Alone....at Last!!!

My Ski is the most amazing guy!!

Last November, he had planned for us to go away. Unfortunately, I broke my leg and badly sprained my ankle and we had to cancel our plans. It was such a sad time for me. I had been looking forward to it a great deal and between my disappointment, medication, and the frustration of a broken leg, I really cried over this. However, Ski rescheduled and while the location was different, we had a great time. Through research, I found a great little inn with even better prices. They even gave Ski a discount on the rate that he saw. It wasn't overly fancy, but it was just what I needed.

You see, we have only been away overnight by ourselves twice since having children. Once was when our son died. My parents very graciously watched our three oldest children while we went off to Blowing Rock. All I remember of that trip was basically that I cried the entire time. It was a very sad time, but my friend HIGHLY recommended that we do this and I am so glad that we did. It was the only extended time that we had to grieve together without the children being around us. The second time that we tried was when our youngest was about 1yo and he came with us, so I guess technically, this doesn't count. It was around this time that we had begun realizing that he had food allergies. He wasn't the best companion and to add to that, our hotel room had a power failure and we were moved TWICE during our short stay. This did not make for either a restful time or a happy husband. Oh, and it rained and it was cold...October at the beach.

But this time we had a splendid time. Just the two of us for two entire days. Yes, it rained and sometimes it even poured. But we still had the best time.

We ended up spending one day poking around little shops in Black Mountain. We stopped in a German restaurant where I think I had the driest sandwich on earth. Ski had a Reuben which I think I would have liked, but it was not to Ski's liking. But still we laughed while I took great gulps of drink to keep from choking. There is a cool old fashioned hardware store that was neat to look at. We went to the thrift store and the used book store, of course. The guy in the bookstore told us all about Black Mountain College and showed us books and told us what he knew about it. In that store, I also found a copy of a book of Kate Greenaway plates. It was nothing to look at on the outside, but inside, it was just beautiful. Oh, my!!! I could barely hold it and I could NOT afford to buy it. When I gushed about the book to the store owner, I think it pleased him. When a lady in a Earthy/stone/crystal/gem kind of store found out it was my birthday, she let me pick a stone out. I didn't think about it at the time, but we went back the next day to ask her to make a necklace out of it, but they were closed. I think Christelle will try to make one for me, though. I thought that we could use some silk cord to do it so I could actually wear it. LOL.

We thought about eating at our inn, but it looked kind of fancy and we had brought only jeans along, so we ate at a Mexican place that someone recommended to us. All I can say is WOW!!! It was awesome food!! The owner is Mexican, I guess, and it was authentic food and CHEAP and FAST!! There were lots of locals eating there, so you know it was good. I had chicken mole with poblano peppers and it was soooooo good. I do NOT like hot things and this was really spicy to me, but it was so good that I ate all of it. I just ate lots and lots of chips and went through 3-4 drinks.

In the morning, we were served an awesome breakfast. We were the only guests there that morning so we had the restaurant all to ourselves. Imagine eating breakfast to Frank Sinatra under blue Christmas lights. It was so cool!!!

After checkout, we bought an umbrella at the hardware store and made our way to Asheville. There we toured Biltmore. Since this was only the second time we were there, we were surprised to see that there were Spring flowers in all of the vases. Someone was playing the organ in the Banquet Hall, and we saw four new rooms that were just opened. I had asked Ski if we could see the Gardens since last time, we were there in Feb and there were no flowers. I have been wishing for a visit to Longwood Gardens, or as my father calls it, Dupont Gardens. Growing up, my family would often visit Longwood almost any time of year. My mother loves orchids so she loved to visit in winter when the orchids bloomed in the greenhouses. I really miss having that wonderful place nearby. So I really wanted to see the gardens at Biltmore. Before we even arrived at the gates to the gardens, we could smell the scent of roses wafting up to us. We chatted with one of the gardeners and complimented her on her work. Only two people tend to the two HUGE rose gardens. They only use extra help when they have to dead head. I was impressed!! I noticed lots of lavender on the walls near the rose garden and I can only imagine how wonderful the aroma of both roses and lavender commingling would be. I wish that I could bottle that scent and take it home with me. When will someone invent smell photos?!?!!! Once again, we didn't make it to the farm, but we did stop by the winery.

I will stop here and I am sure that Ski will share more and the pics that we have from the trip.