For the past several years I’ve wanted to visit NYC for my thirtieth birthday. Then covid happened and the world shut down and unfortunately Broadway is still not open yet. Plus, whenever I’ve flown recently, I’ve gotten sick, so NYC no longer had a strong appeal. I then began looking for something all-inclusive within the continental US. We considered driving to Rosemary Beach, FL and 30A (#30on30A sounded fun), but a 10 hour drive from Charlotte was not appealing either. There’s always the beach or the mountains, but I wanted my thirtieth to be special!
Five years ago, I almost died on my 25th birthday. This “Miracle Day” needed to be celebrated like no other. When Grayson was born, my liver and kidneys shut down. I don’t remember my 25th birthday. Some of you know my story; one day I’ll write it on here. For now, suffice it to say, we won’t have any more biological children. There’s a 10-70% chance it could reoccur with subsequent pregnancies.
So this year, for my own mental health, I wanted to be out of town away from normal life! It was also our 9th anniversary and that deserved celebration too! The past year has been hard on our marriage and we needed some time away just the two of us. When a friend of mine recommended a “castle” in Winston-Salem I quickly made reservations. We stayed in the main manor house!! We had breakfast on the veranda each morning and ate several dinners there too. Our third floor room was in the original attic space, but still absolutely beautiful. Modern amenities and beautiful views of the grounds were some of the highlights of our 3rd floor room.
For our anniversary on Wednesday, we sat at the pool on the estate and read for several hours. I started a new book, Malibu Rising and Dusten continued his study on Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink. After we fully baked in the sun we decided to find some lunch. We took the top off our jeep and drove down to Reynalda Village about a mile from Graylyn Estates. We had a fantastic lunch at The Village Tavern of salad and flatbread pizzas. Unfortunately, I was too hangry to remember to take pictures during lunch. Dinner on our anniversary was steak and salad back at the estate on the veranda! It was delicious!
On Thursday, for my birthday, we walked around Old Salem. A beautiful historic town located just south of down town Winston-Salem, Old Salem had charm and walkability appealing to many. It’s a cute college town built around Salem College, one of the original female liberal arts schools founded in 1772. Unfortunately, because of covid a lot of the shops were still closed. We ventured into a craft shop, the bakery, and walked down to the museum to see the old covered bridge. A few highlights included taking pictures in front of old doors and seeing the original architecture from the 1800s that’s been beautifully maintained. According to the locals, the town will reopen the shops on August 4, 2021.
For lunch on my birthday, we ventured to Alma Mexicana in the artsy district of Winston-Salem. Ya’ll know that tacos are my love language!! I highly recommend the street tacos. After a siesta back in our room, we ventured out for my birthday dinner. Dusten researched and found gluten free Asian food at HakkaChow. We had sushi and Mongolian Beef – I can’t believe it was all GF. He truly blessed me with that find!
It was a great birthday – we celebrated life and love! I got so many texts and messages from many of you and I’m grateful for you all in my life. It’s been a hard year and you all know how to make a girl feel seen and loved. Thank you for making my thirtieth birthday special!! <3
