Asheville, North Carolina | 2020

Talk about a trip worth getting away to.. Asheville, NC. Its just far enough you can get to it in a one day trip and still have some time at your destination to relax and unpack. We ventured down with another family that we love and stayed at an airbnb- farm style in the mountains. We didn’t explore a ton of downtown areas, as Ive heard this is maybe not as kid friendly, especially during a pandemic. However just outside of town was the perfect quiet grounds to let the kids run around and parents sit outside and enjoy the change of pace. While we were there we did a day of hiking in the blue ridge mountains and found a fun spot with a waterfall to spend an afternoon. One afternoon we split from our friends and did a tour at the Biltmore estate, I personally love things like this, seeing architectural structures that you don’t see everyday, imagining a time when you needed a smoking room, gun room and separate sleeping dorms from your husband. I appreciate places you can step in and really see how it might have looked if you were there more than a century ago.

Holden Beach | North Carolina

I grew up going to Holden Beach in North Carolina with my family. We would go every other year and aunts, uncles, cousins and our grandma would all go. The last time I went was 10 years ago. So my mom inquired last winter about trying to go back to HB this summer. We found a house and made it happen. This was also the first time that Ryan and myself took a whole full week off for a vacation. As nurses we tend to try to work a couple shifts at the beginning of the week and take off for a "long weekend" somewhere. I was excited to go and start our own traditions as a family at the beach I grew up going to. Hattie and Hazel loved the beach. Hazel would sit in the shallows and let the waves hit her while Hattie took off exploring up and down the beach. Spending this much uninterrupted time was a nice break from the day to day hustle and I hope to make this a repeated trip in the years to come.