Memorial Day Weekend at Lake Lure, Chimney Rock, and The Biltmore

       Holly and I didn’t want to go too far on a busy holiday weekend, but we still wanted to go somewhere new. I wanted to surprise Holly which is no easy task. I made reservations at the historic 1927 Lake Lure Inn and Spa. This historic resort has a lot of history and has a wonderful location right on the lake. I know this is a camping site, but I wanted to stay at the historic inn. Holly and I had Friday off of work and we took a leisurely drive which only took us about an hour even with our stops along the way.

The drive was absolutely beautiful. The rains in the spring made everything extremely lush and we took the scenic route through the countryside. We got to the resort for an early check-in. There was a lot of activity around the resort since there were three weddings being held there that weekend. We took a walk around the resort and the shoreline before going to the bar for a wine flight. We traded stories with the bartender, Jim Howard. They were not serving dinner at the dining room because of the weddings, but we ate an early dinner at the Moose and Goose Lounge at the resort. After dinner we did some more walking around the grounds.

Saturday I made reservations for us to tour the Biltmore and have high tea in the new lodge. We got delayed in the morning because the service at the Beachside Resort was extremely slow. I was there for over an hour (at a buffet) and I didn’t even get food. Eventually, we just left, because we wanted to get on with our day. At least the view from the patio was nice.

On the way to the Biltmore we drove by Table Rock and visited Table Rock Village. We grabbed a bite to eat there and some coffee, before continuing the scenic drive to the Biltmore. We climbed up through a few switchbacks and emerged from the valley to the countryside near Asheville, NC. We got to the Biltmore late in the morning, and although it was a crowded day the estate is so big, we were not in mobs of people except for the tour of the inside. We had seen the inside before, so we scheduled our tour just before High Tea. We spent several hours touring the grounds and gardens, and topped off the day at high tea in the rotunda of the Inn on the Biltmore. We enjoyed several small snacks, sandwiches, and pastries. Actually we saved desert for later. When we drove by the winery it was way too busy the overflow lot was almost totally full, so we decided not to visit there that day since it was getting late and we had been there for over 6 hours already.

We had dinner in the Town of Lake Lure and Brunch the next morning in the Ballroom which was wonderful. On our way back we drove to the north side of the lake and toured a couple of more resorts. Then we took another scenic route home that brought us by Lake James and Lake Rhodhiss. We made it back to Sadie and Lillie before it was too late in the afternoon. \

Holly at Lake Lure Brian at Lake Lure

The Resort A Butterfly

Jim Howard the Bartender Holly at the Moose and Goose