Our Time in Highlands

After Christmas, we had the great pleasure of heading to Highlands, NC for some much needed R&R. If you have never been to the mountains in NC, you should definitely go at some point. The air is fresh, and the area is so beautiful. God has created such unbelievable beauty in the world around us, and NC is one place where you can bask in that beauty. That being said, I thought I would share some of our trip.
In this first picture, you see Asher at my most favorite restaurant...The Log Cabin. I ate there for the first time last year with Channing and his family. I stepped out on a limb, which is really really rare for me, and ordered Wild Boar. By far, that was the best meal I have EVER had. I still talk about it. So this year, I thought I would order it again. Sadly, it wasn't on the menu. Instead, I ordered antelope. Guess what? It was delicious! I loved every bite! Anyway, here is Asher with his absolute most favorite toy. I found it at Learning Express. It's called the Wiggly Giggler or something like that, but it makes a funny noise when he shakes it. Whenever he can get it to make that noise, he smiles so big.Here are Tristan and Asher hanging out at the mountain house, aka Highlands Hideaway.Here is a picture I love of my sweet Tristan. He's hanging out on the deck at Highlands Hideaway. The cool thing is that a couple of years ago, some of the other people who are partial owners of this home captured pictures of a black bear on this deck trying to get to the food out of one of the bird feeders. For that reason, the bird feeders were taken down and remained down for at least a year. As a matter of fact, Channing's mom was not happy to see them back up. I tried to convince her that the bears are all hibernating, but I don't think she was too sure.
More deck pictures. Check out the view behind us. In the summer, when all the leaves are green, it is breathtaking!
These are Channing's parents...aka MiMi and PaPa.Here is a picture of Asher on the way to the shops in Highlands. Btw, Highlands has a fabulous shopping area. They have lots of little shops...no chains. I love it!Due to all the excitement of being at the "mount tens", Tristan missed his nap and thus passed out on the way to dinner at The Orchard. Oh, and he has chapstick all under his nose because it was raw from all the blowing he was doing.After his brief 10 minute power nap, we woke Tristan up and headed into The Orchard. The food and atmosphere was terrific. I had shrimp and grits...yummy! Our appetizers were crab cakes...delish...and mussels, which I thought would taste awful but were WONDERFUL! When we got there, Tristan got to use one of those old timey phones. I'm including the picture, even though it's sideways. I don't know how to rotate it from my usb cable.
Here are Channing and Tristan waiting for the doors to be unlocked at the restaurant.My sideways picture of Tristan enjoying the antique phone... which really worked, btw!The yummy mussels after our family attacked them!Tristan giving me an actual smile for a picture...a truely rare occurence. I LOVE this picture!Here is Asher the last night we were there. Channing, his dad, and I took Tristan to see the new Chipmunks movie. We had to drive 45 minutes into Franklin, but it was worth the drive. The movie was precious, and Tristan really enjoyed it. After the movie, and two buckets of popcorn, we met Channing's mom at Zaxby's for a quick dinner. Here are a couple of shots of Asher there.
Here he is waiting for a snack.Here he is about to pass out. My sweet sweet boy!And here is a final picture from that night. Asher is back at the house playing and having fun with PaPa.
What a great time we had! I only wish I had taken a picture of the black bear rug hung on the wall downstairs at the mountain house. It is Tristan's favorite thing about the house. He forgot seeing Santa last year on the square, but he remembered that bear rug. I wish I had remembered to take a picture of it. Oh well. There's always next year.