by Rachel L. Miller

The first thing I did when reaching my room was rush to the window. The view was nothing short of tremendous -- an emerald green fairway, surrounded in trees, led my eye up to wispy white clouds tickling the top of a distant mountain ridge. I cracked the window and was amazed that I could actually hear bits and pieces of a conversation taking place on the men's tee below. Other than that, it was perfectly quiet and still. I sat in an upholstered chair, staring at the mountain landscape, marveling at the fact that I was only minutes from the city of Asheville, yet still felt as if I had stumbled upon a secluded oasis of sorts.

My suitcase (and the wrinkled clothes it held) temporarily forgotten, I just enjoyed the view for a few minutes -- the way the sun peeked out from the clouds for a brief second, drenching the golf course with dazzling light, before retreating like a shy child behind a mother's leg. The golfing foursome moved on to the next hole and for that moment, I felt like the resort existed solely for my benefit.

Of course, with almost all of the resort's rooms booked for the busy summer weekend, I knew that wasn't the case. But a girl can imagine wearing a diamond-encrusted tiara while reigning supreme over a vast kingdom of mountain property, can't she?

Sunset at the Grove Park Inn Resort & Spa. Photo: Rachel L. Miller

Delusional or not, I eventually decided to unpack and explore the room. A spacious double room with a large workdesk and even larger bathroom vanity area, my favorite thing -- oddly enough -- ended up being the CD player stashed inconspicuously below the television set. Yes, I'm easy to please like that. But in all of my travels, I really have learned that sometimes the little things make all the difference in the world. And one of those little things, in this case, was the CD player.

I made the mistake of curling up on the ultra-comfortable bed for a few moments -- and was quickly lulled to sleep for a revitalizing thirty minutes. Although I wanted to be angry with myself for napping when I had yet to explore the resort, I was really too content to bother. Instead, I threw on some nice clothes and headed back up to the lobby for a cocktail. (CONTINUE...)