Sometimes my mind just says, you must travel. Yes it’s a hassle with three young children, and yes it’s just as much work as it is fun. But sometimes you just gotta do it. It’s just good for the soul.
The girls had fall break this past week, which gave me the itch to get the heck out of dodge. Last week we booked a hotel room in Asheville, NC with no plans but to go bum around in a different town, eat at different restaurants, visit different books stores and just breathe some different air, physically and mentally.
I didn’t pack a thing until Wednesday morning, the day we left. Basically I grabbed two outfits per kid, one pair of pajamas each, tossed some cloth diapers in a sack, toothbrushes in a tote and headed towards the door. My kids are great travelers, they like an adventure and this week Asheville was just what we all needed.
It was a different place to rome, new grass to run on, new places to cop a squat with a book, and new streets to stroll. Which are the things that kept us busy for two days of new scenery, new food, good shopping and some mighty coffee.
What I really like about Asheville is all the local shopping and eating, with few chain establishments in sight. There is even a grassroots effort by the The Asheville Grown Business Alliance, to buy local with a logo that can be found all over town.
I am a big proponent of supporting the local businesses and artists. It feels good, it tastes good and it usually is a whole lot more interesting than what big box places have to offer. While there, my kids saw an advertisement on a map for Mellow Mushroom and begged to go. “NO, absolutely not,” was my quick answer. “We are here to try new things,” I added.
Instead we took our party of five and dined at Tupelo Honey Cafe, which was the highlight of our trip. There was not a kid in sight there, but thankfully our children are quite versed in dinning out – even while we had to wait 30 minutes for a table. We’ve never hesitated in taking our kids anywhere, dinning included. So yes, we did some local eating. And some local sight seeing.
We love Asheville! It’s dangerous for us to visit though, because I always want to move there! We have yearly passes to Biltmore, too. It’s one of my happy places. So glad you guys had a nice time!