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Friday

Our Mountain Weekend

When I left work last Friday, I was overcome with excitement about heading two hours away to the mountains.  Boone has become such a special place for me.  A big part of that was getting engaged at Ian's family mountainhouse and then having our engagement party there, but besides those great evenings, we have created so many fun memories in those mountains.

We were joined on this trip by two other couples -- our good friends and my sister and her husband.

Saturday morning we woke up early, had a hearty breakfast, and went to hike at Beacon Ridge off of the Blue Ridge Parkway.







After returning from our hike, we got ready for the day and spent our afternoon at Oktoberfest at Sugar Mountain.  You can read my recap about it in this post.

Once back from Oktoberfest, I poured my favorite fall cocktail for us, honeycrisp apple sangria.


And for dessert, in lieu of cake, I made the birthday boy his favorite seasonal dessert, Pumpkin Crisp.


Our friends left on Sunday and we stayed an extra night as we both decided to take Monday (Ian's birthday) off from work.

So on Sunday evening, we did presents and a nice dinner -- just the two of us.

This sign is for the garage -- Ian's man-cave.  He saw a sign with this saying at Folly Beach this past summer and loved it.  I was able to track this one down on eBay.



We got ready for dinner and grabbed a bottle of wine from the house to take to our dinner reservations at The Gamekeeper.  Definitely a new favorite restaurant.


We totally splurged on dinner that night!  We started off with a wild game sampler platter that we shared.  This is me, about to take my very first taste of rattlesnake sausage.  True story.


Also on the platter: venison andouille sausage, elk, ostrich.  And the most amazing crispy homemade fries ever.

For dinner, we shared a salad, and Ian had the venison osso bucco, and I had the ostrich.


We were stuffed after dinner, but not stuffed enough to resist their offer to send us home with some bread pudding for dessert.  It was divine.



The next day, we returned to Charlotte and spent the rest of Ian's birthday relaxing around the house.  It was the perfect weekend.  And I'm now officially four years younger than my husband ... at least for the next 2.5 months!

19 comments:

  1. Mmmm I had an elk steak when I was in Utah a few years ago and I was instantly a fan of "game" meat. It was unbelievable!!! I totally would have tried that plate, too :)

    Happy birthday Ian!

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  2. What did the ostrich taste like?

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  3. It looks like such a wonderful weekend! I made the same sangria, I didn't strain it though like the recipe said to do. The man at the liquor store said he had never heard of sangria--whaaat??

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  4. If this weekend doesn't scream Fall I don't what does!! Can't wait to head up there this weekend :)

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  5. Sounds like a great weekend! :) And you are brave! I don't think I would ever eat rattlesnake. Ha!

    Lauren
    http://laurensweetnothings.blogspot.com/

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  6. What a fun weekend! I love The Gamekeeper. My husband's parents have a vacation home in Blowing Rock and his sister went to grad school at App State, so we spend quite a bit of time up there! This post makes me anxious to get back :)

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  7. What a lucky birthday boy! Really, the perfect weekend.

    I tease Stephen that hes getting old when his birthday rolls around- mine is only 4 months later but I get those 4 months to call him an old man! ;)

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  8. You had me until rattle snake sausage. I'm cringing just thinking about it!!!

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  9. Y'all are so cute! Seriously, I love you two. Those photos from the Blue Ridge Parkway are gorgeous! My parents rode through it on Saturday. I was so jealous!

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  10. Rattle snake and ostrich?? Props to you. Glad Ian had such a great birthday!

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  11. Looks like such a great weekend!! Love the sign! Good job on the rattlesnake- eek!

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  12. Love the mountains in the Fall. Great pictures and memories. Y'all are precious!

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  13. Love Boone!!! Who knows we may move there one day. ;) xoxo

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  14. Looks like the perfect weekend! Gorgeous pictures! xx

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  15. Those pictures of you two are just adorable. The pumpkin crisp also has my mouth watering! ;)

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  16. Such a fun weekend! Gamekeeper is a favorite of ours, our house is actually right next to it in Yonahlosse!

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  17. Ooooh that menu sounds incredibly game-y!

    I have never been to Boone. Seems dumb since I have family in Charlotte but we have always done Asheville and Highlands... I love that you guys enjoyed the Parkway. I normally love doing that this time of year with my family but stupid wedding kept me ocupado. Maybe now things will be a little bit more 'normal' ?

    XO

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  18. Truly looks like the perfect weekend! :) I love NC, but haven't been to the mountain areas. We are talking about a weekend in Asheville here soon. I

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  19. I love your phone case! Where did you find it?

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