First Parent Weekend Away

Last weekend Jared and I cashed in our Christmas gift from my mom, a weekend away in a cabin with babysitting included. This would our first time away together without Fletcher. His first time without one of us being home. Don't worry, I left my mom three pages worth of handwritten instructions notes to help her out.

We dropped Fletcher off at daycare on Friday like usual. I only shed a few tears. Mainly because we drove past the hospital and Jared pointed out the room I delivered Fletcher in. Then we went to the same Chick-fil-a that we ate breakfast at the morning we had Fletcher. It was far too sentimental for this constantly emotional mama.

After our super romantic breakfast of chicken minis we headed straight for Asheville.

Made a little detour in Winston-Salem to see the house we first lived in together, 5 years ago. It looks exactly the same. Still in the straight hood of downtown. The quick visit brought back a lot of memories for us. We were so young and living on just Jared's salary, but we had so much fun.

two bedrooms and one bathroom that hold oh so many memories

We were making really good time and hit Asheville at 11:30. We passed a State Trooper just a few miles after getting into the city and you could feel Jared's heart drop. He was coming for us. Jared's lead foots gets us in trouble again [funny, because he is the worlds safest and slowest driver...usually]. It was the quickest ticket that has ever been written. Not a great way to start the trip but, he really was a nice and we knew we were in the wrong. Luckily, it didn't delay us too much, just meant the beer would be well worth it.

We got to New Belgium with over an hour to spare before our tour which meant we had time to sample the beers we haven't tried before and enjoy a local food truck.

The tour was 90 minutes long and very informative. New Belgium seems like a great company to work for. The samples kept coming throughout the tour, which only made us like them even more. The facility is huge and equipped with a bottling plant onsite. It was the most beautiful brewery I have been to.

yes, that is a slide. yes, we did get to ride it. adults having fun. watch out.

After New Belgium we made our hour hike West to our cabin just outside of Bryson City, NC. We spent the evening attempting to make a fire for s'mores and failing at putting a puzzle together.

because FaceTiming your 11 month when you're in the hot tub is totally appropriate

don't drink and puzzle

Of course I would've loved to sleep in our trip, but my internal mama body clock woke me up at 7am sharp. We went back to sleep and had a lazy morning around the cabin before heading into Bryson City for brunch.

We ate at the cutest little place called Cork and Bean. Then we grabbed to go coffee from the local café and strolled the downtown area, which is only about two or three blocks in size. We got Fletcher a little keepsake.

bloody marys before coffee. delicious.

Bryson City is located on the Tuckasegee River

this is not the souvenir we brought back for Fletch

Up next, casino time! Cherokee was less than 30 minutes from Bryson City. Why not do some gambling on our parent weekend? Plus I had never been to a real casino before. Let me tell you, prime people watching. I played the slots for all of 20 minutes before losing interest. We didn't hit the jackpot but we also didn't spend more than we said we would. A really interesting and very eclectic place. Two hours was all we needed.

winning nothing.

good times at ol' Harrah's Cherokee Casino

We went back to Bryson City to try Nantahala Brewing Company. A cute little place in the heart of downtown with delicious brews. Something about beer freshly brewed in the mountains makes it taste so much better.

it is true, water is for quitters.

For lunch we ate the "famous" Filling Station. Ahh-mazing sandwiches and fries. We got two of their specialty homemade ice cream sandwiches that were out of this world delicious. They make the flavored frozen yogurt in house and bake the cookies fresh too.

Then it was back to our cabin for a hike to the "waterfall" that was on the resort grounds. We completely underestimated how intense the hike was going to be. The mountain is quite steep.

see that large waterfall...

We enjoyed or last evening with champagne in the hot tub and a nice steak dinner. 

this is the bottle we have been saving since before I gave birth to Fletcher

we realize how incredibly lucky we are.

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We took our time waking up and packing the car on Sunday, trying to enjoy the views before hitting the road. Brunch in Asheville seemed like a good idea, but after trying two different places that had ridiculous waits, we ended up at Waffle House near the outlet malls. Romantic way to end the weekend, huh? We stocked up on some 12 month clothes for Fletcher because my mom informed that his pants were too tight on his belly. Then we swung by the Biltmore gift shop to grab my mom some "Thank You Wine" before hitting the road.

Can't thank my mom enough for giving us one the best gifts. I didn't realize how much we took alone time for granted. Though, I know this was a little gift for her too. She had so much fun spending that quality time with her grandson. It was such a wonderful weekend. Nothing was scheduled which was a nice change of pace for us. It wasn't as hard to leave him as I thought, but we were definitely ready to get home to our boy. Highly recommend the area my mom chose, Watershed Resorts. We can't wait to go back again, with Fletcher [or friends] of course.