Weekend Adventures // Discovering Asheville

We had the best time in Asheville for my birthday getaway last weekend! Before I tell you all about it, I have a confession to make... we did not visit the Biltmore, nor did we do a food or brewery tour, despite all of our friends who recommended that we do. So why didn’t we take any of this great advice? Well because even though I’m a super type-A, planner, “to do list” person, sometimes it just feels good not to have a plan (trust me, this shocked Max as much as it did me). There’s something special about just wandering around and discovering a new place for yourself and that’s exactly what we did. We had a wonderful time and ended up discovering some of the best of Asheville!

We arrived at our adorable Airbnb, right outside of downtown Asheville, Friday afternoon and it was even more charming than the photos (check it out here). We headed downtown, parked the car on a random street, and got out to walk around and explore. We browsed a few shops, stopped by the adorable double-decker bus - Double D's, and then discovered Wicked Weed Brewing Co. We grabbed a spot under the heaters on their downstairs patio and introduced my mom to sour beer - she loved it!. After a few rounds, we decided to check out Curate - a Spanish inspired tapas restaurant and one of the most highly recommended restaurants in Asheville. It did not disappoint! I’m still dreaming of the piquillo peppers stuffed w/ spanish goat cheese.

Saturday morning, we celebrated my birthday with pedifores for breakfast and then set out for the River Arts district. We wandered in and out of studios and galleries and discovered SunnySide Trading Company and their beautiful textiles! We stopped in Pink DogCreative - Studio A where we met Andrea and chatted about her incredible Ukrainian pysanky eggs, stumbled upon a glass blowing class (which I still can’t wrap my brain around) and ended our art tour at the Wedge Brewing Co. We grabbed some local brews and stopped by the ElKimchi food truck for an order of bahn mi, dumplings, and a spicy burrito, and found us a picnic table in the sun. What’s better than local beer and Korean Mexican street food on a beautiful day outside in Asheville?

We hung out there for a while, made some new friends and then hoped in their Subaru (no seriously..) and headed to Urban Orchards Cider Co. to try their selection of cider beers. Unfortunately they were closed, so we made our way back downtown and decided to check out the rooftop at the Top of the Monk. We signed up for “our membership”, ordered a drink, and they handed us a key for a vintage post office box, where each row was labeled with a variety of snack options, marinated olives, salami and cheese, spicy peanuts, for us to each pick a snack. This place was charming to say the least! We met some new friends, who happened to be there for a birthday weekend too, that told us about Meyfel's brunch, which we decided had to go on our list of must-trys for the weekend. After sunset, we were off to explore and found ourselves at Lexington Avenue Brewery, which was such a fun spot! After a couple of drinks, it was time for dinner so we stopped by White Duck Taco (try their thai peanut chicken taco) and then decided to call it a night.

Sunday, we celebrated my mom’s birthday with brunch at Meyfel's and it felt like we we’re in NOLA! Eggs benedict and a fresh squeezed mimosa was just what we needed to start out our day. We had every intention of heading to the Biltmore but we decided there were a few other things we’d rather do and see on our last day in Asheville so we hoped in the car and set out to explore the local neighborhoods. We drove through Lakeview Park, Montford, and the Biltmore Village and then headed back to our airbnb where we sat outside in the 70-degree sunshine, playing games and enjoying some laughs. That evening we headed to the Battery Park Book Exchange and Champagne Bar where we tried out a few of their specialty champagne cocktails, while others gathered for book clubs and date nights. This place was so unique, it’s an absolute must see! We quizzed the waiter on nearby birthday-dinner worthy restaurants to wrap up our trip and ended up at Modesto, a small intimate Italian restaurant that was just what we’d been dreaming of. Their wild mushroom pasta was absolutely incredible!

We ate and drank our way through Asheville and enjoyed every minute of it! Max and I hope to make another trip back to explore the trails and a few other hot spots we didn’t get to see our first go around. Thank you Asheville for all the hospitality, it was a birthday weekend to remember!