www.romanticasheville.com/BlueRidgeParkway.htm
Biltmore and the Blue Ridge parkway best areas
VERY festive but chilly around Xmas last the Hampton Inn $79
was nice for me best deals usually bedding priceline.com
betterbidding.com from $30 for nice 2 stars.

Happy Travels!

To visit
Biltmore Village
Blue Ridge Parkway
Highland Craft Shop on the Parkway (way more than a standard craft shop)
Arboreteum

Dine
Early Girl
Tupelo Honey
Stony Knob (Weaverville)
the Corner Kitchen
sunny Point Cafe
there is a bakery on the main street in Weaverville the name of which completely escapes me, but it is unmissable. Great cookies.
Mellow Mushroom if you are in the mood for a pizza

Have a wonderful trip. Beautiful up that way!!!!!

We're in the house, the internet works, the children have xbox set up, we've been to malaprops, sat on the front porch watching stuff for a while, and all is right with the world. Now, to explore my fodorite guide lists. Thanks for your suggestions qmo and cmc. We're going to do each and everything you tell us to do. Starting with Tupelo Honey for lunch.

Man, you live right. Very cool. How did you find the house?

We enjoyed a few days in Asheville in October. Enjoy your time there. If u like Indian food, don't miss Chai Pani http://chaipani.net/ -- great food

Today we went to tupelo honey where the wait for lunch was one hour so we declined with regret and ate instead at the katmandu restaurant across the street. it's probably easier to get food from nepal in asheville than it is to get food from ashville in nepal.

Then we wandered around, saw the galleries at woolworths, explained to the children what a five and dime was, and then drove to the visitors center on the blue ridge parkway and walked on a loop trail which jake the dog enjoyed quite a bit.

Then drove to the biltmore estate to buy tickets for tour tomorrow. I'm sure it will be fun and very interesting, especially if I don't think how much our tickets cost. Perhaps this will incentivize our children to build many railroads and steel mills, or whatever it was, and become sinfully rich, build a big house, and charge people an arm and a leg to see it. Then we went to ingles, a grocery store ("american owned") where we bought sausage and salad and beer and fixed dinner at home (the kids fixed dinner; that was pretty sweet; the first step in our journey to assisted living).

Tomorrow DW and I will get up early to see the highland crafts center on the parkway, get some coffee, and return home before the kids get up. Biltmore at 2:15, maybe chai pani for dinner, then tomorrow night I want us to go Tressa's Jazz and Blues bar. Surprisingly few tango bars here.

I gotta go to bed now.

Here's a link for the nice house we rented downtown:

http://www.ashevilleconnections.com/vrmgr/DetailPage/105/all/Woodlawn-Cottage.aspx

Gotta say, u rent the best houses. Beautiful neighbor where u r. Did u have to mortgage your house back home to buy tixs for your entire family to the Biltmore??? Insane prices. Hope u think its worth it. have fun!

Last night I was worried about the plumber coming to fix the toilet but it turned out the toilet wasn't broken since the water was coming from the old fashioned bathtub because my children, while they know how to play skyrim (x-box 360), they don't know the curtain goes on the inside of the shower, so I had to call the plumber to cancel the appointment because the problem was with my children, not with the toilet, but I called roto-rooter and they said, "no, no appointment, the real estate people must have called mr. rooter", and I was taken aback, thinking that mr rooter must be the president of roter-rooter, like his first name is roto, or something, but it turned out it was another plumbing company, mr. rooter, my real estate company had called so it was them I had to call to cancel the appointment, so I did and everything was ok.

But that was yesterday. Today, bright and early, DW and I set out for the southern highlands craft center on the blue ridge parkway which was quite nice, with a couple artists working, and nice stuff to buy (I bought two glass bugs you can stick onto a screen door/window). But we stopped at the Grove Park Inn on the way and saw the exhibition of the national gingerbread competition. These gingerbread houses and street scenes and decorations were exquisite. People work for half a year on their gingerbread creations. These people are very detail oriented. They make ocd fodorites look like slackers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ec-7BhaRRSM

Then back to Tupelo Honey where the wait was again an hour (Tupelo Honey is beginning to get on my nerves) so we gave up on lunch there again and went back to the house to rally the kids for our visit to the Biltmore Estate.

Lots of lines. Lines of cars to get to the parking lots, lines for the shuttle, lines to get in the house, lines in the house, lines for food, lines for lines. Maybe christmas is not the best time to visit the Biltmore Estate. Unless you're a real people person. If so, this is the place for you.

The Biltmore Estate is very big, but the beds were small, the bowling alley did not have automatic pin setters, there would be a lot to dust, and there might be too much crown molding.

Then we bought some steak and eggs at ingles (we signed up for the frequent shopper card to get the discount price on the steak. I bet george vanderbilt wishes he coulda done that), fixed dinner, and went out to see some rather bad blues at Tressa's.

That was today. Tomorrow maybe weaverville, maybe waterfalls, maybe more music.

Haha! Yeah, Christmas at Biltmore is busy. And there is a LOT to dust. I like the greenhouses. And the view. My parents' church choir sang in the Palm Court one year. We got in for free. Boom.

Those gingerbread houses are always amazing. And you are right, they put the OCDs here to shame.

My granddaddy was born in Weaverville. I'll be interested to hear what it's like now that people have "discovered" it.

Sounds like you are having fun. And your children have learned something new.

Ah, sue, I was just about to post your connection to Weaverville. Santa monica, I am enjoying reading your report. Just so you know, there are two locations of Tupelo Honey. The Hendersonville Road one might be less crowded.
http://www.tupelohoneycafe.com/

If you're still there and need a fun lunch spot - try Creperie Bouchon. I went there for the first time earlier this month and loved it. We sat at the bar as the (tiny) place was packed. Festive spot and yummy, yummy frites If either your 21-y-o or 19-y-o is a girl, they might LOVE Minx boutique right next door
Have fun in wonderful Asheville!

meant to add link to creperie http://creperiebouchon.com/

So: did you go to Weaverville? I can't wait to hear about it.

uh oh. I'm so sorry, sue. We didn't get to Weaverville. We didn't get to the Creperie, Lantana. YT will be disappointed to hear we didn't get to Chai Pani. Or Early Girl, Stony Knob, the Corner Kitchen, sunny Point Cafe, or a bakery on the main street in Weaverville the name of which completely escapes cmc. Or Mellow Mushroom. Or the Hampton Inn.

I know you're thinking why even bother with suggestions if we don't do what you tell us to do. We saw many of these places and they looked very nice. We had every intention of doing it all but other stuff got in the way. Sorry. Next trip we'll do better.

Here's what we did yesterday. DW and I got up early and biked to Tupelo Honey where the wait was only 20 minutes and we had a great breakfast with poached eggs and grits and biscuits. Then we biked to the Thomas Wolfe house which we toured for $1 each. Although the Thomas Wolfe house is smaller then the Biltmore Estate we can go on 69 tours of the Thomas Wolfe house for less than the cost of one tour of the Biltmore Estate. And after 50 or 60 tours the guides become very impressed with how much you know about Thomas Wolfe. Waiting for Tupelo Honey and all those tours took some time.

Then we got the boys up and drove to Catawaba Falls in Old Fort, about 1/2 hour east of Asheville. Very pretty hike and waterfalls. Then Lluela's BBQ. Then nap. Then the Orange Peel to see Alabama Shakes, a rock blues band. That was yesterday.

This morning we pack and leave for home. We had a great visit, but would like to come back and finish the job. Also, it would be nice to actually meet Mr. Rooter.

No apology necessary. The "other stuff" is what makes for a great trip. I'm so glad you finally got your TH biscuit. Thanks for keeping us posted.

Awesome that you tried Luella's. How did you like it? We went earlier this month for the first time, on the recommendation of a good friend who just moved to Asheville. It didn't disappoint. We got the Big Boy Platter Their hush puppies are to die for.

How hilarious about the Thomas Wolfe house
I'm amazed at the cost of admission to Biltmore Estate, although it is certainly fantastic.

Sounds like a great trip - have a safe trip home!

PS. On our way home we saw the sign for Weaverville and felt compelled to stop and look at suewoo's granddaddy's town and buy some cookies (well-bred bakery). Which we did.

I believe change has been gentle for weaverville. Not that the town is without excitement.

When we turned a corner into a parking lot the bikes fell off the bike rack. No damage, but it's embarrassing. As we were working on putting them back properly we heard sirens. Suddenly we were surrounded by two fire trucks, three police cars and an ambulance. The response seemed a little excessive for a couple bikes falling off a bike rack. Apparently, someone thought a biker had been hit and called 911. Everybody was very nice and we were able eventually to get back on the road to home, where we are now. Safe and sound.

With memories of grits, hush puppies, and raisin walnut cookies dancing in our heads.

Oh great...I am glad you got to well bred.....although the bike rack drama must have been quite an embarrassing. Welcome home and y'all come back.

LOL! Only you, santy. Only you! Excitement of all kinds finds you

Way lol! That is so funny! And noone got hurt.

Thanks for the report. Great Granddaddy Cornelius (circuit rider and bringer of the WORD) can rest in peace.

Great story