What's the wine market?

Asheville Wine Market, 65 Biltmore ave.

Knickers in a knot over "the" Biltmore? Really folks. LOL It is a case of knowing what it is already and the addition of "House" is implied when saying "the Biltmore". It is just pure syntax!! LOL

And while a local's additonal info on stuff to do in a town, the old standby touristy stuff doesn't need to be poo pooed. Mast Store is a fun place to go also. You makes yours lists and you takes your choice.

And in many inquiries about Asheville over the years, people recommend roaming around the very interesting downtown area.

I am so appreciative of a all the replies!!! I am sitting here with a food baby because we've eaten so much. We checked into Aloft and it was even nicer than the one we stay at in Tucson. The "curator" (concierge) agreed Curatewas not to be missed. We called DSD who was setting up camp nearby and arranged to meet there. We thought that 3:30 on a Saturday shouldn't be too bad. Nope! They were booked solid, seemingly for the entire day. Sadly we headed back to the hotel and right next door was a place called The Blackbird. It was excellent! Great cocktails and really good bar food. I promise to go into more detail in my trip report but I was definitely not disappointed. It was quiet so we could all talk , e bartender super attentive and we had a great time. We walked of our food and checkedun to have out the sights. We did check out Mast because it was right there. It was fun. Wouldn't make a special trip but fun to have seen it. We said goodbye to the kids and walked some more. We saw Bouchon and Limone, both of which looked great but DH had actually us our name in at Curate just in case. About an hour and a half later, they sent a text saying there was a seat at the bar. My dream place to sit, especially at a place like that. I didn't think I could eat any another bite but somehow, we made room. Incredible! Definitely worth it!!!

I could probably take or leave Biltmore (not THE) but DSD really wants to see it, plus we bout the tickets last week, saving $10 each! I hadn't realized the Olmstead connection. His sons designed the town I grew up in. I think we will enjoy it. We may or may not do a guided tour. We'll see.

I guess we are eating pork chops tomorrow night at the camp site :-/ so I'm glad we got into curate tonight.

We head to charleston Monday and will try to drive through the River Arts district then. And check out Holes!!!

Again, thank you for all the tips!!!

Sounds like you are off to a great start! You need to write a trip report for the camping portion of the trip. :-)

I've never taken an audio tour of the House. I'm sure it will be great but it's a wonderful visit without.

Sorry about all the typos. Using an iPad plus several cocktails throughout the day does not make for good posting. Grabbing some lattes from a double decker bus then odd to Biltmore Estates.

It will be interesting to see how the camping went last night. It got down to the low 30s!

Paul, No advertising on Fodors.

so glad you got to eat at curate! I live in Charlotte but all of my best dining experiences have been in Asheville!

Saying this with a big toungue in cheek, Plambers, but you need to get out more in Charlotte!! LOL

Gretchen, we do! Trust me! What are some of your favorites here?

Well, I could have skipped See Wee. Wish we had gone straight to Sullivan Island as there was a lot to see and it looked quite fun. We may go back tomorrow, as we just drove through at the end of the day after eating mostly fried food at See Wee. See Wee seemed like something out of Deliverance.

We did get into FIG last night and it was excellent! Couldn't have been happier with that choice!

If you get back to Sullivan's, we are big fans of Taco Mamacita or Poe's.

Poe's looked like so much fun!!!

I guess some of us treasure what the beach used to be rather than all it has become to many. Seewee is "fun", not Aloft or Fig or Husk.
I DID say "fun".

Actually, where is home for you-just wondering.

Gretchen, we are from the beaches just south of Los Angeles. See Wee was just very empty and forlorn when we got there. We were the only ones there. I guess I thought it would be a little more lively. And less deep fried.

Tonight we grabbed a wonderful cocktail at a new lovely hotel, The Spectator, where we will never be able to afford to stay, and yet everyone there was so kind and full of recommendations. Then we chatted up two of the pedicab drivers for where to go for oysters. The first rec was already closed, 167 Raw, but we made it to Pearlz. Great time, great oysters and an incredible amuse bouche, An off duty waiter shared his peel and eat shrimp and bought us shots of gran marnier.

We are going to try to talk DD out of Husk, too many other choices, but we'll see..

Glad you enjoyed FIG....I love it.

I agree with Brian regarding Poe's on Sullivan's. Great burger, fun place (in our case, we can take the grandkids there as well).