Asheville Weekend Trip Round Up

Hello my fellow travelers and curious people. I wanted to give you a post about my trip to Asheville, North Carolina with Bobby. As well as, some of the places we ate and discovered. 

To start, we left Friday after work. We planned on leaving at 3pm, but that turned into leaving at 6pm which is the worst time for traffic. Lol, of course. So, we ventured off and decided we would wait until we got there to eat dinner.

Long car rides are a great time to kick back and catch up. Yes, Bobby and I live together and see each other every day, but we are normally distracted with being tired and watching something on Netflix. During this 3 hour car ride we talked about the future, joked, laughed, and waited patiently to get there. 

Once we got close we decided on Ichiban Japanese Steakhouse and Sushi Bar. It had pretty good reviews on Yelp and I can see why. It was so yummy. I love Japanese food, and this one did not disappoint. The only thing I will say is the main course (Hibachi Chicken) was very salty, but it was still good. We got the Hibachi Chicken Dinner with fried rice, which also came with the miso soup and house salad. My favorite! 

We then got to our hotel Country Inn and Suites. We picked a hotel between downtown Asheville and the trails we wanted to hike. It was nice and cheap, which is what we were wanting. It is also right across the street from the outlets. I would recommend this hotel if you are planning on doing multiple activities like we did. 

Saturday morning we woke up and headed to brunch at Tupelo Honey. I have to say that was one of the best brunches I have ever had! Top 3 for sure. We started with mega mimosas (delish) and biscuits with their homemade jelly. Bobby got the fried chicken and biscuits (he wouldn't let me take a picture), but he said it was amazing. I got the Appalachian breakfast (pictured). They also serve lunch and dinner, which I am sure is just as great. 

From brunch we stopped by the water tower to take some pictures and then went to the outlets to get bobby something for the trails. It was nice to be able to stop there on the way to the trails. We got to the location we planned on hiking (totally blanking on the name), but the roads to get there were closed due to the snow and ice. That didn't stop us though, we found a trail called Hard Times, which led us to Deer Loop. It was a beautiful hike with the snow still there and surprisingly it wasn't really cold. We hiked 4.5 miles and decided to head back to the hotel to clean up, relax, and plan dinner. 

We decided on Bouchon, a french inspired restaurant. We got there to a 45 minute wait time, but the cool part about this place is their upstairs had a cozy cocktail area to relax, drink, and snack while waiting for your table. It was so cute and romantic! We finally got seated at our table and I must say it was absolutely worth the wait. Holy cow the food was amazing! I got Truite aux Amandes, which is local trout encrusted with almonds, sautéed, finished with fresh lemon juice, white wine. Bobby got their salmon and it was just as tasty. I felt like I was back in France with the food and atmosphere. 

After the best dinner we have had in a long time we went to French Broad Chocolate Lounge for dessert. Bobby got ice cream and I got a chocolate milkshake, which was tasty.

 Sunday morning we ate at the hotel and it was actually good. Sometimes hotel breakfast can be a hit or miss, but this one wasn't bad. After breakfast and packing the car we headed to the Biltmore Estate. Eep. I have been waiting to go here since I found out about it in high school. We bought our tickets online and got there at 9am. We learned that it is not very busy around this time of year. Bobby and I basically had the house to ourselves. We toured it without feeling rushed or bothered. It was great. The only downfall with going at this time of year is not seeing the pretty gardens. However they do have a conservatory with beautiful plants and flowers, so not the end of the world. 

After touring the estate, we went to the village and found a place for lunch. It was called Cedric's Tavern. Normally restaurants give you bread or chips, but they gave us pickles. They weren't dill pickles. We still don't really know what they were and they tasted funky, but like a good funky haha. I got their burger and fries. Their fries are too die for. 

After filling our bellies with lunch, we headed to the winery for our complimentary wine tasting. We tried 5 wines each, judging each of them. I liked some and I didn't like some, and the same for Bobby.  I always enjoy a wine tasting. The winery concluded our weekend trip and we could not have been any more content. 

Weekend trips are a really nice getaway to refresh and explore places you have never been. Bobby and I enjoy each others company and love traveling together. It's so much fun exploring and experiencing new things with a loved one, whether it's a family member, significant other, or bestie. I really recommend taking more weekend trips. If you are worried about money then go camping. We love camping on the weekends (of course in the warmer seasons). I hope you enjoyed this travel round up and explore somewhere you have been wanting to go.