longer a complimentary seminar. The chocolate and red wine tasting seminar is $15. That's certainly not bad, and we didn't rule it out because of the price, but we did the exact same seminar for free 2 months ago, so we saw no need to pay to do it again. Also, they offer a behind the scenes winery tour for $8.

I picked up a couple bottles of my favorite sparkling wine, Biltmore's Pas de Deux, and also a couple champagne glasses from the gift shop, along with a deck of cards... those were my only purchases on this trip.

We also visited the newly opened Antler Hill Village. I was expecting more in the way of shops and variety. It was nice to walk around for a few minutes, but I think they missed the mark on this one. I do suggest stopping in at the Biltmore Legacy exhibit at Antler Hill. In the back right corner there is an entrance into a room where a panoramic video of the home and family history plays on a continuous circuit. It was actually quite enjoyable, and we were impressed with the 3 screens surrounding you.

After a quick nap back at the hotel, we decided to go exploring more downtown, unfortunately half way to downtown the skies opened up and it started pouring down the rain, so we turned the car around and went to the mall instead. Not nearly the charm of the downtown shops, but at least we were dry.

The rest of the evening was a wash. I had planned to take everyone to dinner at Tupelo Honey Cafe, but the in-laws asked for Olive Garden instead. (Deep breath.) I was wet, tired, and I shamefully admit, a bowl of their zuppa toscana did sound pretty good, so I tucked my adventurer tail between my legs and enjoyed a meal at Olive Garden.

I think it was the bad juju from the Olive Garden decision that caught up with me about 30 minutes after the meal. I was as sick as a dog all evening. I spent much of the night on the bathroom floor.

The next morning I washed the vomit from my hair, pulled myself together, and went on a last-minute shopping trip with the in-laws. They had forgotten to get my brother in law a t-shirt, so we went back to the gift shop at the main gate of the Biltmore. The sun was finally out, so we went downtown to explore. It was Sunday morning and most of the shops were closed, but at least it gave us a chance to explore the area little bit without getting drenched. Then we said our goodbyes and headed home, where I laid around on the sofa all day, still recovering from the Olive Garden Illness of Doom.

Thanks for the great trip Asheville! We didn't see the President, but by all the security we saw all over town, we sure knew he was there. Asheville, we'll be back for our next quarterly visit in July!

A Presidential Weekend Trip to the Mountains - Part 1

For months, my husband and I have had a weekend trip planned to Asheville, NC with my in-laws. About a week or two before our trip, we hard that President Barack Obama and the First Lady were going to be there the same weekend. We weren't sure whether to be excited or put-out, so we just went with a good attitude!

Background: My husband and I go to Asheville for the weekend about 4 times a year, (we call it our quarterly trip) and we have stayed all over Asheville, usually bidding on a room on Priceline. My mother in law wasn't quite comfortable leaving it to chance, and asked me which of the hotels we have preferred. We chose the Holiday Inn Asheville Downtown.

It is an affordable option, $130 a night. You do have to drive to get just about anywhere, but it is conveniently situated between downtown, the Grove Park Inn, the Biltmore Estate, and as we unfortunately found out, the mall.

The rooms are clean and comfortable.

We arrived Friday evening and had dinner at Havana Cuban Cuisine downtown. This was our second time eating there, and we really like it. It is casual and there are outdoor seating options. They also have $25 gift certificates on restaurant.com, and they CAN be used on weekends, so that is always a great way to save some money on dinner.

After dinner we made our way to the Grove Par k Inn for some dueling piano entertainment at Elaine's Dueling Pianos. We had been warned not to go there as that is where the President was staying. We were told we were unlikely to get within miles of the place, and even if we got close, they would NEVER let us in that weekend.

I'm stubborn. We went anyway.

Apparently everyone in the area had heard the same warning we did, only they listened. The hotel was like a ghost town! We pulled up to the main gate and there were incredibly bright flood lights shining down on us. They stopped us and had a bomb sniffing dog smell around the car, and then they let us onto resort property. They didn't even ask if we had reservations.

We found parking more easily than we ever have found it before. We walked up to the side door nearest Elaine's and we had to walk through metal detectors, and have our purses hand searched. I was wanded and then frisked because of my underwire bra.

With a total of maybe 5 minutes of security delays, we were in the resort and free to roam around as we pleased. We went straight to Elaines, worried about getting a seat. (We are usually there when the doors open at 8 to get a good seat.) On this night we got there at 8:50 and we were the first people there! Going to Elaine's is one of my favorite things to do in Asheville. There is no cover charge for a great evening of entertainment. We generally wind up spending between $20-50 in tips for the musicians (optional), and about $20-$30 in drinks while we are there. The musicians are talented, and the audience always has a few good laughs!

I'll continue the Presidential Weekend in my next post! Look forward to highlights of the Biltmore Estate.