| | This past weekend, Jennifer and I celebrated our sixth anniversary together! I had decided some time ago to take her to Asheville NC for the long weekend, as we'd never been there, and we'd heard it was funky and nice. So, off we went. I made numerous pre-arrangements, and the first (and perhaps the best) was that we stayed at a lovely (and incredibly expensive!) B&B called the 1889 WhiteGate Inn & Cottage. It was gorgeous! All of the rooms are named after poets, and we stayed in the Maya Angelou Suite, which was pretty luxurious. The place had gourmet three course breakfast experiences, nice touches, beautiful gardens (award winning), social hour in the evening with food and drink in the gardens. It was a close taxi ride to everywhere we wanted to go and it was thoroughly worth it!
Friday night, we got there a bit late, but that's OK. We took a taxi downtown after checking in and looked for a place that was still serving dinner. Apparently, they stop early in that city for some reason. However, the drinking doesn't stop. LOL! We found a place called The Yacht Club, which had interesting eats. We sat at the bar and chowed down, while downing a few drinks as well (including a few tequila shots). Made it back and went to bed.
Saturday, we had reservations to go to the Biltmore House. It was as big as they say and very luxurious. We didn't see it all, as the day got a bit late and it got crowded, but most importantly, we made it down to the winery! We taste tested the hell outta that stuff too!!! LOL. We even paid to go from the free taste testing to the "premium" taste testing area. Naturally, we got totally drunk and bought wine, but just half a case. We then ate at an outdoor cafe there and finally made it back to the WhiteGate.
Our dinner reservations that evening were at the Sunset Terrace located at the Grove Park Inn, a pretty impressive looking place. Highly recommended. I had made reservations earlier that week. So, we walked in and found they had NO record of any reservation for us at all. Which pissed me off. They sat us anyway, at the worst table they had, by the kitchen doors, even though they had other openings. Nice. We had an arrogant waiter with a serious attitude and no lights whatsoever, so as it got dark, we couldn't see what we were eating (Jen was having the duck), and it was really pointless. When I called for the check, I got an 18% "service charge" added to it and let's just say that was probably the worst $94 I ever spent. I've spent more and less to eat at much better places, to be honest. We had after dinner plans, but our mood was so ruined, we just went back to our room and chilled.
Sunday was our actual anniversary. Yay! Now we're officially going on seven years, right? We had breakfast, chilled a bit, and then met my dear old friend Ami and her family for lunch. We had not seen them since we moved away from Knoxville in 2004, so that was delightful. We had numerous afternoon plans, but Jen was starting to feel a bit under the weather, so we went back and let her nap. Then, however, we went to dinner. One of our innkeepers had called and gotten us the best table at a restaurant I had made reservations at called the Flying Frog. It was spectacular! A superior dining experience. First, the table was sort of in a booth covered by a type of fabric that made it like a cabana. Hard for me to explain, but it was very romantic. We ordered a drink and looked over the menu. They specialized in German, French, and Indian food! How odd is that? We ordered a nice bottle of wine (some of their bottles were in the $550 range!!!), and we ordered what they called "mini entres," so you could basically taste various entre-type courses. We had filet, lamb, kangaroo (!!!), and potato latkes, along with some great deserts as well. Lovely. We had a wonderful time. And the service was superior. Beat the hell out of the vaunted Grove Park Inn! However, we were going to go to a jazz club and then a chocolate bar (yeah!), but Jen started getting a bad headache, so we were forced to return to the B&B. Bummer!
Yesterday, we woke up and Jen had the migraine of the universe. Which sucks. I went to breakfast and had strawberries covered in vodka and fresh cream, a mushroom suffle and something else that was beautiful and sweet. The innkeeper then brought a tray down for Jen, which was nice. I packed us up because we had to be out by 11 AM, and we talked with some of the "friends" we'd made there. Nice people. The inn is very gay-friendly, so it was mostly older gay and lesbian couples, and we had a good time with them. Sad to part ways. Finally, we left to return to Chattanooga. It took forever to get back and we didn't arrive until early evening. Jen's headache never improved, although she took prescription migraine medication, but that said, we had a wonderful anniversary weekend, and yes it cost a fortune, but it was definitely worth it. Good times. We'll remember this one, and we definitely want to go back. Cheers!
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| | Posted 9/8/2009 5:56 AM - 17 Views - 2 eProps - 2 comments
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