October 17, 20187 yr The wife, son and I are heading to Asheville this weekend. We've never been there before, but wife wanted to go somewhere for the fall folliage, and this is the place we picked. Any recommendations of places to go/see while we're there? (A thing to remember is, our 15 year old will be with us, so a brewery or winery isn't going to be that much of an interest to him.) Thoughts?
October 17, 20187 yr Biltmore for sure. Biscuit Head - 2 Locations - Get there early or plan on waiting in line. Lots of great hiking and biking all around that area. Tough to go wrong wherever you go.
October 17, 20187 yr Biscuit Head. Every day you are there... :lol2: GT suggested this for me when I was out that way. He wasn't wrong.
October 17, 20187 yr Asheville, North Carolina is one beautiful city. Have a blast!@ Most of my time in Asheville has been related to eating, drinking, and playing golf so all of those might not work well with your son along on your trip. Definitely the Biltmore tour. I have been on it 4-5 times and enjoy it more each time. An amazing estate. Mount Mitchell is the highest peak east of the Mississippi River. It is shocking at how far you can see and how beautiful it is way up there. I don't fly fish, but there are great spots for that near Asheville. I have done a zip line there and it was a lot of fun. It's a pretty time of year to go as long as you don't get any rain.
October 17, 20187 yr Author Asheville, North Carolina is one beautiful city. Have a blast!@ Most of my time in Asheville has been related to eating, drinking, and playing golf so all of those might not work well with your son along on your trip. Definitely the Biltmore tour. I have been on it 4-5 times and enjoy it more each time. An amazing estate. Mount Mitchell is the highest peak east of the Mississippi River. It is shocking at how far you can see and how beautiful it is way up there. I don't fly fish, but there are great spots for that near Asheville. I have done a zip line there and it was a lot of fun. It's a pretty time of year to go as long as you don't get any rain. Well, everyone's got to eat...so, if you've got any favorites, let me know. Biltmore is definitely on the list. I think I'm putting Mt. Mitchell on it as well. We're staying just a little east of there, in the Lake James State Park, so it'd be somewhat on the way to/from Asheville anyway. As far as rain goes (knock on wood), the only thing it looks like right now is early, early Saturday morning (4a-7a)...outside of that, looks mostly dry with temps in the low 60's.
October 18, 20187 yr Lots mentioned already...Grove Park Inn Resort needs to be on the list. If you are a golfer they have a nice Donald Ross course there too.
October 18, 20187 yr Biscuit Head. Every day you are there... :lol2: What is this? Sounds like I missed out.
October 18, 20187 yr I spent a week in Asheville back in July. Loved the area. My girls are about the same age as your son. We enjoyed driving along the Blue Ridge Parkway up to Mt. Mitchell. We we first went up to the summit it was foggy and you couldn't see much more than 100' or so. We went down a bit lower and hiked some trails for a couple of hours. Went back up to the top before we left and had a pretty decent view although it still wasn't completely clear. We also visited Chimney Rock State Park. While the total elevation is lower the trail (mostly wooden stairs) to the top of the chimney is much more strenuous. There is an an option to take an elevator that goes up through the mountain and cuts off about 20 stories worth of steps. The trail then continues above the chimney probably another 20 stories or so and eventually leads to the top of a waterfall. There is no elevator option on this portion, and it was all this middle aged fat boy could handle. My youngest daughter basically ran up it like it was no big deal. Biltmore Estate is pricey, however, I'm not aware of anything else like it, so I would still recomend considering a visit. It's unreal from an architectural as well as a historical perspective. I would recommend taking your time as you tour the house as if you read the displays you really get a sense of what if would have been like to live on the estate. There is also an area that goes into the process of the construction of both the house and grounds / gardens. And don't skip the gardens, they are amazing. I know that visiting a church isn't usually a highlight of a vacation, but if your downtown the Basilica of St. Lawrence is worth a stop, especially if you appreciate architecture. One place that we stumbled upon once we were in town is the Asheville Pinball Museum. It's downtown. It cost $15.00 to get in but once inside you get to play as much pinball as desire. They have probably 50 pinball machines dating from the 1950's to the present including some video pinball machines. In addition they also about about 35 or so arcade games, mostly stuff that was popular in the 80's and 90's (Galaga, Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Dig Dug, Burger Time, Qbert, etc.) My kids loved playing the games. They had a hard time believing that when I was a kid if you wanted to play a video game you need to go to the mall with a stack of quarters. If you don't mind driving a little bit, Greenville, SC is only about an hour drive south of Asheville. They have a really neat downtown area that has a park with a large water fall right in the middle of downtown. We went made a little half day trip and went there in the afternoon and had dinner and such before returning to Asheville. The waterfall is lit up and night and is really pretty. As far as restaurants, my youngest daughter is really picky so it's hard for us to stray from the national chains and know that they will have something she likes. But as others have said you have to go to Biscuit Head at least once. While others have said to get there early, we took a different approach. We arrived late on a weekday. I think that they close at 2:00 P.M. and we got there a little before 1:00 P.M. No line and walked right in and ordered. Get more food than you think you want cause once you taste it you'll want more. We also found a place called Apollo Flame Bistro that was close to our hotel. I think they have two or three locations. It's a combination of Greek and Italian food. We all enjoyed our meals and it was fairly inexpensive.
October 18, 20187 yr What is this? Sounds like I missed out. Best breakfast/brunch spot on the planet. I'd say galaxy, but I haven't tried any off the rock we inhabit...
October 18, 20187 yr As far as restaurants, I like Tupelo Honey. It’s a southern cooking cafe with a quirky menu, but it’s very tasty. It is down in the College Street area.
October 18, 20187 yr Grove Park Inn..... The best time to Visit is at Christmas. They have the National Ginger Bread Convention there every December and is a must see....
October 18, 20187 yr The Grove Park Inn is fabulous, but no one is warning the poor guy about how costly it is to stay there.
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