We stopped in Statesville for dinner (which was nice to break up the 4 hour drive!) at Carolina Bar-B-Que, a BBQ place on Eric's special list of BBQ places in NC. It was your typical old fashioned no frills BBQ place, although they did have a train going around one section of the restaurant. And there was a pig you could ride out front. We tried to have Ben ride it before and after dinner and he wanted NOTHING to do with it! The kid who never cries just WAILED when Eric set him down! I hate to admit, but it was kind of funny and we chuckled a bit! :) The food was pretty good. I had BBQ chicken and Eric had chopped pork. They didn't put a lot of sauce on it so you could really taste the smokiness. Eric also had corn nuggets! They were like fried creamed corn. After dinner we drove the rest of the way to Asheville and arrived at our hotel. This was Benjamin's first stay in a hotel, so we were debating on where he would sleep - the crib or the bed with us. Well I won and we decided to see if he would go down in the crib. He just layed there for a bit and then got a little upset because he couldn't turn over. So I helped him out and there was a little fussing but he finally assumed his newest sleeping position - on his belly with his butt in the air - and slept that way all night long! :)
Excited for BBQ
Not so excited to ride the scary pig (before dinner)
And still not so excited after dinner...even with a full belly!
Ben's first night in a hotel! He did so well!!!
Ready for sleepy time!
Saturday we had breakfast at the hotel before getting ready to go on our adventure. We ended up not actually doing anything in Asheville on Saturday. We drove South West and stopped first in a little town called Sylva. We were supposed to go to a little bakery for lunch called Annie's. We were having trouble finding it, so I stopped at a gas station to ask where it was. Sylva was quite a small little town, like many of the towns out in the mountains. I found out that Philip had died the day before as several people were chatting about it. It was kind of cool how everyone knew everyone. :) Anyway, I then found out that Annie's was closed. So there went our lunch plans. So we decided to go park and walk around to see what we could find. We happened upon Guadalupe Cafe which was housed in the old drugstore, complete with a soda fountain! The thing that really made us go in was the cool metal dinosaurs that were the handles on the doors! Our waiter was quite...entertaining, for lack of a better word. The counter was quite low and he continuously proceeded to slide over the counter when he needed to help someone! :) It turned out to be a mexican restaurant, but they had brunch on the weekends. I heard him say it was only the second Saturday they had been open! I was going to have french toast, but that did not happen because they used to get their bread from Annie's which we knew was closed! :( So I had Eggs Benedict on some yummy cheddar biscuits, with a side of plantains. Eric had huevos rancheros. Our little foodie just ate up anything we gave him! He had some eggs, some plantains, some black beans, and some of my biscuit! He couldn't get enough! I think we have a future chef on our hands here! Oh - And Eric really enjoyed the coffee here too!
Just chillaxin while mommy gets ready!
Brunch at the place with cool dinosaur handles!
After our lunch we walked down the street to a local brewery (big surprise, right!?). So this guy runs his small brewery and he is from Germany. Eric wasn't sure about why some of the beers were named one thing, when they were a different style, but he enjoyed sampling them anyway. Eric and the guy were talking and we mentioned that we were from Chicago. Well, when he moved from Germany, he moved to Chicago and graduated from the same high school that Eric did! Not only that, but this guy also had Mr. Sambo as a teacher! (For anyone who doesn't know, "Sambo" was Eric's History teacher, who he stayed in touch with after high school. I met him a few times - I had to be approved! He passed away in 2005, but Eric still has fond memories of his eccentric teacher!) Small world, I tell ya! I tried some of their root beer which was actually quite tasty. And as always - and everywhere we went - Benjamin was quite a big hit! :)
A picture of Ben with all the cool German steins and gnomes in the window
Silly face!
After the tasting, we headed to another small town and stopped at the Dillsboro Chocolate Factory! I got a few yummy treats including a milk chocolate covered oreo that also had a layer of peanut butter in it! There was also a sea salt caramel, chocolate covered nutter butter cookie, chocolate covered s'more, and a milk chocolate turtle!
Mommy & Ben at the Chocolate Factory...YUMMY!
The train
The Brewery
The cutie
Next we drove on to our dinner destination - Nabor's Drive in. This drive-in has been here for over 50 years and you can still order from your car and have the food brought out to you. We chose to eat inside though, because it would have been hard to occupy Ben and try eating in the car. :) The food was simple...hamburgers and hot dogs. It was pretty good, but Eric's favorite part was that they had two pinball machines! He played the Harley Davidson one and scored big! He got to play for a long time. Ben and I sat and watched the river.
If you want to order at your car
Or you can go in and sit down (and play pinball)
We took the scenic route home and drove along the two lane road that is hwy 19. It was a nice drive and Ben finally took a little nap (he was quite the champion traveler, but it was good he got a little nap in!). We stopped at the Frog Level Brewery in Waynesville - another small mountain town. We were able to move Ben to the stroller and let him sleep a little longer, until the girl at the bar had to exclaim about how adorable he was and woke him up! He was pretty happy though, so it was alright. We went outside for a bit because there was a little river behind the brewery and we got a couple of cute shots of our little man. And I got a cool shot of this Robin that was hanging out! :)
The Frog Level taps with the guest tap of the gnome brewery we were at earlier in the day!
My fun photo of the robin
Sittin by the river
Standing with a little help from momma
I love the look on his face here!
"Hangover" baby
After that, we headed back to the hotel. Ben got some dinner, played for a bit, then took his bottle and was out like a champ. This time I had to lay with him in bed til he fell asleep, but then he let me put him in the crib without waking up! Good job Benjamin! :)
On Sunday, we woke up, got ready, and checked out of the hotel. We were going to go to a restaurant in Asheville for breakfast that we had gone to before - Sunny Point. However, we didn't get there early enough to beat the rush and didn't feel like waiting around for a table. So, luckily Eric had a backup plan and we went into downtown Asheville to the Bouchon Creperie. We did have to wait about 15 minutes for it to open, so we just walked around the block. The Creperie is in a cute little courtyard, so we decided to eat outside and enjoy the beautiful weather! Eric had a crepe with caramelized onions, mushrooms, and goat cheese with a side of "pommes frites" (fries!). I had the quiche with bacon, spinach, and mushrooms in it and a side of fries as well. The fries were served with a red pepper mayo that was quite tasty. (When I went to France in high school, I learned that they have places that just sell fries and that mayo is the number one condiment served with them! Hence, the red pepper mayo with our meal. :)) As with Saturday, our little foodie was just eating up everything and anything we gave him!
After brunch we stopped at a local grocery store so Eric could look for some beer. Unfortunately, they did not have what he was looking for. He had gone to look at a few places the night before too. He was a little bummed that he could not find this particular beer (a Mango IPA I think). Then we were off to the nature center. Ben was a great travel companion and hung out in his stroller taking it all in. We took him out a few times and tried to point out animals (especially the black bears), but I am not sure if he really cared or knew what to think. I think he mostly enjoyed watching all the other kids running around. :) (I'll remember that and just take him to the park for FREE! Ha ha!). We hung out until the petting zoo part was open and I went in with Ben to try and pet the sheep - I think we are learning that Ben is afraid of farm animals! Friday, he wanted nothing to do with the fake pig at the BBQ place and today he wanted nothing to do with petting that sheep! He pulled his hands back and started to let out a cry! Luckily, as soon as I pulled him back, he was fine and didn't really make a scene. And when we went over to the other sheep, he kind of tried to pet it, but still wasn't too sure. Which is funny, because he LOVES to pet our dog - I'm telling you, it's something with farm animals! He did, however, smile at the goats! After the petting zoo, we headed back to the car, where Benjamin was out before I even started driving!
The busy Rattlesnake
The sleepy black bear
My little chick-a-dee
Riding the tractor
Oh - Now I can see where I'm going!
I LOVE that Ben put his hand up to the bear paw without me even making him...so precious!
Mommy and Ben waiting to pet the sheep
The photo with his hand up and the disgusted look on his face is exactly how Ben felt about touching the sheep...poor guy even let out a little cry!
Maybe we can try this one
Gotta wash our hands!
And this was the scene before we even pulled out of the parking lot!
We then headed to Hickory, NC (about an hour away) to stop at a new brewery called Loe's. This guy has a small operation and was currently having some issues with his cooler or something and did not have a lot of beer left. So Eric tried a Belgian Ale - only about a fourth of a pint as it was the end of the keg. Then the guy offered to let him try this bourbon barrel aged beer that wasn't fully carbonated - so Eric had about a half a pint of the one. Oh well, at least it was open and he got to try something.
Finally we were back in the car and on our way home. It was a fun, adventurous weekend, but I am wiped! It may take me all week to recoup!:) Oh, and I every single place we went, people would either talk to Benjamin or tell us just how cute he was! I totally agree of course! At the pizza place, I had gone to use the bathroom before dinner, and some lady was in there when I came out of the stall and was telling me how beautiful my son was. I didn't even have him with me! :) I am so proud of how well he did this weekend! He was a trooper with all the driving we did, he was so good at all the places we went to, and he did great sleeping in the crib in the hotel room. I hope our baby girl is as up for adventures as Ben is! :)
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