Since starting this leg of our journey from Tampa a few weeks prior we had been on an Atlantic beach roughly every 3 days. Today that was all going to change. We left our campground in an isolated part of the Outer Banks near Rodanthe, NC headed to Greensboro for the night. As there aren’t many highways (if any) in far eastern North Carolina going east to west we hit the back roads excited to find out what we may stumble upon.
If you have been reading our blogs for any length of time you might know that I have a slight obsession with BBQ. I always dreamed of taking a BBQ road trip starting in North Carolina going to Memphis, St. Louis, Kansas City and ending up in central Texas. Even though this current trip was not my fantasy BBQ trip we have stopped at many of these cities and states nonetheless. Finally though it was time for some Carolina BBQ, specifically eastern North Carolina. Carolina style “Que” is known for its pulled pork in vinegar based BBQ sauce. As we were in a very rural area of the state I knew that we would run into a restaurant sooner or later.
When looking for a good BBQ restaurant we tend to look for a place that’s 1. Not a chain and 2. a place that looks like its been there for quite some time. Sometimes we check out reviews online but generally if the place looks like it covers both of our criteria we stop and check it out. This was the case for Shaw’s BBQ House in Williamston. Walking in the place it looked like it had not changed much since the 1960’s. Walking in there were a few full tables of guys dressed in overalls eating pulled pork and drinking sweet tea. We were in the right place. We walked up to the counter and ordered our meals. At Shaw’s just ordering “BBQ” meant ordering pulled pork, so we did with a few sides and some sweet tea to drink. For me eating a regions style of BBQ in the heart of that region is a once in a lifetime experience. This did not disappoint. Julie and I thoroughly enjoyed our meals and left the restaurant two very happy campers.
From Shaw’s in Williamson we traveled halfway across the state to the Piedmont Triad area of North Carolina staying in Greensboro for the night. It was a bit strange being back under Oak and Maple trees as for weeks we had been under nothing or the occasional Palm tree. We made dinner, took a swim in the Greensboro KOA pool and called it a night.
The next morning we woke up ready to go. We were ready to see the mountains again as we were headed to Asheville, NC located in the Appalachian Mountains. As we wanted to get there a bit faster today we opted for the highway and made it to Asheville in just a few hours. First stop for us today was the historic Biltmore Estate. The Biltmore Estate is the largest privately owned home in the USA, which is still owned by the Biltmore family but is open to the public. The estate is 178,926 square feet and sits on roughly 11 square miles of land. It was built between 1889 and 1895. As the Biltmore Estate is one of Asheville’s main attractions we had to go.
There is an entrance fee to enter the grounds and the house but the price is well worth it. We opted for the audio tour guide and after paying and driving a few miles down the beautifully manicured driveway found our parking area and walked to the estate. Reading the stats and numbers of how big the house is still does not prepare you when you actually see it for the first time. The house is just simply huge. As the only things around it are forest and mountains the house doesn’t necessarily look out of place though. We entered through the main entrance getting our audio guides and took the tour. The tour ended up taking around 2 hours as we wandered from room to room hearing about what the room was used for and what experiences that the Biltmore family had there. The house was extremely tech savvy for its time with electricity, indoor plumbing and even a heated indoor pool that used water from a nearby creek. The house was done in a Gilded Age style so all Julie and I could think about was that if The Great Gatsby style of house was moved from Long Island to the mountains of North Carolina this would be it.
Leaving the estate our tour of the property was not over. There was much more to see. Immediately adjacent to the house there were a few shops and restaurants as well as the Biltmore Estate Gardens and greenhouses, which also had a Dale Chihuly glass exhibit going on at the time. We wandered the gardens for a bit looking at all the flowers, plants and works of art in glass. It was all pretty neat. From the gardens we went to a small village built on the property called Antler Hill Village. On the short drive over to the village we passed people on Segways as well as a group on horseback. They sure had a lot to do here! As the property has its own winery and a free tasting was included on our Biltmore ticket we wandered into the village to have a taste. When entering the wine tasting room we saw that the line was out the door so we opted to just walk next door to their restaurant and purchase a glass ourselves. This turned out to be a much better idea as our bartender was extremely knowledgeable about the Biltmore wine and we were able to have a small tasting right there for a small fee. Finally it was time to say goodbye to the Biltmore Estate and we headed to our campground for the night.
We woke up the next morning ready to explore Asheville. A few of our good friends had already been to the city and had given it raving reviews from its natural scenery to its beer and food scene. We were ready to see and try it all. As we knew we would probably have a few beers throughout the day and as our campground wasn’t too far from the city center we opted to call an Uber and see the city on foot all day.
We were dropped off at the city’s visitor center and opted from there to take a hop on, hop off bus to get our bearings for where things were in the city that we wanted to see. The ride was pretty informative with the bus heading through the Montford neighborhood, Grove Park, River Arts, the Biltmore workers area and downtown. As everything seemed reasonably walk able we decided to stay on the bus for the entire loop getting off back at the visitors center and heading back downtown. After eating a quick lunch in a park next to the visitor center we were off.
We wandered through the Grove Arcade, which was an old style downtown shopping center. It was beautifully restored and neat to walk through. From there we stopped at our first brewery the Lexington Avenue Brewery where we had flights and split an appetizer. We then opted for an iced coffee at Double D’s which was located in an old English double decker bus. As someone that is 6’ tall (which I know isn’t the tallest) I still had to duck a bit when entering and contorting a bit to get upstairs to where the seating is. Still it was a cool experience. From Double D’s we headed to one of Asheville’s more famous breweries, Wicked Weed. This was much bigger then Lexington Ave with a much bigger selection. We each had a flight here while splitting a basket of homemade chips. Julie enjoyed the beer so much she purchased a shirt once we were all done.
From Wicked Weed we were getting a bit hungry and decided it was time for dinner. Julie and I are both fans of Indian food so we decided on a restaurant named Mela. It turned out to be a great choice as we both chose different curries with moderate to medium spice – getting some heat is part of the fun! After Mela we decided to end our Asheville food and drink tour with dessert at French Broad Chocolate Lounge. There was a huge line but as it was a beautiful evening we didn’t mind at all. I opted for a dark chocolate raspberry truffle while Julie got a chai lavender dark chocolate truffle. Both were pretty amazing!
Asheville turned out to have everything that we were told; history, beauty, food & drink. We will be back for another visit sometime soon!
Up Next….We hit the mountain trail on the Blue Ridge Parkway!
