Roadtripping South
I completely forgot I had a tumblr and been having the urge to write about the trips and travels we take every few months so I decided to revive ambtraveler and start with our most recent trip down south.
This fall we decided on Asheville, NC as our destination of choice and that we would road trip south to see more of the beautiful foliage at its peak or just about finishing the transition.
We jetted off on the 9 hour journey from Pennsylvania and stopped overnight in Virginia as the midway stop. The next morning we started out for the final portion through Virginia, Tennessee and North Carolina. Once we hit the mountains in Tennessee and the fog had cleared, the views were amazing. The trees had just about finished but it was still beautiful to see.
When we got to Asheville, we started the trip at Asheville Treetops Adventures for a little ropes course action to liven us up after the 4 1/2 hour car journey south. Paul of course was ambitious and did all of the courses but 1 finishing out the toughest red course with a little zip lining to completion. I played it safe and kept to the two easiest courses. I tried an intermediate one and had to turn back two obstacles in because I was scared shitless i would get stuck and need to be extracted from the trees.
Our next stop was to the newly opened New Belgium Brewery in West Asheville. It was an in depth, knowledgable tour that gave a great history about the company, how it came to be and the origins of the infamous Fat Tire beer. The tour was about an hour and a half through the new facility from the production of beer, to the science of perfecting the brand (yeast does wonders!) and ultimately bottling and packaging for distribution throughout the East coast. Of course we got plenty of generous beer samples along the way. We left with a our bellies full of beer in search of the Southern meal to fill it!
We decided on staying in a VRBO (Vacation Rental By Owner) for this trip instead of using our trusty old friend Hampton. The cute little one bedroom apartment nicknamed The Sparrow, was located just north of Downtown Asheville and was clean, spacious and perfect for the 3 night stay we had planned. We could easily drive to all the restaurants and breweries within 10 minutes. Dinner for the first night was at a restaurant downtown called Rhubarb. It was located right in Pack Square with a cute little outdoor seating area and we took advantage of the warm fall weather and sat outside. I ordered the Pork Shoulder with collard greens and black eyed peas. Quite tasty as you can see above. Paul chose the Rhubarb Glazed Duck and indulged as well. It was a success first day of exploring Asheville, getting some physical activity and tasting some amazing flavors. More to come for Day 2!