Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Camping on Lake James

In September, the Colglazier family enjoyed an extended family camping trip, camping of the shore of Lake James with a beautiful view of the North Carolinian Smoky Mountains.

We arrived on Thursday so that the Kids could get in FREE to the Biltmore Estate. Waking up at 4:30 a.m. we arrived at camp early and set up the camp as soon as possible.

The lunch we ate at one of the Biltmore restaurants is the best buffet ever. We enjoyed a delicious appetizer, salad, entree, and dessert, all in a buffet. The dessert was the best. We
enjoyed pies, lots of chocolate, and an excellent bread pudding.




After our almost private lunch, we went to the estate. You never realize how big this famous building is until you actually see it. It is one of the greatest works of architecture of its time. We did not do the audio tour, but enjoyed seeing the
many of the 250+ rooms ourselves.

With exhausted legs, and after a long while, we went to the large garden, then to the farm and learned a lot there.





The next day, we had small hike at our campground, and watched from a height that enhanced our view. We had a distant view of the mountains.


On Sunday, we took the hours drive to Linville Falls, and there did a large amount of hiking. Small trails, large trails; easy trails hard trails; we did them all. We saw the falls from the top, side, far away, and we even to the difficult trail to see it from the bottom.

Though so little people do this, it is well worth it.

We ate lunch and returned tired.

The next day, we shopped in Biltmore Village.

We returned to our home on Monday, after leaving camp.

We learned a lot on this exciting trip.