Since my college years, my favorite piano concerto has been Brahms' second concerto in B-flat. As the miles passed traveling back and forth to school, the Rudolf Serkin recording played constantly; it has been engraved in my memory since. Lately, I've been checking various orchestras' schedules for a live performance. It seems that everyone wants to perform Brahms' first concerto, but rarely the second. Finally, late last year, I saw that the Brevard Music Center orchestra would be performing this piece during their summer festival with Garrick Ohlsson on piano! And it's only two and a half hours from us! A weekend trip started to take shape; we decided it could be our twelfth anniversary trip, right?
Last week, Poppy and Mimi took all four kids for several days, and New Daddy and I headed up for the mountains. Not only was the concert absolutely amazing (and that's not really the word), we got to roam around the Blue Ridge Parkway, fish for trout, see several lesser-known waterfalls, and mountain bike for my first time. And we got to sleep in on the morning that we didn't go fishing. That, to me, is a complete vacation.
We also ate some really good food. On our way to the concert Friday night, we happened upon an independent health store called Food Matters Market. There, we got a really yummy supper (crustless sausage quiche with balsamic beet salad on the side for me, turkey and havarti sandwich for New Daddy, and Buchi kombucha!), and I stocked up on less-common lara bar flavors. What a great find!
We headed up past the Pisgah fish hatchery to check out the small, but intriguing Slick Rock Falls. There was a sizeable cave behind and under the falls, and it was easy to explore most aspects of these falls. From there, we went up to the Blue Ridge Parkway to look for wild blueberries. This article directed us to the best spots; but after we figured out what to look for, we discovered that the berries were still quite green.
Lunch at Rejavanation Cafe in Candler was delicious, and we drove back down to DuPont. Meanwhile, a tip from the ranger had us googling the history of how this area came to be a public recreation area, and decided that it was worth seeing. We parked, pulled our bikes off the rack, and planned a route. There was a beautiful covered bridge overlooking High Falls that the developer had built before the state ousted him. And the moderate, 1-mile mountain biking trail that we'd chosen was the perfect introduction to mountain biking for me. I found that I thoroughly enjoyed a sport where rocks, roots, and hills were my only competition, and the goal of the game was a clear lake.
We checked out Triple Falls on foot, and then hopped in the car for supper in Asheville. Reviews led us to Sunny Point Cafe, and we were not disappointed. Fried avocado tacos with homemade cole slaw for an appetizer, coconut shrimp tostada salad for my entree, amazing shrimp and grits for New Daddy, and a berry tart with perfect vanilla ice cream for dessert. Oh, yes. Flavor combinations were surprising, but not shocking. Prices were not unreasonable for a grassfed-local-organic place, either. We felt it was a good value for amazing food.
Sunday- late breakfast, a stop by the farm market near the hotel, and on the road to meet Poppy and Mimi, and the beautiful children for lunch.
It was a great, much-needed vacation.
Last week, Poppy and Mimi took all four kids for several days, and New Daddy and I headed up for the mountains. Not only was the concert absolutely amazing (and that's not really the word), we got to roam around the Blue Ridge Parkway, fish for trout, see several lesser-known waterfalls, and mountain bike for my first time. And we got to sleep in on the morning that we didn't go fishing. That, to me, is a complete vacation.
We also ate some really good food. On our way to the concert Friday night, we happened upon an independent health store called Food Matters Market. There, we got a really yummy supper (crustless sausage quiche with balsamic beet salad on the side for me, turkey and havarti sandwich for New Daddy, and Buchi kombucha!), and I stocked up on less-common lara bar flavors. What a great find!
Saturday morning, we were up with the birds to fish Davidson River. I sat in a portable chair and read on my kindle while New Daddy fished. He did convince me to reel a couple in and even hold one... um, you can probably tell that I'm not very used to doing that! When we discovered that we were mistakenly nearby some back country campers, we decided to move along. We went to the ranger station to ask about the best spots to see waterfalls, get blueberries, and bike. They were mum on the blueberries, but quite glib on the other subjects. There, we found out about the DuPont state recreation area, and the volunteer was happy to point out some great biking trails.
We headed up past the Pisgah fish hatchery to check out the small, but intriguing Slick Rock Falls. There was a sizeable cave behind and under the falls, and it was easy to explore most aspects of these falls. From there, we went up to the Blue Ridge Parkway to look for wild blueberries. This article directed us to the best spots; but after we figured out what to look for, we discovered that the berries were still quite green.
Lunch at Rejavanation Cafe in Candler was delicious, and we drove back down to DuPont. Meanwhile, a tip from the ranger had us googling the history of how this area came to be a public recreation area, and decided that it was worth seeing. We parked, pulled our bikes off the rack, and planned a route. There was a beautiful covered bridge overlooking High Falls that the developer had built before the state ousted him. And the moderate, 1-mile mountain biking trail that we'd chosen was the perfect introduction to mountain biking for me. I found that I thoroughly enjoyed a sport where rocks, roots, and hills were my only competition, and the goal of the game was a clear lake.
We checked out Triple Falls on foot, and then hopped in the car for supper in Asheville. Reviews led us to Sunny Point Cafe, and we were not disappointed. Fried avocado tacos with homemade cole slaw for an appetizer, coconut shrimp tostada salad for my entree, amazing shrimp and grits for New Daddy, and a berry tart with perfect vanilla ice cream for dessert. Oh, yes. Flavor combinations were surprising, but not shocking. Prices were not unreasonable for a grassfed-local-organic place, either. We felt it was a good value for amazing food.
Sunday- late breakfast, a stop by the farm market near the hotel, and on the road to meet Poppy and Mimi, and the beautiful children for lunch.
It was a great, much-needed vacation.
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