Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Weekend at Asheville

Rob and I celebrated our wedding anniversary this past weekend by going to Asheville, NC. The drive up was a little scary at times since it was pouring rain and foggy. But all that hard work payed off when we got to our bed and breakfast and then of course, dinner that night.

We stayed at the lovely Asheville Seasons bed and breakfast. Our room we stayed in was called the Leaf Peeper and it was decorated all autumnish. It was so big and so nice and it over looked a beautiful quiet neighborhood with big trees and falling leaves. Our hosts were very nice and made such yummy breakfast. They even made me a special breakfast on Saturday because I told them I'm lactose intolerant. We are so coming back to stay there when we're looking to get away to Asheville.

Here's Rob enjoying the fireplace in our room:



For dinner on Friday we ate at Barley's Taproom and Pizzeria. Rob wanted to go there for their big selection of beers. We had soy cheese pizza with beefalo, sun dried tomato on beer dough. Fun place, good beers. Oh! And for dessert I got some cupcakes at a bakery down the street. (they were good, but not as good as the ones rob got earlier that week)

Saturday we headed to the big farmers market in Asheville. We bought pumpkins for Halloween, bell peppers, tomatoes and apples. It was a pretty big place, but a little confusing because it's all open and there's lots of lots with people selling their produce. Either way, I went and *bing* that's another thing crossed off my list! The veggies turned out yummy as I've used them for dinners this week.

Here's me under a maple tree at the farmers market:


After that we walked around downtown Asheville for a bit looking at all the cool shops. Asheville is one of our favorite cities and plan on coming here often. We totally love the vibe and the art and shop and everything! Heh. We saw dogs dressed up for the Halloween doggy festival, it was too funny. For lunch we ate at the Mellow Mushroom where we had a tempeh sandwich. Very good!

That evening we went on a Brews Cruise. You go with a host and a group of other people in a big van and you get to visit some of the local beer breweries in Asheville. Rob's brewing his own beer right now and thought it be real neat to visit actual breweries since he's never done it before. Our first stop was Highland Brewery, a fast expanding microbrewery. We got to see all the vats where they do their magic, learn about the process and of course sample a LOT of beer. And as an added bonus, a black bear decided to take a stroll right outside where we were! Our next stop was French Broad Brewery, a smaller brewery that's becoming a fast hit around here. They specialize in cold brewing like ales and lagers. I really enjoyed their beer. They also have a bar next door in the warehouse where you can listen to live music. Animal we saw there: super cool dog that loved belly rubs. We made a quick stop to Bruisin' Ales, a beer shop with a wide variety of beers, including some Rob said is hard to find. Rob got a bottle of special Flying Dog beer and shampoo made from Doghead Fish beer ingredients. Last stop was Asheville Pizza and Brew for more beer and food. We ordered pizza again, this time with wheat crust, yay. Their beer was all right, but ask Rob...and he'll say he enjoyed it too much, heh. We'd definitely do it again and bring friends along with us. They also tour other breweries, so it's not always the same. The tour guides are super nice and make the tour fun. Check it out, if you ever find yourself with nothing to do in Asheville.

Here's Rob at Highland Brewery:


Sunday, after a breakfast of delicious sweet potato pancakes, we sadly packed up and headed home. The drive was so beautiful since it was nice and sunny out and we were able to see all the changing trees. And for lunch, we had leftover pizza from the past two days, hee hee. I think we're all pizzaed out for a bit now.

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