Mountain Weekend in Boone, NC

Coming off of the high of a wonderful weekend in Boone, North Carolina. It was seriously such a great, easy, and relaxing weekend!

The girls and I hit the road right at 2 on Friday. Ian was working north of Charlotte so he drove separately after his day ended. I actually love road trips with the girls. They are (praise hands) SO good in the car these days. They typically just sleep or play quietly. Sometimes I get to listen to my music/podcasts, sometimes we listen to the Frozen soundtrack. Over. And. Over. And. Over. But for the most part, it is just nice and relaxing and I love knowing that my girlies are right there with me on the way to a fun weekend. 

We arrived Friday evening and my mother-in-law made us the BEST lasagna. Around the table we had a big crowd: our family of 4, my MIL, my sister-in-law and brother-in-law, their son, their daughter, and their daughter's friend. So ten in total. 

Saturday, some of the big kids went tubing and our little fam went on a ranger ride down to the gas station for candy and then to the horse stables. 

That night we had dinner out at Over Yonder in Valle Crucis which is probably my FAVORITE restaurant in all of the area! I had the hanger steak with mashed potatoes and broccoli, a delicious strawberry cocktail AND a glass of sauv blanc! Happy girl! Back at the house we munched on a birthday cookie cake that the girls and I picked up for my brother-in-law. 

(sidenote: manliest man ever totally unaware of how cute

he looks carrying this princess metal lunchbox.)

Sunday started off with a morning trip to the local gem mine where we left with all sorts of neat rocks: garnets, tigers eye, emeralds, aquamarine, citrine, tons more! Ian stayed at home with napping Charlotte while we did this activity. 

Afterwards, we went to my favorite casual Boone restaurant, The Cardinal, for their delicious burgers. I had a single burger, Carolina style, with fried okra as a side. They brought my burger out with fries too (by accident) so the only polite thing to do was to eat them too. #dietstartstoday 

We stayed through Monday morning due to the long weekend. We had a delicious breakfast at the local gas station (their French toast is my favorite) and Camille and her cousin Aidan had the time of their lives looking at all of the candy and ice creams. 

It really was a wonderful weekend filled with some of my best eats, sips, and PEOPLE ... and I'm already looking forward to our next trip up there!