Camp Gwinn: 5 Years!

On September 11 and 12, Andrea and I celebrated our 5th anniversary (actual date for five years was 9/17/10)!! Andrea's parents very graciously came to the house and watched Eli, and we took Emmett with us.

On Saturday, we drove to Asheville and the Biltmore Estate. It was drizzling so we spent the afternoon in the house. We took the audio tour and really enjoyed it. I knew I would like the house but I thought the grounds would be cooler, but I was wrong. The house itself was VERY cool. Not only was the house amazing and a work of art but there were so many individual treasures within the house, it was overwhelming!

A gutter, Vanderbilt style!

One of the things that made the house so neat was all the little details throughout, both inside and out. Unfortunately, you cannot take pictures inside the house so there aren't any here :-)

Hanging out on one of the "porches".

We visited during the "Flower Carpet" and above
is the carpet viewed from the house.

After spending the afternoon in the house we decided to head to the hotel and look for dinner. We stayed in the Hilton and had an awesome dinner at Travinia, an Italian restaurant. It was a very fun day and even though the weather was not perfect it fit perfectly into our plans!!!

Really cool carving on the outside of the house.

View from the front of the house out to the Flower Carpet.

The house.

Being silly.

Again the details... George Vanderbilt's initials and the family crest were throughout the exterior of the house.

Side view of the house across the flower carpet.

Mama and Emmett.

One of the gardens in front of the Conservatory (fancy greenhouse).

We spent most of the second day at the Biltmore as well, they had a special where you could visit for two days for the price of one. We walked through the gardens and around one of the lakes and checked out some of the other sights on the Estate and then headed home. It was a great weekend and a wonderful way to celebrate our 5th anniversary!!