As promised, here is the guide to everywhere we stayed, ate, drank, etc. during our short weekend getaway last weekend to Asheville, North Carolina! Let me preface the rest of this post by saying that there are SO many other places we wished we could have gone to, but there simply wasn’t enough time. I guess we will have to go back soon!! Maybe when the weather is a littler warmer!
We stayed at the Asheville East KOA Campground. The facility was great! They have lots of different camping options, so if you don’t have an RV, don’t worry! They have tent camping, and they also have cabins for rent. If you do have an RV, there are different RV options as well. They have river-front sites, lake-front sites, and centrally located sites. Each site has its own picnic table and fire pit. We stayed at one of the river-front sites, and we loved it! There was a large, grassy area between the RV and the river for Stella to run around in. Despite the freezing air temperatures, Stella was a huge fan of splashing around in the river. The mountain views around the campsite are gorgeous, and they offer good views of both sunrise and sunset!
The campsite also has tons of amenities. There is a little general store at the front of the campground with anything you might need while camping – except wine! They also sell firewood and have it delivered directly to your campsite. This was one of our favorite parts since it was so cold last weekend. There is a nice dock on the lake with some benches if you want to sit and enjoy some peace and quiet. They also have little boats you can rent if you want to get a little exercise is on the lake! During the summer months, they open the pool, so you can catch a tan or go for a swim. Finally, they also have a little dog park where we spent a lot of time playing with Stella and trying to wear her out!
The first night we were there, we made a nice fire and grilled some hamburgers and hotdogs that we had brought with us. Nothing beats a good fire on a cold night with some warm food! I made sure to pack plenty of snacks, wine, and grill-able foods, but somehow I forgot to pack breakfast food.
So, Saturday morning, we were on the hunt for a breakfast place. We ended up getting takeout from Blue Ridge Biscuit Company. Ace ordered a Mountain Mama (fried grit cake with homemade pimento cheese spread, spiced honey, and a fresh local heirloom tomato with blackberry balsamic reduction), a regular biscuit with sausage gravy, and a chocolate croissant. I ordered two sides of bacon, a side of has browns, a side of fried green tomatoes, and an orange juice. Everything was absolutely delicious!! We will definitely be eating here again the next time we’re in Asheville. Let me also say, the portions were definitely big enough that we could have made this breakfast last until Sunday morning, but it was just so good that we couldn’t stop eating.
After breakfast, we took Stella for a walk and played with her at the dog park for a few hours so that she would be tired and sleep while we went out exploring. The campsite was only 15 minutes away from Downtown Asheville, so we were excited to head out and and explore! Our first stop was Pack’s Tavern. We were just looking for a little appetizer, so we ordered the Tavern Pretzels & Beer Cheese. I love a good soft pretzel, and these did not disappoint. To drink, Ace ordered The Dark Side Flight, which came with ABC Ninja Porter, Pisgah Valdez, Hi-Wire Bed of Nails, and Highland Gaelic Ale. I ordered the Silver Gate Chardonnay.
After our appetizer and drinks, we headed out to just walk around and see what we could find. Despite the cold weather, it was pretty busy downtown! We explored some cute art galleries (with amazing works) and little shops with cool souvenirs. We also went in some cute little boutiques!
Our next sit-down stop was Weinhaus. Ace was less than excited about this stop since he doesn’t like wine, but in addition to it being a cute wine store, they have a bar where they serve both beer and wine! Ace ordered the Noble Cider, and I ordered a nice, crisp rose. After our drinks, we were back on the streets exploring.
After walking around for a little while longer, we decided to find somewhere to have an early dinner. After putting our name on a few different waitlists, we ended up back at Pack’s Tavern! We learned that in addition to Asheville taking COVID very seriously, it was also restaurant week, which is why there were such long wait times. For dinner, Ace ordered the Mt. Mitchell Burger (cheddar & pepper jack cheese, fried green tomato, applewood smoked bacon, over medium egg, and jalapeños). I ordered the Chicken Tender plate. We got both sweet potato tots and French fries with our meal. Ace said the burger was amazing, and my chicken tenders were also delicious! The sweet potato tots were the highlight of my meal. To drink, Ace had a Bourbon Caramel Milkshake and a Moscow Mule. I tried the Biltmore Chardonnay, but it was a little too oaky and buttery for me, so I switched back to the Silver Gate Chardonnay, which was much crisper.
After dinner we headed back to the campground & RV to see our Stelly girl. Supercross was on Saturday night, so we stayed in the camper and watched that and drank some seltzers. We tried the Bud Light Lemonade Seltzers for the first time last weekend. The peach flavor was our favorite, but in general, these seltzers weren’t our favorites. They tasted more like Mike’s Hard Lemonade in our opinion. Crook & Marker lemonades are still my favorites, followed by Truly Lemonades.
Sunday morning, since we still didn’t have breakfast food, we grilled some hotdogs for breakfast. We were planning on leaving around noon on Sunday, so we built a little fire to enjoy during our breakfast. About an hour into our fire, I convinced Ace we should stay another night and just have a chill day by the fire on Sunday. As fun as it was to explore on Saturday, Sunday was my favorite day of the trip. We had a fire going in the fireplace all day!! We moved the TV outside and watched football while sitting around the fire – does it get any better than that?
For lunch, we had Pepperoni’s Gourmet Pizza. We ordered an appetizer of garlic knots, and we both ordered personal sized pizzas. Ace ordered The Chicken Bacon Ranch (ranch base, chicken, bacon, & mozzarella cheese, drizzled with ranch dressing), and I ordered a pepperoni & bacon pizza with an olive oil base and light cheese. It wasn’t the best pizza we’ve ever had, but they delivered it straight to our RV, so we can’t complain too much.
For dinner on Sunday, we went to Ole’s Guacamoles. Ace ordered a Modelo, I ordered a margarita, and we ordered queso and guacamole as appetizers. The queso and guacamole were both good, as were the drinks. For dinner, Ace ordered a shrimp quesadilla, and I ordered Fajitas Al Pastor. The food was only average, but it was close to the campsite and got the job done. After dinner, we headed back to the campground to get the RV ready for our early departure on Monday morning.
Needless to say, we had a fabulous trip. We are already planning our next trip back so we can try out some more places! We’ll probably wait for the weather to warm up some so walking around isn’t as miserable. If you’ve been to Asheville, let us know your favorite places to go so we can add them to our list for next time! If you’ve never been, I highly recommend it, and I hope this little guides helps you in some way.
