Unplugged and Disconnected

I've been unplugged and disconnected for 36 hours. Kind of scary and I didn't really like it.

Butch and I had made plans to visit The Biltmore and stay at the historic Grove Park Inn. It's been on my bucket list for a long time. We would not have internet connection at the old hotel, but I figured I could handle it since I have my new iPhone. We weren't even out of the driveway when I realized that I had forgotten my charger. I thought, "well, it's not the end of the world. The charge should last at least a day." But what I forgot is that I did not charge it up. It was dead. That meant no communication for me at all. Butch had his phone, so in case of an emergency, the girls could get a hold of us. I'm just glad it was a short period of time. Luckily, Mindy called us with the news about Princess Kate. She said that when I didn't respond to her text or email, she knew something was up. I'm so happy for the royal family! I can't wait until the big event. I love "The Royals"---which is also the name of one of my boards on Pinterest.

Thank goodness I brought my camera instead of relying on my phone as I've been since I got it. Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take pictures inside the house.

On to our trip. The Biltmore is unbelievable at Christmas (any time for that matter). Built by George Vanderbilt and opened on Christmas Eve to family and friends in 1895. It is the largest privately owned home in the United States. 240 rooms, 88 Christmas trees, 200 poinsettias, 400 other assorted plants and flowers. To keep everything fresh, they replace everything mid season. I was able to pull these pictures off the internet. Everything was so beautiful:

 This is the children's tree and is surrounded by turn of the century toys. I can't imagine being a kid in this house.

 This is the breakfast room. They occasionally would have lunch here too.

 This is the banquet/dining room. The small table you see here is for informal family dinners.

 The music room had about 6 trees in it. The trees are loaded with ornaments---the way I like them.

 This is the ladies salon where tea was served in the afternoon. To the right was the largest nativity scene I've ever seen.

 This is called the Winter Garden and is to the right when you enter the house.

 This is the library. It houses 20,000 books---only half of George's collection. The hand-painted ceiling was taken from a home in either Venice or Florence---we can't remember. It must be canvas for them to have been able to remove it and bring it to the states---especially in the 1800's.

Although we did not take the candlelight tour and didn't actually see this view, I just had to include it. So gorgeous.

My next post will include pictures I did take at the Grove Park Inn.

I hope you all are having great fun during this holiday season.