More of our Asheville Trip

We're home from Asheville now. We got home on Friday afternoon.

I wanted to write more about Asheville because we really had a great time. I just loved the town. It was not what I was expecting at all! The locals are all so diverse and eclectic, at times Rich and I remarked we could have been in Camden Town. Yet all the tourists were upper-middle to upper class retirees in search of a good golf course. And everyone was fine with it.

The architecture in Asheville is amazing. The shops are all unique little boutique-y places. We saw lots of "green" shops, places that sold "recycled clothes" as opposed to "used" clothes, artsy shops and galleries, antique shops... all sorts. There are lots of restaurants. More vegetarian and vegan restaurants than I've seen in one small area. And all the "non" veggie restaurants have vegan and veggie options. Lots of outdoor seating...

I know I'm rambling and in my head I had lots of things to say about where we went and what we did... but there was just so much!

Some of our favorite places...

Our B&B. We stayed at the Princess Anne Hotel and I would HIGHLY recommend it. The staff, all of them, were so nice and friendly and welcoming. We had yummy breakfasts every morning and every evening they have wine and cheese and little nibbley bits to enjoy before you head off to dinner. They left homemade truffles in our room every night. It was amazing.

We ate lunch two days at the Early Girl Eatery. This was the only place we went to twice. Lunch on the other days was bread and cheese in our room at the hotel. The food at the Early Girl Eatery was very good. Rich had the soup both days and it was delicious. Very hearty and filling. I had a salad one day and the avocado and sprout sandwich one day. Yummy!

Dinners we had such a hard time choosing where to eat. There is every type of cuisine available. The first night we had Indian at Mela. I'm still dreaming about the salmon tikka. And if anyone knows a good recipe, please let me know!

The second night was a bit disappointing. We really wanted to have either a good steak or some sort of fish. We found a place called Magnolia's Oyster Bar & Grille which looked promising. They had a large covered outdoor seating area and the menu looked good. But when we got in and really had a look at the menu, it was a bit over the top (grilled trout with fried shrimp and oysters with a bur blanc sauce....). I kept expecting Gordon Ramsey to come out as they were filming "Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares" there. In the end, we decided "simple" may be best so we both ordered a fillet -- rare plus to medium rare. I cut into my steak and it was stone cold in the middle. Fair play to them, they were really nice about taking back the steaks and cooking them more. And they even gave us a new plate with new potatoes and asparagus. And the waitress was really friendly. It's such a charming little place, it's just the menu was a bit over the top and complex. I'd like to think the regular chef was off on Mondays and it's better most other days...

Tuesday it poured rain and thundered so we ordered pizza and watched a movie in our room.

Wednesday we went to a very yummy Thai restaurant called Thai-Basil. It was so nice to sit outside and just have a nice meal. The curry puffs were not quite as good as the ones at Chinta Ria in Melbourne, but they were still good.

Our last day there, we really wanted to have a nice dinner but we didn't know what to have. We were torn between Tapas, a pub meal, Italian or Mexican. In the end, my vote was counted twice and we went Mexican. We ate at the best place ever! Called Salsa's. It's a small little place with "Mexican-Caribbean" flavors. We sat outside and stuffed our faces. It was a great way to end the week. Highly recommend them if you are ever in Asheville.

And, like I said, we got home on Friday afternoon. It was so nice to see the boys again. Sam didn't stop hugging me for about 20 minutes. The look on his face was priceless. We met Josh at the bus stop and he was just as happy to see us!

My parents left yesterday -- completely tired and worn out -- but happy for being able to spend a week with their grandsons! They're off visiting their granddaughters now at my sister's cottage.

That was our anniversary vacation. I really am looking forward to going back to Asheville. I can't imagine a more perfect place to spend with Rich!

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Asheville, Day 2

The weather here hasn't been the best. Yesterday was a bit drizzly and rainy most of the day. But that's okay, we've been making the most of our time here anyway.

We walked into town yesterday -- we are determined not to drive while here -- and visited the most amazing book store. It's called Malaprops. I love that name. It sounds like a store you'd find on Diagon Alley. It was a great book store. We must have spent 2 hours in there just lingering, reading about books, browsing...

I love book stores. It's so much fun to discover new books and authors, or rediscover books that were on "your list" and never got around to reading. It's so hard to just browse a book store when you have a seven and three year old running amok among the books and asking to go home. Or if they can buy every book they see.

So we spent a fair amount of time there yesterday. Then we had a lite lunch at a really nice little cafe. I popped next door to the smallest yarn store in the world (I found out there is another one here and we're going there today) and then went to a cute little chocolate shop while Rich went back to the bookstore and sat in the cafe reading.

We came back to the B&B in the afternoon. Rich did some reading and I had a nap then a bubble bath before dinner. We went out to dinner to a cute little place with a big outdoor, covered balcony. The staff was very nice and the location was wonderful. The food wasn't as good as we'd hoped, but not bad either.

Today we're heading down to a mall/galleria to look around. I'll let you know how we go.

We're off to breakfast now....

Cheers!

Rich and I are on our 10th anniversary/belated honeymoon trip.  We didn't have a honeymoon when we got married, we had visas and stuff to sort out so I could go live with Rich in England.  So this is it and so far I'm having a great time!

My parents are looking after the boys. I don't even know if they realize we've left. Yesterday they were too busy playing video games and/or watching Scooby Doo on TV to talk to us on the phone.

It's weird being away from the boys.  I've never been away from them for more than one night.  I keep feeling like we're forgetting something.  It was really nice to get to sleep in this morning!  The breakfast here doesn't even begin until 8:30.  It was great to just relax and not be rushed in the morning.

Last night I woke up at 2:00 a.m. and thought Sam was standing by the bed. I fully expected him to crawl into bed with me.

And I keep looking at my watch thinking, "Okay, now it's time to get the bus." Or, "my mom should be bathing them now."

I didn't realize it would take some time to wind down and "let go."  

I know my parents can handle the boys. They look after my sisters girls from time to time. And if they can handle three girls, certainly they can handle my two boys.

So anyway, Rich and I got here yesterday afternoon. We're staying in a very nice B&B in Asheville. They have wine and nibbles every afternoon before dinner so of course we had to go down and sample what they had while we decided what to do.  We walked into Asheville and had a look around.  Since it was Sunday, there weren't many places that were open.  We found a little beer garden and stopped for a pint there.  Then walked around and looked at menus trying to decide what we were going
to eat the next five nights.  There are so many places that look so good!

We found an Indian restaurant last night.  We had tandoori salmon and chicken korma and holy cow they were good!  And for dessert we had a mango cheese cake.  Yum!  The salmon was so good I think I may have to figure out a way to do it at home.  

Today we're going to walk back into town and go to a book store.  A book store without kids.  Ahhh! Heaven! I saw a few boutiques I want to look through too -- and a yarn shop.  I don't think Rich is too keen on going to the yarn shop, but I can't help it.  I love to pet the yarn!

I keep seeing things and thinking, "Oh Josh would like to do that" or "Sam would like that."  It looks like there are tons of things to do around Asheville, with or without kids.  

I'm looking forward to exploring and finding more!