I haven’t been on vacation in a while because we are trying to live on a budget. But, this past weekend I was able to get away for a short period of time. I went to Asheville, North Carolina with my husband, cousin and my cousin’s boyfriend.
We had been talking about going on this trip since last November, when we met my cousin’s boyfriend while on a family trip to California for our grandma’s 100th birthday. My husband and my cousin’s boyfriend really hit it off and we thought it would be fun to meet halfway between Atlanta and D.C. (where they live). Asheville is not really halfway, it’s a lot closer for us than it was for them. But, we decided it would be a good meeting point and we all wanted to visit there. After a few months of planning, it was time for the trip.
The drive wasn’t bad for my husband and me. It ended up being about three and a half hours. We live on the north side of Metro Atlanta so that helped shorten the drive some. We chose to go through backroads in the mountains to save some time and avoid morning Atlanta traffic. It was a neat drive and we ended up in Asheville around noon. My cousin had started the trip the night before and stayed over at the halfway mark in Virginia.
We had made a plan to meet at Tupelo Honey Café in downtown Asheville for lunch. This chain is in both Atlanta and D.C. (along with many other cities) but this one is the original location. I had eaten brunch at Tupelo Honey in Chattanooga, Tennessee once, and wanted to try it for lunch. Parking in Asheville is no easy task, especially around lunchtime on a Friday. We drove around for 30 minutes and then found a lot. Turned out the sign was deceiving and public parking was not available in that lot until 5 p.m. A little discouraged, we drove around for quite a while and after passing two full parking decks, finally found street parking relatively close to the restaurant. We put our name in and waited for my cousin and her boyfriend. My cousin was dropped off and waited with us outside the restaurant while her boyfriend found parking. It was so good to catch up with them over the entire weekend.
Lunch at Tupelo Honey was amazing. In fact, everywhere we ate on the trip was delicious. I guess I pick good restaurants! After lunch, we walked around the shops in Downtown Asheville. We then went back to the AriBnB to check it out and drop off our luggage. We stayed at a nice 3 bedroom, 2 bath house in West Asheville. It was time to go out again and we decided to not deal with parking and took Uber.
Our next stop was Urban Orchard Cidery, which is a family-owned hard cider production company and tasting room in West Asheville. It is one of only a handful of “True Cider Bars” in the nation, where you can order house made, craft hard apple cider. Asheville is known for its breweries, but my husband and I prefer cider over beer and luckily my cousin and her boyfriend enjoy cider as well. We ordered flights of cider and enjoyed trying all the different kinds. You could even mix some of them for a different flavor.
Our next stop was for dinner at the Jerusalem Garden Café in Downtown Asheville. We enjoyed delicious Mediterranean food while watching a talented belly dancer and live music. One of the belly dancer’s moves was to balance a sword on different areas of her body and that really made me nervous! Luckily she was very talented and had good control of the sword. The restaurant also had the option of sitting on the floor on pillows, but we decided to be comfortable and sit on regular chairs. After dinner, we watched the Friday night drum circle in the middle of downtown. It was really neat to see all the musicians play the drums while the crowd danced along to the beat. We walked around downtown some more, admiring the architecture and shopping in the neat and eclectic stores. We had an early morning the next morning going to the Biltmore estate, so we Ubered back to the Airbnb and called it a night.
The Biltmore Estate was such an awesome experience. I had been once before when I was about 10 years old, but going back as an adult was much more fascinating. We arrived a little early so we took a lot of pictures of the outside of the estate. The Biltmore is an enormous and mesmerizing sight. Once it was time for our tour, we headed inside from room to room, up the stairs and down throughout the estate.
The Biltmore estate, a 250-room French Renaissance chateau, was the former home of George Vanderbilt. In 1898, He brought his 25-year-old bride, Edith, home to the estate for the first time after their honeymoon. Vanderbilt is known for his family’s shipping and Railroad Empire and his love for literature. The Vanderbilts were once the wealthiest family in America (mainly speaking of George’s father and grandfather). I found the history of the Vanderbilt’s very interesting. Georgie Vanderbilt lived in the estate until 1914 when he passed away due to complications from an appendectomy, leaving his wife Edith to run the household and raise their daughter. In 1930, the estate was opened to the public to increase tourism in the Asheville area. The estate is still run by Vanderbilt’s great-grandson and great-granddaughter.
I would have to say my favorite part of the tour, besides the décor was the “Designed for Drama” exhibition that was on display. Inspired by George Vanderbilt’s love of literature, Designed for Drama showcases many award-winning movie costumes from films based on favorite books in his collection. The movie costumes from films such as Jane Heir and Sherlock Holmes really felt like they belonged there in the massive home, as if they were from the era. I took a lot of pictures of the costumes and the rooms of the Biltmore. My favorite room was Mrs. Vanderbilt’s quarters. It was an oval shaped room that was the essence of femininity. I also enjoyed seeing the bowling alley and swimming pool. There are 35 bedrooms, 43 bathrooms and 65 fireplaces in the Biltmore estate. At the time it was built, in the 1890’s, most homes didn’t even have indoor plumbing or central heating, and the Biltmore had both.
After touring the massive home, we walked through some of the Biltmore gardens. The gardens are home to some beautiful plants and flowers. My phone quickly filled up with pictures of beautiful roses, orchids, cacti and many other plants and flowers. After our walk through the gardens, we took a bus back to the car. The bus driver told us about some of the history of the estate as well as one of the many good restaurants, a buffet called Deerpark Restaurant. It seemed like great food for a good price, so we decided to give it a try. At Deerpark Restaurant you can experience “a taste of the South.” We enjoyed salads, dips, southern comforts, a carving station, decadent desserts and more. It was one of the best meals we had on our trip.
After lunch, we headed toward Antler Hill Village and Winery. We enjoyed a complimentary wine tasting and tried over 10 wines. After choosing our favorites, we bought some bottles in the wine store. Antler Hill Village has many other things to do, such as shopping, various restaurants, a petting zoo and farm, and more. We watched a fascinating glass blowing demonstration outside of one of the shops. We put on these special glasses so that you could really see into the flame as the glass was being blown into ornaments.
Wine Tasting at the Biltmore
My cousin and I really enjoyed a display at Antler Hill Village called: the Biltmore legacy, which was an exhibition of the Vanderbilt family weddings. It highlighted the details of the weddings, including the fashion. On display is the Lee family veil, which was worn by Mary Lee Ryan in 1957 at her wedding to William A.V. Cecil, George Vanderbilt’s grandson. It was also worn her cousin, Jacqueline Lee Bouvier in 1953 when she married John F. Kennedy. It was really neat to see all the famous wedding dresses, veils and shoes.
Later that evening, we went to New Belgium Brewing, a cool brewery with a lively outdoor area. We also ate delicious tacos for dinner at the White Duck Taco Shop in the River Arts District. My cousin and her boyfriend had to leave early the next morning because of their long trip home. My husband and I decided to stay a little longer that day and go out to breakfast in West Asheville near the WNC Farmer’s Market at a spot called Moose Café. It’s a farm-to-table southern cooking restaurant. Stuffed, we decided to walk around the River Arts district after our meal. Since it was Sunday, many galleries were closed, but we still got to see quite a few galleries and many pieces of art on display. We watched in on a one-on-one glass blowing lesson for a bit and saw many paintings, pottery, woodworking pieces, jewelry and other one-of-a-kind art.
It was time to head home and we drove about 3 and a half hours home to Kennesaw on the same route we took on the way there through the mountains. We truly enjoyed our time in Asheville and will have to go back someday. Asheville is a great southern town to visit, and I highly recommend it.
pieces of april blog 