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 1 ...