Sweet Surprises in Asheville

This story begins at 10:30pm on Saturday night. I called my Dad to ask him how my sisters "Senior Challenge" went at the youth meeting that night. He asked what I was doing, and I told him I was looking online to find a hotel for that Sunday night (yes, I know that was only 24 hours away!!). Long story short, he insisted on blessing Joe & I with a night at a really nice hotel- one which we could have never afforded to pay for. Our trip would have never been possible without the amazing generosity of my Dad (pictured below)...

So Sunday after church Joe & I (with Abigail) left Alathea with Steve & Lizzy (she was way too excited to see us go) and headed to Asheville! Our plan was to have a little overnight get-a-way while Abigail was still young enough to sleep on the go. We chose Asheville because we already had season passes to the Biltmore.

We ended up staying at the Grove Park Inn! Incredible! We felt like we were "pretending" to be rich for a night. It was beautiful beyond words. We booked the cheapest room at the Inn, and when we arrived they upgraded us for free to the Mountain View room! They also included a free $15 per person breakfast! The Lord was blessing us left & right! The 2nd picture below is the view from our room! Not bad!!

We spent all of Sunday exploring the resort and like I said before, pretending to be rich :). It had incredible waterfalls, rocking chairs and views of the Mountains. They also had an antique car museum we enjoyed.

We ate dinner at Sunsets. I couldn't believe how incredible the view was from our table! 

I LOVE this picture of Daddy & his baby girl!

We spent the rest of the evening sitting in rocking chairs, talking until the sun went down!

The next day we headed to the Biltmore!

We walked around the gardens and enjoyed a Roof Top tour of the house! This is a long story, but we actually got 2 free passes to go on that tour too (normally $15 each. Amazing, huh?) since the tour we wanted was booked. It was fun seeing the house and incredible property from the roof!! Then we were tired, and went to my favorite place in the entire house...this back porch/cabana. The view is incredible from here. We kinda all took naps and relaxed and talked here for an hour. It was a fun time enjoying little Abigail too. She was amazing the entire trip. It was special having time alone with her.

I LOVE this picture too :) Our sweet little Abigail and my AMAZING husband!

After our nap, we walked around the gardens some more, then headed home. It was a wonderful adventure, an enormous blessing to our marriage and full of sweet suprizes from the Lord. We are happy to be home with our Alathea now! Although she didn't miss us one bit :)