For our 5th anniversary, we decided to take a trip somewhere but didn't know where to go...we knew we wanted to be able to drive (not fly) and over the past few years we'd thought of going to Asheville one day but it wasn't until our friends, The Prathers, suggested it that we really considered it. We had never seen the Biltmore but had heard how beautiful and impressive it was...so we decided to go! Stephen's birthday was the 25th and our anniversary was the 27th...so it was a dual celebration vacation!
We found a condo in Downtown Asheville! It was the perfect location!!! The website is http://www.ashevilledowntowncondo.com/! It's in an old historic building that used to be a department store in the early 1900's but was renovated into condos in 2005. It has one master bedroom with a queen bed, then a teenie tiny room with a daybed in it, a big bathroom with washer and dryer, a kitchen and a living room with a queen sleeper sofa! I used the small extra bedroom space to store my suitcase and clothes. It was the perfect size for us! There was a restaurant that we grabbed some appetizers from one night called The Lobster Trap...while we can't speak for the entrees, the apps were very good! Their website is http://www.thelobstertrap.biz/. This restaurant was on the back side of our condo building but our elevator opened up in the back of the restaurant so it was nice having that right in the building with us! And you didn't smell their food in the condos...only inside the elevators! That was good!
Friday we got up and went to Biltmore...see a separate posting about that trip...
We got up Saturday morning, the 27th, and went to the Early Girl Eatery for breakfast, http://www.earlygirleatery.com/. The atmosphere was so fun and the food was very good! We would recommend this place as well as Table (and the apps at The Lobster Trap).
After we finished our late breakfast at Early Girl Eatery, we went back to the condo and with full, fat bellies we sat on the couch to rest a bit before getting out and doing something fun and before we knew it we had napped for a bit. Once we woke, watched a bit of football and then took another stroll through Downtown! Since this time the stroll was during the day, and the temperature was so pleasant, we did a lot of walking and window shopping! It was such a beautiful day to be out and about. We found some beautiful furniture at the Grove Arcade - http://www.grovearcade.com/! It was actually a beautiful building and I believe there's some history behind it but I haven't had a chance to research it. Currently it is a cute market place with different types of shops, restuarants and a small little market to buy fresh veggies and fruits and other grocery items. There was a group of about 15 men that were there that day walking to the end of each corridor of the building and singing...I'm not sure what the style name was but it was sort of like a barber shop quartet but with 15 or so men - young, old and in between. They sounded amazing...we got to sit and listen to them for a couple songs! Coincidentally, that was the actual day of our 5th anniversary and at 2:00 we were out walking and passed a church that had a wedding starting as we walked by the front doors and we quickly reminisced about how 5 years ago at that same hour we were getting married...
We headed back to the condo to watch a little more of the football games and then started getting ready for our anniversary dinner. We ended up going to a place called Savoy's - http://www.savoyasheville.com/! We both got their soup of the evening - I believe a butternut squash soup that was not bad...very fresh and not a lot of seasonings - which of course you know that in the South - especially MS, we usually cover the taste of the veggies with all sorts of seasonings so it took us a couple bites to really appreciate the pure flavor of the squash - but it was yummy! Next we ordered some marvelous steaks!!! They were sooo tasty! We got a dish of their mac-n-cheese and their creamed spinach for sides and they were amazing!!! For dessert Stephen had some sort of chocolate dessert and I had creme brulee with a cappuccino. Our server, Ian, was absolutely wonderful and fantastic! We ABSOLUTELY recommend Savoy if you are ever visiting and looking for a nice restaurant for dinner.
Sunday morning was a lazy morning and we went ahead and got everything packed up and loaded in the car by 11:00 (check out time). We then walked down to Tupelo Honey Cafe - http://www.tupelohoneycafe.com/ - a place we had been wanting to eat at all weekend because Stephen had read somewhere that it was really good...so we went and ended up having to wait for about 30 minutes for a table because apparently everyone goes there for Sunday lunch! But it was a nice day to be out. We got to do some people-watching - trust me, that was very interesting. We enjoyed our food but I think we would try something different next time we go. I had ordered a hamburger - which was VERY good, however it was very big and I over-ate so I think I would get something a bit lighter next time I go. Supposedly they have good breakfast as well so Stephen tried their breakfast menu and while he did indeed find it to be good, I think he might would try the lunch menu next time...but we think it's definitely worthy of another visit!
Once place we wanted to try but just ran out of days and meals to go was The Market Place http://www.marketplace-restaurant.com/. While their website didn't draw our attention at all...several other places online and remarks in the guest information that was in the condo said that seemed to be a hot spot for a nice dinner Downtown...so hopefully next time we can work that in somewhere to give it a try.
Sunday we went to the Grove Park Inn - see a separate posting about this trip!
As much as you know I like to take pictures...unfortunately, we kept forgetting to take the camera with us so all we really have pictures of are the condo...sorry to dissapoint!!! We'll try to do better next time!
We absolutely plan to go again in the future to finish seeing and tasting everything we didn't get to this weekend!! Maybe next time we'll go with some friends or family! That would be fun also!
We found a condo in Downtown Asheville! It was the perfect location!!! The website is http://www.ashevilledowntowncondo.com/! It's in an old historic building that used to be a department store in the early 1900's but was renovated into condos in 2005. It has one master bedroom with a queen bed, then a teenie tiny room with a daybed in it, a big bathroom with washer and dryer, a kitchen and a living room with a queen sleeper sofa! I used the small extra bedroom space to store my suitcase and clothes. It was the perfect size for us! There was a restaurant that we grabbed some appetizers from one night called The Lobster Trap...while we can't speak for the entrees, the apps were very good! Their website is http://www.thelobstertrap.biz/. This restaurant was on the back side of our condo building but our elevator opened up in the back of the restaurant so it was nice having that right in the building with us! And you didn't smell their food in the condos...only inside the elevators! That was good!
Friday we got up and went to Biltmore...see a separate posting about that trip...
We got up Saturday morning, the 27th, and went to the Early Girl Eatery for breakfast, http://www.earlygirleatery.com/. The atmosphere was so fun and the food was very good! We would recommend this place as well as Table (and the apps at The Lobster Trap).
After we finished our late breakfast at Early Girl Eatery, we went back to the condo and with full, fat bellies we sat on the couch to rest a bit before getting out and doing something fun and before we knew it we had napped for a bit. Once we woke, watched a bit of football and then took another stroll through Downtown! Since this time the stroll was during the day, and the temperature was so pleasant, we did a lot of walking and window shopping! It was such a beautiful day to be out and about. We found some beautiful furniture at the Grove Arcade - http://www.grovearcade.com/! It was actually a beautiful building and I believe there's some history behind it but I haven't had a chance to research it. Currently it is a cute market place with different types of shops, restuarants and a small little market to buy fresh veggies and fruits and other grocery items. There was a group of about 15 men that were there that day walking to the end of each corridor of the building and singing...I'm not sure what the style name was but it was sort of like a barber shop quartet but with 15 or so men - young, old and in between. They sounded amazing...we got to sit and listen to them for a couple songs! Coincidentally, that was the actual day of our 5th anniversary and at 2:00 we were out walking and passed a church that had a wedding starting as we walked by the front doors and we quickly reminisced about how 5 years ago at that same hour we were getting married...
We headed back to the condo to watch a little more of the football games and then started getting ready for our anniversary dinner. We ended up going to a place called Savoy's - http://www.savoyasheville.com/! We both got their soup of the evening - I believe a butternut squash soup that was not bad...very fresh and not a lot of seasonings - which of course you know that in the South - especially MS, we usually cover the taste of the veggies with all sorts of seasonings so it took us a couple bites to really appreciate the pure flavor of the squash - but it was yummy! Next we ordered some marvelous steaks!!! They were sooo tasty! We got a dish of their mac-n-cheese and their creamed spinach for sides and they were amazing!!! For dessert Stephen had some sort of chocolate dessert and I had creme brulee with a cappuccino. Our server, Ian, was absolutely wonderful and fantastic! We ABSOLUTELY recommend Savoy if you are ever visiting and looking for a nice restaurant for dinner.
Sunday morning was a lazy morning and we went ahead and got everything packed up and loaded in the car by 11:00 (check out time). We then walked down to Tupelo Honey Cafe - http://www.tupelohoneycafe.com/ - a place we had been wanting to eat at all weekend because Stephen had read somewhere that it was really good...so we went and ended up having to wait for about 30 minutes for a table because apparently everyone goes there for Sunday lunch! But it was a nice day to be out. We got to do some people-watching - trust me, that was very interesting. We enjoyed our food but I think we would try something different next time we go. I had ordered a hamburger - which was VERY good, however it was very big and I over-ate so I think I would get something a bit lighter next time I go. Supposedly they have good breakfast as well so Stephen tried their breakfast menu and while he did indeed find it to be good, I think he might would try the lunch menu next time...but we think it's definitely worthy of another visit!
Once place we wanted to try but just ran out of days and meals to go was The Market Place http://www.marketplace-restaurant.com/. While their website didn't draw our attention at all...several other places online and remarks in the guest information that was in the condo said that seemed to be a hot spot for a nice dinner Downtown...so hopefully next time we can work that in somewhere to give it a try.
Sunday we went to the Grove Park Inn - see a separate posting about this trip!
As much as you know I like to take pictures...unfortunately, we kept forgetting to take the camera with us so all we really have pictures of are the condo...sorry to dissapoint!!! We'll try to do better next time!
We absolutely plan to go again in the future to finish seeing and tasting everything we didn't get to this weekend!! Maybe next time we'll go with some friends or family! That would be fun also!
HERE'S THE CONDO!!!
Walking in the front door of the condo looking down the long hallway towards the living room!
Living Room.
Kitchen - standing in living room looking back towards the long hallway and front door.
The living room wall facing the couch. Lots of books to read, coffee table style art books to look at, games (like Dominoes), decor and a stereo system.
Close up of the Kitchen. Fridge, stove, microwave, toaster oven, dishwasher and all the pots, pans, dishes and serving dishes you need.
More of the kitchen.
This was the master bedroom. It was sort of a long room with the bed at one end and a tv/dresser/cabinet system at the opposite end - but was way plenty big enough for us. It had a beautiful old wooden chifferobe (spelling?) with mirror (which you'll see in the next photo down)!
Below are pictures of the tv/cainet system that is in the master bedroom...this takes the place of a closet. Next is a photo of a building that you could see from the bay window in the living room. It's a couple blocks away from the condo. We thought it was pretty so Stephen took a photo of it. After that is a picture of the bathroom - the shower would be on the left side of the photo if we had gotten it in the photo and the stackable washer/dryer is behind the door (also on te left). Last is a picture of the small little extra bedroom with the daybed. I believe that if you click on these pictures they will pop up in a larger format.
WE HAD A GREAT TIME AND CAN'T WAIT TO GO BACK!!!!!
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