For those of you who don’t know who Dale Chihuly is, he is a world famous glass artist. I first saw his work at an exhibit at VMFA several years ago. When I saw he would be exhibiting nearby in North Carolina, I immediately booked tickets! And even better, the exhibit was going to be outdoors in the gardens at Biltmore, and you could view the sculptures at night! Win, win, win!

We stayed on property this time and made reservations at the Inn at Biltmore. Very nice, I highly recommend it, especially because they have free shuttles that will take you around the property. It poured down rain on the drive up and stayed mostly cloudy the whole time, but the mist was really cool to see just hovering in the mountains.

 

Antler Village is just a couple of minutes away from the Inn, so we started our vacation with wine tasting (I may or may not have bought 6 different wines to bring home)! Antler Village also had a couple of the Chihuly sculptures on display (the Inn is in the background in the upper left).

 

Day and night viewing.

 

 

I’ve been to the Biltmore a couple of times before (in 2012 and 2013), so rather than spend time in the house, or wandering around town, I wanted to find something else to do before seeing the main event. NC is known for waterfalls, and I found one that was less than an hour away, and required zero hiking.

 

After the waterfall, it was time to head to the house!

 

Evening shot

 

 

 

 

Took a break from glass for flowers!

 

 

It started to rain on the way back from the conservatory to the main house, but that didn’t stop me from snapping pictures!

 

Cucumbers (?) growing down from on top of a trellis.

 

 

 

 

 

I thought these would be lit from underneath in the water. The shots definitely didn’t turn out how I wanted them to, and the rain didn’t help.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photography wasn’t allowed inside the house before. I should have gone on the house tour and taken more pictures. Oh well, just another excuse to go back again.

 

The last day included an all-you-can-eat brunch at Deerpark.  It was a wonderful way to end a fantastic vacation!