It’s leaf peeping time – Asheville, North Carolina
We hadn’t been to the mountains at all this past year so I booked us an overnight stay in Asheville. I used Airbnb and found a cool looking renovated old school bus to spend the night…I dream of living a life in a van or overlander – I have some old gypsy blood in my heart or something. I’ve always found it fascinating to actually live a mobile life.
Anyway, we will talk about that bus later…let me just say that $335 for ONE NIGHT should yield a very comfortable stay that one doesn’t have to worry about stuffing towels and blankets in the cracks and over windows because the heater left to be plugged in kept blowing the converter in the bus that was supposed to supply electricity…..
Regardless of this minor (albeit irritating) issue; it was fun!
We had a great time – first time for Jason and only the 2 time for me. We missed the “peak leaf” by one week I believe but it was still so beautiful and we were lucky that Green Knob Lookout wasn’t fogged or cloudy. It was pristine, sunny and so much fun!
The Devil Is In The Details
I planned out our route so that we could do a quick little hike during the good early afternoon light because did you actually go to the mountains if you don’t do at least ONE HIKE?
We took the normal route out of Raleigh to Asheville but we had planned to hop onto the Blue Ridge Parkway outside of Marion, NC and just do a loop down to Asheville which passed the Mount Mitchell State Park.
I’m so glad we did! We found the neatest little dam at Lake Tahoma on the way to the BRP. We pulled over to take a look around and explore a bit.
Honestly, I didn’t even realize how CLOSE we were going to be to Mt. Mitchell otherwise we would have planned on adding that since I’ve never been there and neither has Jason. But by the time we got to our actually reason for going on that twisty winding road (to see the Green Knob Fire Tower) that we were pretty hungry by the time we saw we were basically at the entrance to the park.
Unfortunately, we couldn’t go on with our planned route because apparently it snowed a few days prior and our route out was closed since there was still ice on the road. We were a bit bummed because we had to backtrack and go a different direction but whatever. It was fun and we saw stuff, etc.
Green Knob Fire Tower is not accessible above the ladder – they have it locked. Not sure if it’s year-round or just when we were there. But we still climbed the steps and took some pics. Short intense hike from the Green Knob Overlook.
Future PRO TIP aka Hindsight is 20/20 – Check the weather at the actual park before committing to a route. Higher elevations and lack of ability for snow plows to get in (it’s a state park, no snow trucks!), can make having a couple route options a smart idea.
Downside to the detour, we were STARVING by the time we actually made it to Asheville and OMG IT WAS SO FUCKING CROWDED. We THOUGHT we could just stop in Wicked Weed or something and grab a bite. Dude. Not happening.
FOOD & DRINK
Future PRO TIP aka Hindsight is 20/20 – During high peak seasons like fall foliage and summer, make a reservation somewhere OR take some snacks and be okay with a long wait.
We ended up getting a table after a 30 min wait at The Twisted Laurel – we just took a chance on it since I had not read reviews, etc. Please do yourself an IMMENSE favor and get the focaccia. This was just absolutely stunning – apples, whipped ricotta, toasted pistachios, honey. Ugh. I’d eat myself sick on it. The pizza was good and the smash burger was YUM. That was our late lunch and dinner – we ended up heading out to find the Stoked bus before dark (so so glad we did!) and later went to grocery store and grabbed firewood, Firestarter, beer, and ICE CREAM. Perfect.
Breakfast next morning – was at Mayfel’s. The beignets were good but wow that sausage gravy and biscuit would sink a ship! VERY big and solid.
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