LET'S GO - ASHEVILLE DAY 4

On our final day in Asheville we made the trip over to THE BILTMORE ESTATE.  I have wanted to go see this home for a long time and being there in person was so much more than I ever could have imagined.  It's obvious that the property and the home itself are grand on any scale, but the beauty of it all was really overwhelming. 

We chose to take the audio tour which took about two hours total to get through the house.  It was really interesting to learn about George Vanderbilt wanting to build his "little mountain escape" -aptly named George- and the time it took him to complete the project.  It was especially interesting for me to learn that George himself traveled all over the world to find furniture and carpets and even little trinkets to fill the home.  Seems like the man knew what he wanted and had the time and money to make it happen.  I won't turn this into a history lesson but I will say that if you are in Asheville or anywhere remotely close to an exit for Biltmore, you should certainly get tickets and go see the estate.  Yes, it was crowded and no, you are not allowed to take photos inside the home, but to be in the presence of the history of that property is certainly a memory that you can hold onto.

Before they broke ground on George's modest "little mountain escape", he had a temporary 3 story lookout post built to take in the views and make sure that this was what he would want to see off of his porch.  I think he chose a pretty good view if you ask me.

With a property of 125,000 acres, you probably aren't going to Home Depot and getting on with the whole "You can do it. We can help" philosophy.  George Vanderbilt hired Fredrick Law Olmsted on as his landscape architect and let him buy, propagate, nurture, invent, and plant just about anything he wanted to make the place the lush oasis that he had envisioned.  There are 75 acres of proper gardens and the rest would seem like a forest but it was all planned down to each and every shrub.

The green house was absolutely magnificent.  I got split up from Mom and Ali so I wandered around lost for a bit until I found them.  There were plants from all different regions and I especially liked the desert room.  The garden staff changes out the flowers seasonally and from the looks of it, keep up serious hours to have such beautiful grounds.

After Biltmore and one night of shameless room service and movies, we were on our way home after one last view of the mountains.  I couldn't finish these posts without giving you a shot of all of us together in our commemorative shirts for the weekend.  We took on Asheville, we loved it, and hopefully we will be able to come back again some day.  Thanks for having us!

LET'S GO - ASHEVILLE DAY 2

For our second day in Asheville we wanted to make sure and take advantage of what the city had to offer outside of a beautiful view.  Since it was Saturday we decided to check out a local farmer's market close to downtown and then get lunch in the RIVER ARTS DISTRICT.  We had planned our lunch and visiting galleries, but left some open time in case anything caught our eye.  

These two looking ready to hit the town after a nice breakfast and walk around the Inn. 

Fresh flowers and produce at THE ASHEVILLE CITY MARKET held every Saturday from 8am until noon.  The market was a good size with options from fresh produce, ready made foods and meats, to jewelry, flowers and preserves.  

We had planned to head straight out to the River Arts District after the City Market, but Ali thought we should try to take a drive through the city center before heading in the other direction.  In full swing downtown was the first day of a two-day music and arts festival.  THE LEAF FESTIVAL promotes the non-profit organization by the same name working towards building the community with music and arts.  

The festival was free and open to the public with 3 music stages, food trucks, and local vendors throughout the streets that it blocked off.  Clutch call made by Ali to swing through downtown.  We had a great time talking to local artists and perusing all of the different tents. 

After enjoying the live music and picking up some souvenirs along the way, we continued on to the RIVER ARTS DISTRICT to see all of the different artists and also to get lunch at THE WHITE DUCK TACO SHOP.  When researching Asheville online in preparation for our trip, White Duck Taco Shop kept popping up as a must-do on all of my restaurant lists.  I am so happy for all of that internet advice because it was delicious!  There are two locations, one downtown and one in the arts district.  The arts district location is mostly outside seating with a smaller indoor section.  Walk up to order, take your number, magical tacos are delivered in minutes.  Very simple procedure.  The menu was really creative and had something for everyone.  I heard great things before going, we enjoyed a great meal while we were there, and I have heard great things since.  Definitely gets an A+ for mellow lunch spots in Asheville when you need a taco fix.

In case you find yourself at the White Duck Taco Shop, I would suggest getting one - or all - off the following: 

- Nachos with the salsa trio

-Korean Beef Bulgogi Taco

-Chilled Lump Crab Taco with Old Bay Remoulade

-BBQ Carnitas Taco

-Mole Roasted Duck Taco with an Apple Cranberry Slaw

-Crisp Chicken BLT Taco *so what if it's on the kid's menu?

We walked off lunch around the area, meandering through the different studios and wandering around outside.  We enjoyed waving to all of the tubers for a minute or two as well.  I was amazed with how many people were out on the river and will be adding that to the to-do list for my next trip to Asheville.

After a postcard worthy Asheville day, we closed it out with dinner at THE LOBSTER TRAP.  Completely unsuspecting from the outside, walk in and you are sitting in a lobster house up in Maine.  Our server Katie gave us the royal treatment - we would later find out that after 7 years serving at The Lobster Trap we would be her very last table as she was promoted to FOH Manager and would be taking over the following day - and made sure we were filled in on the menu and enjoyed everything we got.  She was even a Pawley's native, not too far from our starting points down in the low country.  
A bit of a note about my family: we have spent many summers in Maine and love some good lobster.  I think we may think that is special, but writing this I realize that this is untrue.  Save for a few poor souls who have a shellfish allergy, I do not think we are special.  Everyone loves lobster because it's lobster, duh.  Ali got a grilled lobby because she's fancy.  Mom and I both got lobster rolls because we are traditionalists and by traditionalists I mean lazy.  We all shared the lobster mac and cheese.  Aside from the lobster mac and cheese being a little low on the lobster and the cheese, our dinner was super awesome and I have put in an application to live in their kitchen.

With day 2 successfully under our belts and lobster in our bellies, we headed back to the GROVE PARK INN to get some rest for a taxing day 3 - spa treatments.  Let's Go Day 3 will be up early next week so be sure to check back for that.  Thanks for reading!

LET'S GO - ASHEVILLE DAY 1

After an amazing vacation with my mom and sister, I am finally finished editing all of the photos to share with you, and I'm really excited!  We decided almost a year ago that we wanted to go on a girl's trip at some point and after looking around all of us thought Asheville would be a great location.  The destination wasn't too far, and allowed us to all drive together rather than needing to fly.  Mom picked out the GROVE PARK INN which was absolutely amazing. After plenty of planning, scoping out dozens of restaurants and countless activities, we had our trip planned. Now here I sit after a whirlwind vacation trying to type our memories into a post. 

I decided to split the posts up into days because there is just so much to show you all and I don't want to skip out on too much.  You can look forward to 4 days of posts on our little Asheville adventure with as much information on all of the places we visited as possible.  I will try to link all of the places we went to so you can just click on any of the names and they will take you to the individual sites where available.  Now let's go ahead and jump in!

After the drive - made complete with our matching shirts for the girl's weekend - we got to the Grove Park Inn.  Ali and Mom headed off to their respective pampering sessions for the afternoon.  The hotel is known for their spa and that was definitely factored into our plans for the trip.  Since I didn't have anything planned that day I decided to explore the property and take in the views.  You can't get too much different from the low country of Savannah than the lush mountains of Asheville.  

 Since Ali and Mom were wrapped up for most of the afternoon we planned to stay at the hotel for the evening and stay in for dinner.  The Grove Park Inn has been around for over 100 years and has several different restaurants and bars to choose from.  Wanting to continue taking in the breathtaking sights, we had cocktails at the EDISON which had a great sunset view and then had dinner over at SUNSET TERRACE.  

Our cocktail view was amazing and I'm glad we stopped over prior to dinner.  Although we had made our reservations for prime sunset watching time, those who had earlier reservations at SUNSET TERRACE lingered until after the sun set, which was the only negative to that meal.  Our server was a total sweetheart and our dinners were all amazing.  Mom and Ali both went with the bone-in rib-eye and I chose the scallops.  Since it was so dark, I could only manipulate the natural candlelight that I had to take a picture of my scallops but I can promise you everything was delicious.  
After dinner we all decided to turn in early for the night.  Our itinerary for the vacation was packed and we didn't want to miss out on anything.  Day 2 was completely packed with planned and unplanned adventures for all of us and I have plenty of pictures to share with you later this week.  Make sure to check back for that post on Thursday!

LET'S GO - ATLANTA PT. 1

When it comes to taking pictures while I am travelling, I have come to realize that I am just not that great.  I get so wrapped up in all of the activities that my camera rarely comes out of it's bag.  I tried as best as I could over the weekend to change that bad habit.  I think this was the first trip that I really didn't have any inhibitions when it came to where or when I took a photo.  If i liked it, I got it on camera.  
This weekend was like all other Atlanta weekends, driving up late on Friday, stopping for Nu-way Weiners in Macon, immediately falling asleep upon arrival, and packing in as much as possible on Saturday and Sunday morning before heading home.  Here are some snaps I took along the way.  Enjoy!

My new friend Jomax at our first stop out in Metter, GA.  You can visit him at Jomax BBQ right off the main exit on I-16.  I'm not sure if everything is "better in Metter", but this barbecue spot didn't look too bad at all.  

An obligatory shot of the dogs at NU-WAY.  Maybe they don't look mouth watering to some, but trust me.  Don't knock it until you try it guys. Oprah even loves the place!  The big O never steered any of us wrong.

After making it to Atlanta and getting a nights rest we started our Saturday at CRIMINAL RECORDS in Little Five Points.  Records, cassettes, comic books, a stage, and an amazing Kiss pinball machine are all there for your enjoyment.  A great place to get lost for an hour or 2 if you're in the area.

We decided to stop for lunch at the new-ish ATLANTA FOOD TRUCK PARK.  On busy days they've got up to 15 different trucks to choose from, live music, and ample seating.  We went for some empanadas and arepas with these uhhhh-mazing garlic and corn dipping sauces.  I will figure out how to make the sweet corn sauce if it's the last thing I do.  They post which trucks are going to be at the park on their Facebook page so make sure to take a look before heading down to plan out your attack.  I really wish Savannah jumped on this trend, food out of a truck just tastes better!

After lunch we took a tour of one of Wes' favorite breweries out in Marietta.  RED HARE BREWING is a microbrewery that opened in 2011.  For $10 you get a pint glass, tasting, and tour of the brewery.  They've got corn hole and bocce ball out front and live music on the weekends.

Topping off our Saturday night we headed out to Buford Highway and grabbed dinner at PANCHO'S MEXICAN RESTAURANT.  These guys had a six piece mariachi band going all out throughout the restaurant.  We had a great time taking in that festive atmosphere and some seriously good mexican food.  It was too hot that Saturday, but they have a really nice back patio for dinner on a cooler night.

We could't finish our drive on 16 without stopping for some fresh peaches.  Just one of the benefits of living down here - you're never too far from a roadside fruit stand.  I'll be back later this week with another post on some great city views from our trip to Atlanta.  And be on the lookout for upcoming posts on a girls trip to Asheville, NC as well.  Hope you enjoyed!