Day Datin' Episode Two: Highlands NC

So good news. I've talked hubs into 52 dates in 52 weeks. More or less. Probably less but we're going to try. I'm going to try. I'm not sure I actually told him the exact number, but whatever...he'll go along with it because that's what you do when you're married a long time. You zig and he zigs with you. Something like that. 

Also he loves together time while I'm a person who craves space. 

See? Zigging and zagging. 

Let's define the word 'date'. We're retired so we naturally spend a lot of time together. We dine out at some point every week and I guess technically you'd call those 'dates'. Except we don't. We just call it grabbing lunch or dinner. I'm going to use the word date here in a more intentional way. As in, we're going to put a literal date on the calendar. We're going to plan ahead. 

Well probably I'll be the one planning but that's okay. I told him we'll snap a picture every week too, because it you don't snap a picture did it really happen? 

Not in 2025. Plus how do I make a 'date book' if we neglect to photograph it in some way? 

Date number 2...

We like to drive into our favorite nearby mountain town every fall and last Wednesday was the day. You might have thought I was kidding when I said we were going to write these dates on the calendar, but we had this one written on our calendars. 

There was a little bit of rain in the forecast but we woke to sunny skies, and ended up having lovely weather the whole day. We wound our way up the mountain to the charming town of Highlands NC for lunch and shopping, and we thought maybe a stop at the waterfall. Construction was ongoing there so we didn't get to hike. Western N. Carolina is still recovering from Helene in so many ways.

We remembered to snap a picture this time. 

That's  Old Edwards Inn behind us, a very well known beautiful hotel, spa, fab restaurant. We arrived close to lunchtime but visited a couple of shops before heading to our lunch spot. Which was not Old Edwards, but still is one of our favorites-Wild Thyme Gourmet. The cuisine is American with an Asian flair. 

We shared an order of their spring rolls to start, then we both had their crab cake sandwich. 

I've said before we're crab cake snobs and these were excellent. All crab, no filler. We didn't have dessert because a pastry shop that's on the way out of town was on my agenda. 

We spent a leisurely afternoon browsing shops, holding hands, designing our mountain house (kidding!) and enjoying the beautiful day. 

We left the town square and started for home around three, but first! pastry. 

I want to come back here when that hydrangea hedge is in full bloom. 

The pastries here are works of art and after we got home I googled the shop and learned the pastry chef, Oksana Shchelgachova, is on the current season of Food Network's Halloween Baking Championship. 

I haven't been watching but will tune in now.  

I'll vouch for her too because her pastries are delicious!

We finally made our selections and took our dessert and coffee out to the big front porch. They serve their coffee in real cups and get bonus points for that. 

Hubs had the key lime tart...

 and I had the pavlova. 

We brought the pumpkin home to have the next day.

On the ride back down the mountain we stopped for the requisite photo of the lake. Never fails to make you exhale and be grateful you live in a place with so much beauty all around....

...and your favorite date to share it with. 

Linking today with Joanne for her Talking About It Tuesdays blog hop.