The Grove Park Inn – Asheville NC

I think this is the backdoor service entrance but I was excited about the trees.  They were huge!

We didn’t go in this way, but walked on up the hill to the front door.

Once inside the lobby we were greeted with wonderful chamber music from this duet.  They sounded terrific and for those of you that know me well, you know I could have sat there and listened until they quit.  Lovely!  I think this little boy was very interested in becoming a classical musician 🙂

The lobby is huge with two giant fireplaces on either end of the room.   As noted on their website, “This lobby is known as The Great Hall — and for good reason. Measuring 120 feet across, the hall features 24-foot ceilings and two gigantic 14-foot stone fireplaces. It’s famous for the elevators cleverly hidden in the chimneys of the stone fireplaces (put there to conceal the noise of the machinery), which continue to transport guests to their rooms today.”

It’s a busy place on Valentine’s weekend.

Fresh flowers set the mood.

At the other end of the lobby is the other enormous fireplace.  As you can tell from the bench in front, these things are big enough to put a whole group inside!  This fireplace was decorated for the lovebirds to take photos.

Outside on the terrace tables are set for Sunday lunch.

Beautiful day with a beautiful view.

Interesting model of the Grove Park Inn.  Lots and lots of pebbles.

This is the back of the Inn and the photo does not do it justice.

Once these trees and flowers are in bloom, this will be an incredible garden.

We moseyed on over to the Blue Ridge Dining Room & Terrace for our brunch reservations.

Key Lime Pie

Before we sat down to eat my husband took a few photos of the buffet of pies.

Always looking out for me and checking out the competition – thanks dear!

Oh yeah – my favorite – Chocolate Peanut Butter pie.

The sign said Apple pie.  Must be a crumb crust.  We didn’t have any unfortunately.

This one is lovely – Pecan pie.  Didn’t have room for this one either!

Then we sat down at our table with a great view of Asheville.  We had a very nice waiter who was helpful and attentive without hovering.  He invited us to help ourselves to the brunch.

And boy did we brunch!  This is my first plate and my favorite.  I had smoked salmon, baked brie, pineapple, honey dew, a strawberry, smoked trout, artichokes, a yummy salmon salad, fresh chilled asparagus and a tomato slice with mozzarella!  Oh it was all so good.  I could eat smoked salmon until I grew fins 🙂

I loved this cold strawberry bisque soup.  It was an uptown smoothie with champagne!  Perfect.

Tiny silver dollar pancakes with a not too sweet cherry topping.

I was glad it was all syrupy, just sweet enough.

OK.  I went back for seconds on the salmon salad, and the smoked salmon.

But I did grab the Chef’s special, turkey and dressing.

Oh how I loved the buttery little toast with salmon, eggs, capers and onions.

Maybe I’ll just have to blog that someday.  Good excuse anyway.

Steve had chilled shrimp.  It was getting kind-a close to my side of the table so I snapped a picture instead of swiping one.  It was a buffet after all!

This really is my plate and I tried several desserts.  I didn’t care for the strudel (no flavor) but the peanut butter pie was the best I’ve ever had.  In fact it was so good, I’ve been searching all week for recipes to try and recreate it as my pie No. 8.  The key lime pie was good, but not tangy enough – no zesty bite of lime at the end.  I had one spoonful of the bread pudding and it was good but not really my favorite thing.  I guess you already know I’m a pie kinda girl.

Grove Park Inn has a wall of photos representing just some of the famous people who have stayed there over the years.  The Inn was built in 1913 and has had many, many famous guests.

“During the summers of 1935 and ’36, author F. Scott Fitzgerald resided in our Room 441. He’s just one of the American luminaries to have stayed here, a list that includes Harry Houdini, Will Rogers, George Gershwin, Thomas Edison, Eleanor Roosevelt and Henry Ford. Not to mention presidents — William Howard Taft, Woodrow Wilson, Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Richard M. Nixon, George H. W. Bush, William J. Clinton and Barack H. Obama.”

Do you think they’ll need my photo?  I may be a famous blogger one day – hey you never know!

Anthony and Dan – two of my favorites!

And then we had to drive home, and go back to work, and do laundry.  Oh well, the brief escape was terrific.  And, there was no traffic going home.  In a few weeks these trees will be in bloom and the whole ridge with be green.

Maybe we should drive back this way and see for ourselves.

If you’ve never been to Asheville, give it a visit.  The beautiful mountain setting is worth a look.

Well I’m off to cook up some nice things to eat.  Please check back on Monday for pie No. 8.  I guess you already know I’m working on a peanut butter pie with a graham cracker crumb crust and a chocolate layer on top!

Have a great weekend and thanks so much for stopping by!