Honeymoon in Asheville

When Sean asked me where I wanted to go on our honeymoon, I told him I wanted to stay in America as we will be living abroad for the rest of our lives. Sean then planned the perfect honeymoon in Asheville, North Carolina. Asheville was completely charming. Due to the effects of the depression, Asheville was frozen in time as there was no money for urban renewal. Art deco design is everywhere you look. I felt like we took a trip to both the south and to the '20s.

We stayed the cozy Grove Park Inn, built in the 1913. Sean treated me to a couple of spa treatments here. The Grove Park Inn Spa is ranked 20th in the world. It was an amazing experience.

They had these HUGE fires going in the lobby with about a dozen rocking chairs to sit in. 

Here we are getting cozy.

OH NO! Sean got to close to the fire! (art cred: Sean) 

Many interesting and well know people have stayed in this hotel. Coincidentally, we stayed in the same hotel room that Secretary of State Henry Kissinger once stayed in. It was a lovely room with an amazing view of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Our room was also down the hall from a room where F. Scott Fitzgerald stayed for around two years to be near his wife Zelda while she was institutionalized. Sean has the lovely tradition of buying a book of short stories of an author that is associated with where we are traveling. When we had down time we read these short stories out loud to each other. I loved that the stories added to the art deco feel perfectly. 

On our historic tour of the Grove Park Inn I asked if they had any issues with people trying to scale the walls (bc I had been thinking about doing it all week long). The tour guide said that no one had really attempted it…. I took it as a challenge. 

On Monday, we went to eat an amazing five course meal on the Biltmore estate. Afterwards we were able to go on the candlelit Christmas tour of the Biltmore Mansion. It was amazing and, for me, the highlight of our trip. The halls were decked and there was live Christmas music (Photo Cred). I will always remember standing with Sean near the gorgeous atrium listening the the string quartet play Pachelbel's Canon.

The Biltmore Kiss at Sunset

The Biltmore Gardens

I have always been a fan of the Hunger Games. The first movie was filmed around the Asheville area. Sean was sweet and signed us up for a HUNGER GAMES TOUR!!! It was awesome! If you are a true fan yourself you'll be able to guess which scenes we reenacted.  

 Hint: my purse is supposed to be a loaf of bread

District 12

 Katniss and Peeta

We also took a day to do the "hop on, hop off" bus tour of Asheville. It was fascinating to go explore the city. They have a really interesting art scene. Here is Sean at one of the exhibits. 

It's been a month since we were married and we are both LOVING it! 

I am SO lucky to have this guy in my life.