Travel date: Summer 2010.
Duration: 2 days.
Rating: ★★★★★.
I've been a couple of times, and it consistently causes me to just be speechless, breathless. This amazing hippie-academic-artsy-naturey community near the ridiculously gorgeous Blue Ridge Parkway mountains is one of my favorite places ever! Just the drive there is out of this world (about 4 hours from Chapel Hill, NC,) - Both times I’ve been were road trips that took place in the summer, so I can't even imagine what autumn and winter are like up there.
LODGING - As part of a true down-to-earth road-trip, we chose to stay at a hostel. My first time ever, actually! We stayed at the Asheville Hostel (@avlhostel) for a night. It was right downtown, and it was pretty clean and cute. The only disappointment was that we were hoping to meet world travelers playing the guitar on the porch, but it was completely empty besides for us, and the only thing we met was a stray cat passing by.
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| Double-decker fun |
MUSIC - When in Asheville, going to the Orange Peel is a must, as it is totally famous and great bands play there. BUT what really caught my attention was a parked and colorful double-decker bus where a folk band was performing on the 2nd level. Great sound, super fun and I really wish I could remember their name and give them a shout out - but this was last year and I barely remember what I ate yesterday :(
FOOD - Which brings me to the AH-MAZING vegetarian options this town offers (remember, healthy lifestyle and love of all things sustainable is the norm there, not the exception.) Check out this list of awesome veggie-friendly restaurants.
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| Fresher air doesn't exist. |
MOUNTAINS – we started at the Grandfather Mountain – hiked up one of the trails for about 3 hours and found total bliss at the top. The summer temperatures up there were amazingly cool, breezy and describing the peace up there will never do justice to what it actually feels like. JUST GO! Another cool one was a Black Mountain … not as popular as Grandfather... we stumbled upon it by accidentally driving inside the Montreat College campus, a Christian school tucked away in the mountains. Can't wait to go back during winter and fall...
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Well written and right on! :)
ReplyDeleteWow, you make Asheville sound cool! I went with a huge group of family members around 2002 and we rented a house (log cabin) for about 2 weeks. It was fun, but I don't remember us doing anything particularly fun that would make me want to go back there. (Plus I found out I get carsick in the mountains, which isn't too fun and way tmi for my first comment on your blog lol!!!) But I could give it another chance- do Orange Peel and try to find some hippies playing music in a bus. Awesome :)
ReplyDelete-Kara Sprinkles in Springs
I get carsick too! hahah and that's def not TMI in my book ;) best thing for me is to crank open all the windows and have some wind blowing on my face!
ReplyDeleteI love Asheville! My husband's family is in NC so we go to the mountains a lot. Such a beautiful area! Great review.
ReplyDeleteThanks Jen! I'm in love with North Carolina, and again, you're lucky to have family in such a great location!
DeleteNice and very helpful information i have got from your post. Even your whole blog is full of interesting information which is the great sign of a great blogger.
ReplyDeleteI stopped by to see if you had anything new, but found this post on Asheville! I'm so glad you enjoyed my town :-) I adore it for all the reasons you mentioned and more.
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