Ryan and I haven’t taken a trip by air since our honeymoon nearly eight years ago. And we had not taken a trip without at least one of the girls with us since becoming parents over five years ago. Life has happened…but we finally saved enough funds and decided to attend a marriage enrichment weekend retreat in Missouri. Ryan made all of the plans—from the reservations at the retreat center to booking the flights and arranging childcare. Although a part of me was looking forward to it, I honestly just wanted to find a B&B within driving distance and spend a quiet weekend…for some reason, I had a lot of angst about the trip, but I didn’t know if it was because we were leaving the girls or because of the distance away from home…but I knew that getting away alone together was important.

On Thursday afternoon, Ryan took the dog and dropped him off with Uncle Glenn, Aunt Sheri, and cousin Cara, and their dog Twister. And Thursday evening, I packed what the girls needed and took them to stay with my sister-in-law and brother, Cindy and Sherman. I thought I had packed everything, but I had failed to pack Emma’s little potty, which she needs to be able to take care of herself more independently. So, all the way home, I was trying to figure out how to get it to her without spending an additional hour on the road. Fortunately, my parents and younger brother and his family were attending a service at a church only five minutes from our house. So, I went and dropped off the training potty a little before 9 p.m. Returning home to pack my own items and get the house ready for our departure was next on my agenda. I walked in the door only to find that Ryan had received a text message from the airline: Flight canceled.

Over the next couple of hours, we deliberated what to do as we made many phone calls to the airline, the travel insurance agent, and the retreat center. The airline could not get us to our destination on time. Period. We checked with another airline. We had no acceptable options. We decided to completely cancel our original plans, but what should we do? The girls and dog were already with family members; Ryan couldn’t get his vacation days back from work…so we decided to go on a ROAD TRIP! What I really wanted to do was actually going to happen!

For many years, we have been wanting to travel down the Blue Ridge Parkway to Asheville, NC. We decided that this was the time. At 10:30 p.m., I reached out to Chapman Knoll Farm B&B to see if we could spend Friday night there. After more calls with the airline, we finally fell asleep around midnight.

Friday morning, the alarm sounded at our normal time of 4:00 a.m. Ryan got up bleary-eyed and shuffled to the kitchen to make my coffee. I wanted so desperately to stay in bed longer. But when the coffee was ready, I made my way to the kitchen, got my cup of coffee, and descended to the study to work on my blog post. Ryan shuffled back to bed. I missed the comforting, loyal presence of our dog, who always blesses me with his nearness in the early morning hours as I work on my blog posts.

Several hours later—blog post published, kitchen cleaned, floors vacuumed—and after more phone calls and emails with the airline, car rental company, and retreat hosts, we were ready to go! We had also heard back from Chapman Knoll Farm B&B and made reservations for the night.

Our plan was to travel down the Blue Ridge Parkway, have a late lunch at the Chateau Morrisette restaurant, and then head to Chapman Knoll.

I packed some quick snacks of nuts and fruit and filled water bottles because I didn’t know what we would find along the way. I was sad to leave behind the bouquet of roses that Ryan had brought home for us earlier in the week…

The adventure was about to begin! We traveled eagerly to Waynesboro and drove to the parkway entrance only to find that it was closed. Bummer. Flight canceled. Parkway closed. What next?

And so we journeyed south on I-64W and I-81S, receiving yet more phone calls from the airline. On the way, I made online reservations with the restaurant, which had been on our bucket list for a long time. When we were about 15 minutes from the restaurant, a restaurant employee called to inform us that due to bad weather they may be closing early and wanted to see if we were still planning to be there. We replied, “Absolutely!” And we looked around wondering what bad weather they were talking about—we were experiencing some wind and light snow flurries. But as we approached the restaurant, the surroundings became magical. Snow swirled around us and caught our breath with its beauty.

We made it to the restaurant to find that we were the only guests and that they had kept the restaurant open just for us. They had canceled all other reservations! The manager informed us that in order to get staff home safely, he was indeed closing early. We quickly ordered and decided to get dessert to go. When the food arrived, it was amazing! We shared a Brussels sprout appetizer and a goat cheese and pepper appetizer. Had I known how good the Brussels sprouts were going to be, I would have simply made a meal of them! But I had ordered Shrimp and Grits, and it was the best Shrimp and Grits I have ever eaten. I couldn’t finish it so I took it with us the the B&B to enjoy for dinner. It was one of the best meals we have ever eaten.

By the time we finished our meal, the snow had stopped falling, and the view from our table was beautiful! Unfortunately, the fire was not crackling in the fireplace as shown in the pictures on their website, but other than that, the dining experience was nearly perfect.

Here are just a few pictures to share our enjoyment of the location with you.

We determined our route to Chapman Knoll Farm, and discovered that part of the drive would be on the Blue Ridge Parkway. (We wondered whether it would be open at this point, and we thankful to discover that it was.) I enjoyed seeing the split rail fence along the way.

And Ryan pulled onto an overlook along the way and braved the chilly winds to get this photo of the view.

About 30 minutes after leaving the restaurant, we arrived at Chapman Knoll Farm, where we were greeted by Rodger and Kim, and their Border collie named Pig, who ran excitedly to greet us. Kim showed us to our cozy accommodations, turned on the gas logs, and showed us the provision that she had stocked for us in the “Yellow Bird Nest” kitchen. We had everything we needed and wanted and settled in for a night of relaxation.

Ryan studied for his apologetics course, and I designed a quilt inspired by the design of the floor rug below.

The peace and quiet sedated us…

…to be continued.

The Asheville Adventure Begins