Biltmore House Road Trip - Dixie Caverns
How I spend my summer vacation: Biltmore House Road Trip
For the longest time my wife has wanted to see the Biltmore House, a mansion built near Asheville, North Carolina by George Washington Vanderbilt II between 1889 and 1895 and still stands as the largest privately-owned home in the United States. Even though the last couple of summers things came up that prevented me from keeping my promise to take her there this summer we were able to go on what I like to call our Biltmore House Roadtrip
According to Mapquest the trip from Allentown, PA to Asheville, NC should take around 10 hours, if driven non-stop. That was a bit much to do non-stop so we decided to stop at a couple of places on the way down and on the way back.
I used to do a lot of caving in my younger days so I enjoy visiting different commercial caves whenever I can and this Road trip gave me several opportunities since we drove through Virginia to get to Asheville, North Carolina.
The itinerary of the visits we decided on was in the order as follows:
Day 1
Shenandoah Caverns - in Shenandoah Caverns, Virginia
Day 2
Dixie Caverns - Salem, Virginia
Biltmore House - Asheville, North Carolina
Day 3
Biltmore House - Asheville, North Carolina
Day 4
Great Smokey Mountains Railroad - Bryson City, North Carolina
Smokey Mountain Trains - Bryson City, North Carolina
Day 5
Chimney Road - Chimney Rock, North Carolina
P. Buckley Moss Museum - Waynesboro, Virginia
Day 6
Grand Caverns - Grottoes, Virginia
Day 2 - Dixie Caverns
Yesterday we left Shenandoah Caverns and drove down to Salem, Virginia to get a motel room near Dixie caverns. That way we could get an early start, see the caverns and then head down to the Biltmore House in Asheville, North Carolina.
We ended up as the first people there, even beating the people that run the place. That turned out to be lucky for us because it ended up being only the two of us and three other people on the first tour. Even more luckier when you see all the buses full of kids that waited in the parking lot when we came back from the tour.
Dixie Caverns reminded me of the caves I used to cave in. It was kinda dark and very wet. I liked it but Kathy didn't care for it because she found the steps, of which there was a lot, wet and slippery.
Unfortunately because of how dark the cavern was the video I took was to dark to use, except for the video I did of the buses I mentioned before.
If you find yourself in the Dixie Caverns area do stop in. I think you'll enjoy it if you like caves. If your SO doesn't care for caves or caverns the is a fairly large antique mall, gift shop and rock and mineral shop that might keep then busy while you take the tour.
For more info on Dixie Caverns goto: