Anniversary Trip to Asheville and Biltmore Estate

Charlie and I celebrated our 22nd wedding anniversary (December 17th) by going to Asheville. We left on Thursday the 15th and came back on Saturday the 17th.

On Thursday night, we went to Biltmore Estate for the Candlelight Christmas tour. All the trees were lit, as they are during the day, and so were the fireplaces. There was live singing in the Winter Garden (to the right as you enter the house) - Christmas carols, of course - and a harp player on the 2nd or 3rd floor.

I took dozens of pictures. Here are a few of them.

Big tree in the banquet hall.

Banquet hall.

Library.

Library.

Tapestry gallery. Near the library.

Grand staircase and chandelier.

Oak Sitting Room.

Banquet hall.

Pretty tree near some back stairs.

Front lawn.

Our reservation time was 6:45. We got there pretty early, so we went to the shops (formerly stables) right next to the house until it was time for us to enter the house. It was a very cold night (about 26° with wind chills probably about 20° or colder), but there were heaters above us that worked pretty well if you stayed away from the entrance, which was opened and had a pretty good breeze coming in. I bought some cherry cordials (10 milk chocolate and 10 dark chocolate), which cost more than I remember them costing last time ($2.50 each; I think they were half that last time, but I could be wrong). Charlie got himself a cup of coffee and got me a cup of hot chocolate.

After two sips, my stomach started hurting for some reason. Charlie got me some water so I could take medicine (which I always have with me) and I eventually started feeling a little better, but then when we were more than halfway through the tour (in the kitchen in the basement) I started feeling extremely nauseated. I kept clearing my throat trying to keep from vomiting. The last thing I wanted to do was throw up in Biltmore House. And there are no public restrooms in the house. I was clearing my throat and praying! lol

When we were done at Biltmore, we went to a grocery store near our hotel to get crackers and medicine for nausea. After we got to our room, I told Charlie to go ahead and get himself something to eat and that I would just eat crackers, but he said he was fine with the box of Cheez-Its he was eating. :-/

I stayed up late eating crackers and waiting to feel better. I fell asleep watching TV around 3:00 AM. I woke up after 4:00 with a splitting headache from the very uncomfortable hotel pillow. I sat up, threw the pillow in the floor, and tried my best to sleep without one. I woke up a lot. :-/

When I woke up that morning sometime between 9:00 and 11:00, I still wasn't feeling well. I no longer felt like I was going to throw up, so that was good, but my stomach still didn't feel right. We left the hotel sometime after 3:00 and went to the mall to do some Christmas shopping. Though my stomach was still hurting a bit, I was also feeling kind of hungry, so I got a cinnamon scone at Barnes and Noble.

We were able to get a few gifts (we also picked up a couple things at Walmart later) before going to Vinnie's Neighborhood Italian restaurant for dinner. We loved it when we went there two years ago. I should've gotten the same thing I got last time (penne marinara), but I got the chicken piccata (something I love at one of the local Italian restaurants in Greensboro) and for some reason it was covered with onions. I've never heard of onions on chicken piccata. That wouldn't have bothered me so much if it had had enough lemon flavor in it, but it didn't quite have enough. The spaghetti with red sauce that was served with it was pretty good, but I couldn't finish it because my stomach started hurting again. :-/

As I mentioned earlier, we went to Walmart also that night. The main reason being so that I could get a pillow. The one I got was so much more comfortable than the hotel pillow and I slept much better that night.

I ate some more crackers that night while I watched TV and hoped my stomach would start feeling better. Again, I fell asleep watching TV. I woke up sometime after 4:00 and thought I set the alarm on my phone, but apparently I forgot to touch "done" and so it never went off. :-/ Charlie woke me up about a quarter after 10 and I got ready as quickly as I could and packed up our stuff.

I had wanted to eat breakfast at the place we usually eat breakfast at in Asheville, but we were too late for that. So we had lunch instead. I ordered salisbury steak, but what I got was nothing like any salisbury steak I've ever had. Instead of a cube steak or two covered with gravy, onions, and mushrooms (I wouldn't have eaten the onions or mushrooms), it was a big ball of meat filled with onions (more like a meatloaf, which I hate) and covered with gravy. It didn't taste good to me and I couldn't eat it. I did eat the little bit of mashed potatoes and gravy I ordered with it, most of the little bit of macaroni and cheese, and most of a biscuit. I started feeling sick again (I had actually woken up still feeling sick) and couldn't finish the macaroni and cheese or the biscuit.

Despite the really cold temperatures (of course, it warmed up to near 60° the day we left) and my stomach hurting me the whole time, we really enjoyed our trip to Asheville.

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I've made one clothing purchase for myself since my last entry.

Daryl Dixon (The Walking Dead) t-shirt.

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~*~Nocturnal Queen~*~
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Anniversary Trip to Asheville

Charlie and I decided to get away for a couple days to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary. (Actually, it was his idea.) We left Thursday morning, December 18th, the day after our anniversary, and went to Asheville. We had also gone to Asheville for our honeymoon in 1994 and our 12th anniversary in 2006.

We arrived in Asheville shortly before 2 PM and checked into our hotel - Hotel Indigo Asheville Downtown. We had hoped for a room on a higher floor, but the 5th floor was fine. Our room was nice, the shower was quite big, and the king bed was comfortable, as were the pillows. I mention the pillows because we always have to go to the local Wal-Mart of whatever town we're in to buy pillows as most hotels don't have comfortable pillows. Of course, we usually stay at a Comfort Suites, so that may be why. lol

Our only complaint about our room is that there was no refrigerator or microwave. Those things are usually pretty standard in hotels nowadays. Strange that they didn't have either.

 
After checking in and taking pictures, we left to get some lunch. We hadn't eaten yet and were starving. We went to the Moose Cafe. Charlie had meatloaf (I assume he liked it) and I had fried chicken, which was kind of dry. I wasn't crazy about the mashed potatoes and gravy or the macaroni and cheese either. The biscuit was good though.

We went to Wal-Mart after eating to pick up some snacks and bottled water for our room and then went to the mall. I got something at Dillard's and we got something for Kelly at Barnes and Noble. I also tried to find myself a new red coat and tried on a few, but nothing worked for me. :-/ I'm short and the stores had very little for petites. Some had none. *sigh*

We also went by a guitar store across from the mall because Kelly wants an electric guitar for Christmas and looked at their guitars. We didn't buy anything though.

For supper that night, we had pizza at Marco's. We had gone there when we'd gone to Asheville as a family in November 2008 and loved it, but apparently there's more than one Marco's Pizza in Asheville and we ended up going to the wrong one. We ordered individual pizzas. Charlie liked his, but mine was just okay and actually made me sick later. :-/

We went back to the hotel after eating and when I opened the suitcase to get my t-shirt and sweats to change into, I saw that I had forgotten them. I had to have a t-shirt to sleep in and sweats to wear in the room to keep warm, so we had to leave the hotel room and go to Target. That's the first time that's happened to me (forget clothes) and I had to laugh at myself. But I got a cute t-shirt, so. :-)

The next day (after taking medicine the night before and  that morning), we went to Moose Cafe for breakfast (where I took more medicine), but I couldn't eat all of mine (French toast, potatoes, bacon) because I started feeling bad again. We were going to go to Biltmore Estate after eating, but I told Charlie, "Actually, I just want to go back to the hotel."

When we got back to the hotel, I took about 30-45 minute nap and woke up feeling quite a bit better. So we left the hotel and went to Biltmore Estate. I started feeling nauseated again on the way, but it was tolerable enough for me to still go to Biltmore and enjoy our time there.

Biltmore Estate is so gorgeous! This was our fourth time going there and I think I loved it even more this time. Every room has one or more Christmas trees in it, as well as garland and kissing balls and wreaths and poinsettias. Each new room we entered got me more and more into the Christmas spirit. I told Charlie that I just wanted to hug every Christmas tree there and would hug the whole place if I could, I loved it so much. (What? That's not weird, is it?) And the grounds are so beautiful, too. You can't take pictures inside (which totally stinks, but I guess they have their reasons), but I took a lot of pictures of the outside of the house and the gardens. Almost 200, but I'll only post a few here.

Library Terrace

Taken from the Shrub Garden.

Purple Beautyberry in the Shrub Garden.

House and Italian Garden.

Taken from the bridge over the Bass Pond.

About to pass the gate on the way out. The lights were on by this time.

 

 After leaving Biltmore, which I was in no hurry to do (I wish we'd stayed another 30 minutes to an hour so we could see the Christmas lights on the trees outside), we went to Vinnie's Neighborhood Italian for supper. We had never heard of it before, but when Charlie asked me what I wanted and I told him I didn't know, he Googled Asheville restaurants and Vinnie's was on the list. I was like, "Let's try this place called Vinnie's" and he was fine with that, so that's where we went.

Oh, my goodness! It was sooo good! (And they had really friendly service.) I still wasn't feeling 100% (maybe about 70%) and wanted to be careful about what I ate, so I ordered something simple - penne marinara. (Which wasn't on their menu, but of course they have penne pasta and marinara sauce.) As soon as I took that first bite I was in Italian food heaven. So delicious! I wanted to just wolf it down, but I tried to control myself. lol Charlie had the chicken parmesan and loved it.

If you're ever in Asheville, North Carolina, and are in the mood for Italian food, I highly recommend Vinnie's!


We then went to the mall again (had to walk off that pasta) and tried to find something for my mom for Christmas, but didn't see anything I thought she'd like.

The next morning, Saturday, the 20th, we checked out of the hotel, went by a small music store near Vinnie's to look at guitars (saw one Kelly may have liked, but decided to just let her choose because she's so picky), ate breakfast at Cracker Barrel, and then headed home. I was pretty tired (the overcast skies didn't help) and though I tried to fight it, I fell asleep on the way home before we got to Statesville and woke up when we were in Kernersville.

Despite not feeling well for nearly the entire day on Friday and having a couple less-than-satisfying meals on Thursday, we had a great time in Asheville. I'm ready to go back again. Especially to see Biltmore. We'd like to go to Biltmore again in the spring when their gardens are in bloom as we've never been in the spring, but we've said that before and have yet to go.

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Saturday evening, after getting home from Asheville, we took Kelly to Guitar Center here in Greensboro (Sean was with us also) so that she could pick out an electric guitar. She chose a black and blue one. We also got her an amp. When we got home (after eating supper at Red Robin and getting Christmas gifts for my mom at Macy's - got great deals!), I told Kelly to put the guitar and amp under the tree. :-)

On Monday, I finished Christmas shopping (just had to get one more thing for Sean and get some more stocking stuffers for the kids) and when I got home, Charlie, the kids, and I went to the theater to see The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies. There were a couple things that I wish they'd kept like the book (SPOILER!!- the deaths of Thorin, Fili, and Kili.) and a couple things I wish they'd left out or done differently, but other than that I liked it. I think it's better than the first two Hobbit movies.

Yesterday was all about finishing unpacking, doing laundry, and cooking supper (chili). Today I'll probably do some more laundry, wrap presents, and let the kids open one present and their stockings. Tomorrow, of course, is Christmas Day. It'll be just me, Charlie, and the kids. My mom will be working (she works in a hospital as a CNA) and is also working today.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Anniversary

The kids and I had a pretty good Thanksgiving, despite the fact that Charlie and my mom couldn't be with us. We normally have Thanksgiving at our house, but my mom had to work (as she does every year) and my brother had Thanksgiving with his wife's family. So we (okay, I) decided that we would spend the holiday with some of my dad's family. Charlie was going to go with us too, but the crane he was going to fix the day before didn't show up until the morning of Thanksgiving. So, he had to stay behind and work. :-/

The kids and I made the 2 hour journey to my cousin Christian's house in Dunn and spent the day with him, his wife Kim, and their daughter Emma; Kim's dad; Christian's sister/my cousin Jessica and her husband Scott and their four kids, Elijah, Sarah, Daniellah, and Rebekah; Scott's parents from Virginia; and Christian and Jessica's parents/my aunt Robin (my dad's youngest sister) and uncle Mike. Whew! I think that's everybody. :-) Christian and Jessica's youngest brother/my cousin Michael and his fiancee Robin were supposed to come also (I suppose they did eventually), but when they still weren't there by 5:00, the kids and I left.

Anyway, Sean and Kelly had a lot of fun playing outside with Elijah and Sarah. Elijah and Sarah were really happy when they found out we were coming as my kids would be the only ones there their age. So, it worked out pretty great for the kids. :-)

I had a nice time talking with my family. I had last seen them in May, at our family reunion. It had been about 20 years since I had Thanksgiving with them and I was really happy I did that this year.

As I mentioned earlier, it was around 5:00 when we left. Which was later than I had planned on leaving. I tend to get sleepy behind the wheel, especially after dark. This time was no exception. It was a real struggle to stay awake. I tried to get my kids to talk to me about anything, but they fell asleep. So I listened to one of my loudest, peppiest, happiest, jamming-est CDs I have - Victory by Tye Tribbet and GA. Listening to that, singing along, and "dancing" really helped me stay awake. :-)

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And now Christmastime is here. I got my tree decorated earlier than I have in past years. It helped that I bought a shorter (6½ feet instead of 7½) pre-lit tree to replace the one I had last year and previous years. I also put up some of my other Christmas decorations and even put lights on the bushes outside. :-)

I've only bought one gift so far (for Sean), but I hope to get some more shopping done this week. It'd be great if I could get it all done this week. We shall see.

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Charlie and I will be celebrating our 20th wedding anniversary on the 17th. We're going to Asheville (where we spent our honeymoon) the 18th through the 20th and staying in a hotel downtown. We've requested a higher floor, if it's available. I'd love to have a room with a nice view. I'm hoping it'll snow a little bit while we're there. And, of course, we're going to go to Biltmore Estate while we're there. This'll be the fourth time we've been. All four times when the place is decorated for Christmas. It's so beautiful. I can't wait to see it again. :-)

Our Trip

We left around 5:00 Friday evening for Asheville. Just in time for rush hour traffic around Winston-Salem. Very annoying. We stopped at the Applebee's in Statesville for supper. I ordered the Fiesta Lime Chicken without the cheese and ranch sauce. It was okay.

It was about 9:00 when we got to Asheville. We went to an Ingles store for snacks for the room. Something we always do when we take trips.

Saturday morning, I got up some time after 7:00 and when I was about ready, I got the rest of the family up so that they could get ready. We had breakfast at The Moose Cafe that morning. We were seated at a table near a big window that looks out at a small mountain behind the restaurant. Very pretty. Our food was pretty good.

We arrived at the gate at Biltmore sometime between noon and one o'clock. It was a busy day there and we were given a ticket with a 3:15 tour time for the house. So we went to the River Bend Farm for awhile. The kids really enjoyed the old-fashioned games and watching the blacksmith and the woodworker. Sean sat inside the little hall listening to the folk musicians for a few minutes. It was pretty chilly (50s) and windy out; a little more uncomfortable than I had hoped or expected it to be.


After an hour or so, we headed towards the Biltmore House. We still had time before we could go inside, so we looked around outside. There's a hill across from the house that leads to a little shelter with a statue under it. I think it might be Diana/Artemis, but I'm not sure. I haven't read Greek or Roman mythology in years. The kids took off running up the hill and Charlie followed close behind. Sean stopped after a short distance and walked the rest of the way with me. I took pictures of the house from the top of the hill, as well as other pictures.


We walked back down hill after a few minutes, then down the stairs to the main area. Charlie took a picture of the kids sitting in front of the fountain and then we went to the Italian Gardens and the side area of the outside of the house. We then walked to the other side of the grounds where the shops (former horse stables) and bathrooms are. By this time it was after 3:00, so we got in line to tour the house.

It's too bad you can't take pictures inside of the Biltmore House. It's a gorgeous place. The kids really enjoyed touring the house. We had headsets telling us about each room we went into. And each room had a Christmas tree in it. Some rooms had more than one. The kids loved that. It's a long tour. Two hours or more. My feet were killing me long before the tour ended.

We did a little browsing in the shops after touring the house. I bought six dark chocolate cherry cordials in their candy shop. ($1.50 each!) They're delicious!

Charlie did the video-taping on the way in. I did the video-taping at the farm and on the way out. We haven't watched the tape yet. Maybe today. Anyway, on the way out, Sean said, "Biltmore rocks!". lol Both kids have talked a lot about Biltmore since we left. They loved it.

After leaving Biltmore that evening, we were pretty hungry and wanted pizza. We weren't interested in Pizza Hut or any place like that. We wanted pizzeria pizza. But we didn't know any good pizza places in Asheville. I told Charlie to type in "pizza" in his GPS and see what comes up. Several places did. He asked me which one I wanted to try (it was between 3 or 4 that "sounded good" lol) and I told him, "Whichever one you come to first." Marco's came up first, so we went there. It was very good. We'd probably eat there again if we're ever craving pizza while in Asheville. :-)

I was pooped by the time we got back to our room. I fell asleep around 8:00 and slept til 11:00 PM. I felt pretty awake at that point and watched some TV. I finally went to sleep around 1:00 or so, but I woke up a few times. When I woke up before the alarm (which was set for 8:00), I still felt tired. I didn't go back to sleep though. I managed to get out of the bed around 8:15 and get ready. I got all our stuff packed and ready to go while waiting for Charlie to get ready.

We ate at The Moose Cafe again for breakfast (same table and waitress lol) and then headed out of Asheville. We had planned to either do something else in Asheville or on the way home yesterday, but I was too tired. I think Charlie and the kids might have been also.

We arrived home around 2:00 in the afternoon. It felt good to be home (especially after having to drive all that way feeling as tired as I did) and our pets were happy to see us. I changed into something more comfortable and fell asleep on the couch between 2:30 and 3:00. Charlie and the kids went to the theater at 3:30 to see Madagascar 2. I woke up when they got home some time after 6:00. We watched the Panthers game, part of the race, The Amazing Race and the news. The kids went to bed at their usual school-night time (after showers & supper) and Charlie went to bed a little after 10:00. I've done a couple loads of laundry and will be putting the last load in the dryer after I get offline and before going to bed.

Asheville

I made hotel reservations online late Wednesday night. We'll be leaving for Asheville late this afternoon or early this evening after Charlie gets home from work. We're really looking forward to it. I found out while checking out things to do in the Asheville area that Biltmore is already decorated for Christmas. The kids will love that. I've seen it decorated for Christmas both times that I've gone. The kids have never been at all, let alone at Christmas. They're excited to finally get to.

I'm not sure what else we'll do while in Asheville. We'll decide while we're there.

Our weekend, DH, Biltmore, Update

In my last entry, I mentioned not being able to find any long skirts for Kelly. I remembered seeing long skirts at Old Navy's website some time back. At that time, the site wasn't working properly and I was unable to order anything. They've since changed things a bit and I was able to order Kelly two long skirts on October 1st. One is denim and the other is twill/khaki. I received an email from Old Navy yesterday telling me that my order has been shipped and is due to arrive 4-9 business days from the time I ordered the skirts. It's already been six days, so I expect the shipment to arrive by Thursday.

After getting groceries and gas, the kids and I went to Monterrey's Friday night. Since I was unable to find any hardcovers of the remainder of the books I want, we went to Best Buy after eating and I bought two movies on BlueRay that we already own. (Just as I want to replace my paperbacks with hardcovers - two more to go, I want to replace our regular DVDs with BlueRays. Movies really do look much nicer in BlueRay.) They were the first Tomb Raider and The Mummy Returns. I have a mental list of movies I've seen available on BlueRay that I'd like to get to replace our regular DVDs. Enchanted, Batman Begins, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Kingdom of Heaven. I'm sure I'm forgetting a couple.

Saturday evening, we went to The Children's Place at Friendly Center. I needed to get Kelly a new gray tiered skirt to replace the one she already had that has a rip in it that I can't repair. I didn't see it at first and then saw it practically right under my nose. Had it been a snake it would've bit me. lol I also bought her several long-sleeved shirts in different colors. (They didn't have her size in the blue, so I went to The Children's Place at the mall yesterday and got it there.) After paying for my purchase, the kids and I went to Brixx for supper.

Sunday was a do-nothing day. Not because I didn't want to do anything; I just didn't feel like it. I watched the Panthers-Chiefs game. Wow. What a blow-out. Carolina beat Kansas City 34 to 0. They're now 4 and 1. I also watched most of the race. As usual, I fell asleep watching it. It was a typical Talladega race. Lots of close racing with a couple big wrecks. Unfortunately, Junior got caught in one (he really had nowhere to go) and instead of a win, which he stood a great chance of getting, he finished 28th. :-\ Oh, well.

As I mentioned a couple paragraphs ago, I went to The Children's Place yesterday to get that blue long-sleeved shirt for Kelly. I also got her a pair of tights there (cold weather will be here before we know it) and a dress for school (on sale for almost $28 after tax) at Belk. I want to go this weekend and get Sean some long-sleeved shirts. That's really all he needs. He only has two or three. Kelly needs more tights, a pair of boots and a few sweaters.

Charlie is still in Texas. He says he expects to be home by Saturday. He's been gone for two weeks now.

We're hoping to go to Asheville the weekend after next. The kids have never been there and they've really been wanting to go to Biltmore Estate. Especially Kelly. Charlie and I have been twice; both times close to Christmas. In addition to the gorgeous house, they have outdoor activities for children and families. I hope things work out that we can go. Charlie expects he'll be off work that weekend (he works most weekends), but I told him to ask for it off anyway to be safe.

No news on our house. No showings in about a month. I think people are just being cautious because of the current economic situation. (Something that concerns me also. I plan on calling our mortgage company today with a few questions.) Though houses are still selling. A house just sold in my neighborhood a day or two ago after being under contract for a very short time. And I see houses under contract at listingbook constantly. I had thought about lowering our price again, but we're currently about in the middle compared to the prices of other houses in our neighborhood. (Ours is one of the nicest, yet not the most expensive.) So I think I'll let the price remain as it is for a little while longer.

Sleeping Beauty is coming out on BlueRay today. I'm thinking about going to Best Buy and buying it. It was my favorite Disney movie when I was a kid. :-)

I'm still working on The Age of Innocence. When the characters are actually having conversations, it's interesting. Unfortunately, most of the book is narration. It can be quite tedious. Perhaps though it seems more tedious than it is because I'm really looking forward to reading A Thousand Splendid Suns. However, I don't like to start one book before finishing another. I would read my current book faster, but I can't seem to read more than one chapter at a time. I either get tired of it after one chapter or I fall asleep. I did manage to read three chapters in one sitting a couple days ago. I think that was a first for that book. I am more than halfway through now. About ¾ of the way through, actually.

As for the many books on my list I've yet to buy, I'll probably have to order them from Amazon. I haven't been able to find them in hardcovers at the bookstores.

There was more I was going to say in this entry, but it's already getting long and what I was going to write about would make this entry quite a bit longer.