Anniversary in Asheville and SNOW

Two weekends ago we went to Asheville for our 10 year anniversary. We headed up to Asheville on Thursday evening. When we got to Asheville we headed to Wicked Weed for dinner. We had boiled peanuts while we waited for our food. Mostly just because we could. I had the Wicked Burger with the tomato bisque as my side. My burger was cooked really well but the burger was lacking something...maybe some kind of condiment. My tomato bisque was AMAZING. It was hands down the best tomato bisque I've had in a very long time.

After dinner we checked into our hotel. We stayed at Country Inn and Suites. It was really nice, clean, and was only about 5 minutes from downtown!
Right before we left Columbia we heard we might get about an inch of snow so we threw things like gloves and boots into our bag. Well we woke up Friday morning to well over an inch of snow and it snowed ALL DAY! It was so fun and absolutely beautiful.

The snow when we woke up Friday morning!

Friday morning we had a late breakfast at Tupelo Honey. I had the southwestern omelet with a side of goat cheese greats. I also had a spiked apple cider (perfect for a snowy day!). My food and drink were all really good!
After breakfast we walked around downtown Asheville (in the snow!) and enjoyed checking out all the little stores around the downtown area. We also stopped at French Broad Chocolates for hot chocolate.

Anthropologie had apple cider out which was a lovely treat after being out in the cold!

Paul made a snowball for each of the kids...and Franklin. Every time we talked to Roo she asked us to bring snow back for her. Being the good dad he is (aka wrapped around Ruthie's little finger!) he was determined we would get her some snow. He actually managed to get her some snow...dad of the year!

So pretty!

Later we headed back to the hotel for a nap.
We were originally supposed to eat dinner at 7:15 and then go to the candelight tour at Biltmore at 10:15. We were really worried about the roads once it got dark and the temperature started to drop. Fortunately we were able to change our reservation at Limones to 5. We had the lobster nachos as an appetizer. I had the Pork Braised Enchiladas for dinner and a coconut margarita. The lobster nachos were ok but I probably wouldn't get them again. The enchiladas were SO good. I ate every last bite. My margarita was excellent as well!
After dinner we went ahead to Biltmore in hopes that they would have had some cancellations and we could go ahead and do our tour. Once we got there we learned that because of the weather they were letting people go through the house as soon as they arrived so that worked out great! The candelight tour was so pretty and we loved seeing all the gorgeous Christmas decorations.

The entrance to Biltmore.

library

bowling alley

pool

gingerbread Biltmore house!

The trees on the lawn. They were so pretty all lit up at night in the snow!

Antler Hill village was covered with lights and absolutely gorgeous at night! I wish we could have gotten better pictures but we were trying to get back to the hotel before the roads got too bad.

Saturday we slept in and then headed to lunch at the Bistro at Biltmore.

Driving through the estate...a winter wonderland!

The tree in front of the village hotel.

I had their special that day which was a sandwich with chicken, cheese, and other goodness on it and it came with the truffle parmesan chips. It was really good and VERY filling. I had mentioned when I made our reservation that it was our anniversary and they brought us this cute little plate to enjoy for dessert!

After we ate we walked around Antler Village and then went to the winery and did some wine tasting. We decided our favorite wines were the Christmas red, the limited release Gewurztraminer, the limited release Petite Sirah, and the Zinfandel blanc de noir.

After we finished at Biltmore we went back to the hotel for naps before dinner.
We went to dinner at The Blackbird. Paul and I both had the Pork Tenderloin Trio. It was fantastic! In my opinion it was probably the best meal I had the whole weekend.

After dinner we walked around downtown. It was super cold so after taking a few pictures we headed back to French Broad for hot chocolate. When we left French Broad we headed to Pack's Tavern (where our friend Neely got married a few years ago!) and we sat at the bar for a bit. The NC high school state championship was on TV so Paul was quite pleased with that! While we were sitting there we turned around and it was SNOWING outside. It wasn't just a few flakes either...it was really coming down! We finished up and headed back to the car. Apparently they hadn't retreated the roads and the snow was really sticking, plus it was already below freezing. We made it back to the hotel and enjoyed watching the snow for the next 30 minutes or so until it stopped just as quickly as it started.

When we got downtown for dinner these streets and sidewalks were mostly clear. This was when we were leaving!

Sunday morning we grabbed breakfast at the hotel and headed back to Columbia! My mom had come on Thursday and managed the whole crew on her own Friday morning (which involved getting everyone up and out the door to school!) and then my dad came on Friday after work. On Saturday they got to go see Ruthie play soccer! Ruthie loved having an audience. We are so thankful that we have two sets of grandparents who live close by and are always willing to come and help us out! We really enjoyed our weekend away!

PS. I used open table to book all of our dining. It was SO easy and it was nice to have all of our reservations in one place. It was also very easy to change our reservation times.