Smug Marrieds: Fun Friday #2 - West Jefferson, NC

This week our Fun Friday adventure took us to the mountains. Specially, West Jefferson, North Carolina. Why West Jefferson? No real reason except Blair ran a half-marathon up there a month or so ago and said it was a cute town. So we packed Mom into the back seat and off we went. 

West Jefferson is a cute town. We arrived about 20 minutes before the shops opened at 10 a.m., so we settled into a coffee shop/art gallery where we took turns guessing the price of artwork and being astounded when we were not hundreds but thousands of dollars off in our guesses. 

Then we moved into shopping. We didn't go there looking for anything in particular but I came away with two belts, a beautiful chocolate-brown cowl necked sweater and--the find of the day--a stunning black evening dress I'll take to Italy. The dress was in the back of a store that was going out of business and was 40% off an already very reasonable price. SCORE. Blair had to pull Mom and me away from a store filled with tiaras, but that's another story. 

Me & Moo-Moo with the moo-moo'sWe spent some time in The Honey Hole, a local store that promotes the art of beekeeping. Blair took a beekeeping class about a year ago and keeps toying with the idea of keeping a hive or two. I think it's a great idea. Bees are fascinating. Plus, I'm all about the fresh honey. Although I will say, I have a strong sweet tooth and some of the honey samples the store offered--such as their apple cinnamon honey--made my taste buds curl at the overpowering sweetness. Oddly enough, Blair loved the honey samples, although he agreed a teeny-tiny little bit spread over toast would go a long way. 

We took our long defunct mantle clock to the Old Towne Gifts & Clock Shop for repair and also milled around the Ashe County Cheese Factory, eating free samples of some truly excellent cheese. It was also the best photo op in town (as you can see). Huge metal cows in a picture always scream "fun!" to me. 

We ended the day with--I'm sorry to say--a below average meal at Frasers Restaurant & Pub. Cute place, great atmosphere, friendly service, but the food was mediocre at best.

Then it was back in the car for the ride home. I have to say, Fun Fridays are just that. I love getting away from the house but not getting away far enough that we have to fool with packing and hotel rooms and setting feeders out for the cats, etc. These day trips are the way to go. 

Next week we're staying local and doing a tour of Greensboro --hitting all the downtown stores, roaming through the stores on State Street and experimenting with eating somewhere we never have before. Suggestions for good restaurants in Greensboro, anyone? 

Cheers!