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Our 20th Anniversary Vacation
Click here for pictures.
July 10, 2002
A perfect day
There aren't many perfect days in life, but today was one of them.
Without a hitch
We awoke early to our twentieth anniversary. I had told Jeanie nothing
of our plans. At 6:00am, which is way earlier than Jeanie usually arises,
I said "Happy Anniversary, I love you. Now, you need to get up and
pack."
Jeanie jumped out of bed and listened while I told her what she needed:
a business casual outfit for today, a dinner dress, a pair of jeans, and
three comfortable "walking around" outfits.
While Jeanie packed, I packed as well.
We both had a few last minute work related items to take care of, and after
doing so, we both bathed. After putting the bags in the truck, we set off
on our adventure at 11:00am - just as I had planned.
Jeanie still had no idea whatsoever of what we were doing. Were we going
east? West? To the airport?
We grabbed a sandwich to eat along the way, and headed down the road.
Within 15 minutes, Jeanie now knew we were heading west. But to where?
The drive was really pleasant. We talked and talked. We never needed the
radio or one of the books on tape I had packed to pass the time.
We made a pit stop in Winston-Salem at the little stop & shop near
Hanes Mall which has become somewhat of a tradition to satisfy my Krispy
Kreme kraving.
We continued along I-40 until exit 105, where we exited onto 18 north.
18 north turned into 181 north. The ride was beautiful.
After about a half-hour, at 3:00pm, just as I had planned, we reached our
destination: The Eseeola Lodge at Linville Golf Club.
A brief bit of history
At this point, I have to digress and go back twenty years to share a bit
of history so you can understand the significance...
When Jeanie and I got married, we knew that our "real" honeymoon
would be in September when we travelled to Jamaica with two other couples
whom we had known for years.
I only planned the first night of our "right after the wedding honeymoon." I made reservations at the Governor's Inn, placing champagne and roses in the room during the afternoon. It was a Saturday night, and there was a big band playing. We danced a spotlight dance, and had a lovely meal.
My thought was that on the day following the ceremony, we would head off
toward the North Carolina mountains. There had been a quaint inn that we
had seen near Linville during one of our previous visits to the mountains.
I didn't remember the name, but I thought I would be able to find it again.
The idea that I should make reservations and plan an itinerary never entered
my mind...
We arose, got dressed in cut-offs and T-shirts, and headed west. Well,
after many hours of hunting, we finally found the place I had remembered.
We stopped the car in the driveway, and walked up to the entrance. Imagine
our shock as we gazed into the lobby, only to see a crowd of women dressed
in long dinner dresses, and a crowd of men dressed in full tartan dress
- kilts and all! There we were in our cut-offs! Meekly I asked "do
you have any rooms?" The staff did a good job of not laughing out
loud, and informed us that they were sorry, but they were sold out. Turns
out that the Highland Games were in full swing, and they had been booked
for months.
To shorten the story, let's just say that it took many more miles, many
more hours, and finally pulling the newlywed card to finally get a room
far from my intended destination.
Back to the story
As we came to a stop under the entrance in the exact same spot we had stopped
at twenty years before, I turned to Jeanie and smiled, wondering if she
would catch the significance.
She simply turned to me and said "I guess you made reservations this
time?"
After a hearty laugh, and a kiss, I asked her to wait in the truck while
I checked us in.
At check-in, I made sure that everything was set for "the surprise."
It was. The staff even knew exactly what I had requested and when I wanted
it delivered - without even having to look.
When we got to the room, the bellman had already hung our hanging bag,
placed our suitcases on stands, and even filled our ice bucket.
The room was lovely, with a king sized bad with padded headboard, two dressers,
a writing table, and two comfy chairs. A door opened onto a lovely, large
balcony with a bent-wood and wicker love seat, two chairs, and a table.
We decided to take a walk around the grounds, which were absolutely beautiful.
But, I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.
Around 4:30pm, we returned to the room and laid down for a nap.
A wonderful night
After a refreshing two hour nap, it was time to dress for dinner. Dinner
at the Eseeloa Lodge is a formal affair - jacket and tie for the gentlemen,
"dinner attire" for the ladies.
We were seated at a window table, overlooking the stream.
The table was set with real silver, in the full, formal style.
Before our starters arrived, I excused myself "to the rest room."
This was really so that I could give "the signal" to the front
desk that it was time for the delivery. Once again, all I had to do was
say - to a person I had not previously spoken to - "Hello, I am Mr.
Sanders..." and he responded "Okay, we'll take care of it."
Dinner was a culinary delight.
Jeanie started with a shitake mushroom and shrimp soup which was seasoned
with coconut milk, ginger, and mint.
I started with a salad of red and yellow tomatoes with fresh mozzarella,
topped with an Italian seasoned cold succotash, capped with sweet and sour
marinated onion.
Oh my!
For our entries, Jeanie had a lightly sauteed native rainbow trout with pecans and grapes. I had an Asian roasted duck breast in a raspberry teriyaki sauce.
Oh my!
Now mind you, I enjoy good food, but I'm not usually super-keen on "neuvo
fru-fru just to be different" cuisine. But, this was just right -
exciting, novel tastes that surprised the palate, but didn't send it running
away in fear.
For dessert, even though they offered some wonderfully tempting choices,
neither of us could resist the creme brulee. It was a lovely, delicate
custard - perfectly glazed.
After dinner, we returned to the room to get our cameras so we could get
some pictures taken of us.
The bed had been turned down, and chocolates topped our pillows.
Jeanie was greeted with a dresser now topped with a bouquet of flowers, a plate of fresh strawberries dipped in chocolate, assorted fine chocolates, a box of bath beads, candles, a bottle of champagne, and two champagne flutes.
Since we were still full from dinner, and not quite ready to, um, retire...
we grabbed the cameras, got our pictures taken, took another stroll, and
then sat in the common sitting area and listened to the piano player for
a while until we were ready to return to the room for the night.
About nine-thirty, we returned to the room, opened the champagne, lit the candles, fed each other a couple of strawberries, and then re-consummated our marriage.
July 11, 2002
Still in paradise
We awoke well rested, and, after re-re-consummating our marriage, bathed
and dressed for breakfast.
Breakfast was lovely. We both started with freshly squeezed orange juice, fresh fruit, and coffee. Jeanie had sauteed trout with dill lemon butter and poached eggs. I had corned beef hash, poached eggs, toast and the creamiest cheese grits I've ever had the pleasure to place on my tongue. Jeanie let me sit in the chair with the view of the waterfall and stream, which I thoroughly enjoyed.
After breakfast, we sat on a couch in the common area and I reminisced
about my summer working as a bus-boy at the Concord Hotel, comparing and
contrasting that environment with the one at the Eseeola.
We walked back to our room via the outside route, taking time to enjoy
watching the "pet" brook trout in the stream that ran along,
and then beneath, the hotel.
After breakfast, I told Jeanie to put on jeans and the boots and socks
I had sneaked into an extra bag I had packed and hidden.
We packed our bags, carefully including our lovely Eseeola Lodge gift mugs,
and while Jeanie stayed to direct the bellman, I checked out. I made a
point of talking with the manager and complimenting him on his exceptional
staff and the exceptional level of service that we had received. To a person,
every member of the staff that we had interacted with had been professional
and cheerful.
The adventure continues
At 11:00am, we left the hotel parking lot, destination unknown to Jeanie.
I had anticipated that it would only be about an hour drive, but due to
our next stop being farther than I had realized, and to the extremely heavy
fog on 221 that limited our speed to about 20 MPH, the drive ended up taking
more like 2 1/2 hours.
This still worked out fine, as our reservation wasn't until 2:00pm.
At 1:30pm, we arrived at the Mountain View Riding Stables at Leatherwood Mountains in Ferguson, NC.
There was one other group that would be on our ride: a family from Fort
Lauderdale, Florida, with an eight year old boy, and a twelve year old
girl both of whom were riding for the first time.
The horses seemed very healthy and well cared for. This was a pleasant
surprise as our last few rides had been on horses so small and skinny that
we felt guilty riding them. This place had made a point of getting our
heights and weights when I made our reservations so that they could ensure
that we had properly sized saddles and mounts.
Because the other group had inexperienced riders, we rode on a beginner
trail, at a slow pace. Jeanie rode Sir Puddin, and I rode Smokey II. The
trails were nicely maintained, and the scenery was lovely.
After about an hour, MaryAnn, the main guide, asked Jeanie and me if we
would like to split off from her Dad (the other guide) and the other family,
and take a more challenging trail at a crisper pace. Apparently they had
anticipated that they might need to split the groups, and had set out with
two guides rather than just one, just in case.
We said that we would like that, so we did.
Jeanie said that she was glad that we had started out on a beginner trail
so that she could regain her "riding legs," but that she was
happy that we had switched to an intermediate trail once she had settled
back into the saddle, since it was more exciting.
MaryAnn suggested that next time, we classify ourselves as intermediate
riders, which we took as a compliment.
We left Ferguson around 4:30pm, and headed off to our next stop.
No more mystery
As we drove away from Ferguson, I informed Jeanie that the riding had been
the last of our scheduled activities. I assured her that we did in fact
have a reservation for the night, and I did have a list of activity ideas,
but that there were no other activities that had pre-existing reservations.
Jeanie decided that she was ready to know our next destination, so I informed
her that we would be staying in Blowing Rock for the next two nights.
After about thirty minutes, we arrived at The Brookside Inn. I was a little concerned when I saw that it appeared to be a motel rather
than an inn. But, it turned out to be clean, with a comfortable bed, and
a nice deck in the back that truly did look out onto a brook. We also later
learned that just about all of the lodging in Blowing Rock was either in
the old motel style, or the bed & breakfast style.
After having ridden for two hours plus, we were both tired, sore, and stinky,
so, we both bathed, and then laid down for a nap.
At 7:00pm, we dressed, and headed off to dinner. We ended up eating at
Vintner's in Blowing Rock. Jeanie had chicken parmigiana over angel hair
pasta with a glass of a Westbend red wine that was quite good - I even
liked it. I had a rosemary-citrus grilled chicken disk which was okay.
We were too tired and sore to re-re-re-consummate our marriage, so we both
just went to sleep and had the best night's sleep either of us had had
in quite a while.
July 12, 2002
A day to play
We realized that we were on vacation, so we slept in until 10:00am.
After bathing and dressing, we went to breakfast at the Blowing Rock Cafe.
Jeanie had a fruit cup, french toast, and sugar-cured ham. I had scrambled
eggs, grits, biscuits, and country ham.
Jeanie made a ham biscuit with her left-over ham and one of my biscuits,
and I made a ham & egg biscuit and a ham & jelly biscuit with my
left-overs.
After breakfast, we went to the new Bob Timberlake Gallery in Blowing Rock. It is nowhere near as large as the gallery in Lexington, but it was very nice. It had a small print of one of his works that we both really like that we had not been able to find elsewhere since originally seeing a limited edition lithograph that we couldn't afford at the gallery in Lexington. We also picked up a collector's guide, and a Bob Timberlake designs shirt for me that was on sale.
We spent the majority of the remainder of the morning and the afternoon
browsing the shops in "downtown" Blowing Rock. The shops was
quaint and interesting, if a little touristy. The area reminded me somewhat
of Gatlinburg TN.
The weather was wonderfully cool, but it was overcast, so we decided not to go to the blowing rock. Instead, we drove up to Boone, then over to Valle Crucis, to visit The Mast General Store. It wasn't something I'll go out of my way to visit again, but Jeanie
did enjoy it, and it did have the most amazing selection of overalls -
four brands, multiple colors, sized by waist and inseam - that I've ever
seen, and, it did have honest-to-goodness old-fashioned rock candy. Along
the way to Boone, we snacked on the biscuits we had made with out breakfast
left-overs.
We returned to the room around 5:00pm. Jeanie was hungry, so we freshened
up, and then drove back into Blowing Rock for dinner at the Six Pence Pub.
Jeanie had Guinness Beef, and I had shepherd's pie, both of which were
tasty. For dessert, we stopped by Kilwin's for an ice cream cone and some chocolates.
Then it was back to the room, just in time for Stargate SG-1 and Farscape.
July 13, 2002.
Complimentary Breakfast
We knew that there was an area at the inn that had coffee, tea, and hot
chocolate, so when we awoke, I walked down to get us each a cup of hot
chocolate. I was pleasantly surprised to find that in addition to the beverages,
there was a selection of muffins, doughnuts, and cereals. I grabbed a muffin
for each of us, along with our beverages, and brought them back to the
room. The muffins were tasty, and since we didn't have to go out for breakfast,
we had a little extra time to sit on the deck before packing up and checking
out.
One last item
The last item I had "on the list" was the Southern Highland Craft
Guild, located inside the Cone Manor.
Jeanie and I hopped onto the Blue Ridge Parkway, and after initially turning in the wrong direction, found our way to the Cone Manor. I'm sad to say, we were both disappointed. We had thought that they entire manor would be open for tours, but it turned out the only the retail space was open for visitors, and it was way over-priced.
We didn't stay long, and decided to stop in Boone for lunch. Jeanie was in the mood for some good 'ol southern cooking. After searching downtown Boone to no avail, we stumbled upon the Dan'l Boone Inn. Our family style meal began with a salad, followed by a table-full of
bowls filled with salisbury steak, fried chicken, string beans, corn, cooked
apples, cole slaw, mashed potatoes, and gravy. In addition, we got four
country ham biscuits, regular biscuits, preserves, dessert and a beverage.
It was just what Jeanie had been 'hankerin for.
One last surprise
After lunch, we took 421 east toward Winston-Salem. Jeanie was sleepy, so I listened to James Taylor while Jeanie napped. Along the way, I noticed that there a couple of signs on the highway indicating vineyards. I had not realized that there were vineyards in the piedmont area of North Carolina. You can imagine my surprise when one of the vineyards turned out to be Westbend - that's right, the same wine that Jeanie had enjoyed the night before.
I seized the opportunity for one last surprise, and turned off the highway
and followed the signs to the vineyard.
There was a tour that had just started, so Jeanie and I joined it and listened for a few minutes. One interesting fact that we learned as we listened was that many years ago, before the state became known for tobacco, North Carolina was the largest grower of grapes in the country. I desperately needed to use the facilities, and I wanted to beat the crowd to the tasting, so we left the group and returned to the showroom.
We - yes, we - sampled most of their vintages. It turned out that the red
wine we had enjoyed was their Shallowford Cellars Red Table Wine. We ended
up getting a mixed case, including the red and white table wines, a bottle
of riesling, a bottle of chardonnay, and a few bottles of their vidal blanc
dessert wine.