January - New Years Trip to Ashville, NC

So Jon and I have on and off played with the thought of where we may go after Houston.  We usually don't think that we will stay here forever especially since the summers are so hot, though so far any moving gets pushed back further and further. 

Anyway, we went and had a little fun on the website http://www.findyourspot.com/.  If you have never checked this website out, it takes some time, but it is actually really neat.  Basically this site has you answer a whole lot of questions about where you want to live - ranging from temperature, sports, school systems, crime, income, to religion.  In the end it spits out cities in the US that fit those specifications, gives you information on each one of them including a lot of links for each.

One of the places that keeps coming up for Jon and I is Ashville, NC.  I have been there once... when I was much younger, but I recall really liking it.  Pretty, four seasons, etc.  So we thought we would head up for New Years just to see if it may really be a place we would want to really move to.

We actually drove from Houston, stopping along the way to visit the family in New Orleans on the way there and back.  It was a good time.  The winter was extra cold this year, but it was nice compared to the heat of Texas.  We went to the Biltmore Estate, which I love, and is one of the big tourist attractions of the area aside from the mountains.  The Biltmore is the Vanderbuilt's mansion and is just amazing!

We went to a beautiful hotel that hosts the National Ginger Bread Competition each year.  There were some amazing entries for all levels - kids, teens and adults.  We also really enjoyed the church ward that we went to.  It was small, but everyone was very nice.  I loved the Sunday School teacher and wished that I was going to be in his class all year! 

Overall it was a great trip.  We enjoyed ourselves immensely, but at the end did not have the pressing impression that we were supposed to be moving there..... at least not yet.  Who knows in the future.  But for those of you who may want to visit, it is worth it and it is beautiful!