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My Beautiful Bride really likes tulips, so we make an effort to get to Biltmore to see the tulips in the Walled Garden. Some years we misjudge the weather and the blooms and don’t see much. Other years the blossoms are gorgeous. The picture above was taken during one of those years. We hope we’re as fortunate this year.
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I never get tired of the view we have from Pisgah Inn on the Blue Ridge Parkway, and I never get tired of trying to get a panorama which at least approximates the beauty we enjoy. I got the photos that made up this panorama on a morning in June, 2023. Many of the mountain tops were lost in a sea of fog.
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Betsy and I have been celebrating our anniversary at Pisgah Inn on the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina. We keep going back because of the views of the mountains are amazing. We very much enjoy sitting on the balcony of our room and taking in the view.
We usually hope for clear, sunny days when we’re visiting the inn, but a cloudy, overcast day has a beauty of its own, as the picture above shows. In the early morning light we were able to look down on some of the clouds covering the valley and some of the mountain peaks.
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Looking Glass Falls is a beautiful waterfall near Brevard, North Carolina. Betsy and I have visited it many times over the years, and as we get older we appreciate it more and more. The waterfall is right by the roadside — no hiking required!
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Betsy and I enjoy the beach at Ocean Isle, North Carolina, for many reasons, but the sunrises we can enjoy from our room definitely ranks high on the list. I captured this image on our most recent trip to Ocean Isle Beach in early December. Upon seeing sights like this the most appropriate response is “The heavens declare the glory of God”.
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The poinsettia has long been associated with Christmas — we have a red poinsettia like the one above on a coffee table in our living room.
I think I knew there were many varieties of poinsettias, but I didn’t realize that there were so many different colors until Betsy and I visited the Conservatory at Biltmore when we were there for the Christmas at Biltmore event. There were plants of different colors, such as this yellow-green poinsettia which was one of the first we saw as we entered the Conservatory. There were poinsettias of different hues and shades through out the building.
But I think I was most impressed with the multi-colored poinsettias that we saw. This red and white beauty was definitely eye-catching.
Some plants were more subdued than others, but still very pretty. I did like this point and white poinsettia very much.
It would be hard for me to pick a favorite, although these yellow and red plants that we saw near the end of our visit to the Conservatory definitely caught my eye.
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One of the advantages of visiting waterfalls in December is that we can often see water in a couple of different forms. This picture of ice and water was taken a few years back at Dry Falls in the Cullasaja Gorge of North Carolina.
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One of the nice things about living in eastern Tennessee is that autumn in the mountains can be spectacular. There’s no guarantee of course — Mother Nature is going to do what she wants when she wants to do it. There have been years when the autumn colors are muted and quite frankly, drab. But there are other years during which the colors on the mountains take your breath away.
My Beautiful Bride and I try to go on a ‘leaf-hunting’ trip every year. We usually make a loop — going through the Smokies over Newfound Gap, and coming the other way over the Cherohala Parkway.
The picture above was taken along the Cherohala Parkway connecting North Carolina and Tennessee several years ago. We hope we are as fortunate this year.
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My Beautiful Bride and I have season passes to the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina, and we try to visit the estate several times a year. Although we have gone into the house several times, we usually go to visit the conservatory and the gardens.
The Walled Garden is the centerpiece of the gardens at Biltmore. It was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, as were all the gardens at Biltmore. Frederick Law Olmsted is often considered America’s foremost landscape architect.
The Walled Garden is usually the second area we visit (after the Conservatory) on each trip to Biltmore. This post show a typical Spring visit to the Walled Garden. All these photos were taken in April, 2013.
The Walled Garden features a seasonal rotation of blossoms. A long arbor covered with grape vines runs down the center of the garden.
Openings in the arbor provide a pretty frame for the tulips.
Over 50,000 tulips (and 14,000) daffodils are planted in the garden each Spring, making a beautiful display.
I was fortunate to find another type of beauty in a different section of the garden.
To see these and other images from our visit, click HERE.
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I realize that the holiday season is long gone, but I was so happy with these photos that I just had to share them with you.
Betsy and I went to the Candlelight Christmas event at Biltmore last December. We didn’t take our big cameras, but I used my iPhone to take pictures as we approached and then toured the house. I wasn’t sure what to expect from the outdoor night photos, but I think they came out pretty well. The picture above is of the big lighted tree on the lawn in from of the Biltmore house.
We were early for our entrance to the house, so when we got off the bus from the parking area we walked away from the house so we could see both the tree and the house. The lights gave a nice, warm glow to the scene.
There was some snow on the ground, but there had been a couple of days of warm weather so there was not much left. We walked on the lawn to get closer to the tree, but were happy to get back to the walkway as we got closer to the house.
We got a good look at the front of the house as we approached the line to get in. Our candlelight visit to Biltmore had gotten off to a very good start.
Senior Moments 