Babymoon in Asheville

Well, Baby Garth will be here before we know it–in less than two months’ time we should be holding our little one! So we wanted to take advantage of our last season of travel minus children. We decided to head to Asheville, North Carolina, for an extended weekend of enjoying fall weather and colors.

We started our journey on Thursday with the scenic drive through North Georgia and into the Smoky Mountains. We took a break from the drive near the small town of Dillard, where we detoured for a two-mile hike in Black Rock Mountain State Park, and stopped in for an afternoon visit with some friends who live in that area.

Overlook from the hike… we had great fall weather!

While the pregnancy certainly didn’t stop us from doing the hike, I acknowledge it did slow me down a little bit! But we made it to the summit!

That evening we arrived in Asheville after dark, and Friday morning it was foggy. So it was later in the day before we could appreciate this great view from our Vacation Rental By Owner accommodation.  (Check out VRBO.com!)

Nice to walk out on the deck to this scenery!

On Friday, we set out for a drive and some more hiking along the Blue Ridge Parkway. We were a bit ambitious with our original plans, which had included a hike to Linville Falls, which is some 70 miles north of Asheville on the Parkway. But of course the Parkway itself lured us to a slower pace, with its winding roads, abundant overlooks and stunning fall colors. We decided to take it slow and do a couple of smaller hikes and simply enjoy the day.

One of the first overlook points of the day… the colors got better and better the more altitude we gained.

On the Blue Ridge Parkway

Please notice the waterfall in the background!

On Saturday we set out to explore the Biltmore Estate. This house, completed in 1895, is the largest private residence in the US–175,000 square feet! Dave had never been, and I had only visited in the winter (which meant no tour of the gardens), so we spent the better part of Saturday roaming the grounds and checking out the house.

Impressive!

Distant view of the walled garden. We spent a couple of hours exploring this area.

Late Saturday afternoon we headed to downtown to explore the fun streets of Asheville. We also stopped in for a snack at the French Broad Chocolate Lounge. The quintessential chocolate cake (yes, that’s the name on the menu) might have been the highlight of my day!

It was really the baby who wanted the chocolate cake…

We woke up early Sunday to get breakfast at Early Girl Eatery before heading back home.  This was really our first “vacation” since we’ve come home from the Tour, and cycling came up regularly in our conversation. There were perks to being in the car and on foot this weekend, but several things about the area made us miss traveling on our bikes. Especially our time on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Which is ironic, because going into the Tour I was very nervous about mountains, and these were the first we tackled. But now, being back (although on a different part of the Parkway) made us both miss the joy of hitting the hills on two wheels. Sure, we were able to cover more distance in the car on Friday, and don’t get me wrong, in my current condition, it was the way to go! But still, there’s no replacing that feeling of hitting the top of a long climb, taking in the spectacular view, then coasting freely into the next valley.

It’s small, but you see that speck of blue on the road? Yep, that’s a cyclist! We saw loads of them on Friday! A little jealous.

Also, Asheville itself has a great cycling culture, despite its hilly terrain. We loved this:

Yep, if you show up on your bike to participating businesses, you get a discount! Nice work, Asheville!

Altogether, a fantastic getaway! We recommend Asheville for a weekend trip. Now we’re t-minus 7.5 weeks to the anticipated arrival of Baby Garth! More soon about how we’ve been getting prepared for this major life change.