Couple quick vacations
Jul 14 2008 10:30 PM Filed in: Personal
Paige and I took a couple quick vacations the past
two weekends, we both needed some time away from work
and Atlanta.
Our first vacation was spending July 4th weekend in Asheville, North Carolina. We headed up Friday morning, it’s not too bad a drive, around 3 1/2 hours. We stayed at the Renaissance hotel, which is located within walking distance of the town, which is nice. We spent the first day exploring the town and ended the night watching the fireworks display, which was a nice show. We woke the next morning, planning on heading to Biltmore House, which is 10 minutes away; unfortunately my car wouldn’t cooperate. It wouldn’t start. The battery was dead. I figured I must have left a light on over night, causing the battery to drain. I called roadside assistance, and they sent a tow truck to jump the car. The tow truck driver was the spitting image of Larry the Cable Guy, from the look to the accent. Once he jumped my car we decided to take a trip on the Blue Ridge Mountain Parkway. There weren’t many scenic views, but we made a couple stops, and saw a wild turkey, which was cool. When we got back to the hotel I turned off the car, and just for kicks decided to try and start it again, to see if all the traveling had charged up the battery. The car was dead again. We were both happy I never turned the car off while we stopped for the scenic views, we would have been stuck up in the mountains. We spent the evening walking around the town, it was very nice. The next morning I had my car jumped again, and we headed out to Auto Zone to get a new battery. Once that was done we headed over to Biltmore House. It was definitely the highlight of the trip. It’s a beautiful house, and the gardens are great too. We finished the day by stopping off at the winery, taking a tour of it, and attending a wine tasting. We both thought the wine wasn’t going to be all that great, but it ended up being surprisingly good. We sat down and had a cheese plate and some more wine before heading home. Our overall thoughts of the trip? We don’t think we will go to Asheville again. It’s not that great a town. We were expecting something more along the lines of Santa Fe, which is more of an artist community, there weren’t many galleries in Asheville. Also, there are a lot of dirty hippies there, which isn’t the nicest thing to see everywhere. We did enjoy Biltmore, and would gladly visit and stay there, but not Asheville.
This past weekend was a two part trip, and it wasn’t just Paige and I. We left Thursday morning for St. Augustine, Florida. Neither of us had been there, and we have both heard good things about the place. It is about a 5 1/2 hour drive from Atlanta. We met Paige’s Mom when we got there, she flew down from Pennsylvania. We stayed at The Hilton, which is very nice. Much like Santa Fe, where no building can be larger than the church steeple, St. Augustine does not allow any buildings to be larger than two stories. So, instead of your usual high rise hotel, the Hilton is spread out amongst 19 buildings, looking like a small village. The rooms are very nice, and it’s right across the street from the water, and in the heart of everything. We were there from Thursday to Saturday, and never had to use a car. St. Augustine is beautiful, about our only complaint is it was hot and very muggy, but that’s not the city’s fault, it’s ours for heading down to Florida in July : ) It was great to see Paige’s Mom again, she’s a very nice woman. We left Thursday to head over to Lake Panasoffkee, which is where Paige’s grandfather lives. We were visitng him for his 90th birthday. We met up with Paige’s sister there, and I also got a chance to meet other family members. We were there for the day, leaving the next day back to Atlanta. It was a great trip, maybe not the most relaxing vacation, but we still had a great time.
Our first vacation was spending July 4th weekend in Asheville, North Carolina. We headed up Friday morning, it’s not too bad a drive, around 3 1/2 hours. We stayed at the Renaissance hotel, which is located within walking distance of the town, which is nice. We spent the first day exploring the town and ended the night watching the fireworks display, which was a nice show. We woke the next morning, planning on heading to Biltmore House, which is 10 minutes away; unfortunately my car wouldn’t cooperate. It wouldn’t start. The battery was dead. I figured I must have left a light on over night, causing the battery to drain. I called roadside assistance, and they sent a tow truck to jump the car. The tow truck driver was the spitting image of Larry the Cable Guy, from the look to the accent. Once he jumped my car we decided to take a trip on the Blue Ridge Mountain Parkway. There weren’t many scenic views, but we made a couple stops, and saw a wild turkey, which was cool. When we got back to the hotel I turned off the car, and just for kicks decided to try and start it again, to see if all the traveling had charged up the battery. The car was dead again. We were both happy I never turned the car off while we stopped for the scenic views, we would have been stuck up in the mountains. We spent the evening walking around the town, it was very nice. The next morning I had my car jumped again, and we headed out to Auto Zone to get a new battery. Once that was done we headed over to Biltmore House. It was definitely the highlight of the trip. It’s a beautiful house, and the gardens are great too. We finished the day by stopping off at the winery, taking a tour of it, and attending a wine tasting. We both thought the wine wasn’t going to be all that great, but it ended up being surprisingly good. We sat down and had a cheese plate and some more wine before heading home. Our overall thoughts of the trip? We don’t think we will go to Asheville again. It’s not that great a town. We were expecting something more along the lines of Santa Fe, which is more of an artist community, there weren’t many galleries in Asheville. Also, there are a lot of dirty hippies there, which isn’t the nicest thing to see everywhere. We did enjoy Biltmore, and would gladly visit and stay there, but not Asheville.
This past weekend was a two part trip, and it wasn’t just Paige and I. We left Thursday morning for St. Augustine, Florida. Neither of us had been there, and we have both heard good things about the place. It is about a 5 1/2 hour drive from Atlanta. We met Paige’s Mom when we got there, she flew down from Pennsylvania. We stayed at The Hilton, which is very nice. Much like Santa Fe, where no building can be larger than the church steeple, St. Augustine does not allow any buildings to be larger than two stories. So, instead of your usual high rise hotel, the Hilton is spread out amongst 19 buildings, looking like a small village. The rooms are very nice, and it’s right across the street from the water, and in the heart of everything. We were there from Thursday to Saturday, and never had to use a car. St. Augustine is beautiful, about our only complaint is it was hot and very muggy, but that’s not the city’s fault, it’s ours for heading down to Florida in July : ) It was great to see Paige’s Mom again, she’s a very nice woman. We left Thursday to head over to Lake Panasoffkee, which is where Paige’s grandfather lives. We were visitng him for his 90th birthday. We met up with Paige’s sister there, and I also got a chance to meet other family members. We were there for the day, leaving the next day back to Atlanta. It was a great trip, maybe not the most relaxing vacation, but we still had a great time.
|