This weekend we went on our first real family vacation. By that, I mean our first vacation where we didn't go visit family in Michigan. On Friday, the Martin family left Louisville and headed south for Asheville, North Carolina. We got there mid-afternoon.
We didn't really do much as we wanted to keep Verity on her schedule as much as we could that day, so we checked out the mall, ordered pizza, and put her to bed. Lucky for us our room was right across the hall from the pool so Joe and I were able to take the baby monitor and go relax in the hot tub while Verity slept. It was almost like a date!
The next day V woke up at 5:30, which wasn't real fun, but Joe and I both worked out and then we spent the majority of the morning driving around in the mountains. We stopped at a few places along the way:
We ate lunch at the Moose Cafe, which has been featured in Southern Living for their amazing biscuits and apple butter. It was well worth going there, if only for that! After that we walked downtown for a few hours and visited some of the shops down there. It was about 70 degrees so it was the perfect day for it. Verity even got a new Cat in the Hat bag.
Downtown Asheville was a little bit overwhelming in places for a sheltered yooper like me. It almost felt like culture shock in some areas; I felt like I had been transported back to the sixties...and I am NOT exaggerating. There were hippies playing instruments everywhere and sometimes they had dancers accompanying them. There were people that looked like they had stepped out of Little House on the Prairie competing with the hippies for spare change. The downtown area was also very dog-friendly. We even saw a golden retriever just hanging out in a storefront. And it wasn't a pet shop. There were dogs sitting with their owners on the patios of restaurants just hoping for a scrap of table food to drop their way. It seemed to be a place without rules.
After we had had our fill of the downtown district, we had dinner at Nona Mia Italian Kitchen, where Joe tempted V with some of their delicious garlic bread. She would have preferred that to her dinner of green beans and bananas.
After dinner it was back to the hotel so V could go to bed. This vacation was a little weird for us in that we were back to the hotel so early every evening, but really it was nice to spend some more time in the hot tub, catch up on reading, and even watch a little tv (we don't have cable at home, so it seems like a luxury).
Thanks to day-light savings, Verity slept in till 8:30 this morning. When she woke up, we got her all suited up for her first dip in the pool.
It took her a little bit to get used to it, but she loved splashing around. She even took a dip in the (lukewarm) hot tub.
We had to leave too soon and are already looking forward to visiting again. I love the convenience of all that the city has to offer mixed with the raw beauty and activity options (skiing!) of the mountains. Too bad the responsibilities of life must be dealt with. Back to reality.
No comments:
Post a Comment