Love Me Some Asheville NC Baby!
Recently I had a chance to spend a few days in Asheville, North Carolina. Wow, what time well spent!
Asheville is only about 6 ½ hours from here. Basically, an hour or so past Knoxville. And though the mountains are certainly beautiful from the Tennessee side of the Smokies, in Asheville you are immersed!
So on the very first full day we set out to explore that natural beauty, with a late morning drive down the Blue Ridge Parkway.
Let me say this, I timed the foliage wrong. A week or so later, in that altitude we probably would have hit it just right.
Regardless, twisting and turning down the road, with massive vistas possible around every corner, is naturally thrilling. There are 469 miles of it. We did about 50 this day because our destination was Mt. Mitchell.
Mt. Mitchell, reaching 6,684 feet is the highest peak east of the Mississippi river. The view ain’t too bad either!
We chose to hike the last two miles up the mountain. We stopped at the park restaurant, now closed due to Covid-19, and hopped on a trail there. It was classified as strenuous. It was.
We hiked the highway back. It was not strenuous. And it was all downhill. Or mountain. Yeah, down mountain.
Anyway, the view as mentioned is great. And evidently eight out of ten days the summit is covered in clouds and fog. Fortune shined upon us because we had great views. We could see to Johnson City Tennessee.
Waterfalls, even in the Fall of the year, are plentiful around Asheville. We only hiked one, but that just means there are more for exploration in the future.
Catawba Falls, is a relatively easy 3 mile hike east of Asheville in the Pisgah National Forest.
There are actually two sets of falls here, simply said, the Lower and Upper Falls. The lower is what we accomplished, and it was very beautiful. The Upper Falls trail is technically closed, but go on for another mile, and evidently, it’s treacherous. But supposedly the view is worth it and if you’re in need of cooling off, a great swimming hole awaits.
Around Asheville there are at least ten such waterfall hunting adventures awaiting. All of which you can either hike, bike or utilize a scooter or wheelchair to access.
The city itself has plenty of outdoor activities, which makes it the perfect Covid-19 getaway. The French Broad River runs through downtown. It’s the home of afternoon floats or whitewater rafting, and/or anything in between.
Then there is the food. We stayed downtown, so literally every breakfast, brunch, lunch or dinner was fabulous.
Among our favorites, is the White Duck Taco Shop, with two locations. We sat outside, next to the river, completely social distanced and dined on a variety of inexpensive tacos. From pulled pork, to lamb gyro to jerk chicken, you can’t go wrong, and the price is right.
Our first night there we were late getting in and distracted by our own foot tour of downtown hadn’t thought to get reservations. So when we ran upon a kind of unassuming place, called Zambra and not mentioned in our Yelp search we thought we might have a chance for a 7:00 pm dinner.
We were wrong, it was booked until after nine. We’d have to wait a while.
We sauntered on and found a great little spot to do just that. The Asheville Club, a very small intimate club with open doors, windows, and patrons spaced at about 50% capacity, was the perfect place to chill out over refreshments and listen to a fellow playing cello. Very nice. Great vibe.
What seemed like only a few minutes later we were back at the restaurant having great tapas with sumptuous Mediterranean flourishes.
I could go on and on about the restaurants. We missed out on the ones with a mountain view. Note to self: Next time.
But the point is this, the reason Zambra, with it’s 4.5 stars and feature in Travel and Leisure magazine as one of America’s Most Romantic Restaurants, didn’t make the Yelp list?
All the restaurants are amazing! All the servers are wonderful! All the food is delicious.
I didn’t even mention the visit to our own EW Grove’s hotel and first indoor shopping mall. Both are fabulous.
And I didn’t mention the Biltmore Estate, which surprisingly, everyone, told us to see!
That’s because we didn’t visit it. But we will the next time. And we’ll see more of those waterfalls, and maybe do an overnight hiking excursion, or of course have a meal with a mountain view, or of course do some zip lining.
The point is Asheville is pretty great. Go there. Do that. Be safe. Be assured. And plan to go back again.