Thanksgiving in Asheville, NC

John and Victoria at the natural waterslide near Asheville

John and I spent Thanksgiving this year with his aunt and uncle in Asheville, North Carolina. We had a great time, we were so glad that we had family to spend the holiday with! It's kind of a funny story how we came to be invited for Thanksgiving... John and I were at the temple in Columbia with our friends Gina and Cody Ballard when we saw aunt Liz there. We were walking out of the temple when someone called John's name. The lady who had called John's name introduced herself as aunt Liz and invited us up for Thanksgiving. (John was thinking to himself "Do I even have an aunt Liz???" Turns out she's known in the family as aunt Becky and John hasn't seen their family for about 12 years.) What a coincidence that we share a temple, we didn't know that we lived so close to them! Needless to say, Cody mocked John ruthlessly for not knowing his own aunt, who by the way also knew my name.

Looking Glass waterfall, Asheville hills, Victoria and Magan, the barn

Anyway, on to our Thanksgiving trip. We had a great time in the Smokey Mountains of western North Carolina. The Stephens live in the hills outside of Asheville. They have a long roller-coaster-like dirt driveway and an old barn on their property. It was really cool and so nice to have a little variety in landscape; Savannah is completely flat!! Thanksgiving dinner was wonderful. We had a huge spread: turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, rolls, stuffing, apple pie, chocolate silk pie, and cheesecake. After dinner we went to the movies and saw Four Christmases.

Magan, Liz, Tory, Victoria, Thanksgiving dinner

The next day we visited the Biltmore village, a collection of cute shops in the historic district right outside the gates to the Biltmore estate. We drove down the Blue Ridge Parkway to see the beautiful views and some waterfalls. We also went to the nearby town of Black Mountain where there were some really cute antique and quilt shops. Uncle Tory also took us to see a few of the amazing houses he has designed. He's an architect and he makes pottery as a hobby. He sent us home with a couple of platters.

The band and the cloggers at the Fiddlin' Pig

On Friday night John and I went with Magan and her date to the Fiddlin' Pig. At the Fiddlin' Pig there was a live bluegrass band and some cloggers. It was really fun, they even taught us to country square dance. It was a really fun time.

This is a picture of the barn door that John took, I think it's a cool picture.