Asheville: Beautiful scenery, beautiful people

From Greenville, SC, we headed north to the beautiful mountain town of Asheville, NC.  We spent the first afternoon walking around downtown.  There's a nice square in the center of downtown called Pack Place, and we hung out there for a bit before eating lunch at Posana, a gluten-free restaurant nearby.  Asheville's cuisine is delicious, and they have myriad options for vegetarians and those who want to eat local, natural foods.  During our meal, we found out that 20% of all meals from most restaurants that day were going to charities fighting AIDS in Western NC.  Another thing about Asheville: social awareness, kindness, and a concern for others.  We observed so many friendly people while exploring downtown... even saw a business man help a homeless man carry his bags.

View from Pack Place

We had a lot of fun exploring the downtown and stopped into a gallery of local artists (the gallery used to be a Woolworth's department store).  It's too bad we don't have a house to decorate right now - we loved the artwork!  We grabbed some business cards for future reference.  We also stopped by one of my favorite places: the Mast General Store.  Ever since I was a kid, my aunt would take me there, and I'd fill up a bucket with candy.  They have barrels and barrels of every kind of candy you can think of - even things your grandparents ate that you can't find anywhere else now.  I love it!

After an afternoon of exploring, we went to my relatives' house for dinner.  My uncle is a great cook, and we had delicious dinner both nights we stayed with them.  We had a great time visiting my aunt, uncle, and cousin.  It's always good to see family, especially after seeing them so rarely when we lived in New York.

Friday we got a slow start, but we decided to spend the afternoon on the Blue Ridge Parkway for some hiking and scenic views. The Parkway basically goes right through Asheville and continues on for miles & miles...

Haw Creek is the neighborhood where my relatives live

 

The two last pictures here are from the top of Craggy Gardens - it's a 1.4 mile hike up to breathtaking views of the Blue Ridge Mountains.  Gorgeous!!!

After hiking, we had another delicious family dinner, and my other cousin who lives about 10 minutes away joined us.  The next day, we went to see her house and had lunch at a local pizza place before hitting the road.

dinner at Melissa's relatives' house

family at Melissa's cousin's house

We love Asheville, but I think the winters will be rougher than we want to experience after NY... the ice and snow on those mountain roads don't sound fun, but gosh is it beautiful in spring, summer, and fall.  Regardless, we're feeling pulled toward the ocean...

UP NEXT: miscellaneous... we've had quick stops over the past week in Charlotte, Chapel Hill, Raleigh, and Charleston again, but we're heading to Florida on Saturday!  More to come very soon...