road trip to asheville

Last week's road trip took us to Asheville, North Carolina for the first time. We went for the Biltmore and the breweries, mostly, and we weren't disappointed. Our favorite stops - Wedge Brewery for unbelievable Belgian style ale (try the Golem please), Early Girl Eatery for biscuits and gravy, Dripolator for pour-over coffee, and Bruisin Ales for beer to go and an awesome selection of it (be sure to check out the snooty antique shop a couple doors down from Bruisin to lust after overpriced but lovely 1920s and 30s dresses, plus some turn of the century babes). A couple more favorites - Thirsty Monk downtown and Barley's Taproom.. and of course the Biltmore.

The Biltmore was grand. We arrived in the early morning to beat the crowds and the heat. The drive to the house, wooded hills and ferns with their branches stretching towards the road, was magical - looking wild and almost overgrown but in truth, plotted and planted and conceived by landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted. I think we were just as excited to see Olmsted's handiwork as the house itself. And the house - to think it was built by a 33 year old bookish bachelor makes it all the better. Grand palatial grounds with Gilded Age adornments, 500 year old tapestries in rooms seven stories high (rooms built for the tapestries themselves), a billiard room festooned in oak panelling with a secret passage into the adjoining smoking room. The Biltmore's first floor has a decidedly masculine theme, which is no surprise since George Vanderbilt designed it himself.

By the time we left in the afternoon, the heat and the crowds had arrived so we were ready to go - but if it had been a little less busy, I could have easily toured the house a second time.



I wore an all vintage and nearly all thrifted outfit to the Biltmore on our day there.. vintage silk blouse and high waisted burgundy trousers with leather wedge sandals and a small straw purse, all thrifted. Round sunglasses from a local vintage shop in Nashville and a deadstock Casio watch from American Apparel rounded it out. Still hardcore into monochromatic outfits apparently, but this ensemble was too good to pass up.. the pants and blouse are easily two of my favorite Goodwill finds from this past summer.

Currently addicted to searching for 1920s sewing patterns online (been literally dreaming about silk drop waist dresses and waking up sad and empty handed) and watching Poirot episodes on Netflix. Neil surprised me with creme de cassis last night when he found out it was Poirot's favorite drink. I now have aspirations to become a female Hercule Poirot.