Read more about the article Beech Mountain, NC

Beech Mountain, NC

We recently went snow skiing at Beech Mountain. Not familiar with it? It’s in North Carolina.

Wait – North Carolina and snow skiing? Is that even a real thing?

North Carolina does offer snow skiing

Fortunately for those who live in the Southeastern part of the US, there are a handful of ski resorts in North Carolina (Beech Mountain, Sugar Mountain, Cataloochee), West Virginia (Snowshoe, Winterplace, Timberline) and Virginia (Wintergreen).

Choosing to Go

For years, we’ve been talking about taking our children snow skiing. With the girls now in high school, I knew we had to do it sooner than later. The impasse came this year when I wanted to book a ski trip to Taos, New Mexico for the week after Christmas. My DH (dear hubby) refused – saying he didn’t want to spend money on airfare and taking off lots of time from work if it turned out our kids didn’t like skiing. (more…)

Read more about the article Gingerbread House Exhibit at Grove Park Inn – Asheville, NC

Gingerbread House Exhibit at Grove Park Inn – Asheville, NC

The smell of warm gingerbread evokes memories of Christmas and holidays. During this season, many love to decorate gingerbread houses. Imagine if you could design one that earned $25,000?

The Competition

The National Gingerbread House Competition does just that. Held annually at the Omni Grove Park Inn in Asheville, we were fortunate to see it on the way home from snow skiing at Beech Mountain in early January.

Gingerbread Exhibit 2018 at the Omni Grove Park Inn

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Read more about the article A North & South Carolina Thankgsiving

A North & South Carolina Thankgsiving

Readers might remember that we had an absolutely wonderful Thanksgiving in North Carolina last year. This year, we repeated it, but with a twist. First we had my in-laws with us and we added a quick trip to Greenville, South Carolina to the itinerary.

Thanksgiving morning began with our traditional watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade on TV and brunch. We jumped in the car and drove to Highlands, NC. This time, we walked the 1/4-mile path to Dry Falls. Because the large amounts of rainfall, the falls were anything but dry. Water roared fiercely down the cliff and a rainbow reflected from the water.

We arrived at the Main Street Inn in Highlands for a scrumptious Thanksgiving buffet. Just like last year, we drove over to Cashiers and visited High Hampton Inn. Then on to Greenville. (more…)

Read more about the article A North Carolina Thanksgiving
Whiteside Mountain

A North Carolina Thanksgiving

Tired of cooking every Thanksgiving, our family decided to try something different. We wanted to go somewhere out to eat that wasn’t ridiculously expensive and we wanted to have time to do at least one hike.

After some research, we decided on Highlands, NC. Starting early that morning, we drove up to Whiteside Mountain to hike the 2.5-mile loop trail. The weather was crisp and because most of the leaves had already fallen, we had spectacular views.

We weren’t alone on the hike. Many people were also there before feasting on Thanksgiving dinner. We had reservations at the Main Street Inn in Highlands. Our reservation was for 3 p.m. but we had a little time to walk around the quaint downtown area. We ducked into the Old Edwards Inn and admired their Christmas tree. (more…)