A Presidential Weekend Trip to the Mountains - Part 1

For months, my husband and I have had a weekend trip planned to Asheville, NC with my in-laws. About a week or two before our trip, we hard that President Barack Obama and the First Lady were going to be there the same weekend. We weren't sure whether to be excited or put-out, so we just went with a good attitude!

Background: My husband and I go to Asheville for the weekend about 4 times a year, (we call it our quarterly trip) and we have stayed all over Asheville, usually bidding on a room on Priceline. My mother in law wasn't quite comfortable leaving it to chance, and asked me which of the hotels we have preferred. We chose the Holiday Inn Asheville Downtown.

It is an affordable option, $130 a night. You do have to drive to get just about anywhere, but it is conveniently situated between downtown, the Grove Park Inn, the Biltmore Estate, and as we unfortunately found out, the mall.

The rooms are clean and comfortable.

We arrived Friday evening and had dinner at Havana Cuban Cuisine downtown. This was our second time eating there, and we really like it. It is casual and there are outdoor seating options. They also have $25 gift certificates on restaurant.com, and they CAN be used on weekends, so that is always a great way to save some money on dinner.

After dinner we made our way to the Grove Par k Inn for some dueling piano entertainment at Elaine's Dueling Pianos. We had been warned not to go there as that is where the President was staying. We were told we were unlikely to get within miles of the place, and even if we got close, they would NEVER let us in that weekend.

I'm stubborn. We went anyway.

Apparently everyone in the area had heard the same warning we did, only they listened. The hotel was like a ghost town! We pulled up to the main gate and there were incredibly bright flood lights shining down on us. They stopped us and had a bomb sniffing dog smell around the car, and then they let us onto resort property. They didn't even ask if we had reservations.

We found parking more easily than we ever have found it before. We walked up to the side door nearest Elaine's and we had to walk through metal detectors, and have our purses hand searched. I was wanded and then frisked because of my underwire bra.

With a total of maybe 5 minutes of security delays, we were in the resort and free to roam around as we pleased. We went straight to Elaines, worried about getting a seat. (We are usually there when the doors open at 8 to get a good seat.) On this night we got there at 8:50 and we were the first people there! Going to Elaine's is one of my favorite things to do in Asheville. There is no cover charge for a great evening of entertainment. We generally wind up spending between $20-50 in tips for the musicians (optional), and about $20-$30 in drinks while we are there. The musicians are talented, and the audience always has a few good laughs!

I'll continue the Presidential Weekend in my next post! Look forward to highlights of the Biltmore Estate.