Ten years ago, I married my best friend. I had no idea that 10 years later we would have moved so many times, would have lived overseas for almost half that time, would have gone from teachers to campus pastor and kids' director or would have had 3 beautiful children. It has been a GREAT 10 years. It's had many ups and downs, but I am so blessed to be where we are now. Before all the craziness of Maddy's epilepsy stuff had exploded, Nathan had secretly planned a 2 day get away for us. He had been so secretive and planned it so far in advance that when we actually did go out to dinner to celebrate 10 years, we were halfway home before he remembered that he hadn't told me yet. He lined up babysitters and we began brainstorming the fun things we could do. We decided to stay closer to Greenville, get a place to stay and then be super sui bian (Chiense for laidback) about it. So, after Maddy's week long hospital stay and a few days of not knowing what was next, this trip came at a great time. I know many people look at what's going on with Maddy and think that it's all new and that there is no need to rush but she has been on this journey for 9 months. I know her body is tired and she has fought this unknown issue for years before doctor's intervened. So with heaviness of what may lay ahead, we were eager for an escape so Thursday morning Nathan took the girls to school and we waited for our friends, the Hendersons, to come and take over August duty. We left notes behind, yes, I had a typed schedule for my kids with what they should eat and when :-P, and then jumped into our friend's SS4 (a convertible truck) and headed to Asheville.
Off we go...One of Nathan's biggest things was he didn't want us to "plan" this trip per se. I am a big planner so I run a house with specific times for pretty much everything. My kids are a routine machine. In fact, they are probably the easiest kids to babysit because my girls could tell you exactly what comes next each moment of the day. Ha!...they are my children after all! :-P So, as I was saying, we had no where to be so we decided to take the scenic route up the Blue Ridge Parkway.
We drove with the top down and stopped at "Looking Glass Waterfall" and enjoyed leisurely strolling and looking at the sites. We even passed by "Skytop Orchard" and went in, scouted out the location, and decided that we should come back another time with the kids cause they'd love it. We bought a bag of apples and jumped back in the truck. (Side note: At this point we did get a call from Cleveland Clinic about Maddy's records and they wanted to connect us with financial assistance since they were ready to take Maddy but her insurance wasn't accepted at their hospital. We decided to get their number and call back on Tuesday so that we could enjoy these few days without thinking about those details quite yet and the potentially huge bill OR delay in any treatment.)
This is our ride for the two days. It was so nice to ride around with the top down and enjoy the sites!!! We had lunch at 12 Bones - yummy BBQ brisket - and then headed to downtown Asheville to explore. We went to a bookstore and I found the first book in the next Brandon Sanderson series - I love him thanks to Nathan. We then went in a few stores and walked around a space with art exhibits and crafts made by locals. When you have 3 small children, walking around at a leisure pace while you look at breakable items doesn't happen! We went to a sweet shop called Chocolate Fetish, grabbed a peanut butter chocolate circle the size of my hand and a club soda. Then we headed to our room to check in.
Nathan had chosen the 1899 Wright Inn and Carriage House - a bed and breakfast - for our stay. We stayed in the biggest room in the house and the innkeeper was very informative about where to park and when to go in to town to beat the rush. We took naps, listened to another Brandon Sanderson book on audio and then headed out for dinner and dancing.
This is where we had breakfast both mornings. The innkeeper made a delicious two course meal each morning and there was coffee, and hot tea. It was so nice to eat food I didn't have to prepare myself!
We had dinner at a pub & bar called "Jack of the Wood" and enjoyed the sounds of this bluegrass band. I really love the skill it takes to play bluegrass. Then we walked across the street and went to Club Eleven, a private venue club where they were having swing dance lessons and dancing after. We have been taking swing lessons so we thought it would be fun to try them out. Unfortunately, the swing we have learned and the style here were very different, but we made it work and the instructors taught us a few new things as well. Afterwards we headed back to the bed and breakfast.
On Friday morning we headed downstairs for breakfast and asked the innkeeper for some tickets to Biltmore. My family used to go to Biltmore on a regular basis when I was in school so it was nice to go again but with eyes actually interested in learning about the history there. I was Nathan's personal tour guide (ha!) and then we strolled through the gardens before heading to the village to do the wine tasting and see the Wedding gown display of the Vanderbuilt family in the village. Since we weren't bound by any sort of schedule, we headed back in to Asheville for a late lunch (after 2 pm).
I can't say enough how cool we felt in this car!!!!
We ran by the bed and breakfast, picked up our books, went to Wicked Weed for lunch and headed to a coffee shop to sit and read, another thing we don't have much time for on normal days. Around 5, we found many things to entertain us. There was a man across the street blowing large bubbles. Right behind those white flowers in the picture, there was a man who kicked off his shoes, pulled out a typewriter and a sign that read "poet for hire" and he began his work. We also saw a cart come by powered by many bicycles called the "Pubcycle". Afterwards we headed toward the bubble man and visited the French Chocolate Lounge for some sweets. Then since it was 6 we thought we should probably look into eating dinner. I can definitely say it was nice to actually be able to read 6 chapters of my book without interruptions!!!! :-)
We wanted to eat dinner at the french restaurant but the line was really long so we checked out a 1920s themed restaurant that has dinner theater called "Lex18", but they only had music for this evening, and then we headed to "The Southern" for some mac-n-cheese. We did look around in a few shops and I got some little finger puppets for the kids then we headed to the truck. Unfortunately at this point we realized a screw had gotten in our tire so that made for a sad ending for the trip.
On Saturday morning, due to really loud upstair neighbors, we were up at 6:30 and Nathan headed out to get the tire fixed. I stayed behind and was able to read my Bible and my book since the noisy neighbors left at 7:45. We had breakfast at the Inn, loaded up the car, and headed home.
It was such a great time away and such a great way to get recharged. The next few months will probably be very hectic so it couldn't have been planned better.
Now we are back to the real life grind of kids going to school, August at home with me, and finding out what's next for Madeline. Nathan's teaching a lot over the next two months. We do plan to journey to Skytop with the kiddos this time and hope to go meet our new nephew, Asher Bruce Pressley soon.
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