Celebrating Our First Wedding Anniversary in Asheville, NC

August sipped away like a bottle of wine… and so did our first wedding anniversary. To celebrate one year, Alex and I took an extended weekend road trip to Asheville, North Carolina where we rented a quiet, cozy mountain cabin and spent time exploring so many beautiful places along the Blue Ridge Parkway. We did a few small hikes, climbed an old rickety tower (views!), made our way to a couple breweries, opened our wedding box, and r&r’d our weekend away. It was the best of times!

In typical Jennifer fashion, we booked our rental cabin very last minute. We knew we wanted to do something fun to commemorate our first marriage milestone, but flipped back and forth between Eastern NC (the beach) and Western NC (the mountains) as our final destination. We ultimately chose Asheville after deciding to bring our dog Mogul — we felt it would be easier to navigate somewhere we could spend more time outside with fewer people around to bother us (busy season at the beach — not super relaxing!).

Departing just before noon Saturday, we rolled into our cabin around 5pm. Asheville doesn’t feel so far away until you get in the car, turn on the GPS, and remember it’s still 5+ hours from east central NC haha. Knowing Saturday was a long travel day, we didn’t plan for any adventures upon arrival; instead, we unpacked our extremely overpacked bags (never know what you’re going to need though amirite?), settled in, and went on a quick run to the local grocery store to pick up food for dinners and lunches. While Mogul knocked out from the long, tiring car ride (thank you mental overstimulation), Alex and I made a ramen noodle stir fry, then migrated to the hot tub for an hour before bed. How I love a good hot tub… like Heaven on earth.

Waking up Sunday, we kicked off the morning with a nice big breakfast and sipped our coffee outside. Overlooking a quiet wooded area, the cabin’s covered porch was the perfect place to kickstart my morning routine and charge my internal battery for the day ahead. I put my feet up, read a bit of the book I brought along, and wrapped up in a comfy blanket thanks to the cool mountain weather. Of course Mogul hung out with us, every so often putting his paws up on the railing to check out his surroundings. Typical shepherd.

Just before lunch, we packed up the car and began our first day of mountain exploration. Located just off the Pisgah Highway, we were less than 10 minutes from the Blue Ridge Parkway — super convenient if you ask me. We drove a few hours along the Blue Ridge Parkway and stopped at many different lookout points to take in all of Mother Nature’s beautiful creations. I’ve seen the Blue Ridge Mountains many times in my life, but every time I see them, they never cease to take my breath away. Especially on a nice day, the mountains fold into layers and layers that look more like a painting than real life. Mogul loved the car ride and poked his head out the window all afternoon. Not a single moment did he lay down and sleep.

Heading to Craggy Gardens, we stopped for ice cream and checked out the Blue Ridge Parkway and Craggy Gardens Visitor Centers. At the ice cream stand, the nice ladies gave Mogul a pup cup and Alex and I had pistachio and strawberry ice cream waffle cones respectively. Everything was homemade and super delicious! Between both visitor centers, I grabbed a few stickers and pins and Alex bought a magnet because, and I quote, “we’re a magnet family now” haha. While I’m not a big souvenir collector, I do love to collect little reminders of fun times. Up by Craggy Gardens, the visitor center overlooked a really pretty part of the Blue Ridge Mountains, so we enjoyed that view for a nice long moment before backtracking to the trail for an afternoon hike.

At the Craggy Gardens hiking trail, we unpacked our lunch and had a little picnic by the wildflowers. When we were full and hydrated, we began the incline of our first hike. We weren’t looking to do a serious hike with Mogul’s surgery earlier this year, but we wanted to summit something while in Asheville.

It was nice and warm, but we made it up to the garden and Mogul did excellent. I’ve never seen my dog lay down while out and about, so it was funny when he totally vegged out for several minutes at the top. Let’s say he was happy to get to the car post-hike.

Traveling back down the Blue Ridge Parkway, we stopped to catch the sunset at Hominy Valley Overlook. After a long day of great weather and partly cloudy skies, we watched the big bright sun go down over the mountains and admired the picturesque sky at dusk. Can’t miss a Blue Ridge sunset! Driving to our cabin, we called in a pizza, then picked it up, unloaded the car, cracked a beer, and took a late-evening soak in the hot tub.

Monday morning, our anniversary morning, we very quickly realized Mogul was toast after Sunday’s busy day. He was so tired, he barely got up to move around. Sitting on the porch drinking our coffee, Alex and I mulled over what to see and do. We thought about driving out for another hike (we found a couple we were interested in), but didn’t want to overextend Mogul on his first big exercise back from injury. In the end, we decided to have an “us day” — a day for Alex and I to explore. This ended up being the best thing, a great way to celebrate!

The first adventure of our anniversary date was a trip to Frying Pan Lookout Tower, a historic, 70ft tower in the Asheville area. Following an easy-moderate 1.5 mile walk up the gravel trailhead of Frying Pan Mountain, we got to the tower — and yes, we climbed up! There was a rather sketchy trapdoor after all the stairs, so I’m glad I had Alex with me to hold it open because it was heavy and clunky and I’m not sure I could’ve made to the lookout balcony without help. The view up top though? Amazing 360 degree sweeping mountain views. Super windy but hella worth it.

Funny enough, the tower made lots of loud noises as people walked around on it. There was one section that made a “clunk” noise that startled me every time (anyone seen the movie Fall?). Thank goodness I’m not afraid of heights… I’d have never made it up there. Mom, I’m sorry for sitting on and jumping around the ledge — I know that kills you haha.

When we got back to the car, we drove into downtown Asheville for lunch and beer. Asheville’s known for its many microbreweries, so you already know we had to check out a couple. First up was Burial Beer Co., a casual brewery/restaurant with a great variety of burgers and brews. Everything was so good, but you have to ask Alex about his NA Lager — he thought “NA” meant North American, not non-alcoholic LOL. In his defense, the NA Lager was in the #1 flagship position, not off to the side or on a separate menu. It was a perfectly fine beer, just not what we wanted. We laughed it off and grabbed a 4pack of the Mexican Lager on our way out. We then made our way to Ginger’s Revenge, a popular ginger beer brewery. I’ve had their beers before, just never on draft at their brewery. We did a sampler of all the draft selections and it was a very ginger experience so to say!

Finishing our brewery excursions, we made a quick stop to grab a bottle of wine to add to our wedding box. As mentioned in our wedding story, to celebrate our wedding day, Alex and I bought an engraved unity lockbox to open on our first wedding anniversary. Inside, we added a nice bottle of wine, our longer personal vows, and a Polaroid picture snapped right before “I Do”. Our own sweet tradition, we decided that each anniversary going forward, Alex and I would open our lockbox, read the vows, drink the wine, look at the last year’s picture, then repeat for the next year. That meant we needed a new bottle of wine to replace the one we planned to drink later that night. We picked a bottle from a local wine shop and listened to our wedding playlist on the drive back to our cabin.

Mogul did a great job manning the cabin without us. I’m always worried to leave him alone in a foreign place, but he was so tired I don’t think he did much else but sleep. With a few hours of daylight left, we took a half hour to write our anniversary letters, grabbed our wedding box, and went back to Hominy Valley Overlook. We parked the car, pulled up the hatchback, and opened our wedding box right there with such a great views all around us. Reading the letters, it felt like wedding day all over again. There we sat, reminiscing every detail. It brought back some of the best memories — memories I never want to forget.

Looking at the wedding Polaroid was so much fun too. A picture taken on wedding day that we couldn’t look at until our anniversary — and it turned out great! We asked nearby couple to take a new picture of us at the overlook and quickly sealed it in the wedding box for next year. I truly believe it’s the little things in life that bring peak happiness. I’m already smiling thinking about our second anniversary. Like Alex said just the other day, we don’t have many traditions, but the ones we do have mean something and that’s what really counts.

Before leaving the overlook, we popped the cork of our wedding wine — a delicious Merlot we bought at a wine shop in Southern Pines. Both Alex and I took a couple swigs, then packed it away to finish at the cabin. On our way back, we did get caught in a traffic jam though… a tree had fallen over the Blue Ridge Parkway, blocking traffic both ways. Luckily, it didn’t last long — the local fire department showed up onsite to cut and move the tree rather quickly. Thank goodness — it would have taken hours for us to go back around Asheville on the alternate route. To end our anniversary evening, we drank the rest of our wine on the porch and — no surprise — capped a wonderful day with a dip in the hot tub.

One year in, I can already tell the wedding box will forever be my favorite anniversary thing. It’s going to be so much fun to see our growth over the years. A reminder of where we started, how far we’ve come, and how far we have to go.

Our Asheville anniversary weekend was everything I needed and more. Let it be known — you don’t have to travel extravagantly or luxuriously to celebrate life and love. Sometimes a little old cabin in the woods does just as much. I’m very much a life’s-what'-you-make-it kind of girl. To my husband, thanks for the best first year of marriage. Life’s so much better with you by my side. My lifeline, my favorite travel companion, my best friend.

Happy 1st Anniversary my love. One year down, forevermore to go. Life with you goes way too FAST:

“Sixty seconds now feels more like thirty / Tick-tock, won’t stop, and ‘round it goes / Sand through the glass sure falls in a hurry / And all you keep trying to do is slow it down, soak it in / Keep trying to make the good times last as long as you can / But you can’t, man / It just goes too fast”

Enjoy!

JBW