Anniversary Trip - Asheville

Day In. This is a long one...

Two weekends ago, we went to Asheville, NC for our one year anniversary trip. It's hard to believe that we have already been married a year! We went up on a Thursday night and stayed through Sunday. We stayed at Hotel Indigo, which was really close to downtown and made the weekend vary walk-able. While we were there, we did a lot of exploring and had a really good time.  We had a few things we knew we wanted to do while we were there, but we were also open to suggestions.

Rebecca, Anna's sister, saw an article in Martha Stewart Living (October issue) about Asheville with a list of things to do.  We took it along in case we needed ideas...

The first thing on our list of things to do was to see the Biltmore House.  We got tickets and went early Friday morning and toured the house and explored the grounds.  It was amazing.  And to think all of it was constructed before modern construction techniques were available. We started off by touring the house. Unfortunately, you can't take pictures inside, so here are some pictures of the outside.  Obviously, this was in the Martha Stewart magazine.

The Front Yard

The House

As we toured the house, I'm pretty sure Anna got annoyed with me reading the description and facts about each room.  I think some of the other guests sort of enjoyed having me as a free tour guide.

Me on the back porch

Anna on the porch with the view behind her

Then we started the tour of the gardens.  We started in the "Shrub Garden", then moved to the "Walled Garden" and finished with the "Azalea Garden"

In the "Shrub Garden"

Shrubs

More shrubs

The "Walled Garden"

Stopping to smell the roses

More rose smelling

Their zucchini was only a little bigger than our garden...

Amazing.

The Azalea Garden path is not all ADA accessible,

But it is beautiful.

Anna enjoying the perfect weather.

At the "Bass Pond".  A couple on their 25th Anniversary trip took our picture.

"Bass Pond" waterfall

Arched Bridge from "The Last of the Mohicans"

After we did the gardens, we did the wine tasting. We purchased three bottles, and I'm actually enjoying a glass as I write this.

Whenever we told someone we were going to Asheville, everyone told us to eat at Tupelo Honey.  So we did. This was also in Martha Stewart's article.

It was delicious.

The wait took forever though, so if you go, just know the wait will be over an hour. Luckily for us, we weren't super hungry and it was Friday night, which apparently means the drugged out hippies have a drum circle across the street at the park.

It's blurry to simulate drug use.

Saturday, we walked around and took in all of the interesting architecture. It is such a cool, unique city.

Anna just loves ironing...

Just kidding! This is near the "Flat Iron Building"

Flat Iron Building

Methodist Church

Methodist Church

S&W Cafeteria Building

Looks like my office.

Saturday, we tried to eat at "12 Bones".  This was recommended by our server at Tupelo Honey and Martha Stewart. I also heard that President Obama ate there once.  I don't know if that's true.  One thing I do know, is that it's closed on Saturday and Sunday.  Strange.  Since it's in the "River Arts District", we looked for a place that was close to eat. Luckily for us, Martha also recommended "The White Duck Taco Company".  So we headed that way.

It was packed! It must be good.

It went fast and was wonderful.

Cool menu board!

The rest of the day we went antiquing (sp?).  It was fun.  We went to three places, two places recommended by Martha. All were neat.

This one wasn't recommended by Martha. But it was "voted #1 antique mall in western North Carolina".

Inside the "Tobacco Barn". Overwhelming.

ScreenDoor.  This place had very cool stuff.

ScreenDoor inside.

Oddfellows.  Also Martha recommended.  This one was okay.

Inside Oddfellows

Inside Oddfellows

We also tried the French Broad Chocolate Lounge.  Anna got a liquid truffle that was really good, but a little rich for my tastes.

Saturday night we ate at Mayfel's.  It was not recommended by Martha, but was still good...not great.

Sunday morning we ate at the Early Girl Eatery.  Recommended by Martha and now Stuart.

Yum.

That basically concludes our trip. But the nerd roadway engineer in me wants to show some neat things they have incorporated in their streets...

This green striping means that the cyclist should merge into traffic to make a left turn.

The landscape zone slopes back towards the sidewalk , and the sidewalk slopes toward the furniture zone...therefore, trench drain is the solution.

A woonerf! You don't see these often. A woonerf is a Dutch term for a street with no curbs.  It makes the car feel out of place and gives the pedestrian the power.

Look, Ma! No curbs!

Even our drive home was lovely.

Tallulah Gorge

Asheville was the perfect trip for a long weekend. I think we would both recommend this trip to anyone. Thanks for reading this long post - and wait for the next one - Cotton.

Day out.

Stuart