We had few first for our girls on this girls trip and a whole lot of fun in just 78.5 hours on our annual girls trip. We made our way from Alabama through Georgia and Tennessee to North Carolina for the girls first white water rafting adventure down the Nannahala before landing in Asheville, NC for a couple days of fun touring the Biltmore House and exploring a little. It can be tiring and stressful planning but it is always a joy to spend a little bit of time together. Blessed to get to have this time with these strong, independent, loving ladies.   

We were in the car at 6:45 Wednesday morning ready for our adventure. We surprised ourselves and actually packed the 7 of us and all our luggage in the back of the car without the trailer hitch 🙂 

Everyone did awesome on the 4.5 hour car ride but were ready to get out of the car for lunch. It was a nice setting for lunch next to the creek where we were able to watch other rafters going down the river

We finally found NOC and got checked in then had plenty of time for a picture since we got to wait 45 minutes for our rafting time

Love how the girls entertained themselves

Finally watching the safety video so we could head up river to hop in our raft

We got up river but the guide figured out he had brought a empty first aide kit so we got to play games before we could get on the river

We finally got on the raft almost a hour later than planned but it was worth the wait and we all had so much fun

It rained a little

We laughed a lot and the girls were even able to stretch our legs

Made sweet memories 

Our guide, Garret told us the river runs about 8 mph, raft travels approximately 4 mph, and we went about 7 miles on the river
   
The girls were still up for a little fun when we got back but we still had a hour and 15 minute drive so we changed into some dry clothes and hit the rode

Before arriving at our hotel we had dinner at a fabulous little Greek/Italian place called Apollo Flame Bistro. Of course, the girls first question when we arrived was could they go to the pool so Mimi took them for 30 minutes while Stacy and Lisa unpacked and showered before they all headed up too   
 

Thursday, it was a 70% chance of rain all day long. We prayed that morning that God would show us grace and give us a beautiful day and he blessed us with a gorgeous day. We were thankful that we got the first available time into the Biltmore since it was a hot day. All of us enjoyed the self guided tour that we could take at our own pace. It took us a little over 2 hours to go through the house and the girls said it would be awesome to live in it to play house or hide-n-seek; I don’t think we would be able to find them if we played hide-n-seek there. Throughout the tour all 4 of our little ladies were very attentive and engaged. After the house tour we walked through the gardens to enjoy a little of natures beauty before heading to lunch, the farm/kid area, and winery to end our tour of Biltmore Estate. Before heading back to the hotel we did make a quick stop to the outlet mall; although we did not do much shopping since it was a outdoor mall, the girls were hot and ready to cool off back at the hotel in the pool. 

It was interesting to hear all about the Biltmore House and to see our kids reaction to hearing about the Biltmore House for the first time. 

I think they were amazed walking into the banquet hall and started to realize the scale of the house 
 

Interesting facts was this house took 6 years to build and was a staggering 175,000 square feet or four acres with 33 bedrooms, 65 fireplaces and 43 bathrooms. The girls wanted to take a picture of a couple of the guest rooms

The terrace had a great breeze. We could only imagine how nice it would be to sit out with a cup of coffee or glass of wine with the amazing view 

Sitting on the benches this was the view. It is hard to fathom that when construction started on this enormous house most of this was pasture land and a land architect suggested making a lot of the 125,000 acres a forest 
 
We paused for a picture on one of their grand staircases before running outside before touring the lower level of the house 

Quick picture of the beautiful ground when we took a break touring the house to run make a pit-stop

It is equally amazing to see what the lower level offered for entertainment just like the upstairs with a bowling alley, indoor pool, gymnasium, and more 
 
 
It was amazing to look in the servant areas and see where all the meal preps and behind the scene things that had to happen to entertain the Vanderbilt’s guest. Equally impressive was the “Bachelor’s wing “with custom made billiard tables from 1895 but to learn that women were welcomed there as well. 

Photo op before we left with the cardboard Vanderbilt’s 

The time it must have took for this arbor to be covered; I wonder if the Vanderbilt’s ever got to enjoy the shady cover or if they simply did it for their future generations 
  
The gardens were beautiful


 
  

The girls seemed to like the green house with the miniature versions of Biltmore house and other land marks on the property


Walking up to get a photo op with the Biltmore house int he back ground


   
Tickets now include a wine tasting for adults and grape juice for the kids so of course we tried it out 

 
Once they were done with their juice they were creative 

Mimi and Lisa headed to the creamery while Stacy checked out at the wine store and made new friends

We visited the kid area and petting farm too

Impressed Sara caught the ball once
  
Of course Mimi needed to play a little too
   
Thursday afternoon we headed to the outlets for a little shopping but turned out we were more interested in playing 
   
Girls liked ending their days in the pool 

Friday was our low key no specific time to be anywhere day. Lisa found a couple things that looked neat when she was researching what to do so we headed nearby to Pisgah National Forest. We walked down to see Looking Glass Falls and waded in the water then headed over to the sliding rocks to slide down rocks. After we were good and water logged we went to Dolly’s for ice-cream before going back to the hotel to clean up and explore downtown Asheville. We went in several stores, a couple art galleries, pinball museum and play, drum circle, and more before heading back for the girls to end their day their way in the pool.  

 national park 


  


Leia and Sara were so excited and proud of themselves for getting close to the waterfall 
  

      
On the way to the sliding rock we saw tons of butterflies 

We all went down the rock slide the first time. Lisa tried snapping pictures from the water after she went down

Ivy went with Mimi her first time down but she was a one and done so took over taking pictures 
   
Love how close the pics were from the water
 
      

Friday afternoon and rest of trip

We took the girls to a pinball museum but the only one that was sure they wanted to play was Leia since the others said it was “creepy”. Sara ended up staying when the option was to go sit in the car to watch a movie while it rained or play. Eventually she came around and the two big sisters had a blast. 


   
 

We paid extra to play Star Wars game too
 
 
After a little bit of watching a movie in the car when the rain stopped, Mimi and Stacy took the little sisters to a book store for cookies while they got Champagne and wine 


We all met back up and the big sisters for a treat too. I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice Cream

Chilling in a store, resting for the walking mommy/aunt Lisa made them do before we headed back to the hotel to pack up
 

Saturday morning we got up and headed to sweet home Alabama. We had driven 978 miles on our girl adventure but was happy to be home and off the road for the rest of the evening when we got home