Re-cap -
Landed in Charlotte at 8am, drove the 2 hours west to Asheville, they're in "exceptional drought" and it's noticeable. Could definitely smell the smoke from the wildfires in the mornings.
Asheville in general - In a good way we think it's the "weird" that Austin has lost. Lots of good restaurants, bars and shopping all in a walk-able distance, if staying downtown.
Loved: people are very nice (but not very talkative), very dog friendly, the Crow and Quill, the view from Grove Park Inn - Edisons, The Admiral (everything was delicious!), Biscuit Head, people watching
Didn't Love: there's a slight chance you'll wind up sitting next to someone at a bar who's chosen to not bathe or use deodorant. (they'll know everything about being a vegetarian and your astrological sign though...)
Surrounding areas
Gatlinburg, Tennessee
We took a day trip up to Gatlinburg - stopped over at Carver's Orchard in Crosby, TN - nice, quaint. Wish we would've been hungry to try their restaurant.
Gatlinburg was awful - SO super touristy. We made the effort to park and walk down the main street toward the Ober tramway thing - we lasted 20 minutes and just made the decision get back to our car and leave.
the Blue Ridge Parkway (back down to Asheville) - beautiful...and just so nice to be out of the crowds
On our way back to Charlotte
- Stopped over at Hubba Hubba BBQ - very good (pulled pork yum! still not a fan of Carolina sauces though.)
- I googled "battle site near me" and sure enough (Revolutionary War) Cowpens Battlefield in South Carolina came up. I had low expectations but it's actually pretty neat. I got a map from the visitors center and we chose to do the hour+ auto tour. We pulled up the park website on our phone for the narration that brought each stop to life (we also searched for bullets to no avail.)
We also randomly passed by the Gaffney, SC peach tower (on the House of Cards show we just started watching last week....heh)
Charlotte - we had dinner at King's Kitchen and walked around downtown a bit. Not bad - just eh.... any Downtown City, USA.
Charlotte Douglas airport is officially one of my least favorite. B terminal was madness.
And so....with being back home, I'm ok with no pimento cheese, biscuits and gravy and horseradish in things for a long while.
Will we go back? Probably not - but I'd definitely recommend going! The Smoky mountains are beautiful and I really hope Asheville stays weird.
Finished - Ella Quince - Desperate for a Duke. Predictable, not bad...
Re-reading Lothaire - a nod to the Appalachian gal
