More than a week ago, Tim and I returned from a 5 day motorcycle ro
und trip to Asheville, NC. We rode there with a purpose (Sharon & Matt's wedding), but the idea was to have fun along the way. We took back roads, the Skyline Drive in the Shenandoah, and the Blue Ridge Parkway all the way into Asheville (well, with a couple of detours). It was a fantastically beautiful trip, the Blue Ridge mountains are amazing, not in the grandiose sense (they are not the Alps or the Carpathians), but in the beauty of nature, green, space - kind of way.
We camped along the way, and met interesting people along the way.
There was a guy on our second campground that had a wind turbine for power generation and solar panels .....Then there was Alan the grad student from Berkley riding all the way from CA to Atlanta I think but don't quote me on that. The weather was divine, especially up on the ridge where it was probably 10-15 degrees cooler than in the valley. We made it to Asheville on Friday afternoon, checked into the
Asheville Arthaus Hostel with barely enough time to shower, change and walk all the way to Sharon's dad's house for a party! I love walking (Tim calls it urban hiking) in a city. You get to see so much more than if you were driving. We got to see a lot of downtown Asheville on Saturday morning. We had a wonderful breakfast at the
Over Easy Cafe: I got the fruit bowl, not for the wonderful granola (we had been munching on our home-made granola for the past 3 days), but for the fruit and yogurt. Tim had their hot cakes deluxe. Everything we delicious. This was obviously the place where the locals went. The atmosphere was fantastic too.
We then walked around town for the rest of the morning. We stopped by the Library (to use internet) , had some ice cream, went to
Thomas Wolfe's house and THEN.....We went to the
MellowMushroom (Feed your head) where we had the best veggie pizza ever. Some of you have already heard about this fabul
ous pizza. Besides the wedding (beautiful ceremony and fun party) and the bike ride (order does not signify importance!) the best thing about Asheville NC was this pizza. That is all I can say.
We left for our trip back on Sunday am, took a slightly different route back, got rained on a couple of times but we made the best of it. On one stop, like on many others we picked blackberries, on the second we stopped at the Orchard Gap Market & Deli and had a delicious raspberry cheesecake (it was a small one). That night we camped at Otters' Creek and that night it rained some more. But the next day was gorgeous, with lots of sun and blue skies. Before heading straight for home we did a short hike to the Whiteoak Canyon to see the waterfalls. It was beautiful and refreshing after so many hours on the bike. The best thing was a refreshing dip in one of the pools at the bottom of the fall. The water was cold but it felt so good (it was the 2nd day w/out a shower, so go figure).
I find that the last hour or so before getting home is the hardest of any trip. This was brutal. But it was all worth it.
und trip to Asheville, NC. We rode there with a purpose (Sharon & Matt's wedding), but the idea was to have fun along the way. We took back roads, the Skyline Drive in the Shenandoah, and the Blue Ridge Parkway all the way into Asheville (well, with a couple of detours). It was a fantastically beautiful trip, the Blue Ridge mountains are amazing, not in the grandiose sense (they are not the Alps or the Carpathians), but in the beauty of nature, green, space - kind of way.
We camped along the way, and met interesting people along the way. 
There was a guy on our second campground that had a wind turbine for power generation and solar panels .....Then there was Alan the grad student from Berkley riding all the way from CA to Atlanta I think but don't quote me on that. The weather was divine, especially up on the ridge where it was probably 10-15 degrees cooler than in the valley. We made it to Asheville on Friday afternoon, checked into the Asheville Arthaus Hostel with barely enough time to shower, change and walk all the way to Sharon's dad's house for a party! I love walking (Tim calls it urban hiking) in a city. You get to see so much more than if you were driving. We got to see a lot of downtown Asheville on Saturday morning. We had a wonderful breakfast at the
Over Easy Cafe: I got the fruit bowl, not for the wonderful granola (we had been munching on our home-made granola for the past 3 days), but for the fruit and yogurt. Tim had their hot cakes deluxe. Everything we delicious. This was obviously the place where the locals went. The atmosphere was fantastic too.
We then walked around town for the rest of the morning. We stopped by the Library (to use internet) , had some ice cream, went to Thomas Wolfe's house and THEN.....We went to the MellowMushroom (Feed your head) where we had the best veggie pizza ever. Some of you have already heard about this fabul
ous pizza. Besides the wedding (beautiful ceremony and fun party) and the bike ride (order does not signify importance!) the best thing about Asheville NC was this pizza. That is all I can say.
We left for our trip back on Sunday am, took a slightly different route back, got rained on a couple of times but we made the best of it. On one stop, like on many others we picked blackberries, on the second we stopped at the Orchard Gap Market & Deli and had a delicious raspberry cheesecake (it was a small one). That night we camped at Otters' Creek and that night it rained some more. But the next day was gorgeous, with lots of sun and blue skies. Before heading straight for home we did a short hike to the Whiteoak Canyon to see the waterfalls. It was beautiful and refreshing after so many hours on the bike. The best thing was a refreshing dip in one of the pools at the bottom of the fall. The water was cold but it felt so good (it was the 2nd day w/out a shower, so go figure).
I find that the last hour or so before getting home is the hardest of any trip. This was brutal. But it was all worth it.
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