Sunday, November 04, 2007

My Surprise Birthday Weekend In Asheville, NC


Daniel and I are home after a very relaxing birthday weekend. Friday morning Daniel left flowers for me on the counter - lilies, my favorite. 
 

His only clues as to where we were headed for the weekend were as follows: 1) I could expect the weather to be in the 60's F during the day and 30's at night; 2) We would not be sleeping in sleeping bags, and 3) We would be driving between 5 and 200 miles to our destination...
 
 
I had a pretty good idea that we would be going to the mountains and that Asheville was a good possibility. We stayed at this fantastic cottage called The Rosewood outside of Asheville. We had actually tried to book this place earlier this summer, but found out that you generally need to book 3 months ahead of time. When we could not get reservations in June, Daniel went ahead and booked the cottage for the weekend of my birthday.

 
 
Friday night we ate dinner at a local Italian pizzeria called Iannucci's - their breadsticks were fantastic. After dinner, we enjoyed an evening by the fireplace, watching satellite TV as well as some time spent hanging out in the hot tub on the deck.

 
 
Saturday we were lazy and enjoyed sleeping in late. We watched TV until noon (a luxury for us) and then took a scenic drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway. We made our way to the Craggy Gardens where we did a couple of day hikes. The views were amazing and the trees still had a hint of autumn to them.

 
 
We made our way back to Asheville, grabbed a quick snack and then wandered around downtown Asheville on foot. We had plans to see Stardust at the Asheville Pizza and Brewing Company. When we arrived an hour early to buy tickets, we were disappointed to find out that in order to get movie tickets, you have to arrive 2 hours before the show on weekends. So we will have to give that a try another time. Instead we went to a bookstore and then to Chilli's to celebrate my birthday - mostly for their Chocolate Chip Paradise Pie. Which was fantastic. We ate way too much, but it all tasted great! Afterwards we went back to the cottage to watch TV and let our stomach's settle some.
 
Sunday, we slept in again and took our time leaving. We drove some more on the Blue Ridge Parkway before making our way to Gaffney, SC to check out the outlet mall.
 
 
We made it back to Charlotte in time for home church - where I was treated to a surprise birthday party, thanks to my mentor, LaCinda. The weekend was really great and a good chance to relax and get away for the weekend. Daniel did a great job of finding a very nice place for us to stay - I would definitely recommend this cottage to anyone looking for a good getaway in Asheville!
 
 

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