valentine’s overnight.

David surprised us this week by suggesting a family overnight in the mountains to celebrate Valentine’s day. We packed our things and jumped in the car Friday morning and headed for Flat Rock, NC, which is about two hours away in the mountains (and where we spent our 10th anniversary).

More and more I like to plan our trips around ideas I find through friends and on blogs, so I thought I’d share with you what we did.

The Flat Rock Village Bakery is one of our very favorite places to eat — breakfast, lunch, or dinner — and we recommend everything on the menu. But their brick-oven pizza is the best (can’t you tell by Amie’s face?), and they have a gluten-free option too!

After lunch we drove 20 minutes to DuPont State Forest for a hike to Triple Falls. The kids love climbing around the rocks and smashing ice. It was in the low 30’s while we were there, which for this southern girl is too cold, but thankfully winter means that the forest is mostly sunny, and there was no wind so it wasn’t bad at all.

After hiking, we checked into our hotel which was another 20 minutes away in Brevard, and which we found for a great deal on Priceline. After a nap, we headed into charming downtown Brevard.

Judah and Amie have been to Brevard’s magical, two-story toy store, O.P. Taylor’s before, but they were too young to fully appreciate it. They loved roaming around and picking out something to buy (I think David and I enjoy the store even more than the kids).

We love the burgers and hot dogs at Rocky’s Soda Shop in Brevard, but it was closed, so we found the Jordan Street Cafe on Yelp, and the burgers were fantastic, maybe some of the best we’ve ever had.

We slept in on Saturday and had a leisurely morning thanks to free breakfast at the hotel, before packing up and heading back to DuPont for another hike. We hiked 3 miles this time, which is the longest hike the kids have done (esp with hills), and they were champs. Next time we’ll pack lunch and do 5 miles. Both kids love roaming in the woods, but Judah especially comes alive outside, especially when he has places to poke around and explore.

We had to drive back through Flat Rock to eat at the Flat Rock Village Bakery one more time (salad and bagels this time), and get cookies and some of their dark roast coffee for the road. Yum.

It was a wonderful trip and David and I are amazed by how restful it is to get out of town even for just one night. I feel like Columbia really is one of the best places to live — it’s a small city with fun places to eat but without much traffic. And we are 2-3 hours away from so many great places: Charleston, Asheville, the mountains, Greenville. As Judah and Amie get older we’re able to take advantage of quick day trips or overnights more and more.