The final stop on our grand tour of the Southeast in the fall was Asheville, NC. While we had long thought about visiting this much-talked-about town, our motivation increased when our son moved there in June. That made a lovely excuse to visit, and we timed it so that he had a few days off from work.
The road from Knoxville, TN, to Asheville took us over a portion of the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, but I’ll talk about Asheville first.
Downtown Asheville
Our son suggested we might have a better time staying downtown than staying outside of town near where he lives. So I picked the Haywood Park Hotel, originally built as a Bon Marche department store in the 1930’s. In a nod to the past, the elevator stop on our floor said “Children’s Wear” when the doors opened. There were lots of highly recommended restaurants in the very compact downtown area, so we were able to walk to dinner most nights.
As with Knoxville, Asheville has a vibrant arts scene that isn’t confined to the Arts District. You may remember the big flood in 2024 from hurricane Helene that wiped out most of the famous Arts District lining the riverbank. Some of the artists have moved to downtown before the Arts District is completely restored to its former glory. The downtown is also notable for the sheer number of buskers on the street. Sometimes there were several artists so close together that you couldn’t really hear either of them.
Beer and Pinball in Asheville
Asheville also has a huge beer scene with nearly 40 craft breweries. They hold the title of “Beer City USA”. Both New Belgium Brewing and Sierra Nevada base their east coast operations in town. We were told Sierra Nevada regularly sends samples to their Chico, CA brewery to compare and adjust to ensure beer lovers get a consistent taste regardless of the origin of the beer. What’s not to like?
One evening after dinner, we decided to visit a shop called the Asheville Pinball Museum, and we had a blast. Basically, you pay a flat $15, and you can play any machine, not just pinball until they close. They had Pac-Man, Space Invaders, and Galaga, in addition to all of the pinball machines. I was playing a pinball machine, and I was doing what everyone does, shake it a little but not enough to tilt the machine. My son had never played pinball and kept telling me I wasn’t supposed to do that. It was a little like the first time my kids saw a phone booth. We just don’t realize that some things are not part of their experience. In my opinion, every town should have one of these “museums”; it was so much fun.
River Arts District in Asheville
One day, we decided to visit the rebuilt portion of the River Arts District. There were a few galleries, restaurants, and a lovely promenade along the riverbank. Just across a small bridge is the New Belgium Brewing Company, so we decided it was time for some refreshment. They have a large barn-like structure with many beers on tap, a lovely patio with river views, and a busy lawn area filled with little kids. It really looked like a lovely place to spend an afternoon with your family. Somewhere out of view is a large brewery with lots of tanks, but we didn’t take a tour.
Couch for Our Son
Part of our goals for this visit was to help my son get settled in his new apartment. The move didn’t go the way we planned, and his time is really limited. The one thing he really needed was a couch, so we took ourselves off to the Ashley Home Store. Here, we got really lucky because they had a lot to choose from in the style he was interested in.
So, after describing the couch to our son and getting the final price and delivery information, we got on with the rest of our day. The next day we went back to have our son ok the purchase, to say he was thrilled is putting it mildly.
Blue Ridge Parkway and Fall Colors
One thing we were really looking forward to in our visit to Asheville were the fall colors. It has actually been more than a few years since we have seen a notable leaf show. Since it still seemed like summer when we first arrived, we thought we might be visiting too early but the weather cooled down a few weeks into our trip and the leaves were turning.
Because the Blue Ridge Parkway is a 469-mile scenic drive in the Appalachian Highlands with varying elevations, we were able to see the leaves turning in a cascade down the mountains from top to bottom. We got on the Blue Ridge Parkway at Smoky Mountain NP and took it all the way to Asheville. Fortunately, that portion of the road was open. Parts of the road are still closed as a result of the flooding in 2024.
We stopped often during our drive and kept track of our elevation. The first day we went through, the leaves were turning at about 5000 ft. Above that, most of the trees were already bare and below was still green. It turned out to be quite a lesson in nature. The day we traveled to Asheville it was getting pretty late because we had stopped so many times, so we cut off of the parkway to get to Asheville faster. A day or two later, we went with our son back on the parkway but this time directly from Asheville. The views and the leaves were even better on the second day. We all really enjoyed our little road trip.
Biltmore Estate
In addition to being a cute town, Asheville’s claim to fame, as it were, is the Biltmore Estate. So, I got some super expensive ($140 each) tickets in advance with a specific timed entry and they meant it. So we got there a little early and figured we could visit the gardens first and then catch our tour of the house. It was good we went early because the garden was huge and just magnificent, especially the greenhouses. The variety of tropical plants and orchids was more extensive than I have ever seen. I could have spent another hour or two in the greenhouses alone but we had to make our tour time.
The Biltmore Home is very large. In fact, they say it is America’s Largest home. The house and grounds cover more than 8000 acres. So it is quite a drive from the gates to the parking lot for the house tours. The home was built for George Washington Vanderbilt II between 1889 and 1895. George Vanderbilt descendants still own it. The house is just as ornate on the inside as the outside and has all of the latest technologies.
Food in Asheville
While we had several nice meals in Asheville, mostIy ethnic food, I enjoyed our visit to the New Belgium Brewery the most. We didn’t eat there, just drank beer but as we all know beer is food. Here are some gratuitous food pictures for those of you who are interested.
Where do you like to catch fall colors?
