It’s been a week since my last post and I’m sorry, but I didn’t miss posting at all. In fact, I didn’t miss anything by not taking the internet and all of my devices with me. Not having those distractions was a wonderful break from the scheduled reality that will set in as soon as my other child wakes up for the morning and our home school routine starts once again.
But last week…. last week was something much different. My wife and I got away for the first time since getting married 11 years ago. The Army changed our plans from the start, so a honeymoon didn’t happen. Then kids started appearing and before you know it, a decade had passed us by. This trip was a great opportunity to reconnect and remember how much we actually like each other all these years later.
Asheville, NC was a great place for us to go. There was much to do and much to see. We did visit The Biltmore, but there is so much more to Asheville than that. Now- this is not to understate how gorgeous The Biltmore is, it is simply to say how great Asheville is. Visiting The Biltmore is definitely on the “to do” list if you visit this area. As far as I’m concerned, the long and winding driveway is enough to warrant the cost of admission, let alone the spectacular house and grounds. The trees were just starting to open up and prepare for spring. Everything seemed to be waking from the deep sleep of winter and it will all be in full bloom in just a couple of weeks.
We stumbled upon community theaters and art galleries on just about every block of downtown. I was pleasantly surprised to see downtown was full of local shops and not chain stores that have overtaken much of the U.S. these days. Oh… and we had great food! You MUST stop by The Red Stag if you are in town and have a special occasion to celebrate. It is a little pricy but both the atmosphere and menu are so unique, it is well worth the cost to check it out. And… with a reservation you get free valet parking. That was a nice perk!
In fact, the only disappointing part of the trip (which still confuses me) is finding both a coffee shop and a pastry shop full of employees, but closed for business at 9:40 in the morning. I’ve never heard of such an atrocity! Coffee and pastries unavailable at breakfast- For shame! After halfway joking about our very first-world dilemma, we laughed and thanked God that we would be so blessed to be in a place that had these shops to begin with. We trekked back the few blocks we walked to find the closed shops, climbed in our car, and we started our journey back home.
I’ve always heard about how great getaways like this are. Being a special needs family, we weren’t afforded the ease of finding childcare or funding for things such as this, but it was such a refreshing change of pace I’m sure it won’t be 11 years before the next trip.
Now, it is time for another cup of coffee and and time to get back to a sense of normalcy which, as I think about it, isn’t that bad. I’m feeling very blessed today.
a stranger in my own land 