2021/9/29 - BILTMORE ESTATE
DIRECTOR'S CUT EXTENDED EDITION

This is the Director's Cut Extended Edition for this album, meaning I have included many photos which don't meet my typical artistic standards because they hold special memories for me. If you are looking for a shorter and higher quality collection, or if you are not a fan of spiders, visit the curated Theatrical Cut at BILTMORE ESTATE - SPIDER FREE THEATRICAL RELEASE.

In September/October of 2021 I took a trip to Asheville, NC and walked my poor feet as much as they could take up and down the Appalachian mountains. This needed to be another "day off" after all the excessive hiking I did around Looking Glass the day before. After checking the ticket prices at the Biltmore Estate, I decided that 8 thousand acres of land was probably enough to occupy my entire day. As impressive as I know the interior of the house to be, it wasn't worth extra money to me just to see a rich guy's stuff. I arrived right when they opened the grounds and got lost with some strangers while we tried to find our way out of the expansive parking area. I seemed to be the only visitor under 50. I wandered off, away from the crowd, and located the sleepy bees I came for, on their favourite goldenrod beds.

8 thousand acres did not mean very much to me when I read the number on the website, but I found out through experience that it really is an extraordinarily excessive amount of land. The rose garden was especially delightful to me, though not for the roses themselves - they attract a lot of friendly insects! There I saw the biggest bug I ever saw in my whole entire life. A praying mantis lurked completely motionless in the bushes for minutes on end until an unlucky bee got too close. Or perhaps the bee was lucky, since she managed to wriggle away. Owing to the estate's grandiose size, it took a rather long time just to drive over to the winery area, where I found some cute chickens and goats at the farm. The paths around here were far hillier than I had desired for a "day off".