Vacation from yelling

We went away for the weekend. Sometimes, on the hamster wheel that is my life, I have to just get off and get away! I needed to get away and focus on painting – to do something new and different. To get out my rut and de–stress. Spring fever has hit my triplets and my 3rd grader like a ton of bricks and they have been on high octane for a while now. So we dropped my four little precious bundles of joy at dear ole Mom’s and headed to Black Mountain near Asheville North Carolina!
Normally Black Mountain is a granola loving, mountain biking, Appalachian Trail hiking kind of town. But in April it is still a little too cool and rainy for all the outdoorizy types to come out. No problem for me. The shops do tend to close early on Saturdays and many are closed on Sunday. If your wallet is just on fire and you got money to burn, Asheville is just 15 mins away – a short but beautiful car ride away.

Stayed a little inn called the Monte Vista Hotel. Monte Vista is great – not the too close for comfort coziness of a bed and breakfast and not the clinical/ manufactured feel of chain hotels (which are not bad just not what you want in town like Asheville). The décor has not changed for probably twenty five years – the large lobby has worn Victorian settees and sofas and chairs in faded tapestry style fabric. There is a huge fireplace with a roaring fire in the evenings. Perfect for the cool nights in the mountains. Hard to explain why this place makes me relax but it does. Maybe because it is not pretentious or fancy, just an old inn with character. And the price is so right that not even David can complain. Not that he is a tightwad or anything like that. In fact it is quite the opposite. It is just that he just hates bed and breakfasts - says there is nothing romantic about staying at “Grandma’s house with 6 other strangers that you might or might not have to share a bathroom with” but for years I have been brainwashed into thinking if we are not staying at bed and breakfast, WELL! That is just not a romantic getaway. Which escalates into why doesn’t he love me enough. Which then involves a lot of glares and puzzled looks ( that translates into “did I know she was this crazy when I married her???”)
But after one very awkward breakfast at an Inn ( David was sleeping in) and it was just me at the breakfast table, I realized we are not B and B people; we are not the romantic type ( great marriage but not just the snookiewookie type), not the lets- talk-to-strangers-like-they- are -our – best- friends- despite-the-fact-we-have-never-met-nor-will-never-see each-other-again-after-this-weekend type. Heck most of the time we sleep in that we miss the whole breakfast part of the deal!
With all those factors I realized that maybe, just maybe, David was right. Just MAYBE a B and B does not make or break a weekend getaway. Not that I will ever EVER admit it.
The one problem with Black Mtn in the off season is that even some of the restaurants close early. But there is a wonderful bed and breakfast Red Rocker Inn that serves delicious 4 course meals. Within walking distance of the Monte Vista which is a good thing because after dinner at the Red Rocker Inn you are going to want to walk it off! And before you ask - yes they have red rockers everywhere.
Best part of the weekend…I finished 4 new paintings!

My daughter gets very upset when she knows that Mommy and Daddy are going away. “Why do you have to go?” she says between tear filled sniffs and whimpers.

My son Nicholas pipes up and said “Because Mommy needs a vacation from yelling.”

Ahem.