The Ambitious Odometer

Thursday, September 13, 2018

{10 Trip} Celebrating TEN Part I ~ Chihuly at Biltmore

Much like we did with our oldest, we wanted to plan a special one-on-one trip with L in celebration of her turning 10 later this month. Though the impending weather forecasted with Hurricane Florence thwarted our surprise getaway for this weekend, we set off on Part ONE this afternoon...

When I think of L, I think of art, museums, musicals, and roller coasters... She's our quiet one with a daredevil streak, so here we go!

I surprised her with an early dismissal from school, and we headed up the mountain to Asheville...

Believe it or not, this girl has been enamored with the art of Dale Chihuly since she first laid eyes on one of his glass sculptures the summer before she started kindergarten...

Summer 2014 in Indianapolis...

Summer 2015 in Las Vegas...

Fall 2016 right here in Greenville...

and Summer 2017 in Seattle...

So, we just had to pay a visit to the Chihuly at Biltmore exhibit before it leaves early next month...

We visited the 1st sculpture on the tour, titled Sole d'Oro - 2017, before making our way up to the house...

On our way in, we saw the 2nd sculpture, Sky Blue and Cobalt Fiori - 2017...

We entered the house through the front door...

and continued through the Entrance Hall toward our first stop on the Main Floor, the Winter Garden, where we saw the 3rd Chihuly sculpture, Laguna Torcello II - 2018...

L enjoyed the Banquet Hall (me, not so much - too many "heads" around the top) which is huge, but not as huge as I remember it being...funny how memories from childhood paired with current perspective works...

We moved through the Breakfast Room, Salon and Music Room before heading outside to the Loggia...

Next up, the Library, a favorite room for both of us...

before walking through the Tapestry Gallery feeling like Macaulay Culkin in Richie Rich!

From there, we climbed the Grand Staircase to the Second Floor...

visiting the Living Hall, where L posed with a portrait of landscape architect, Frederick Law Olmstead, known as the Father of American Landscape Architecture...

It is said that he considered Biltmore his last great project.

The last stops on the Second Floor included Mr. Vanderbilt's Bedroom, the Oak Sitting Room and Mrs. Vanderbilt's Bedroom, oval in shape and decorated in purple and gold, L's favorite...

We continued on up to the Third Floor and visited the Living Hall and several guest bedrooms located off the Third Floor Corridor...

Our favorite was the Morland Room with a half tester bed draped in beautiful fabric, an exact reproduction of the hand-painted original fabric that adorned the Italian villa where Edith and George Vanderbilt honeymooned in 1898...

We left the Third Floor and headed back down the Grand Staircase and all the way down to the Basement Level...

In the Stone Hallway one of the foundation walls is visible. It took nearly 2 years to build the foundation, and the footings extend down approximately 29 feet!

The first stop on the Basement Level was the Halloween Room, a favorite of mine as a kid... Though still a favorite, again, it didn't look quite like I remembered it looking!

Oh, HEY, Winged Victory...

L, "Hey Mom, there's that statue from the museum in Paris...Winged something???"

Sooo, that visit to The Louvre this summer actually DID pay off...

L was super impressed with both the Bowling Alley...

and the Swimming Pool...

much as I was when I visited as a child!

We visited the Kitchen and Servants' Areas, also on the Basement Level...

I do have to say that the view is not so shabby...

before heading back up to the Main Floor to visit the Bachelors' Wing on the way out...

I would like to note that I actually DID walk up this staircase and survived... No Biltmore special assistance had to be called in, though L did have to preview it for me, and I couldn't look at the heads, especially the one that I HAD TO WALK RIGHT UNDER (see its nose/snout/whatever peeking out right above that doorway THAT I WALKED THROUGH)...oh my word...

So, L was on her own for this wing and had a blast taking selfies with all the stuffed dead things...

We'll just leave it with this one...

Bless...

On our way out, we actually ran into one of my dear friends, C, who was visiting with her sweet mother...

After finishing up at the house...

we set off to track down the next 11 sculptures located in the gardens...

We started in the Italian Garden where we found the 4th and 5th sculptures, Float Boat - 2017 and Niijima Floats - 2018...

the 6th sculpture, Palazzo Ducale Tower - 1996...

and the 7th and 8th sculptures, Fiori Boat - 2017 and Neodymium Reeds with Fiori Verdi - 2014...

then walked through the Shrub Garden to see the 9th sculpture, Red Reeds - 2017...

We continued on to the Walled Garden to visit the 10th sculpture, Paintbrush Tower - 2014...

the 11th sculpture, Electric Yellow and Deep Coral Tower - 2017...

and the 12th sculpture, Cattails and Copper Birch Reeds - 2015, leading up to the entrance to the Conservatory...

Inside the Conservatory, we found the 13th sculptures, Burnished Amber, Citron, and Teal Chandeliers - 2017...

and a "Go Tigers!" flower...

before heading back up toward the house where we found the Pergola and the 14th sculptures, Pergola Garden Fiori - 2018...

What a FUN afternoon with my sweet L...

We left the area near the house and headed over to the Antler Hill Village & Winery area in search of the last couple of sculptures as well as some dinner...

the 15th sculpture, Alabaster and Amber Spire Towers - 2017...

and the 16th (and final) sculpture, Turquoise and Erbium Fiori - 2017...

We grabbed a nice dinner at Cedric's Tavern...

named after the family dog...

before heading back down the mountain...

Glad we got a glimpse of these two illuminated at night...

All in all, a great little getaway with the sweetest (almost) 10 year old I know!

Parts II and III still to come...

Saturday, July 28, 2018

{EUROPE} Day Seventeen - London Day 5 + HOME!

As I've said before, my long-running motto on our family trips is, "We're on an adventure, and we can sleep at home." In this case, that can be amended to, "We can sleep on the plane."

We've got a few hours left, and by golly, we are going to go and see something...

Still on my list for this trip, especially since we had already been to Liverpool and done The Beatles thing there, was to visit the famous crosswalk at Abbey Road. I'd read that the best time to visit was on a weekend, and the earlier the better, since it IS still a real (and fairly busy) street.

So, we got up pretty early and set out for Abbey Road...

making it to the crosswalk before 7:30am...

This is a busy road, but this isn't as dangerous as it looks. There are different types of crossings in London, and this one that has the lampposts with yellow globes at either end is one where pedestrians have the right away and technically traffic is supposed to stop for crossers, though I'd venture to guess that drivers have a bit less patience with the people crossing for a photo verses the people crossing that are actually trying to get somewhere...

We lucked out that there was one other person there trying to do the same thing. I say that we "lucked out" because 1) there was someone to take our family picture and 2) there was only ONE other person trying to get a picture, not 10 or 20 or 100!

By the time we left, still before 8:00am, a group of about 10-12 people had already shown up to try and do the same thing!

LAST ride on the TUBE (this trip, at least)…

On the way back to the hotel we grabbed breakfast for everyone, and sweet L paid homage to both of her grandmothers declaring on the walk back to the hotel that her breakfast represents both of them because,

"In this hand (on the left) is the fruit that Grandma makes for me when I'm at her house, and in this hand (on the right) is the fruit that Grams makes for me when I'm at her house."

while B & M were caught taking on the streets of London like pros...

After breakfast, we checked out and met up with our driver to head to the airport.

Many hours later, we landed back home in the Carolinas...

What began as my mother wanting to take a trip to somewhere she'd, somehow in all of her travels, missed along the way ended up being a truly amazing experience for all of us...

What a GIFT to have the opportunity to go along for the ride!

This will most definitely go down as a family adventure we won't soon forget and will hold close to our hearts forever...