Asheville, North Carolina

I like to rank my cities visited on a livable scale. 1-10 could I live here. Now, I’ve been wanting to go to Asheville for a long time and after visiting I give it an 8. Thats a pretty good number in my book. 

The city was filled with great coffee shops, gourmet doughnuts, and breweries, literally everything I need to get through life. Each little area of the city had a unique feel and that cool mountain air is hard to beat. 

We started off our adventure at Farm Burger, with a deliciously fancy burger, garlic parmesan fries and craft beer. We walked up and down Wall Street and then headed to Black Mountain to visit our high school friend and her two adorable children. 

I have always wanted to go on a walk with Ruby and it was everything I had imagined. (Ruby is her daughter and she is hilarious and sassy and walks so slow and likes to pick mushrooms.) 

Kaitlin and I are on a buget you know, so we basically just get lunch, cut it in half and then eat the other half for dinner. 

We had parked Trudy at Wilson’s Riverfront RV Park. 

On the way back home we stopped by the Ingles to pick up some wine and some firewood— Kaitlin had really wanted to make a fire ever since we left Florida. 

So, Asheville is known as a hippy town but there are some strange birds here. I know its North Carolina but  while I still consider it The South, I think they have a different idea of southern hospitality. 

Checking out at Ingles was the most awkward experience. Just a PSA, if you don’t have an Ingles card you do not get the red price listed, you get the black price that isn’t always listed. So we had to exchange some wine bottles that were actually $17 instead of the sale price if $7. 

So that was uncomfortable. 

Then while we were paying, a man just came up and tapped me on the shoulder and said “Hi” then walked away. Strange. 

Kaitlin and I had to do Rock Paper Scissors to see who would go and get the water we forgot.  

Anyway, we moved on to our riverfront home and hit the hay. 

The next morning we did the most incredible thing— we went apple picking. 

About 45 minutes outside of Asheville there are dozens of you-pick apples farms. 

We settled on the Justus Orchard and the place was packed. Saturday is the day to take the family out to the farms and pick apples and pumpkins and play with goats and all kinds of games. 

They give you a little wagon with wooden baskets and you are free to roam the orchard picking whatever apples you like. I don’t know if I’ve ever eaten that many apples before at one time but they were all amazing. 

There was a church visiting from South Carolina and they were singing gospel music with hot apple cider on the front porch of the old barn. We had a 1/2 peck of apples and a new baby pumpkin to add to Trudy’s fall decor, and about 100 more pictures to edit. 

After a quick pitstop in downtown Hendersonville, we headed back to Asheville. 

We ended our trip brewery hopping downtown, wood fired pizza in a old train depot, and playing operation at a bar. We built a fire with starter logs and used a paperclip and a wooden spoon to roast some marshmallows and make s’mores. Don’t worry, we were already told you aren’t supposed to cook over starter wood, we won’t do it again. 

Keep checking back because we are making one of my epic guides to Asheville with all the amazing places to eat and drink and pick apples:)