Hello lovely friends,
We just got back from our first real vacation since our honeymoon a little over four years ago! We had a wonderful time in Asheville, North Carolina! I have always wanted to visit Asheville. As a child I read a whole series of books based around the area. We mainly went to see The Biltmore, another place that I have always wanted to see! It was more beautiful than I could have imagined! We took a few pit stops along the way for delicious food featured in Diners, Drive-ins and Dives (My husband's idea of course). Lots of antiquing, shopping, and we even climbed a mountain! So, sit back and relax with a cup of tea or coffee and enjoy part 1 of our trip!
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Day 1 ~ Driving and eating
Our first stop was Lexington, Kentucky to visit the Parkette Diner and eat some down home, fried chicken!
Amazing chicken, gravy, tater-tots, fries, coleslaw and rolls!
I need to learn how to make their gravy! Just delich! When we arrived they had just run out of all their chicken. Since that was the whole reason for stopping in we decided to wait for half an hour for more to be brought in. It's served fresh every day so I think its probably the freshest chicken that I have ever eaten. It was well worth the wait! I don't think I have ever had chicken that tastes that good in my whole life!
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Day 2 ~ Antiques
We were then back on the road for a few more hours of driving. We checked into our hotel (in the mountains) pretty late that night. We were up and ready pretty early for us, shopping in the Biltmore antiques district!
There were many antique places to shop at all in one close area. Bryant Antiques was probably my favorite but they were all great!
I just loved this little painting and I had to snatch it up right away! I've learned that lesson the hard way, losing out on good deals. Not this one though! It will always remind me of our wonderful vacation in the mountains.
This dry sink reminds me of something that my oldest sister Pam owns and I just wanted her to see this!
Great bread box! A little too expensive for me but I'm hoping to find another one like this sometime soon.
Anything with a toile design and I have to have it! These are now at home nestled in my tv stand and I just love them!
This was another great shop to browse around in!
Trunks, tins, rooster and soap boxes - I love it all!
So, if "y'all" get a chance to visit Asheville and you share my love for antiques be sure to check out Bryant Antiques, Oddfellows Antiques, Nostalgique Antiques and the Antique Tobacco barn. There are many more stores in the area but I didn't get the chance to check all of them out. I'm not sure my husband's sanity could have taken it! :) All joking aside, he was so sweet (and always has been) to spend hours with me doing what I love! I am truly thankful for the wonderful spouse that God has given me who sacrifices in ways that may seem small to him but mean so much to me!
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Day 3 ~ Exploring Asheville
We spent a wonderful day touring the city. It's a great town that really seems to take pride in it's history. There were many wonderful gift shops, book stores and restaurants. They had trolley tours, art galleries, live musicians on the streets and many other attractions.
My favorite store was Mast General Store. There are several locations around North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee I found the whole place quite charming!
Barrels full of old time candy to fill your own bag with any kind of assortment that you can think of, lots of housewares and kitchen items, great signs (Don't you just love The Andy Griffith show, I Love Lucy)? and old displays from days gone by. They also had outdoor and mountain gear, honey on the comb, their own jams, barbecue sauces and so many more items I couldn't even list them all.
I loved their window display!
I had to take a closer picture of the laundry theme going on in the display window. I use good old borax in my own homemade laundry soap so I just loved this!
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More food -
Burgermeisters!
My husband was on a mission to find as many restaurants with deep fried pickles. (his new passion) They were quite delicious! They were called dill pickle chips and they came with zesty ranch. So good!
I had the 'Carolina.' I wanted to try as much real southern food as I could and I had heard that chili, coleslaw and mustard on a burger was very good...and it was! They were served with meister wedges which was a mixture of sweet potatoes and new potatoes with herbs, they were perfection!
My husband got the 'grass fed' burger with all the fixins' and kettle chips. Delicious as well!
Their ginger iced tea was amazing! Our wonderful waitress just kept bringing me refills once she knew how much I loved it. She even gave me the recipe and one more for the road! I just love that southern hospitality!
Day 4 ~ More Antiques
We spent a wonderful morning at a church service in Candler near our hotel and stopped in at one more antique store before heading off to our adventure at Chimney Rock! (Continued in my next blog)
A quaint little place out in the middle of nowhere.
A lovely pie safe
These baskets look exactly like something my great grandparents used to have on their screened porch stacked almost exactly like this. I couldn't believe it! I'm wondering if my sisters will remember this?!
Something that caught my eye in the display window upon our leaving. Isn't that cute?
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Well, friends this is one long post! Hopefully tomorrow I will post our trip to Chimney Rock and The Biltmore.
Love,
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