Oh, Asheville. We miss you already.

To celebrate the hubster's 31st birthday (whoa, he's getting OLD), we decided to get the heck out of town and visit one of our fave towns, Asheville, NC. It's about a 6.5 hour drive from Fredericksburg. We were stocked with plenty of coffee and This American Life podcasts, so the ride was rather enjoyable, even though we hit the road at 6am sharp!

We stopped in quickly at the Sisters McMullen bakery in downtown Asheville to grab two cupcakes to properly celebrate Nick's birthday! We try to find a cupcake shop everywhere we visit, and the Sisters McMullen even had a confettied "birthday cake" cupcake happily consumed by the birthday boy. Mine was coconut. Asheville is this perfect amalgam of southern hospitality and liberal mindset. There are a few restaurants that are known for their farm-to-table emphasis, patronizing local farms as much as possible for fresh produce, meats and eggs. We made a point to eat our meals at these particular places, and we were in foodie heaven.

We had lunch on Saturday at the Laughing Seed, dinner at the Marketplace. We had lunch on Sunday at the beloved and super delicioso Tupelo Honey (seriously seriously love this place) and dinner at Early Girl. And then we had breakfast on the following morning again at Early Girl, where we scored THE cutest sugar dish. Really, sugar dish = kismet. I had been looking for a lovely handmade sugar dish for probably a year, and finding this little cutie completely justified NOT settling for something I wasn't gaga over in all that time. Maybe one day I'll introduce you to my handsome little sugar dish.

Who are those two dorks in the reflection of the Tupelo Honey window, waiting patiently for their sweet potato pancakes with spiced pecans and crab cake eggs benedict with fresh asparagus?

Monday, before jetting out of town (oh-so-sadly), we visited Chimney Rock Park and spent a couple of hours hiking there. The drive up to the park was on a very steep and winding sun-dappled mountain road, and with the new Iron & Wine album playing quietly in the car, I was kind of overcome by the sense of being exactly where I needed to be at that point in time. Just a good, warm feeling about life.

Anyway, the waterfall at Chimney Rock is 404 feet tall, and, according to the signage, is where that waterfall scene in Last of the Mohicans was filmed. (So, remember that next time you're playing a movie trivia game.) The hike was awesome, the waterfall pretty spectacular, and the company...just plain adorable.