Home sweet home

It is always good to go away for vacation but it is always just a s good to come home.  We left yesterday morning and drove home.  For some reason the Biltmore house closes at 3:30 and we just did not make it in time to walk through.  After a very active week in Washington D.C. we were doing allot of relaxing and seeing the Estate Grounds.  Oh Well!!!  I guess we will have to go back. 

The Biltmore Estates

As we drove onto the Biltmore Estates we passed a valley with cattle and then up ahead was the Biltmore Estate itself.  We are going to tour the estate tomorrow.  

Then we came up on the Inn at Biltmore Estates.  This is where we are staying.  The lobby is beautiful and there are fresh flowers all over. 

Our room was so large and beautifully decorated.  We had a wonderful view of the winery and mountains. They brought in a roll away bed The Cisco Kid and there was still so much room. 

The view of the Winery from our room.

This child has wanted to ride a horse for a couple of years.  He was so excited to finally start ridding.  There were situations where we went up and down mountain.  I was afraid he would get spooked but he had total control over the horse.  He steered the horse using the rains and slowed the horse down when needed.  We took a one hour ride on the Estate grounds.

There is so much more to do here.  We will have to come back so we could enjoy the rest of the estate. 

Another day in Washington D.C

We have covered allot of ground in the past three days. We have seen the Lincoln Memorial, Vietnam Memorial, Washington Monument, Museum of American History, Air & Space Museum, Smithsonian Castle, and today we completed our tour in the White house, then we went to the Natural History Museum, and Natural Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden .  Amazingly enough all these Museums and Monuments were free of charge.  Yes!!!  I did say FREE!!!


The White House was one of The Cisco Kids favorite sights. Unfortunately we were unable to take any pictures in the white house. The house is very cool. It is a short self guided tour and you get to see the majority of the lower level of the house. We had to enter through the south gate in order to get into the White House. Three security checks later we entered into the White House. We entered a long hall with all photos of the presidents and their families. We walked past the Blue room, Red room and Green room. The one part I really wanted to see was the China Room and that was off limits. We could only look through the door. I wanted to take pictures of the grand ball room. It had four fireplaces and the crystal chandeliers were magnificent.

Natural History Museum

This is one large sloth!

The Hope Diamond!  The necklace was spinning so everyone could get a look at this stunning necklace.  All I could say is that the picture does not do this piece and justice.

 

 This was a section just for kids.  All hands on! 

Natural Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden!  There were many amazing sculptures but the one that I thought was amazing was this tree.  It was made totally out of metal.

In the morning we will be off to North Carolina.  We are going to stay at the Inn on Biltmore Estates. Our plan was to see some snow but since the past four days the temperatures has been in the seventies I doubt we are going to see anything.   This will let us take full advantage of the 8,000. Acres on the Biltmore property.   

A day at the Musium

Some of my favorite subjects are fashion and cooking and the museum of American history had some of the best representations. Let’s start with fashion. What better way to see some of the greatest fashion statements than on the first ladies them self’s.

 This is Michelle Obama's inaugural ball gown.  It is stunning.

 The jewels she wore.

The dresses of Hillary Clinton & Laura Bush are absolutely beautiful.

They did not have all the first ladies dresses in the museum but they had sketches of them. 

 My next favorite subject is cooking and who best to see is the iconic Julia Chiles.  Here is her Kitchen.

My guys were so patient waiting for me to get done with this section. 

The transportation section.  

The car companies that were in business.  

The Washington Monument.  We went up in an elevator 550 feet.

The city 550 feet up.