road trip recap: asheville, nc

Truth be told, we didn't love Asheville.  When we arrived at our hotel (Downtown Inn and Suites), we loved the cheesy pool but were a little sketched out by the hotel itself.  While checking in we ended up having a lengthy conversation with the guy at the front desk, who was surprised to learn that we didn't realize it was Beer Fest (we're not really Beer Fest people) and then proceeded to tell us excitedly about every place to get a beer in town (I don't really drink beer).  He was also incredibly taken aback by the fact that we don't homebrew ("But... do you brew ANYTHING?  Kombucha even?" "Nope.").

We spent our first day in town walking around and seeing the city.  Kyle's day went downhill when he backed up while taking a picture and stepped in street vomit.  I fell in love with the champagne bar and bookstore downtown--my two favorite things in one place!--and ended up buying a book called "FLOOD" by Robert Penn Warren because the name was apt (the book was good, too).  We decided to try out the French Broad chocolate lounge (upon our hotelier's request), and were a little annoyed that there was a line practically out the door and the place looked like something out of an episode of Portlandia (everyone was dressed like a member of Mumford and Sons--or Daughters).  There was just something about the overall Asheville vibe that just didn't sit well with us.  It seemed to take itself way too seriously or something.  We did hear some really great street bluegrass, however, by a New Orleans-based band whose name I can't remember.  That night we decided to get takeout from Tupelo Honey, which was so busy we didn't want to brave a sit-down, and it was delicious.

The next morning we ventured out to the Biltmore Estate (our real reason for visiting Asheville in the first place, besides the fact that I'd heard it was a cool place), and that was a really fun day.  We spent most of our time exploring the gardens, but did do a self-guided tour of the house itself (we refused to pay the extra $20 for a guided tour when we'd already shelled out $45/ticket).  It was insanely beautiful, of course, and when we were finished exploring we headed into Antler Hill Village for our free wine tasting.  We ended up buying a reasonably priced bottle to drink back at our hotel with pizza from a place down the road.

Next up: Charleston!

road trip recap: charlottesville, blue ridge parkway, great smoky mountains

We left Shenandoah nice and early so that we would arrive at my friend Bonnie's house before noon.  Buuuuut we got lost.  Really lost.  We ended up turning the wrong way down some random road (which we thought was 250E), eventually realized our mistake, turned northward, and wound up driving through a mountaintop construction zone on the Blue Ridge Parkway, which just kept going and going, endlessly, without an exit for far too long. When we finally arrived in Charlottesville around 12:30, we took a quick tour of Bonnie's adorable little house and then went for amazing beer and pizza at the Blue Mountain Brewery outside of town. After lunch we dropped the car off at the house and walked downtown for a tour and some cocktails at Sky Bar (I had "Your Grandmother's Garden").  It was incredibly hot and I was starting to feel a little bit worse for wear but didn't think much of it... at first. We continued on our way through town, stopping again at a tapas place in for sangria before it started threatening to rain and we hurried home (K had run across the street for ziploc bags to protect his camera from the impending thunderstorm, and I ended up pouring the leftover sangria into a ziploc and escorting it from the premises in my purse).  As soon as we got back to Bonnie's I started feeling really sick, and that's all that I'll say about that except that the remainder of the evening was a bit of a wash.  The next morning I felt better, and we walked to a bakery in Bonnie's neighborhood where I had the most DIVINE apricot danish imaginable before we hit the road again.  It was so wonderful to see Bonnie and the place she's been living all of this time!

Our first stop (we thought) was Natural Bridge, VA, but when we got there we refused to pay the $20 entrance fee and instead had a lengthy conversation about the disgraceful monetization of our national landmarks.  We stopped for lunch at an unassuming little bakery/store along our way and were surprised to see that everyone working at and patronizing the place was in full Amish dress.  We had delicious sandwiches there and then took the Blue Ridge Parkway from Floyd to Linville Springs, marveling at the landscape (seriously a spectacular drive--highly recommended). I wanted to take the BRP all the way to Great Smoky Mountains because I was sure I would regret it otherwise, but it certainly took a lot longer than the highway would have.  We ended up driving 14 hours that day over winding mountain roads with weak brakes in wild wind, and the last hour or so was spent spiraling down into Cherokee country along a two-lane road with no road signs in a night that was dark as death. Terrifying.  We arrive in Great Smoky around 11 PM and settled into our tent just in time to beat the epic rainstorm that came through that night. We didn't get up until around 11 AM the next morning, when the rain started to let up.  We went to the Visitor's Center and saw some historic structures there, then went up to Mingus Mill (I promise that graffiti wasn't carved by our hands--it was just too perfect to pass up the picture). It was a lazy afternoon at the campground, culminating in popcorn popped over the fire and much wine.

The next day ended up being another adventure in mountain driving.  We did the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail, which was a disappointment because it was practically bumper-to-bumper traffic and we couldn't really enjoy the scenery.  We left the park for a while, and drove through Gatlinburg, TN (very touristy, with faux Chalets and little wedding chapels reminiscent of Vegas), had a quiet, calming lunch at Cosby campground, and continued on a loop outside the park hoping to avoid the curving roads but ending up on even curvier ones that lead nowhere, forcing us to backtrack.  We went to Cherokee for ice cream on the river before heading back to Smokemont for our last night in the frigid cold.

Next up, Asheville!

road trip recap: to shenandoah!

So it's September, we are (almost) all squared away with our living situation, K and I have been going strong with work/school for two weeks now, and I think I'm ready to start the process of sharing our adventures!

We left Vermont on May 17, much later than planned, and crashed overnight in a hotel outside of Boston so that we would be nearby for my brother's graduation the next day.  After a ceremony that looked suspiciously like mine (same school), we had drinks and dinner with family and were off!  Our first official night was booked in Danbury, CT, just to cut our driving time the next day by a few hours.  We were on the road bright and early on Sunday, crossing through Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania (where I had to mail my car keys home so that my parents could move my car from the park and ride in Montpelier), Maryland, West Virginia, and Virginia on our way to Shenandoah, where we saw a black bear right at the entrance!  There was an incredible dense fog over the road for most of the day, and by the time we arrived at the park it was so thick we could barely see to navigate the winding mountain roads.

We set up our tent, collected wood for a roaring fire, and made dinner in the dark, but as soon as we finished eating the rain came, heavily, and we had to heave everything into the car and retreat into our tent for the night. We slept until 9 AM the next morning and hiked the 3.3-mile circuit trail to Lewis Falls, where we were treated to a pretty spectacular view of the valley below an 80-foot waterfall.  That night we had the best camp food of the entire trip (before we became unmotivated, I guess)--burritos with fajita veggies, corn, and spicy refried beans cooked on the fire. So. Good.

K woke up at sunrise the next morning and when I caught a glimpse of the massive red sun through the tent flap I decided to get up as well and we sat and had instant coffee looking out over the Blue Ridge Mountains (it was still early in the season so we had one of the best sites in the campground).  We ended up doing a very short hike (1.6 miles) to the Stony Man summit, which was lined with lovely wildflowers and ended in yet another magnificent valley view, before reading and relaxing for the rest of the day and taking in the sunset over some local (Albemarle) rosé on the opposite side of the park that night.

The next morning we were off to Charlottesville to visit my friend Bonnie!