Baby-mooning in Asheville

We hit the road mid-morning the day after Christmas and set off for Asheville, North Carolina for a little baby-moon. Brownie was happy to stay at Grandma and Grandpa's for a few days so her parents could enjoy some QT and sleeping in (no licks first thing in the morning=winning).

Grove Park Inn entrance (not my picture)

We stayed at the lovely Grove Park Inn. A historic resort hotel on the western side of Sunset Mountain which is part of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Enjoying his and her cocktail and mocktail hour on the heated patio overlooking Blue Ridge Mtns

This year, the Grove Park Inn is celebrating 100 years so there was a lot to see and read in the hotel about its history including all the famous folks who have stayed there throughout the years (everyone from President Obama, Olympic figure skater Oksana Baiul, NFL star Calvin Hill and rapper Ja Rule).

Other notable guests at the Grove Park Inn include yours truly....

...and the hubs! 

The resort was gorgeous and totally decked out for the holidays with beautifully decorated Christmas trees everywhere.

The peacock tree was one of my favs

Hotel lobby had huge stone fireplaces on each end

I think the old people slept in those rockers because they were always full

Our time in Asheville was mostly a food and beer tour (food for the pregnant lady and beer for the hubs). We checked out a couple of the local breweries including Lexington Ave Brewery and Asheville Brewing Company and Raymond was able to sample beers from a number of other local places during out time in Asheville and was pretty happy with the offerings.

Enjoying a flight at LAB

We also indulged in a couples massage at the resorts renowned spa. Neither the hubs nor I had ever had a massage and it's safe to say we both thoroughly enjoyed the experience. I don't think it will be either of our last! The spa was amazing and we had access to all the spa pools, hot tubs, etc all day long so we spent a few hours after our massage relaxing in the water and came back later in the afternoon for more lounging. While I couldn't enjoy many of the pools because they were too hot for a pregnant lady, the hubs took one for the team and tested them all out. In case you were wondering, they all passed inspection in his book!

Stolen internet photo of one of the spa pools because no cameras allowed, obvi

Another stolen spa photo

The rest of our time in Asheville was spent exploring the cute town and all it's little shops and neighborhoods. It's definitely a laid back place which was nice in comparison to our usual NOVA (Northern Virginia) stomping grounds. We agreed it won't be our last time in Asheville!