Crystal’s Adventures

Saturday November 5 – Wedding!

My mom flew to DC from Spokane, WA and then drove down to North Carolina on Thursday. Dad flew in on Friday from New Orleans, and Clinton’s parents and their foster baby, Mariah, came all the way from Alabama by car. Carly drove down from Baltimore for the weekend too. We tried to organize a pre-wedding meal of North Carolina-style BBQ on Friday night at the famous Alan and Sons restaurant. Unfortunately it was closed when we arrived, so we ended up at Applebee’s, the only place open in Chapel Hill that night, it seemed.

On Saturday, Clinton and I were married in the garden outside the Chapel Hill police headquarters by a man with a hook, the reformed sea pirate Captain John Stokes, now Magistrate of Orange County. The weather was perfect – about 72 degrees, sunny, and not a cloud in the sky. Clinton wore a blue shirt, navy blazer, brown pants and a blue and brown tie. I had sent him shopping for a “retro” hat, and he came back with one called “Country Gentleman”. I was holding a beautiful bouquet of white roses, blue lupines and white lilies, which Clinton had made for me at the Chapel Hill Florist. It matched my dress of powder blue and gold lace. I wore golden emu feathers in my hair.

After the ceremony, we all drove to the Sarah P. Duke Gardens to take family pictures by the ponds in the Asian gardens. Then we went to Pao Lim for a Chinese lunch, champagne and fried cheesecake.

Clinton and I spent that night in Raleigh at the Velvet Cloak Inn. We left on our honeymoon trip on Sunday morning: to Chimney Rock Park and Lake Lure, near Asheville, NC!

Our Honeymoon

Clinton and I drove across the state of North Carolina, past horse pastures, hay fields, and forests of red, gold and orange leaves to the town of Chimney Rock, just off a winding country road.

We stayed in the Mountain Village Chalets. Ours was the Lake Lure Cabin, equipped with wood-burning fireplace, full kitchen and deck with rocking chairs and hot tub.

We spent the first evening strolling through the little alpine-like village of Chimney Rock and listening to the river. We perused the Native American craft stores and souvenir shops, where Clinton found an accordion he wanted to buy. We played Battleship and drank pumpkin spice coffee at a place called Coffee Crumbs. We watched the leather-clad bikers cruise by on their way to the local chopper convention. Then we had an elegant dinner of prime rib, Cabernet and homemade apple pie at Larkin’s on the Lake.

The next day we had breakfast at Genny’s Home Cookin’ – I ate the fresh mountain trout with a squeeze of lemon, along with eggs, hashbrowns and toast. (Fish for breakfast!) After a generous amount of coffee we drove up to the entrance of Chimney Rock Park to begin our hike. We outfitted ourselves with a raccoon-headed walking staff and fanny pack for Clinton and a Mexican rancher’s hat for me. The hike was about one and a half hours of dizzying climbs over rocks and under waterfalls. By the way, this is the place where the Last of the Mohicans was filmed! The views were magnificent.

We had pizza for lunch at La Strada’s by Lake Lure and bought local-made jams and jellies from a roadside stand. We drove into Asheville for the afternoon, just 25 miles up Highway 64, to visit the Malaprop’s Bookstore and Café and browse the home furnishing stores. We had an unexpectedly excellent dinner at the Flying Frog Café, where we were seated in a private, candlelit curtained-off table for two. I had the Wiener Schnitzel and Clinton had the Kashmiri Chicken. We drank Bombay Spice Chai tea and South Indian Mysore coffee from a French press. The dessert was the best of all: a wine-soaked poached pear in a cherry liqueur over chocolate mascarpone, topped with fresh strawberries and grapes.

That night when we drove back to the cabin from Asheville, the little towns were dark and empty. The only light was the half moon through the pine trees. We decided that everyone in Chimney Rock was a zombie, and that we’d have to spend the whole night defending ourselves against the undead. We actually worked ourselves into such a fright that seeing a bonfire in a field made us jump out of our skins and yelp as we drove by. We decided that to protect ourselves from zombies, we’d need to build a big fire back at the cabin and keep the raccoon staff nearby while we were in the hot tub. We (obviously) survived the night.

Today after our drive back to Chapel Hill we bought a set of beautiful wood nightstands — our first household purchase as a *married* couple! We also saw a very sweet movie called Elizabethtown. It has been a perfectly wonderful honeymoon. (See our photos here!)

I leave for New Orleans on Thursday to pack up my apartment.