I just returned to work after a week vacation. I must admit it was very much needed and was most likely granted to me because I have been asking for a transfer my management does not want to grant. I only believe this because the three days I asked for off turned into seven. My wife managed to get some of the same time off so we decided to get out of town. It is still a little early in the season here so we were thinking about someplace warm we could go, preferably with a little sand. However this is spring break time and there were drunken college kids swarming any of the beaches within a six hour drive from here.
I turned my eyes to the upstate areas desperately looking for a little bit of warm weather and a reasonable room rate. Then it occured to me, I hadn't been to Asheville in years so we booked a room and away we went.
Asheville is a beautiful mountain town in North Carolina located not far from the borders of Tennessee, South Carolina and Georgia. It has a fair sized artist community, a good number of independent restaurants and plenty of outdoor activities. I was originally introduced to the town about 15 years ago during the Belle Chere festival. It is an amazing street festival the last weekend in July every year. If you love art, food or music you should check it out: http://belecherefestival.com There isn't much to see on the web site right now, but the trip is always worth it. If you plan on going book a room now, there won't be any vacancies anywhere near Asheville by the time the summer rolls around.


We had a wonderful time. Living in the city I am not used to people being polite, waving to you even though they don't know you, or stopping their car so you can cross the street without giving you a dirty look for holding them up for 15 seconds or so. We did not have a bad meal while we were there. It didn't matter where we ate. We tried the pizza at Barley's, the pork at Ed Boudreaux's, brunch at Tupelo Honey, frogs and truffles at the Chocolate Fetish, and coffee at Malaprop's.
I really enjoyed the Cabbage and fava bean soup and the Chicken Saltimbocca at Vincenzo's.