Our weekend getaway to Grover/Kings Mountain

For Christmas, I had given Nick a weekend getaway in Grover, NC. Where you ask? You would have no reason to know it. Grover is a very small town toward the western part of the state, right near the SC border near Kings Mountain/Shelby/Gastonia. Nick and I have always enjoyed visiting small towns that we have never been to before, so Grover seemed like a good fit. Also, I had been hearing about a well known bed and breakfast in the area. Bed and breakfast inns are another favorite of ours! Who doesn't love waking up to a huge, 4 course breakfast?!

We headed out January 25th weekend. Camille stayed back with Mimi, MawMaw, and PawPaw. We were ready to have a mountain adventure, we just weren't ready for the very cold temperatures! Brrr!

As we headed to Grover, we made a stop at a recommended vineyard: Baker Buffalo Creek. It was technically in Lawndale, which certainly felt like the middle of nowhere. We had a great time tasting some of the local wines and hearing the story of the vineyard. The vineyard has some amazing views and lots of history, so there was a lot to hear about! Some of their barns have even been part of the Hillshire Farms commercials. They say their property gets scouted a lot for tv shows and commercials!

The bed and breakfast is one of the only things worth mentioning in Grover :) No offense to Grover of course, but its teeny tiny! The Inn of the Patriots was a great place though! The owners, Marti & Stormy, both worked in the White House as Chefs, as well as Camp David. Therefore, they have a ton of presidential history and knowledge. Nick and I enjoyed hearing Marti's crazy stories and impersonations of the presidents. Not only were the rooms spacious and relaxing, the breakfast was AMAZING! The food kept coming each morning and it was mouth watering!! They also did a great job catering to our wheat free needs.

Since we did so much eating at breakfast, we knew we had to do a lot of hiking to make up for it. We started at Kings Mountain. Did I mention how cold it was outside?! That was motivation to hike faster. Kings Mountain was full of history and we enjoyed getting to know a little more about the area.

Since there isn't much in the way of Grover and Kings Mountain, we also headed toward Gastonia for some more exploring. We found a great cafe in town.... Sprouts..... very delish! We also discovered Crowder State Park! What a view!! We didn't know what to expect when we started our hike, but were thrilled with the end result- we could see the entire town down below. (and yes, Nick did enjoy climbing some trees- can you spot him?)

Apologies on my mismatched clothing- I'm telling you- I was not prepared for the cold!

After all of our hiking, we wanted to have a nice dinner out. We were pointed to the nearby town of Shelby to a place called Ni Fin Bistro. It was soooo good. It was such a quaint restaurant with huge windows looking out onto the downtown streets of Shelby. The food was amazing!

So all in all it was a wonderful weekend getaway, though we were certainly happy to get home to our little monkey!