Linda, Annabelle and I took a road trip for our friends’ wedding. They got married at the The Omni Grove Park Inn in Ashville, NC. We left Thursday October 4. I drove through the night. AB kept me company while I drove. She got a kick out of Chicago. First she was surprised at all the traffic. She also loved to see the train and the platform for the train. Chicago had a horrible smell to it that Annabelle didn’t like one bit. We stopped at a motel parking lot to sleep about an hour outside Ashville.
We had some time to kill before our check in. So we stopped by the North Carolina Arboretum. They were getting set up for their Christmas lights display while we visited. We saw their bonsai collection. By far these were the most amazing bonsai trees I have ever seen. I suspect it’s attributed to the fact that they are cared for professionally. Because it was fall, the leaves were turning colors in Ashville. The leaves on several of the bonsai trees were also turning colors. I thought that was awesome. While we were at the arboretum, we hiked about five miles. Annabelle was a trooper on the hike. Linda walks a bit slower than I do. At first I would wait for her or try to walk her pace. Eventually I realized that AB would hustle to keep up with me. Some of the trails we walked were flat, while another one went up a ridge. It was a beautiful fall hike.
After our hike, we stopped at Papa’s & Beer Mexican Restaurant. We dined in for lunch. Prices were reasonable and portions were fairly large. When we arrived at Omni I quickly realized this was not the type of hotel we would typically patronize. The hotel had a view of the smokey mountains from it’s backside. There was a lot of history behind it. An older part of the hotel used to have horse drawn carriages come through it. A fair number of guests were dressed very well, fancy dresses and suits. I spent a couple late nights at their piano bar.
On our way home, we took a slight detour to see my sister Kristen in Columbus OH. She lives in a funky neighborhood called German Village. We stayed at the Hampton Inn Columbus-South. In the morning, we took Annabelle to play at Schiller Park. We stopped for some pastries at Fox In The Snow Cafe. Later that day we drove home. It was a nice trip, short but sweet.