Asheville in the Fall

To celebrate my birthday -- there's no escaping them! -- Mark and I set out for Asheville in October. We stayed at Abbington Green, a beautiful Bed & Breakfast near downtown. Our hosts had refurbished this Colonial Revival home in high style, and the wine and cheese hour and breakfast each morning were really special. Aside from exploring the town and its fun bookstores and brew pubs, along with the home of Thomas Wolfe, we hiked the nearby trails of the Blue Ridge Parkway. The colors of Fall along the Parkway brought me back to our years in Virginia and favorite hikes at the Peaks of Otter and Crabtree Falls and Shenandoah National Park. Mark and I first hiked those Virginia trails in Lynchburg, then took our three kids in tow on hikes closer to Reston. Fall colors were also stunning at the Homestead and the Greenbrier. It's no wonder that we yearn to get back to the mountains in October. To top off our trip, we drove out to Chapel Hill to visit Matthew, and to Pawley's Island to see Mark's mom. For a birthday getaway, it was not too shabby!