On October 18th, my BFF Jenni and I escaped and ran off to Asheville, NC for a few days of fun. This was my first ever official girls trip and it was GLORIOUS. Seriously. In addition to having the company of my dear friend (where we could chat for days uninterrupted), I fell in love with Asheville. The food. The shopping. The beauty. The food. The Biltmore. The food. The art. The beer. The food. The food. The food. (Did I mention the food?) It was a perfect trip and I am so grateful for the time away.
I sent Matt this pic because he always says that people who ride first class have soft palms. Unbeknownst to us, Michael booked our tickets in first class. Soft palms don't bother me one bit!
We had a 2 hour layover in Atlanta before our hop to Asheville and after a quick Internet research we landed on a restaurant in the International Terminal that was supposed to have great food. It did not disappoint. Can you believe this was airport food?? The fried goat cheese with honey was especially amazing.
Getting our clean on once we arrived in the hotel. Matt and Michael make fun of us for our hotel room wiping, so we could fly our freak flags without judgment!
Day one breakfast at Tupelo Honey Cafe. Sweet potato pancakes topped with fried chicken!
Loading up in our bright blue rental to head to the Biltmore Estate for the day.
We toured the Biltmore House, which was amazing. I took so many pictures, but decided not to post here, as I think the beauty is lost in the photographs. Instead, here are just a few. A balcony view:
Various gargoyles (all different) on the veranda outside
Moms in the laundry room!
The gardens blew me away. So many amazing plants.
Waving farewell to the house as we headed to the Biltmore village and winery for a Taste of Biltmore lunch and wine tour
Lunch cocktail. Glorious
The third course to our prix fix lunch. The best carrot cake in the history of the world. Sorry, Daube's, you've lost my vote.
Wine tasting after our tour.
A late dinner that night back in downtown at Chestnut. Shrimp and grits is in my top 5 favorite meals. Just adore it!
On Friday morning we rose early to head over to the Grove Park Inn, where they have a famous subterranean spa. I have zero pictures of the experience because they don't allow cell phones. We spent the morning lounging in robes, sipping specialty tea, reading, and enjoying the different mineral pools between treatments. I had a pedicure (complete with hot stone foot massage, chocolates, eye mask, and mimosa) and then later a facial that was out of this world. We left refreshed and headed back downtown to eat a quick lunch and hit the Blue Ridge Parkway for some Fall foliage viewing and a short hike. I did the driving, so Jenni took some pics. It was definitely a white knuckle driving experience. Intense curves and slow speed limits. Pics don't do the scenery justice.
After a dinner, we wandered around downtown for shopping and to see the drum circle. It was amazing! Love the hippy-ness of this town.
We stopped at Wicked Weed Brewing for a beer, then finished the night with another stop at French Broad Chocolate Lounge. We stopped there the night before too and fell in love. It is impossible to choose what you want, so we often got multiple desserts. This was my chocolate coconut caramel brownie, which I happily ate AFTER I devoured a pots de creme.
Saturday morning we wandered over to the Early Girl Cafe for a leisurely Southern breakfast. While we waited for our table, we noticed that the street lamps were covered with knitting and decorated so cute! The knitting shop on this block did this. So fun.
After breakfast we did more shopping, then headed over to meet our group for a walking food tour. We started with champagne at a book store/champagne bar, and then enjoyed amazing food and drinks at 8 different stops. The chefs at each spot came out and talked to us about their food, philosophy, and history of the restaurant. Foodie heaven!
More shopping after the food tour, a light dinner at Posana (brussels sprouts and kale salad), we hit the chocolate lounge for one more stop. This time I enjoyed a double scoop of my favorite ever ice cream (milk and cookies--their homemade vanilla with their chopped up chocolate chip cookies!) and their signature liquid truffle, which is drinkable chocolate that is thicker than hot chocolate but thinner than pudding. Just amazing and good to the last drop. I also took another brownie for the road (which I ate on the flight home the next day!)
On Sunday morning we were first in line to wait at Biscuit Head. This place serves "cat head" biscuits (meaning they are the size of a cat head). It did not disappoint. A butter and jam bar (probably 15 kinds of each), fried green tomatoes, jalapeno pimento cheese, gravy flights, and biscuit donuts with lemon curd.
With a vow to never eat again, we sadly drove to the airport to turn our car in and bid farewell to this awesome town. What a wonderful trip! Grateful for our friendship and for our husbands who made this trip possible.
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