Asheville Recap: Part II

I'm back with the 2nd half or our Asheville trip recap! On Friday morning, we slept in again, although not as late as the day before. But I still got 10 hours of sleep which felt amazing. I'm kind of odd in that I sleep better in other places. This has to do with the fact that I have insomnia. It's gotten better over the last couple of years because of the sleep training I've done, but sleep still doesn't come super easy to me at home.

After eating another breakfast of scrambled eggs and hash browns, we headed out for another series of hikes. And once again, it was a winding, curvy drive!

On Thursday we had headed north of Asheville so on Friday we went south. The fall colors were even more beautiful south of Asheville as the evelation is lower and the temps are slightly warmer as a result. We stopped at one of the overlooks and snapped a couple of pictures. You might notice that I wore the same sweatshirt again. I swear I changed my bottoms and the shirt I wore under my sweatshirt. :) I just love this sweatshirt so much as the material is extra soft and comfy!

The fall colors were so gorgeous!

We ended up doing 3 hikes along the Blue Ridge Parkway that day. We wanted to see some waterfalls so 2 of the 3 hikes were waterfall hikes. The first hike was a shorter hike to Skinny Dip Falls. Apparently this is a popular swimming spot in the summer!

21 weeks pregnant and loving these hikes!

We came across this really cool-shaped tree on the trail. We thought that it looked like a deer head.

Our next hike was called Graveyard Fields and it was less than a mile down the road from the first hike. There were 2 sets of waterfalls. We started with the lower falls, which was a little over 1 mile away. We were kind of questioning whether we would actually find the lower falls as the trail was not well-marked and it split a couple of times so we had to guess which way to go. It all worked out, though, and we found the falls! We ran into a hiker on the trail who told us that he had spotted a copperhead snake by the falls. I am REALLY glad we didn't see it as I am terrified of snakes.

We made our way back to the start of the trail and went to the upper falls, which were really close to the parking lot. This waterfall was much more impressive!

Our last hike of the day was to the summits of Black Balsam Knob and Tennent Mountain. It was probably around 2-3 miles round trip. The views from the top of the summits, which were around 6,000 ft, were really beautiful!

After that hike we headed back to Asheville. Our first stop when we got back was at The Gourmet Chip Company. This is another one of my 'must go' places in Asheville. They make their own chips and have lots of different flavor combinations. We went with the Parisian, which is what I always order at this place. The chips are topped with goat cheese, rosemary, thyme, and a white truffle spritz. They are sooo good! Phil thought they had too much going on so I ate the majority of our order.  :)

After showering, we headed into downtown and checked out the Friday night drumming circle. This is another one of my 'must do' things in Asheville. Every Friday night, a group of drummers meets in a park close to downtown and pound out some music. It's such a cool thing to experience! When the weather cools down, they move indoors but I am glad we were able to see them while they were still performing outdoors.

After taking in a few songs, we headed to dinner at a St. Lucian restaurant called Calypso. I hadn't been there before but we really enjoyed our food. I had a shrimp curry dish which was really good. I forgot to take a picture so you'll have to take my word for it.

After dinner we stopped at bookstore so I could buy "Goodnight Asheville" for Baby Segner. This is the only thing we purchased on this trip. It will be fun to read this to the baby and think back on this fun trip!

Our last stop of the night was at French Broad Chocolate Lounge. This is another place I HAVE to go to when I'm in Asheville. They have the best desserts and accommodate food allergies so well. I had a peanut butter cookie, which was the best pb cookie I have ever had, and a cup of salted caramel hot chocolate. Phil had a peanut butter brownie which he was was rich but very delicious.

After that we headed back to the loft and crashed. All that fresh air and activity really wore me out! On Saturday morning, we took our time getting ready, made breakfast and then headed to Charlotte. I gave Phil a short tour of the city and showed him where I worked and lived. A former co-worker hosted us for the night so we headed to her house. That night we went to dinner at Cabo Fish Taco, which is my favorite Charlotte restaurant. My friend Lori (who introduced me to this restaurant) and her husband met us as well as our host for the night and another work friend. It was great to catch up!

We spent the rest of the evening chatting with my 2 former coworkers. Neither of them had met Phil so there was lots to talk about.

We flew out around 12:30 on Sunday and were back home by 3pm. It was nice to have time to grocery shop and do laundry. Phil went out to his mom's to help out with a few things and, more importantly, to bring Oscar back as she had stayed there for the last 2 weeks! We really missed her and are so happy to have her back!

Reunited and it feels so good!

All in all, it was a wonderful getaway for us. This is the last pre-baby trip we will take together. I did end up having a flare for the whole trip and I got a second flare on Saturday night which was likely the result of all of the hiking we did. But all in all, I don't regret the hiking as we saw such beautiful scenery. Next time we go hiking, we'll have a little baby with us! I told Phil that he can carry him or her since I've done the carrying on our hikes in August and October. :)

Have I convinced you to go to Asheville yet? It's seriously one of my favorite areas of the country! There is so much beauty and so much great food!