As I mentioned in the Biltmore post, my family trip this year was to western North Carolina. We took one big SUV and made a true family road trip out of it. We spent the first three nights in Asheville. It's such a fun and cute little city! I had driven around it and stopped in the city a couple of times but never got to spend much time there so it was great to get a few days there. We stayed in a rental downtown and were able to walk several places.
We stopped at Honeywood in Lexington for lunch on our way down the first day and it was so good! I had the Shady Lane salad and I'm dreaming of recreating that with that shaved country ham. We made it to Asheville and got settled into our condo before walking over to Tupelo Honey. We have had Tupelo Honey in Arlington a couple of times and just love the southern food.
On our first day in Asheville, mom and dad took us to one of their favorite cafes ever, Sunny Point Cafe. It's a farm-to-table restaurant that has their own gardens out back. They serve the best bacon ever! Seriously, go try it! Allison and I both tried the Bloody Mary after a friend of hers raved about their Bloody Mary. It lived up to the hype. Super fresh tasting and just the right amount of spice. I had the Southern omelette. It had bacon, pimento cheese, and tomatoes in it. After we ate, we went to the Biltmore and spent a few hours in awe of the gorgeous house and property. We met up with a couple of Allison's friends for dinner at Wicked Weed. It was a cute little brewpub with a great beer selection. After dinner, Allison's friends, Allison, Wyatt, and I went to the Golden Pineapple for their Miracle pop-up! I mean, first of all, it's at a bar called the Golden Pineapple so it was meant to be right? Second, it's a CHRISTMAS BAR! Match made in heaven for me. It was so fun!
The next day we had a lot of rain so we didn't do a whole lot. We had breakfast at Biscuit Head. I'm certain I would eat in a biscuit shop all the time if we had one in Lafayette. I just got a single biscuit (they're huge!) and the pork sausage gravy....but I really wish I had gotten a gravy flight so I could have tried a couple more. They also have a jam bar that had all kinds of delicious jams, spreads, and honeys! Since it was so gross out, we just went back to the condo to hang out for a while. We ended up hanging out until dinner time. We grabbed tacos at Mamcitas Tacos before we went to the North Carolina Arboretum for their Winter Lights. It ended up being a little rainy still as we walked through the Winter Lights display but it was so fun!
The next day Allison and I walked over to Vortex Donuts for a quick bite and latte. It was dry but very cold. We had intended to drive the Blue Ridge Parkway but it was closed due to weather. It snowed in the higher elevations over night. We did a little bit more shopping but it was so cold we didn't want to be out walking around too much. We grabbed lunch downtown at a cute little spot called Bomba. After lunch, we hopped in the car and headed out of Asheville. We drove around in what is probably my parents' favorite areas to come to relax and unwind. We showed Wyatt the cabin they often rent in the mountain and drove over to Sylva, North Caronlina. It ended up being much warmer there too! We drove over to the Oconaluftee Visitor Center for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Roads in the park were also closed because of the weather. We stamped our passports and walked around a bit to admire the herd of elk. We had BBQ in Dillsboro that night for dinner at Haywood Smokehouse. We swung by Sylva to see the courthouse at night before staying the night in Cherokee.
The next day we got a later start due to Telluride Bluegrass Festival tickets on sale time but once my family secured their tickets, we went out for lunch at Sazon. It was the best Mexican restaurant on a little river near Cullowhee, North Carolina. We then made a scenic drive through the area to check out some of the waterfalls of western North Carolina. It was a beautiful day. Unfortunately, we arrived back to Cherokee to some bad news and ended up leaving early and driving into the night (my parents all night and into morning) to get home. Our original plans were to spend another night in Cherokee, NC and then spend a couple in a cabin in Gatlinburg.
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