I spent part of my Thanksgiving vacation in Asheville, North Carolina with a friend from college. Living in different states, we don't get to see each other often, so it was really nice to spend time together. We chose to meet in Asheville because we wanted to see the Biltmore Estate all decorated for Christmas. We did the Candlelight tour which was pretty neat. I am excited to have done another thing on my list of things to do in and around Kentucky!
Biltmore During the Day
Biltmore All Lit Up
While I was at home, I checked the city's tourism website to find out what there was to do. I printed out a list of restaurants they recommended. They said that certain restaurant was not to be missed. So naturally, I put it on the top of my list of places to go. Hum... The first clue should have been the nearly empty parking lot on a Friday night. Then my friend says that it looks like a VFW. I noticed a walker out of the corner of my eye as we were being shown to our table, but I didn't take it all in until we were seated. It was so awkward all I could do was laugh. My friend said she was surprised I had picked this place. (I was quite surprised myself. Lesson learned: don't trust tourism website information.) As it turns out this restaurant is the local senior citizen favorite (no offense to anyone who enjoys/frequents these type of establishments). My friend noted that it was a cross between a VFW and a Crackerbarrel. It was most awkward because we were so significantly younger than the other diners and we had clearly gone there willingly. I suddenly wished that we had a grandparent sitting at the table with us, then at least it would look like we had been dragged there. When we had eaten our fill (or rather had picked at the food long enough), we asked for the check and waited and waited and waited. Finally the waiter comes out and appologizes profusely for making us wait. He said things were so slow he had actually forgotten about us and was just chatting with the guys in the kitchen. While honesty is good, sometimes it is just better not to give an excuse like that. I'd like to tell the people that make the website just how ridiculous their recommendation is, but I probably won't.
That experience aside, we have a great time enjoying the town. I just love Asheville! It feels so much like Burlington, Vermont: it is nestled in the mountains, there are lots of artists and hippies, they have awesome restaurants (apparently with one exception). One place we stopped was The Chocolate Fetish. We tried a chocolate truffle that was topped with cayenne pepper. I was surprised at how much I liked it! In fact, I wish I had bought more than one.
We headed over to the Grove Park Inn to check out entries in a gingerbread competition. That was just so neat is so many ways! First of all it was cool just to walk around the hotel. We went on a beautiful day and the view of the mountains was spectacular. We would walk around looking at some of the gingerbread houses and take a break in one of the many lounge chairs they had scattered around. All down the hallways they had Christmas trees all decorated in different themes. They were decorated in what I call "Southern woman style". Women down here definitely decorate their trees differently than New Englanders. It just amazes me how beautiful their trees can be and how much time/effort/money they expend on making sure that their trees are perfectly themed and trimmed. Also, the gingerbread houses were amazing. This is my favorite:
I have been planning on making gingerbread houses with my class (using milk cartons, graham crackers and icing). I photographed many of the houses in hopes of putting together a slide show as "inspiration" before we embark on our own experiences with gingerbread houses. We will see how that works out...
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