Last year before baby was born, Sean and I went to Brevard, North Carolina for a weekend of swimming in waterfall pools, mountain views and quaint towns. We absolutely loved Brevard and Pisgah National Forest and knew we wanted to come back soon. When planning our family vacation for 2019, we decided to stay closer to home than usual and spend an entire week back in Brevard. We Airbnb’d a beautiful house right in Pisgah Forest that had sweeping mountain views but was only 10 minutes from downtown Brevard. This trip also, purposefully, coincided with Harrison’s first birthday. While around 40 minutes further north than Brevard, we decided to visit Asheville for the afternoon before we checked into our rental. We went straight for Buxton Hall Barbecue, excited to share this place we love with Nana, Daniela and baby Harrison. It was delicious, as always!
I’ll tell you now that this blog post is not going to be as long as my others from previous vacations. Mostly because we didn’t do all that much – particularly when THIS was the view at the house. STUNNING and so peaceful.
We cooked dinner at home and had a quiet night in.
The next day we had a leisurely morning and then split up in the afternoon with Harrison going to Hendersonville with his Nana and Daniela, and Sean and I having an afternoon to ourselves. We drove to the remote (45 minute drive into the forest!) and stunning Courthouse Falls. I had really wanted to swim in this pool – we’d waded in – on the last trip so we came back to enjoy the isolation. We ended up taking a quick dip and then wading for a while because the water was SO cold. It’s such an incredible spot. Highly recommend.
Sean took a detour home on the Blue Ridge Parkway. At first, I was worried about getting home and this taking too long but a quick reassurance from Nana had me completely loving every second of this special highway. These photos don’t do the views justice. And while it’s beyond beautiful, it was the expansive of nature, of rows and rows of quiet hills that struck me.
For dinner, we went to the only Thai restaurant in town (Pad Thai) and had a wonderful meal and time. Then back to the house to relax with the views and some music. <3
Harrison’s FIRST birthday!! My baby is one year old. He’s the cutest and the sweetest and we love and adore him so much! We did our monthly photo at the house with all our usual props. I decided Harrison looked so cute in his outfit that we needed to go out for lunch and show off our adorable son.
We had lunch at The Falls Restaurant. It was very good! We each got something different and had very lovely meals. Would return! After lunch, we walked around a bit and then headed home. With Harrison down for a nap and Daniela working a few hours, Sean and I went back downtown and did some more shopping that ended with both of us buying rings from a local jewelry store. We had a lot of fun poking into all the shops. We then went to a local wine bar for a glass of red and a nibble. Very nice spot! Wine down on Main.
Back at home it was smash cake time with my homemade lemon cake with blueberry-lemon frosting for my baby boy who LOVES blueberries. He hasn’t had anything sweet except fruit and a small taste of vanilla custard so the cake was a bit overwhelming for him.
At dinner, he ate an entire beef empanada made by his Nana! So cute.
We hung around the house the next morning while Nana and John went out and dropped Daniela off in town so she could check it out. After lunch, we picked Daniela up and went over to Looking Glass Falls. It was busy but not excessively crowded. Harrison and I stayed up top while Sean and Daniela made their way down, and ended up swimming at the base of the falls. Very cool!
Sean’s only request was to hit up Oskar Blues so we headed to the brewery after the falls (and there was a stop at Dolly’s for ice cream in there, too. Duh. 😉 ) Sean tried a few beers, we talked to another family with a kid about the same age as Harrison and just enjoyed the lovely weather.
We had some lovely family time back at the house before Sean, me, Kathy and John headed out to dinner. It was nice to have the time away at a nice, quiet and LEISURELY dinner with only adults. We went to MARCO Trattoria and had a delicious meal. I had trout picatta with asparagus and lemony mashed potatoes. Nice way to spend a Friday night while on vacation!
Kathy and John left early Friday morning, and Daniela worked a few hours in the morning so Sean and I slept in, then made breakfast and enjoyed it on the porch with our amazing views. Great start to a Saturday!
In the afternoon, we went out to Hooker Falls for some swimming and relaxing. This place is super popular and always busy, especially on weekends. But it being after school’s back in seemed to have made a difference because it wasn’t as crowded as it had been the last time we were there. The water was pretty cold but not nearly as frigid as the pool at Courthouse Falls (which is really shady) so we were all able to get in and swim around. Harrison liked it at first but he was over it as soon as he started getting cold.
All in all a really nice outing. 🙂
For dinner, we went to Blue Ridge Pizza Company, a very local spot in Etowah, NC. It was really good and a quick and easy meal on our last night in town.
The fog was nestled into the mountains on our last morning and the view was just superb. This is such a special place and a welcome reminder that we don’t need to schlep halfway around the world to see and experience new and beautiful things. <3