THE ADVENTURES OF JIMMY T & HIS BRIDE TO BE!: July 2013

NJ and the concrete jungle NYC

Our visit in NJ was very short :( we stayed with Doug and Hunter at their ''humble abode'', thank you for the hospitality guys is always so nice to see you! We arrived pretty late so went to bed shortly.

Next day we got up and headed to breakfast at ''Toast'' with Hunter (the man), we call him ''the man'' because our dog's name is also Hunter, so we have Hunter ''the man'' and Hunter ''the dog'' lol....

After breakfast we visited Doug's dad Dr. Giampapa's office where they all work together at. We had to pee in a cup (just for some short of ''research'' they are doing), and sat down at a pretty awesome massage chair while Hunter explain to us how they freeze your stem cells for future use etc etc... I'm not so good at explaining this but visit them at www.cellhealth.net and take a look at all this interesting facts and researches they are doing.

After a sad goodbye (because we love them so much) off to NYC we drove!

peace, love, pancakes and good friends!!

someone is a little skeptical!

oh there you go! sit down, relax and enjoy!

Lovely Virginia!

After driving for 5 hours towards Virginia we had a little stop at Dave Matthews vineyard ''Blendheim'' in Charlottesville VA, had a little bit of a wine taste and I was disappointed because I found out the wine that we like so much comes from California (wine is called ''Crush'') :( but still, beautiful place, we bought a glass of wine, some prosciutto and cheese and sat down at the veranda overlooking the yard. Very quickly after we drove our way for about 1 hour and 30 min more until our final stop Warrenton VA.

Jeff Rizer is a buddy of ours that comes very often to Costa Rica and he kindly invited us to stay at his house. Getting there we drove the road up to this beautiful property surrounded by green fields and with a beautiful view, Jeff and his wife where waiting for us for supper.

Surprisingly enough somehow they knew my favorite 2 things in the world, salmon and sweet corn on the cob ''lucky me!'' We talked our way out through the night and went to bed exhausted after a long day on the road.

Next day we got up and Jeff drove us around the neck of his woods, showed us his daughters house and right there next to her house on the garage he had a 1968 Charger! He called his wife and asked her if she could drop off the keys, she showed up and off we went just like Steve Macqueen :)
We drove around in it for like 2 hours, visited a friend of Jeff's house which had a very cute cottage up in the mountain.

We had lunch at a Thai restaurant, very good and enough to get us back on the road. This time heading towards New Jersey!

at Dave's vineyard

Jeff and his other car

The Happy Hippies! (aka Asheville)

Paul and Jimmy worked together on the yacht years ago, so Jimmy was looking very forward to spend some time in Asheville.

First night we had dinner at Seven Saws which was a southern style restaurant. Food was outstanding and from there we took a look at Pauls warehouse. His company is ENO and he makes hammocks. I know it sounds funny but is true! They are not ''only hammocks'' thought, they are very awesome! and its good to see that he is doing very well. Check his website and see it for yourself!!www.eaglesnestoutfittersinc.com

Next day our plan was to go to The Biltmore house which is the biggest private house in the US. We took the tour around this amazing house that has 255 rooms, obviously we didn't get to see all of them but some. We had an ice cream and checked out the winery after. Wine was very good (of course) so we bought a couple of bottles to give as gifts.

Nick and Dabney Sue own a house in Costa Rica and they also live in Asheville. Nick owns a bowling alley ''Tarheel Lanes'', so after Biltmore we thought the best thing to do was bowling :)
He was very excited to see us there and showed us around the place. We played a little bit and then Nick had plans for dinner. He said we needed to go to this Italian restaurant because it was the best one in town. We hesitated a little, but trusted Nick and his good taste in food. We arrived at Mona Lisa which was this little, very cute Italian restaurant in the middle of nowhere! first thing I see is the owner ''Franco'' back in the kitchen which is a very, very good sign.

To make a long story short, the food was unbelievable! Very Italian and exactly how Italian food should be! I had Veal and it was outstanding, Jimmy had Osso Buco and it was outstanding as well! The amount of food in our plates was huge! (like I said, exactly how Italian food should be) so we where very happy to have some lunch for the next day!

Last day in Asheville was a little ''quiet''. In between moonshine (for more info as Jimmy lol), pizza and movies we went to bed hoping to get enough rest because next day we had 7 hours on the road.

Early morning we got up and went to the Grove Park Inn Spa and Resort for breakfast. This is a beautiful hotel in the mountains of Asheville with amazing views. We said good bye to Paul and Evan and headed to Virginia.

Jimmy outside The Tavern

My dinner at Seven Saws, BBQ pulled pork fried okra and cole slaw

Jimmy's dinner was pork chops with peaches and grids

scallops on pancakes, it doesn't get better then this!

Biltmore

Group picture with Paul and Evan

do we need words for this?

me first time bowling!!!

Charlotte bitches!

We arrived in Charlotte ready to meet up with our good buddy Matt as well as Lauren and Laura.
Mac's was our first stop for a refreshing beer and some hush puppies. Jim Leone also showed up so we had a fun crew for the night.

From here we drove home to Matt to drop off our luggage and freshen up, unfortunately Matt had to work that night (buuuhhh) but he was definitely meeting up with us later on. We went to a place called Jackbeagles first for some yummy mac & cheese and hot dogs, right after we headed next door to Sublime for some chicken wings and there after to this cool bar called The Blind Pig which was a lot of fun. After a few drinks (one to many) we headed back to Jackbeagles for some late night snacks which included some yummy French fries ( I don't remember the name of them but they where delicious) with cheese, onions, peppers and sausages.

Next day we had brunch and Cabo Fish Taco which was very good! Thank you Matt and Lauren for the hospitality and for showing us a good time in your neighborhood! Very happy and with our tummies full we drove away towards Asheville NC.

We wish we had more time to spend in Charlotte, but maybe one day we will have the chance to go back for some more fun times!