I really loved getting Christmas presents when I was growing up. Now that I'm an adult, it's hard to think of anything I want that I would be patient enough to wait for Christmas to open. I generally would rather take a trip than spend money on Christmas presents anyway so this year my Christmas present was a weekend trip to Asheville, NC.
My mom first told me about this place. Then Jaren and I were walking through a Thomas Kinkade Art Gallery one day and we came across this beautiful painting.
This is a painting he did of the Biltmore Estate in Asheville. It is the largest privately owned home in America. It is ridiculously huge. I will post more on that later. We found several great things while in Asheville.
We started our Saturday morning by doing something I have always wanted to do! I found a lovely looking cafe and we went in to order hot chocolate, breakfast sandwiches, fresh squeezed orange juice and a pastry. Jaren has never been fond of cafes because he thinks they are expensive (which they are compared to McDonald's) and the food never meet his expectations. This cafe was a good choice though. It was great just relaxing at a table by the window while eating breakfast and sipping hot chocolate and fresh squeezed orange juice. This may not seem exciting to many people but I love those cozy and relaxed atmospheres that you can enjoy with people you love! It was great!
Afterwards we drove out to the Grove Park Inn. One day, I'm going to come back to Asheville and stay in this huge resort. It was absolutely beautiful!
(Click on the picture to get a better view)
So it didn't look like this when we were there. It was much colder, cloudy, and snowy. But this picturesque, mountainside resort is the place anyone would dream of staying. They had hallways with pictures of all the famous people that had stayed at the resort. It first opened in 1913. Some on the list of famous people who stayed include Helen Keller, Harry Houdini, Will Rogers, George Gershwin, Thomas Edison, Eleanor Roosevelt and Henry Ford. Not to mention presidents — William Howard Taft, Woodrow Wilson, Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Richard M. Nixon, George H. W. Bush, William J. Clinton and Barack H. Obama. The last couple of names almost taint the place but I'm willing to overlook that with how wonderful the rest of it is. This is a little more of what it looked like from our view...
We had the small camera that isn't as great and several pictures are blurry...sorry!
They had huge fireplaces throughout the resort with several areas with panoramic views and comfortable seating to just relax in. I wanted to stay there the whole day. Here is a view of the back with the terrace.
You can see downtown Asheville and the Blue Ridge Mountains in the distance. It was beautiful!
The resort was all decked out for Christmas. They had SO MANY Christmas trees. The trees were all themed in very unique ways. I saw a fishing Christmas tree complete with mini-fishing poles shooting out the top and a country tree with green tractor ornaments. Here are a couple that I had to take pictures of...
Yes, this is a peacock Christmas tree. I thought it looked so cool!
The whole reason we went out to see a resort we weren't staying in was because they had a ton of gingerbread houses on display from their gingerbread house contest. I took several pictures and plan to post my favorites but this post is already too long. I'll put them on my blog in a couple of days.
It is rather difficult to take any pictures together. Out of all the pictures we took the entire weekend, this is the only one of us together. All the rest you will see are only one of us at a time.
(Yes, I did officially cut off all of my curls)
We had a great time there and I plan on going back someday to stay for a day or two!
My mom first told me about this place. Then Jaren and I were walking through a Thomas Kinkade Art Gallery one day and we came across this beautiful painting.
This is a painting he did of the Biltmore Estate in Asheville. It is the largest privately owned home in America. It is ridiculously huge. I will post more on that later. We found several great things while in Asheville.
We started our Saturday morning by doing something I have always wanted to do! I found a lovely looking cafe and we went in to order hot chocolate, breakfast sandwiches, fresh squeezed orange juice and a pastry. Jaren has never been fond of cafes because he thinks they are expensive (which they are compared to McDonald's) and the food never meet his expectations. This cafe was a good choice though. It was great just relaxing at a table by the window while eating breakfast and sipping hot chocolate and fresh squeezed orange juice. This may not seem exciting to many people but I love those cozy and relaxed atmospheres that you can enjoy with people you love! It was great!
Afterwards we drove out to the Grove Park Inn. One day, I'm going to come back to Asheville and stay in this huge resort. It was absolutely beautiful!
(Click on the picture to get a better view)
So it didn't look like this when we were there. It was much colder, cloudy, and snowy. But this picturesque, mountainside resort is the place anyone would dream of staying. They had hallways with pictures of all the famous people that had stayed at the resort. It first opened in 1913. Some on the list of famous people who stayed include Helen Keller, Harry Houdini, Will Rogers, George Gershwin, Thomas Edison, Eleanor Roosevelt and Henry Ford. Not to mention presidents — William Howard Taft, Woodrow Wilson, Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Richard M. Nixon, George H. W. Bush, William J. Clinton and Barack H. Obama. The last couple of names almost taint the place but I'm willing to overlook that with how wonderful the rest of it is. This is a little more of what it looked like from our view...
We had the small camera that isn't as great and several pictures are blurry...sorry!
They had huge fireplaces throughout the resort with several areas with panoramic views and comfortable seating to just relax in. I wanted to stay there the whole day. Here is a view of the back with the terrace.
You can see downtown Asheville and the Blue Ridge Mountains in the distance. It was beautiful!
The resort was all decked out for Christmas. They had SO MANY Christmas trees. The trees were all themed in very unique ways. I saw a fishing Christmas tree complete with mini-fishing poles shooting out the top and a country tree with green tractor ornaments. Here are a couple that I had to take pictures of...
Yes, this is a peacock Christmas tree. I thought it looked so cool!
The whole reason we went out to see a resort we weren't staying in was because they had a ton of gingerbread houses on display from their gingerbread house contest. I took several pictures and plan to post my favorites but this post is already too long. I'll put them on my blog in a couple of days.
It is rather difficult to take any pictures together. Out of all the pictures we took the entire weekend, this is the only one of us together. All the rest you will see are only one of us at a time.
(Yes, I did officially cut off all of my curls)
We had a great time there and I plan on going back someday to stay for a day or two!
1 comment:
Wow, Emily, that looks so SO fun! I'm exactly the same way--I'd just as soon spend money on a trip as anything else. What a beautiful place. The pictures you posted (even the ones you didn't take) just give a perfect "view" of the place. What a fun, fun time. And congrats on finding a nice cafe, too! :)
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