From the Land of Ma'am: Hosting Kyria

As I said last week, I had the opportunity to host Kyria over President's Day weekend.  Her visit got off to a bit of a rocky start as one of her flights was cancelled. Delta was able to re-book her on another flight, but then her bag got lost - but she rolled with the punches like a champ.  It helps that we are similar sizes and wear the same size shoes so I was able to borrow some clothes to her!

On Friday night, we stayed in and I made lentil enchiladas and a southwestern black bean salad, both of which turned out great.  I would highly recommend either recipe!  After dinner, we played a couple of games of cribbage which is one of my all-time favorite card games.

Saturday morning I was hoping that we could do an outdoor run, but the sidewalks were still snow-covered thanks to the 8" of snow we received last week, so we both put in our time on the dreadmill before hitting the road for Asheville.

I was a little nervous about the drive to Asheville as part of the drive is on a winding, steepish road but luckily the driving conditions were perfect.  Our first stop when we got to Asheville was the Biltmore.  I had a free pass so Kyria got in for free which was nice as the admission fee is $49 this time of year.  It was fun to explore the property with Kyria and the views in this area never disappoint!

After the Biltmore, we headed into downtown Asheville.  The first place we went to was a gourmet potato chip place that came highly recommended by a friend and it did not disappoint!  The chips are all made-to-order and so good.  We shared one order which was a perfect appetizer for dinner. We had a lot of choices, but went with "The Parisian" which had rosemary, thyme, goat cheese, truffle spritz and sea salt.  They were SO good.  I will definitely be back so I can try some other kinds!

Next we had dinner at Tupelo Honey which is one of my favorite places in Asheville.  It's this cute southern place that happens to have a great gluten free menu.  I had a basic grilled cheese and tomato soup, which was really good, and treated myself to this fun drink which is lemonade with rosemary.  I know it sounds like a weird combination, but it is so good!

After dinner, we were pretty full, but a visit to Asheville is not complete without a stop at French Broad Chocolate.  They have the best drinks and treats to choose from.  We both had hot chocolate made with dark chocolate ganache and each bought a treat that we saved for later (a chocolate-coconut brownie for Kyria and a GF peanut butter cookie for me).

We were officially stuffed after that so headed back to the hotel and called it a night.  On Sunday morning we headed back into Asheville.  I went to mass while Kyria checked out the city on foot, and then we had a delicious brunch which I failed to take a photo of!

I was hoping to take Kyria on a hike on a trail off the famous Blue Ridge Parkway, but unfortunately the parkway was closed due to the snow and ice we received last week, so instead we went to Crowder's Mountain State Park, which is about 30 minutes from Charlotte.  I hadn't been here before, so it was fun to check out a new place.  We hiked to the summit which had a pretty view.

After hiking for about 4-5 miles (I think?) we headed back to Charlotte.  We had worked up an appetite so I took Kyria to my favorite Charlotte restaurant, Cabo Fish Taco.  I love the fish tacos at this place and the atmosphere is vibrant and casual so it's my kind of place.  I had a tuna taco and a mahi mahi taco and both were excellent!

After dinner, we headed back to my place to read, relax, and watch the Olympics.  On Monday morning we woke up to sunshine and mild temps (36 degrees F) so we headed out for a run.  Kyria is training for a 50k and the Boston marathon, so she needed to get some miles in, but we ran together for about 1.5 miles before I split off and headed back.  I have slowly been working on increasing my run/walk intervals and I am now able to run for 3 miles straight without any walking breaks!  That's a pretty big accomplishment for me after not running for almost 10 months!

All in all it was a really fun weekend!  I love the Asheville area so it's always fun for me to introduce others to my favorite places there.  Kyria and I travel really well together as we have similar interests and similar travel preferences (active days, earlier bedtimes, earlier mornings).  Now that I've hosted her, it's my turn to head out to visit her and I am hoping to do that this fall in conjunction with a running rendezvous with some other friends!

When you have visitors, is there one particular restaurant you like to take them to?  Cabo Fish Taco is my #1 pick for sure!