Yes, I realize it’s 2020 and this is a year late. But I had some extra time on my hands (one tiny silver lining of the coronavirus) and decided to update the blog. This will give a brief summary of the 2019 King Family Vacation which took place in Asheville, North Carolina.
With Aaron and Josiah’s recent (unhealthy?) obsession with bourbon we decided to stop along the Kentucky Bourbon Trail. It turned out to be a super fun stop. Shout out to Aaron for booking the tours and making this happen!
Arguably the biggest surprise/highlight from this leg of the trip was discovering Mom’s newest love: bourbon. In fact, the staff at Buffalo Trace was so impressed with mom’s advanced palette, knowledge and passion for all things bourbon they offered her a job on the spot. See for yourself.
Seriously though…
Ok third time’s a charm
Maybe something a little less oaky?
Alright maybe bourbon wasn’t her thing after all. But if you can’t drink it, photograph it!
The rest of the crew thoroughly enjoyed learning about the distilling process, each distiller’s history and even tasting a few bourbons along the way!
The bourbon bros at Willet Distillery
No, B did not taste the bourbon
Another highlight of the bourbon trail was doing the Buffalo Trace Ghost Tour. Here we learned that Bostyn sees dead people. During one of the guide’s stories we noticed Bostyn talking with something through the cracks in the floor. We asked B who she was talking to and all she said was “Hey, he’s nice.” Although we THINK Bostyn just saw a bug, it very well could have been a ghost. Word on the street is her story is now being told on the ghost tour to all who enter those haunted halls.
B right after seeing dead people
Sadly I don’t have any photo evidence of what happened next. After the ghost tour, Mom “lost” her camera. Obviously she was distraught. King Family Vacation 2019 ruined on Day 1. The search party commenced. We scoured through the entire distillery with no luck. Where could it be? Was it stolen? The staff pulled the security footage and sure enough there he was. A sweet looking elderly man with what looked like something “suspicious” in his jacket leaving the distillery probably about to rush home to put mom’s camera up on Ebay and use the money to buy drugs. Should we file a police report, find this crook and put him in the slammer? Yes. Yes we should. Just as we were about to unleash sweet justice on this human slime we decided to take one final look in the car…sure enough there it was: a Nikon D500 sitting exactly where it should be. Our brief time playing detectives was over. How could we forget to look in the one logical place it could be? Crisis averted. Consider yourself lucky old man!
It was time to move on to Asheville. We were antsy to get outside and enjoy this beautiful place. We decided on a hike at Max Patch Mountain. It was a great place to let loose, take pictures and hang as a family.
Joe will always win the strongest King competition
Bostyn taught us how to make “Grass Pie”
Mom proved there’s no injury she isn’t willing to risk to “get the shot”
Mom also proved it takes less than 5 seconds to kill a comedy career
The sistas showcased their elite athleticism
Mom and Dad on the other hand…
…
All in all it was a perfect family hike
King bros
swoon
Back at the house each couple took turns cooking dinner. Personally, this is my favorite tradition we have established on King vacay. It’s a fun way to showcase our creativity and spend some serious QT together. I won’t say who is the best cook (for sure not me) but maybe the fam can vote in the comments.
Joanna about to give Dad the pepper sweats
The house was tucked away in a beautiful section of the Blue Ridge Mountains. It came fully equipped for a family our size and had plenty of space to escape the obnoxious King bros if/when needed.
View from the back porch
Who knew we had so many yogis
Yogi every day
When cabin fever set in we would venture into Asheville and check out the breweries, restaurants and quirky shops.
Aaron with the steal of the trip
The Blue Ridge Parkway was just a short drive away. The wanderlust folk had a great time hiking and exploring while the lazy folk sat on their butts and watched television and ate Doritos and Twinkies and washed it down with Mountain Dew.
Perfect opportunity to show off the man bun
Looking Glass falls
Sunrise on the Blue Ridge Parkway
We capped the trip off with a surprise lūʻau themed birthday party for Dad’s 60th!
He was actually surprised!
Everyone chipped in. Mom took Dad out for a walk while we prepped the party. Joe and Queren were masters of food. Aaron served as master of drinks. Steph master of decorations. Jon master of games. Joanna and Felix masters of birthday cake. Kat master of sitting around doing diddly-squat. Rachel master of sitting around watching Kat sitting around doing diddly-squat. Great job everyone (minus Rach and Kat)!!!
Grill Master
Aaron serving up Mai Tais
Decoration master
“Uhh do you guys like need any help?”
Entertainment included a friendly game of Pin the Glasses on Jeff, an intense hula hoop tournament and even a Jefferina skit. Thank you Queren and Kathryn for your superb performances as Kareen and Grandma. Also, big thank you mom for digging up the Jefferina dress, wig and an original (and very cheesy) script. Sadly you’ll have to DM me if you’d like video/photographic evidence of the Jefferina mayhem.
You’ve come a long way Dad!
Fierce hula hoop competition
What a night and what a trip. Where are we going next King Fam?