Anniversary Trip to Asheville, NC

Zack and I have tried to do something special for our anniversary every year since we were married. The weekend of our first anniversary, one of my dear friends from college, Beth got married. So, for our first anniversary, we took a short weekend trip. We spent a night in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, which was about 1.5 - 2 hours away from where we lived. We had a wonderful and relaxing time there, and it was nice to be able to reflect on our first year of marriage and all of the trials and joys that it held.

For our second anniversary, we went and stayed a couple nights in a Bed and Breakfast in Look Out Mountain, TN. Even though I was raised in Tennessee, I had never gone to Ruby Falls, Rock City, or The Incline Railroad. So, we went and visited all of these tourist attractions. It was a lot of fun and nice to be able to spend time with Zack.

Our third anniversary, we had a blast! I took a few days off of work and we went up to Gatlinburg. Our first night, we stayed in Blue Ridge and in the morning we drove to the Nantahala and took a ducky down the river. It was FREEZING, but it was really fun...and definitely a trust building activity since there was no guide in the boat; it was just Zack and I in an inflatable kayak! We then drove to Gatlinburg and stayed in a little one bedroom cabin for the rest of the weekend. We went to Dollywood and went hiking. Again a great time together.

This year, for our forth anniversary, we decided to take a last minute trip to Ahseville, NC. We had a great time! Asheville is a tourist town and it has a wonderful website to tell you about places to eat, stay, and things to do in Asheville. (http://www.exploreasheville.com/index.aspx)
There also is a "goblueridge" card (http://www.goblueridgecard.com) that you can purchase that gives you a certain number of days 2, 3, or 5 to go and see any of the listed attractions for the price of the goblueridge card. This would be a good deal if you were planning to do a lot of the activities listed on the card. Zack and I were not really sure what we wanted to do before we went, so we did not buy one of these cards. We ended up staying at the Holiday Inn Express Biltmore Square Mall. It was reasonably priced, well located, clean, and had a decent continental breakfast, including cinnamon rolls, biscuit and gravy, eggs, cereal, yogurt, bagels, and toast. We initially only booked 2 nights at the hotel in case we decided to change to a different one once we got to Asheville, but we were happy with the overall experience at the hotel and so extended our stay.



Friday, Day 1: Travel day

We left our house around 6:30 p.m. and arrived at our hotel in Asheville fairly late that night.

Packed and ready to go!

Saturday, Day 2: Biltmore Mansion

The Biltmore Mansion

Today, we started with a big breakfast, as we were hoping to only purchase one meal and maybe a snack each day to keep our expenses down. Everyone that we talked to said that we needed to go visit the Biltmore Mansion (http://www.biltmore.com). So, Zack and I went and took the tour, not expecting much from it. We both had kind of the same feeling...It's a big house how interesting could it possibly be and could you really spend that much time there without being bored out of your mind. It was the most expensive activity that we did on our mini vacation, but probably the one that we ended up enjoying the most. We got into the house around 11 o'clock a.m. and began our audio-tour (if you ever go, I would definitely recommend getting the audio-tour...otherwise you would miss out on a lot of the interesting things about the mansion, since there are no plaques or pamphlets that really tell you anything about what you are seeing. Initially, we were not going to get the audio-tour, but the lady at the ticket counter talked us into it and we were both glad she did).

Zack and I on a balcony in the Biltmore House

We were in the house wandering through the rooms from 11:00 a.m. until about 3:30 p.m. We were getting a little hungry, so we stopped at one of the little shops on grounds and had some ice cream. We then went outside and walked through some of the amazing gardens on the property. The grounds and mansion are definitely beautiful, and it is amazing to think about all the modern conveniences in both the house and gardens considering the time period in which they were built.

One of the many Biltmore Gardens

After touring the gardens until about 5:30-6:00 p.m., we went to the winery and toured the winery.
Then, we went back to the hotel and got ready for dinner. We had gotten a recommendation for a little restaurant near our hotel called Apollo Flame Bistro, which was supposed to be Greek or Italian food (http://www.apolloflamebistro.net). We looked it up online and were amazed that the prices were so reasonable. So, that clinched the decision, and we went to the Bistro for dinner. Zack and I both love Greek food, and our meal was not a disappointment. We really enjoyed it, especially for the price. After dinner, we went back to our hotel and relaxed and planned out our next day.

Gyro Platters. I got the chicken and Zack got the Lamb..Delicious!

Sunday, Day 3: Tour of Asheville, NC

By the Flat Iron Building in Downtown Asheville.

Today, we decided to take a trolley tour of Asheville (Asheville Historic Tours http://www.ashevilletrolleytours.com). This is probably something that we would have done differently could we go back and change things. We probably would have done this our first day in Asheville for 2 reasons: 1. the tour allowed us to learn things about Asheville, such as, we could have gotten a discount on our Biltmore tickets through the visitor's center and 2. because it was Sunday, the trolley did not have it's first and last scheduled stops, meaning that we did not have as much time to walk around downtown and still catch a trolley to bring us back to our car. The tour was interesting, and it was a good way to learn a little more about the history of Asheville. We got off of the trolley at 2 of its stops. Our first Stop was to see the St. Lawrence Basilica (...again another reason not to go on a trolley tour on Sunday, they were having mass and thus, we could not take pictures inside the church, which was very pretty.) an old Catholic Church in Asheville, which is still active today.

St. Lawrence Basilica

We also walked around the Grove Arcade which was built in the 1920's and has amazing architecture.

The inside of the Grove Arcade.

We stopped in at the Kilwin's Ice Cream Shop, which we had a buy one get one coupon for, except Zack had SO stuffed himself at breakfast that he would not have enjoyed ice cream...so we just kinda looked around and then went back to meet the trolley.

Waiting on the Trolley.

Our second stop was at Pack Place. This is the area of town with the art museum, children science museums, and multiple restaurants and stores. We wondered around and went to Mast General Store...eventually got back onto the trolley and rode it all the way back to our car. We then drove back to the Biltmore village, an area of upscale stores and restaurants.

The Cathedral of All Souls in Biltmore Village.

We wanted to see the church that George Vanderbilt had built, The Cathedral of All Souls, and we were going to have dinner at the Corner Kitchen, a restaurant that several people had recommended. However, when we looked at the menu and saw the prices, we decided that we would rather eat somewhere else...neither of us felt like spending over 20 for a meal. So, we went to the NC Farmer's Market Restaurant, Moose Cafe. It had been ranked well and was listed in the top places of where the locals eat, so we thought that we would be in for some good food. The food was good, not great. The best part of the meal, I think, was the biscuits and apple butter. I probably would not go back to this restaurant were we to go back to Asheville. After dinner, Zack and I went back to the Hotel and decided to work out in the hotel fitness center since we had been sitting on a Trolley pretty much all day getting little exercise.

Monday, Day 4: Outdoor Adventure

Today, after a good breakfast and a slow start, we decided to go do some hiking. We drove a little ways down the Blue Ridge Parkway and went to Mnt. Pisgah, which is one of the highest peaks in the Blue Ridge. We hiked a 1.5 mile trail which felt more like about 3 miles to reach the top of the mountain and had an elevation change of 712 feet. The hike was definitely more rigorous than we had anticipated, but there was a very pretty view from the top, and the hike down was much easier.

At the bottom of Mnt. Pisgah.

Zack on our hike. Love this boy! :)

At the top of Mnt. Pisgah.

After our hike, we drove to a place called sliding rock that has a 60 foot smooth rock with water coming over it. People come there and slide down the rock face. Zack and I thought that this sounded like fun and we decided to try it. We both slid down a couple times, but the water was so cold that you didn't want to do it too many times!

Sliding Rock.

Video of Zack sliding down Sliding Rock

On our way back to the hotel we stopped and hiked to a small waterfall, which was a disappointment due to the lack of water from our dry summer.

Moore's Cove Falls...or trickle.

We also stopped at Looking Glass Falls, which was a little more impressive.

Looking Glass Falls.

We then headed back to the hotel for showers and went to dinner at the Stone Ridge Tavern, which was pretty good and priced about like a Logan's or LongHorn.

Tuesday, Day 5: Farmer's Market and Chimney Rock...Then Home

Today was our last day of vacation and we decided to do some activities on our way home. So, like every other day, we stared out with a nice big breakfast at the hotel. We packed our car and headed over the the NC Farmer's Market to look around. We ended up buying some fresh peaches and then headed down to Chimney Rock.

Zack at the NC Farmer's Market.

Chimney Rock is the site where a lot of scenes from "Last of the Mohicans" were filmed. Unfortunately, those trails were closed due to maintenance. However, we were able to do a little hiking, which included climbing over 400 stairs up to the top of Chimney Rock.

Chimney Rock.

Zack on Pulpit Rock.

Zack and I on top of Chimney Rock.

Once up at the top, we had some ice cream and then took the easy way down, the elevator, which takes you down 26 stories. After finishing our hike, we headed to The Old Rock Cafe for a late lunch, early dinner, and then we headed home.

Pecan Chicken Salad Pita with Sweet Potato Fries

Zack's Bacon Cheese Burger With Sweet Potato Fries.