April 10, 2010

What an amazing weekend!! Charlie's mom and aunt came from Pittsburgh to watch the boys for us so we could go on a 'babymoon' before I was too big to enjoy it. We thought about Savannah or Charleston, but in the end decided on Asheville and are so glad we did!

We left on Friday a little too close to rush hour and paid for it, but stopped at Red Lobster for Lobsterfest and loved every bite of it. Not much can beat steak topped with shrimp and lobster! We made it to Asheville a little before midnight and were ready to start the weekend. Our first activity for Saturday was visiting the Biltmore Estate, the country's largest home. George Vanderbilt built and designed it and lived there with his family until he died in the early 1900s. Everything in the house is authentic and 'as is' except for the restoration work that they've done (to keep it looking perfectly preserved). Unfortunately, we couldn't take pictures in the house, but trust me, it was amazing. For a time when indoor plumbing and electricity were still pretty uncommon in houses, this place had 43 bathrooms and underwater lighting for the indoor swimming pool! No expense was spared (and I think the visitors today are still helping to pay for it!). It's hard to believe that a 3 person family lived here alone (with their 30-40 person staff that is).

After the Biltmore, we headed into downtown Asheville expecting a very small Main Street, but instead we spent hours just walking around looking at the super cute blocks of restaurants, shops and street performers. We ended up choosing an Italian place for lunch and split an amazing salad and pizza while people watching on the street.

That night, we headed back into town to check out the nightlife, enjoy not pushing a stroller and had the best French meal of our lives. Baked brie with green apples and almonds, trout in a white wine, butter and almond sauce and a pastry of banana and filo dough over caramel sauce and vanilla bean ice cream. Oh. My. Goodness. Why don't we eat like this all the time?!

Though I was admittedly nervous about being away from the boys for the weekend, this was a great start to our time together and I am so SO glad that we did it!