Road Trip 2012 - Day 7

Saturday, April 21st - Asheville, NC

Neither one of us woke until almost 9:00 a.m. We were both up until nearly midnight the previous night and after our full day of activities, we were tired.

As I was getting ready for the day, The Husband brought breakfast to the room.

While picking up breakfast, he had to report that the lock on our room door was not working. I forgot to mention that in my last post. We returned to the hotel after the baseball game and The Husband pushed on the door, without using his key, and it opened! How special. Not!

We got ourselves ready for the day and gathered up all our dirty clothes. We spoke to our new friend Michael, from Maintenance, and he promised to fix our door. We told him we are not usually this needy when we stay in a hotel and he just laughed.

Typically we have good experiences at Best Westerns. This has been our worst in a long time. In addition to the leaky faucet causing a wet carpet and the malfunctioning door lock, we now have that lovely moldy/musty smell from the carpet. I know we could request another room, but what's the point now? We are looking forward to checking out on Sunday and moving on down the road.

We left the hotel at around 11:15 a.m. with the odometer reading 36,048.

We leisurely toured a series of antique shops located in a large warehouse at 120 Swannanoa Road, Asheville, NC. The shops were filled with pretty and interesting things, which were priced accordingly.

I have enjoyed checking out shops on this trip, because I'm comparing content, quality and pricing to what we see in Oklahoma and what I have in my booths. Now, I need to find some flea markets, estate sales and garage sales for comparison purposes!

We stopped for lunch at Village Wayside Bar & Grille, which is located in the historic 1896 train depot for Biltmore Village. We shared a tasty French Dip sandwich, with fries and macaroni salad.

It was rainy and cool when we finished lunch, so we drove around Biltmore Village to find a couple of local restuarants we were considering for dinner. Biltmore Village is nice, but is filled with chain stores. Coldwater Creek, Talbots, J. Jill, Jos. A Banks, etc. It would have been nice to see some unique, locally owned shops.

Afterwards, we headed to a local laundromat to wash 3 loads of clothes, because that's what you do when you've been on the road for a week!

Laundry completed, we returned to the hotel for a nap. First, however, we made a dinner reservation at Rezaz.

We arrived at Rezaz at 8:00 p.m. for our 8:45 p.m. reservation. After checking in with the hostess station, we moved to the bar for a cocktail. Jonathan made great drinks for us. We were entertained watching him make drinks for others and trying to obtain clean glasses for his bar.

We were escorted to our table on time and met our waiter. Mark was very personable and his recitation of the daily specials made our mouths water.

To start, we ultimately decided to share:

Crisp Shrimp & Calamari - Sweet Sour Spice Glaze, Scallions & Sesame Seed

It was fantastic. The Husband particularly liked the light breading and we both thought the glaze was outstanding. I loved the texture and taste of the sesame seeds.

For dinner, I elected to have the small serving of:

Paella Mariscos - Scallops, Shrimp, Mussels, Squid, Chorizo, Sofrito, Lemon Aioli

The Husband selected:

Hot Smoked Duck Breast - Tomato Risotto, Brussels & Leeks, Cranberry Vincotto

We both enjoyed our dinners. The food was expertly prepared and extremely tasty.

Mark was attentive, but not intrusive. We enjoyed a couple of laughs with him about the large bachelorette party (15 girls) in our area. Girls just want to have fun in those situations, but invariably the word "penis" is mentioned loudly and there are various "penis" shaped items that suddenly appear.

We had a lovely evening at Rezaz and would happily return if we are ever in Asheville, NC again.

End of day odometer reading = 36,069.

We are moving on down the road on Sunday. Where do you think we will land?

Road Trip 2012 - Day 6

Friday, April 20th - Asheville, NC

We were up early this morning and had the hotel breakfast. Most of it was okay, but part of it was just plain strange. Specifically, the eggs shaped into a preformed patty (like sausage). That's just not right!

After breakfast we met Michael, the maintenance man. He had to work on our leaking sink. I found the leak last night when I was barefoot and stepped on wet carpet. Awesome. He fixed the pipes and promised to bring in a fan for the day.

We left the hotel at 9:10 a.m. with the odometer showing 36,022. We headed to Biltmore Estate for the grand tour. Here I am just before entering the house. I was beyond excited to be there.

Of course, they do not allow photography in the house. Which was okay, because there is no way I could ever photograph the beauty of the place. Besides, not worrying about taking pictures allows you the time to focus on the tour.

We rented the audio tour headphones. It took us a little over three hours to complete the self-guided tour. There are 43 rooms and/or areas of the house you are allowed to visit. The Husband turned on his pedometer at the beginning of the tour. We walked 3/4 of a mile in the house! (I would love to return to Biltmore and take the behind-the-scenes guided tours.)

After the tour, we lunched at The Stables and shopped in the gift stores. We then drove to Antler Hill Village and toured The Biltmore Legacy exhibit. Afterwards, we enjoyed a bit of ice cream from The Creamery. By this time, it was almost 4:00 p.m.

Back to the hotel for a nap!

After a short nap, we headed to McCormick Field, home of the Asheville Tourists. Who did we meet immediately upon entering the ballpark? Why Ted E. Tourist, of course. Ted E. was excited to hear we were Driller's fans from Tulsa, since the Tourists are also associated with Colorado Rockies.

We found our seats and what did we see on the field? Another mascot named Mr. Moon. When Ted E. came by to check on us, I asked him "What's the deal with that other mascot? Who is the number 1 guy here?" Ted E. assured me it was him.

Mr. Moon came by to visit us later. The Husband looks a little concerned about two mascots, doesn't he?

Our dinner consisted of ballpark dogs, peanuts and beer. It was a perfect night for a game and the Tourists won. What a great end to our day.

Back to the hotel by 9:30 p.m. with the end of day odometer reading 36,048.

Road Trip 2012 - Day 5

Thursday, April 19th - Knoxville, TN to Asheville, NC

We both woke at around 7:45 a.m. after a hard sleep. Vacation is work, don't you know! While I was prepping for the day, The Husband so kindly fetched a plate of breakfast for me from the buffet. I ate in the room, while we both were on-line.

With the odometer reading 35,885, we left the hotel at 10:10 a.m. and headed toward Asheville, NC.

We made a quick stop at Memory Lane Antique Mall in Sevierville, TN. Oh my.

If you are a serious collector of specific patterns of crystal, china, pottery, etc., this is the place for you.  It is stuffed to the rafters with wonderful items. For example, this is a table of linens in one booth:

And this is a cabinet full of thimbles. Just thimbles.

If you are ever in the area and are a collector, this mall is well worth a stop. It's a bit pricey, but for a true collector what's a little money?

We drove The Great Smoky Mountains Parkway, through Sevierville, Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg. Think Branson on steriods x 3. Overwhelming! Nerve wracking! Busy! We could only imagine what it would be like in the height of the summer season. CRAH ZY!

Funny thing, we stopped at the last traffic light in Gatlinburg and when we crossed the intersection we were immediately in the calm, cool Great Smoky Mountains National Park. A world away from the commercial, tourist scene.

We stopped at the visitor's center, stamped our NPS Passport, chatted with a park employee who gave us a short hike recommendation and departed with a trusty map.

We were told the hike to Laurel Canyon Waterfalls was 1.3 miles, paved and flat. Okay. We can do that.

People who live in Tennessee have a very different definition of flat than people who live in Oklahoma. Does this look flat to you? It's not. It's an insidious slope upwards.

At this point, I told The Husband to go on without me. He said "No, you can do it." I did, but it took us a while.

Can we say "out of shape?" At least no one passed us on the way up the trail!

About 2/10ths of a mile from the falls, the grade changed to downhill. At this point, I called "Bullsh*t!"

Bullsh*t re-enactment

I can't walk uphill to the falls and then downhill to the falls and then be expected to walk uphill again to go downhill, can I?

I did. And, I made it.
    

We stayed for a while and took photos. Of course, we stayed for a while! I wasn't leaving until I was good and ready!

Here I am after leaving the falls and hiking the 2/10ths of a mile uphill to get to the downhill slope for the rest of the trail. Thumbs up!

On my way down the trail, I met a girl struggling up the trail. I told her I had been her just the hour before and to not give up, she could do it! That's me, motivational speeches at the drop of the hat.

We got to the bottom of the trail, finally. Hike accomplished. Whoo Hoo!

We continued the long and winding drive through the park. We saw a couple of wild turkeys. We saw a lot of beautiful scenery. Unfortunately, we also saw a lot of dying trees.

We stopped here at one point in the drive.

This lookout is one of the places where you can enter The Appalachian Trail. We discussed hiking all the way to Maine, but considering my recent bellyaching about the 1.3 mile hike to the Laurel Canyon Falls, we opted not to at this time.

We did meet "Captain" who started on the trail March 9th in Georgia. He's hoping to hike all the way to Maine. He has until October 5th to make the journey, when the trail is closed for the season.

Good-bye "Captain." Good luck and happy hiking!

We drove on and eventually entered the spectacular Blue Ridge Parkway.

The mountains are beautiful. We would love to return and rent a cabin here for an extended time. Perhaps we can do that in the future.

We eventually made it to Asheville, NC and checked into our Best Western at 5:30 p.m. No, we are not in room 201 this time. That would have been too freaky!

We drove through downtown and it was busy, busy, busy, with no easy parking. We ended up having dinner at Chili's, not far from our hotel.

End of day odometer reading = 36,022.