If you are looking to go “green” this spring consider a trip to Asheville, North Carolina. The Blue Ridge beauty features majestic mountains that cut into the horizon and you can see them from all angles by taking one of a number of scenic drives that run through the region.
Most travelers take in Asheville’s cool, clean mountain air from the Blue Ridge Parkway. The 469-mile recreational road connects Shenandoah and Great Smoky Mountains National Parks and offers visitors a reprieve from commercialism. The road is dotted with charming vintage farmhouses, tunnels carved into majestic mountains and steep climbs that provide breathtaking views of the valleys below.
Asheville’s day-trippers also come to see the area’s eclectic architecture. One architectural masterpiece that draws millions of visitors to the area each year is the city’s crown jewel–the Vanderbilt’s illustrious Biltmore Estate. Constructed in the 1890’s, for decades, the Biltmore Estate had the honor of being called the most innovative mansion in the nation. Today, it still holds the title of largest private residence in the United States, only now anyone with spare cash (to cover the admission fee) is welcome to stroll through the massive home and view its 250 rooms filled with historic art work by Renoir, Sargent and Whistler; priceless oriental carpets; and 50,000 other luxurious objects. Outside there’s another 8,000 or so acres to be explored, including the four-acre Walled Garden, which features 50,000 tulips each spring, summer annuals in warmer months and chrysanthemums in the autumn, as well as the estate’s All-American Rose Garden.
While in Asheville take a tip from the locals and ditch your car. Most locals soak in the city’s natural beauty on their feet and you can do the same by taking a walking tour of the downtown area. The city boasts an eccentric hodgepodge of architectural styles that change from block to block. Most walking tours include stops to view traditional southern homes with grand sweeping porches; Victorian townhouses; Gothic Revival buildings decorated with gargoyles; and peppered into that mix–a bunch of Art Deco buildings.
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