weekend trip to the cabin in the woods

Well, not literally....but we did go to a beautiful cabin in maggie valley. It was just the vacation we needed. 2 days of total calm and relaxation, away from everything.
It all started with a search for cabins on vrbo.com where each cabin is more beautiful than the other. We were totally confused which one to select. We were finally able to pick one!
We planned to start on Saturday morning with the only goal of relaxing over the weekend. So no waking up early and all that stress. We started at around 11 in the morning. We reached Asheville right around lunch time at 1:15.

Asheville is the foodie heaven and a hippie town in the mountains. There is a restaurant at every corner there. We wanted to avoid downtown Asheville with the parking problems and the walk to a restaurant. So I found this hidden gem of a small restaurant , Cecilia’s Kitchen, away from downtown with its own parking lot. It is a small restaurant with a small parking lot but its a beautiful location with woods behind it and a small cabin like exterior, going with the mountain scene. We sat out on the porch with sunlight streaming in through the roof. The only other diners were about to leave and it was a serene experience eating the delicious food on the porch. Speaking of delicious food, we had the corn empanadas and the tomato-cheese empanada. They were so yummy and unlike anything we had eaten before. We could tell they were made just like someone might make for their loved one at home. The crust was perfectly flaky without being oily and the fillings were so unique tasting. And the food is totally budget-friendly. Being the sweet lovers that we are, we couldn't leave without dessert. So we had the crepe with chocolate, walnuts and banana. It was great too!

After the lunch, we went to pick up groceries for the weekend at the Ingles grocery store next door. It was a single break for all purposes :) I had made a shopping list and menu for the weekend at home beforehand. This is specially important for a short cabin stay otherwise you have no idea what to eat at the cabin and you end up getting in the car to go out and eat and there go your couple of hours when you could be relaxing and cooking and eating in the comfort of the cabin.

So, we did the grocery shopping and reached the cabin just after the check-in time at 4:30. We loved it the moment we opened the door and set foot inside. It did fit in with our needs perfectly. Not too far into the mountains; private but not completely secluded. We knew we were going to get our relaxation on!

After putting away the groceries and our stuff, we went about taking pictures because the cabin was so beautiful. I had brought along methi banana theplas made at home the previous night and we made some good ol' masala chai to go along with them. While we were having tea, I put the rice to cook in the microwave so that it would be cool and ready to turn into fried rice when we are ready for dinner.
Then, we were ready for the big stress buster of the vacation - the huge jetted tub.

After an hour in the tub, it was time for dinner. The fried rice was ready in no time. We also had cake which I brought from home. After dinner, we tried to watch a movie but I was too sleepy by then and called it a night.
Next morning was a nice and lazy Sunday morning. We had our fried eggs, toast and tea breakfast out on the front porch bench. It was drizzling and a little cold that morning. Perfect for a hot breakfast! The day progressed into nice and sunny weather.

We talked to our parents in India over the wifi, tried our hands at the pool table (Its a pool table and not a lake table as our daughter said!) Then we fired up the grill for lunch. We grilled corn on the cob and we also grilled pizzas.

Having stuffed ourselves with lunch, we spread out on the sleeper sofa to watch a movie. After the movie, we went for a walk to see the stream across the street. We played some ball out in the yard. As if the little movement tired us out, we slept some more. We woke up in time for dinner and made quick black bean quesadillas. And there was the cake too! After dinner, we watched one more movie. Its been a while, maybe a year, since I watched a movie. We also went through bottles of root beer and ginger ale over the weekend; mixing them up to get sweet and spicy in the same drink. (They are non-alcoholic drinks, in case my family is reading this). That is something we rarely do because we are very conscious of not drinking fizzy drinks but we love both the root beer and ginger ale so we let loose in the name of finishing up the bottles.

The next day, we had to check out. We made a big breakfast of omelettes, toast and tea. After packing everything up, we left the cabin around 11:15. We had planned to go to "Parrot Mountain Gardens" in Sevierville. It was about an hour and a half in the opposite direction. We had a coupon for ice cream at the famous Apple Valley creamery so we thought we should stop there first and have ice cream for lunch.
The plan kind of backfired because we ordered a banana split and a brownie sundae. That looked like at least half a gallon of ice cream. There was no way we could eat it and we tried to eat as much as we could. We could only get through about half of it. But eating so much sugar made us feel sick. It was already 2:30 by that time. So we decided we will not spoil all the relaxation we had going for us by going to parrot mountain. It would have made us more sick walking in the harsh sun and reaching home at midnight would nullify all that relaxation. So we turned back to head home.
We did stop for a quick bite at a Mexican restaurant on Asheville exit. Again the food was delicious and fresh. And spicy enough to make us forget the sweet ice cream.
We were home at 9 after stopping at the airport lookout to see some planes landing and taking off (our daughter loves them) and having dinner.