Asheville, NC and a New Friend...

We decided to do a long weekend in Asheville, NC...I hadn't been there in fifteen years and Jack had never been...and it's a short drive from Pipestem, WV.

I didn't think it would be a particularly busy time but, apparently, I was wrong as most campgrounds that met our criteria were booked solid. I'd read a number of good reviews and recommendations for Mama Gertie's Hideaway Campground and they have sites in the $40 range, which is more than my budget likes but a good rate for the expensive Asheville area, so decided I'd give them a try. They had only two sites available, both mountain top, one for $55 and one for $70. I took a deep breath, said to myself "it's only money," and booked the $55 site.

We certainly did have a mountain top campsite and it felt like we were climbing a mountain to reach it. The truck pulling the fifth wheel needed to gather some momentum to make it up there and the staff person leading us to our site on a golf cart was moving a bit too slowly. I was afraid we were going to run him over trying to maintain our forward momentum!  Jack said he felt the wheels slip a little! The campground is nice and the views are beautiful but not so sure I'd spend that much again. 

To digress a a moment...I belong to a number of Facebook RV groups. I gather some good information there and occasionally make a few friends.  One evening while we were still in WV, I saw that one of my RV friends posted that she and her husband were heading to Asheville. I commented that we were too and we both said it would be nice if we could meet. Well, when she went to make her reservations she found campgrounds were mostly booked but did find one...at Mama Gerties for $70. She said the same thing I did and booked the site. So...we were not only going to meet, we were going to be neighbors!

Bonnie and Kevin arrived Friday evening. We sat and talked for hours...like we'd been friends for years. We met up on Sunday at the Biltmore Estate and later went out for dinner, where we again talked non-stop. Vinnie's Neighborhood Italian was highly rated on Trip Advisor and rightly so. As an Italian girl from New York, I'm picky about my Italian food and theirs is good...not quite NY good, but good...and I had enough left to take home for another dinner. I'll definitely return next time I'm in Asheville. Loved meeting Bonnie and Kevin and hope our paths cross again before too long!

Asheville is a cool city...as the t-shirt says: "If you're too weird for Asheville, you're too weird."

On Friday we visited Biltmore Village. We walked around the tree lined streets, checked out the shops and had a late lunch a the Cantina. the food was good...and quite pretty...and I loved sitting out on the patio watching Asheville go by.

Saturday we went downtown and wandered around and spent a good bit of time pouring through the aisles of Mast General Store. We had dinner at the Tupelo Honey Cafe...southern style food with a twist, good but a little on the pricey side.

On Sunday we had tickets for the Biltmore Estate. You should not visit the North Carolina mountains without seeing Biltmore at least once. I have been once before, fifteen years ago, but it was Jack's first visit. It's a country estate built by George Vanderbilt in the late 1800s. It took an entire community of workers six years to build...Biltmore Village was originally constructed to house the workers during this time. The house has 255 rooms, 35 bedrooms, 43 bathrooms, a bowling alley, and a basement swimming pool. The library contains 10,000 books and there is a total of 23,000 books throughout the house...all original to the house. The house and gardens sit on thousands of acres and the views are amazing. Tickets are expensive, but worth it. No  inside picture taking allowed.

We really enjoyed our Asheville visit and hope to go back.