This is a blog of my five-week exploration of culinary experiences in North Carolina. Baaswell Sheep is accompanying me and offering his own commentary on the trip, although he refuses to go into any place that serves lamb chops.
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Hard to believe we've been through twenty-five days of this trip. That's twenty-five posts and 352 pictures so far, and we still have ten days to go. Today, we had lunch in the suite and then headed out to our destination de jour.
We were supposed to meet up with some of the other attendees of the IT conference to hike at the Arboretum, but my companion was kind of worn out after the conference and his hike at Catawba Falls the previous day, so he didn't get away from the hotel in time to meet the group, but still spent the afternoon at the Arboretum. In short, this place is a large gardens, loosely similar to Callaway Gardens in south western Georgia. The Arboretum has the planned gardens more centrally grouped, and then has long walking and biking trails running through the woods around the central gardens, whereas Callaway has planned features scattered throughout the property, all interconnected with driving, biking, and walking paths. We started out wandering through the planned gardens, but it was rather hot by this point. Still, the bonsai exhibit was more than worth the heat. I don't think either of us had ever seen bonsai trees in person before – certainly not this many in one place. We then grabbed our hiking gear and hit the Carolina Wilderness trail, following it out to a large creek and then taking the Creekside trail back to just north of the central gardens. With all the rain lately, the creek was running nicely providing great views along the way. We watched a dragonfly drinking from a large puddle in the trail, but it darted around so swiftly that we couldn't get a decent picture. By the time we got back to the central garden, it was raining and the buildings had all closed for the day, so we went out and explored the Blue Ridge Parkway between there and the Folk Art Center on the east end of Asheville. (The main picture to the right is of the "quilt garden", as it's broken up into squares like a quilt.)
One of our favorites in Asheville, this place has a downtown location and this satellite location south of the city in a shopping center. (EDIT: I just learned that while Tupelo Honey was founded in Asheville, it's grown into a chain with locations in fifteen states – we had no idea.) We got their famous fried chicken with a side salad and blueberry lemonade. Let's just say this was many steps up from Bojangles, but then again they're in a completely different kind of market. Unfortunately, we let Savannah the Fox come in with us, and she swiped one of the two chicken legs before we could take the picture. Shame on her. Well, I guess I can't blame her: my companion said the chicken really was delicious, and I definitely enjoyed grazing on the side salad with a honey infused vinaigrette.
FYI, we went past the Biltmore Village today, but the vast majority of it is still closed due to damage from hurricane Helene. Even ten months later, there's still a lot of rebuilding to be done because of that storm, and the evidence is notable as you travel through this part of western North Carolina. It's not just the Blue Ridge Parkway closed: coming into Asheville we went over three temporary bridges put in place because the original bridges had been washed out or damaged beyond repair. We've seen multiple hiking trails closed, including some in the Arboretum today, not to mention seeing just the footings of what used to be a viewing platform at the top of Catawba falls. We've seen other businesses near rivers that are still closed, the buildings recognizable but standing in derelict shape. But, the worst concentration of damage we've seen so far was in the Biltmore Village area. Hopefully they will recover – the village website lists six businesses open again, but that's a tiny fraction of the village, and unfortunately it's likely some will never reopen for one reason or another. If you're in the area, please try to support the ones that are open so that they can have a chance to put down roots and survive until the rest of the area better recovers.
Please note that all restaurant and product names are used simply for referential purposes and links provided as a courtesy. Reviews are the sole opinions of the reviewer: no restaurant has paid to be listed here, and no restaurant is being explicitly endorsed. In other words, go out there, try them all, and form your own opinions!
We were supposed to meet up with some of the other attendees of the IT conference to hike at the Arboretum, but my companion was kind of worn out after the conference and his hike at Catawba Falls the previous day, so he didn't get away from the hotel in time to meet the group, but still spent the afternoon at the Arboretum. In short, this place is a large gardens, loosely similar to Callaway Gardens in south western Georgia. The Arboretum has the planned gardens more centrally grouped, and then has long walking and biking trails running through the woods around the central gardens, whereas Callaway has planned features scattered throughout the property, all interconnected with driving, biking, and walking paths. We started out wandering through the planned gardens, but it was rather hot by this point. Still, the bonsai exhibit was more than worth the heat. I don't think either of us had ever seen bonsai trees in person before – certainly not this many in one place. We then grabbed our hiking gear and hit the Carolina Wilderness trail, following it out to a large creek and then taking the Creekside trail back to just north of the central gardens. With all the rain lately, the creek was running nicely providing great views along the way. We watched a dragonfly drinking from a large puddle in the trail, but it darted around so swiftly that we couldn't get a decent picture. By the time we got back to the central garden, it was raining and the buildings had all closed for the day, so we went out and explored the Blue Ridge Parkway between there and the Folk Art Center on the east end of Asheville. (The main picture to the right is of the "quilt garden", as it's broken up into squares like a quilt.)
