Day 34 - Asheville, NC/Charleston, SC

(our travel buddies)

Asheville, NC – Thanks to my sister Kim’s great new airline job, my parents were able to fly out and spend a few days on the road with us. They hadn’t really seen much of the Carolinas and Georgia so it was the perfect weekend for them to join the fun. Britt was just thrilled because it meant she could hang with someone other than me.

We introduced them to our out-of-the-car breakfast this morning before heading up to Ashville, North Carolina. Ashville is located on the south end of Blue Ridge Parkway, one of the most scenic drives in the country. The rolling hills are completely covered with beautiful trees. We drove in to the Biltmore Estate, a massive compound built by the Vanderbilt family. We understand it to be the largest residence in the U.S. with over 250 bedrooms. We planned on touring the estate but Biltmore turns out to be even cooler than we thought. You really need a full weekend to experience it all… 8,000 acres of rivers to canoe, paths for bike riding, gardens to wander, and the list goes on. We didn’t have more than the afternoon so we settled for a drive along the stream that leads to the mansion. It really was a beautiful area and we would love to return. We took a little walk through the artsy downtown sector of Ashville before stopping for a very good lunch at Tupelo Honey. We shared a massive sweet potato pecan pancake and Britt still talks about her fried chicken BLT… I am not joking.

Charleston, South Carolina - Next stop… Charleston, South Carolina. We pulled right into the historic district at Market Street. We walked through the open-air marketplace and stopped at a few candy/ice cream shops on our way to the waterfront park. There was a short pier with bench swings big enough for all of us. The weather was perfect and none of us wanted to get up so we just rocked for a while and enjoyed the breeze coming in from the bay. Finally, we decided to get up and wander through waterfront park and along rainbow row, a series of homes each painted a different color. We were told that the best way to see Charleston is by foot so we continued our evening stroll along a strip of massive colonial mansions. Britt and I have seen a lot of beautiful homes along the way but these were very unique and charming with wrap-around porches and massive pillars. One of the parks we walked through contained canons used in both the revolutionary and civil wars. We enjoyed the southern charm of the small streets as we wandered towards the restaurant sector of town.

After some debate we decided to try some authentic southern style cuisine at Magnolias. We were blown away by the service and the food. Everything from the fired green tomatoes and salads to the pork chop, fried chicken, and pecan pie was awesome! This was the best meal we have had on the trip and the price is reasonable so if you ever visit Charleston you must hit up Magnolias. After dinner we strolled through the busy restaurant district back before calling it a night. One of the things we liked about Charleston is that everyone gets dressed up and the town is very alive at night.