Didn't go all that far today.    I didn't need to go very far as there is only 100 or so miles left to do before getting to the State Park tomorrow, and I should be able to do them easily in the morning. So I pulled off this afternoon and found a local library near the town of Orangeburg, SC. Nice little library, quiet, not very many patrons today. Caught up on a bunch of magazines I haven't read lately and checked out some music CD's I haven't heard before. I've been looking for a copy of any old Joan Baez albums that have the song 'Diamonds and Rust' on it. For some reason it has been stuck in my mind, only off and on luckily, for several months now. Haven't been able to find it in any of the stores I've been to. Guess I could just order it off of Amazon, but is it to much to ask to actually want to hold something real in your hand and even read the liner notes, such as they are on CD's. Will find a copy of it one of these days.

   In the meantime I also stopped off at a local grocery store on my way back to the highway. Ran out of milk and bananas this morning and I found these cute little crinkle cut carrots all packaged up and ready to go. Most of the time I'd just as soon peel and chop all my own veggies and fruit, but these things are going to be great for soup and stir-fries. They would also be handy for dips too. Already had a handful of them with dinner tonight cuz I also picked up one of those store roasted chickens and a loaf of sour dough bread. Maybe one of my favorite meals on the road. Hot roast chicken tonight and then maybe chicken enchiladas for dinner tomorrow night.

    Thought I'd post the last of the Biltmore photo's tonight and then I can be done with that part of the trip. It was a marvelous place to visit and I would highly recommend it to anyone who has even a bit of interest in history, old buildings, wine or that era in time.

Another spot of intense color, this time a fiery red azalea.

Down at the 'Bass Pond'. In this case I think the fish were actually some type of sunfish or crappie, but it didn't matter to all the kids who just thought they were neat.

A nice example of an expeliar'd tree, this one might be an apple. There were a lot of these scattered about the grounds and the process has always intrigued me.

One neat thing was to round a corner on one of the garden paths and suddenly have a view of some part of the house pop up above the trees and bushes.



A view of the south end of the house.

An closer view of the south facade showing the steps down to the south terrace. In the lower left corner of the house was the music room. Interesting in that this room was unfinished, closed off and locked until 1976 when it was finally opened up and finished as the music room it is today. I wonder what went on in there? To the right, behind the wisteria vines was George Vanderbilt's private library. Nearly two stories tall, it contained over 23,000 leather bound books in 5 languages and covering any number of subjects. The room was finished in oak and walnut with leather furniture. It would of been my favorite room in the house. On the second floor were 4 bedrooms used to house guests when they stayed. Called the Louis XV suite each room was decorated with different wall and floor coverings as well as furniture. The room in the upper left corner was known as the Damask room because of the red and gold silk damask fabric wallpaper that covered the walls. It was both elegant and stunning to see.

A closer look at the wisteria vines and the stairs down to the terrace.



The view from the house to the west. This was why the house was sited on the top of this particular hill. The designer actually had a tower built prior to the walls going up so that he could make sure that each floor elevation was at the right height for the best views. In the distance is Mount Pisagah, one of the local mountain peaks.

The west facade. In the top of the far tower was Mr Vanderbilt's personnel bedroom and beyond in the next tower was Mrs Vanderbilt's bedroom with a very nice, very large, sitting room in between. Closest to the camera and on the bottom floor was the two lane bowling alley that had been installed complete with it's own pin setter, (one of the household staff), and metal and wood ball returns. Next door were 10-12 private dressing rooms for guests to change into gym attire or the latest swimming suit for a dip in the 70,000 gallon heated indoor swimming pool. In an age were very few people had access to electricity, let alone electric lights, this pool had it's own underwater lighting system. Next door, if you still had any energy left, you could use the weight machines or parallel bars to work up a sweat, after which you could shower in one of two special 'needle showers' that were installed. These showers were ones that had water jets coming out the side as well as from overhead. While most of the population of the country was still taking a trip to the outhouse because of the lack of indoor plumbing, this house had a full 43 bathrooms and hot and cold running water to all the sinks. Interestingly, none of the bathrooms had sinks in them only a toilet and tub, instead you rang the bell/buzzer and one of the staff would bring up a pitcher of hot water and a basin to your room.

Not sure if this has already been posted or not, but I still like the way the wisteria vine overhung this window in the library.

Okay... had these all annotated and ready to go and the dang web site froze up on me. Guess I'm lucky I didn't lose it all. To tired to do it all over again tonight so I'll work on it later. Think I'll go watch a movie from my stash. 'Shrek' is sounding pretty good to me tonight for some reason. Fantasy with a touch of romance and humor sounds good. (Done!)