2012 Mountain Vacation

The vacation in the mountains that I mentioned in my Grandfather Mountain post and my Tweetsie Railroad post was a much needed vacation for me and Husband. I would say Grant too...but he's two, his life is a vacation. Husband's job is stressful and he's a "bring work home" kind of guy. I've recently gotten a promotion at work so things have been quite stressful there too. This vacation couldn't have come at a better time.

AND we got a great deal on it! Husband gets groupon deals in his e-mail and I don't know how often he really pays attention to them but I'm really glad he paid attention to this one. We stayed at Blue Ridge Village Resort in Banner Elk, NC for four nights for less than we would have gotten a hotel room for. And it was really nice. It was a one bedroom condo type thing but with a mountainy feel. We both kept joking about how it was nicer than our house. Aside from the separate bedroom, there was a giant bathroom (furnished with a pool sized tub), a living room/kitchen/dining area, and a nice private balcony where I enjoyed some coffee and reading during Grant's (and sometimes Husband's) naps. I don't think anything relaxes me like being in the mountains :)


Checking out the balcony (we were on the 3rd floor)



"What?"



Having breakfast. I was able to cook breakfast for us every
morning which is way better than trying to get
everyone ready to go out for breakfast.



It didn't take long for Grant to make himself right at home.

 In addition to the awesome accommodations, the resort sported several amenities that I wish we'd had more time to enjoy. I spied the paddle boats right away so one day when I decided to take Grant exploring the place, we stopped off at the dock for a paddle boat ride. I thought Grant may freak out a little and I was slightly nervous about being out in the middle of the pond with him. Even if it was a little man-made one. But he loved it and couldn't stop saying "I ride boat! I ride boat!"


So cute in a life jacket.

They also had a playground.

And a mini golf course that we never managed to take advantage of (which is good because I'm horrible at golf of any kind and I'm also a poor loser). But Grant and I did go check it out on our exploratory walk.


Onward turtle!

Hey, did you not hear me?

They had lots of stuff to do there that we didn't do. They even had fun little activities each day but we never signed up for them (either we were planning to go somewhere or it was during Grant's nap time). But we definitely used the pool. Grant has not been swimming often, but he knows he loves it. So when I told him we were going to the pool, he said "I go swimmin'? I go swimmin'?" Then on our way to the pool he starts yelling "Waaaateeeerrr! I coooommiiiing!"


I gave him very minimal "swimming lessons"





He really loved being tossed around. He said "Again!" every time.



We definitely got some use out of the pool. Grant would get chilly and his teeth would chatter. I'd ask if he was cold and he'd say yes. I'd ask if he wanted to get out "No! Swimmin'!"

It turned out to be a really nice vacation. Sight seeing, parks, pictures, and shopping :)  And I'm hoping that we get to stay at that place again sometime.

Side story: on our way home we stopped at rest stop where a swarm of motorcycle drivers had also decided to stop. Grant loves motorcycles and one of the drivers (riders?) notice Grant checking them out and offered to let him sit on his bike. We said yes and Grant was surprisingly ok with a stranger picking him and putting him on the motorcycle. I snapped a quick picture with my phone...

...and that was when the very nice man asked Grant if wanted to hear the motorcycle run.  We did warn him that it would scare him. He turned it on anyway and promptly turned it off when Grant started screaming like he'd been run over. He had very good intentions and it was very nice of him to let our curious little man sit on his motorcycle. I'm thinking we maybe should have just told him no when he wanted to turn it on.