My all-time favorite movie is Being There with Peter Sellers. Being from South Carolina, I was fascinated by the fact that it was filmed at the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina. My first visit to the estate was in 1979, shortly after the movie was released.
When Teresa and I still lived in the Carolinas, we had annual passes to the estate. This is our first trip there as a couple. The irony is that we went there to see the Dale Chihuly exhibit that was temporarily installed on the grounds, then 12 years later, we moved to Tacoma, Washington. Dale Chihuly was born in Tacoma in 1941. He grew up in the Pacific Northwest, and the region has remained closely associated with his life and work. He even studied at the University of Washington in Seattle before becoming internationally famous.
Tacoma and Seattle both celebrate his legacy, and many of his large installations are displayed in local museums and botanical gardens in the area.
