Asheville Adventure!

In early March, I wrote about the Adventure Principle, stating in that blog "my soul tends to need renewing as the seasons renew." While I love a big adventure that involves planes or trains or long, long drives, I'm a huge fan of the mini-break...little weekend getaways that break up the everyday routines. Because I believe in living simply, I try to keep these mini-breaks local enough that we are seeing new sites without large traveling expenses. After all, even a walk in a different part of one's hometown can be an adventure! By keeping them somewhat local, however, I believe we appreciate more what our own area of the world has to offer, which is ALOT!

This past Monday was Memorial Day, and Memorial Day weekend is traditionally the beginning of summer in the US. As temperatures soared this week, we headed to for the coolness of the Western NC mountains to visit Asheville for the holiday weekend. The first stop was the main Spiritex store for a little eco-friendly shopping!

And a show! The Carolina Catskins, one of Asheville's popular street music groups, were performing directly outside the Spiritex shop. We enjoyed listening to them very much!

Later we enjoyed lunch at a favorite restaurant and looking about in the town...

 

I love hotels and staying in new places. On this trip, we stayed at the Days Inn on Tunnel Road, near the Asheville mall. I knew I had chosen nice place to stay when I was checking in and saw complimentary holiday-themed pastries with coffee in the lobby! We were very satisfied with this hotel and I would recommend it if you are traveling to Asheville for overnight stay!

Though Asheville has an endless array of things to do and see, we were all about being outdoors and taking it easy. As well as city exploring, there was much swimming and poolside lounging to be enjoyed!

 

A major highlight of the trip was a session at Asheville's Therapeutic Salt Cave. I can't say enough wonderful things about this place. I've wanted to try it for a very long time, and I'm so glad I did! My son enjoyed it alot as well. It was very peaceful, healing experience! I could not take any pictures because of policy, but visit http://www.ashevillesaltcave.com/ to see images and learn more!

The best thing about our holiday is it did not, as we say here, 'break the bank'. It did not even come close. We were able to have a great time without overspending on activities and souvenirs. I try to apply simple living practices I believe in so strongly to traveling as well as daily life. We enjoyed the sights and sounds of the city, delicious foods and colors present everywhere.

 

 

A fun treat was having coffee and dessert in this renovated double-decker bus, brought over from England in the 1970s and converted to a coffee shop!

 

I must say again, there is so much to do in Asheville, more than I have even touched on in this post. But this is a little glimpse of our time there, which was so wonderful and refreshing break from routines. And because Asheville is only a couple of hours from our town, I was home Sunday just in time for an evening run! 

And now to focus on remaining school days and then changes as we begin a summer schooling program, a new experience for the both of us that changed our summer travel and leisure plans, but has also opened up new opportunity for me to pursue a goal I've had for a long time. Here's a hint: it's related to yoga! More on that coming in future post! :-)