Asheville Thanksgiving

I can't let Christmas creep up on me before I get our Thanksgiving celebration posted.

As empty nesters we don't always have much exciting to post to the blog, but that can hardly be said for what is now becoming our annual Thanksgiving celebration with the Kallis family.

This year we rented a house in Weaverville (just north of Asheville), NC nestled in a beautiful setting in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Jane and I drove through the night to arrive just in time to have breakfast at the local Waffle House. We lounged around for the better part of that day before the festivities got kicked off with the arrival of the crew from Canada and later Ben and Chelsa. This year we had the pleasure of adding Chelsa's cousin Karyse and her husband Derrick to the mix. They were great draft choices as Taylor and Danny weren't available for this year's celebration, and we hope they are able to join us for future adventures.

The weatherman was very cooperative which meant we had plenty of favorable days for hiking, biking and hot tubbing (may I suggest either early morning or late night hot tubs for everyone), and of course the obligatory "Black Friday" shopping.

Being all together in the house really made it feel like being home for the holiday, and with everyone pitching in for kitchen duty (cooking and cleaning) we were able to dine like royalty (traditional Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings; gourmet pizza courtesy of Ben and Derrick, great breakfast selections, and pasta by Lyle to name just a sample of the available fare). Oh, and thanks to Deb for bringing the Nespresso machine for 24/7 coffee, latte, and espresso choices.

As is usually the case, the week passed too quickly, but we had a wonderfully memorable time and can hardly wait until our next meeting. I only regret that we can't do this more regularly but such is life when we have other obligations and geography to overcome.

Twenty-eight hour round trip to Weaverville, $150 - Thanksgiving celebration with the Kallis clan, priceless.