We began our vacation February 17th traveling north to Crystal Lake XC Center on Saturday with the Lapps. Crystal Lake had at least a foot of fresh powder from the mid-week "Valentine's Day" storm. Brad and Doug skate skied and Barb and I skied traditional xc – and skied until our bodies could not move anymore; two hours. The trails were smooth, fast and rolling. There was one fast downhill that gave us a reminder of how much fun it is to “downhill ski” without waiting in lift lines. Then we had to climb out of the little valley back to the lodge. Doug went skate skiing again as we all crashed in front of the fireplace hogging the couches.
When we got back to Lancaster, I had high hopes of heading down south to begin our journey to Asheville, NC. A “layover” in Hagerstown, MD, with Brad’s brother would have given us a two hour head start for our Sunday drive. Well, I fell apart trying to “ready” the house for our trip. Packing the cooler and getting the biking gear ready put me over the edge. I had to let go of leaving Saturday night and compromise with leaving at 6 a.m. on Sunday for an 8+ hour drive. We packed the van as much as we could Saturday night. In the end, it was worth sleeping in our own bed.
It took Brad 8 hours to drive to Asheville with two stops. When Brad needed me to drive so he could rest his eyes, I ended up driving through a snow squall. Of course, when it was my time to drive, my eyes were heavy and the snow was blinding. Ugh. I managed to drive for an hour. Much better than our last driving vacation where I lasted 15 minutes behind the wheel.
We decided to not make any plans or reservations for this vacation as we did not know where we would end up. Brad picked Asheville as it was a doable day drive but we did not know if we would go further south for guaranteed warmth. I did last minute research on the web the night before we left so I would not be overwhelmed by 46 bed and breakfasts in Asheville. Luckily I received the "Explore Asheville" tourism guide that Saturday morning so I made all my notes about availability, prices, etc. I narrowed down our search to about 15 based on available rooms but most only had openings for a few days. With the prices of B&B in the USA a little steep, we were open to staying at a B&B for a limited time. Our key components for a B&B included wi-fi, Jacuzzi, safety for our bikes, convenience for riding and location to downtown. We arrived in Asheville around 2:30 to pick a B&B. Cumberland Falls Inn won our bid. We looked at A Bed of Roses, 1900 Inn at Montford, Carolina B&B and the Chestnut Street Inn. At the Cumberland Falls Inn, we had to stay in two rooms (with different rates-all reasonable as we got their procrastinator's special) which was really cool because it was a quaint B&B and all the rooms were inviting. We stayed in the Lion's Den for the first two nights and would move to the third floor to the Daydream room with sky lights for the rest of the stay (Sun-Thur). Cumberland Falls has met all our needs plus more. They are the only one with a three-course gourmet breakfast. I have been a stuffed pig riding through Asheville the last two days.
