Trekking through the Carolinas

 

Aww….the mountains!

Our “friends and family” tour continued across the Carolinas, stopping in Greenville, South Carolina for a short visit with our longtime friends, Carol and Lee.

As always, Captain and Lee shared news of former co-workers and traveled down “Memory Lane.” Mostly they told jokes and shared memes that most folks would not understand.

Lee challenged us to a couple games of Smart A**, which Captain won with Lee a close second.

Crossing the North Carolina border we caught up with our Maryland friends, Juanita and Greg in Asheville to do a bit of brewery hopping. Sampling at these eight breweries, Wicket Weed Funkatorium, Wicket Weed, Burial, Hi-Wire, Twin Leaf, Wedge at Foundation, Bhramari and The Whale.

While The Wedge at Foundation in the River Arts District was quite interesting,

We voted Burial as our favorite, both for the beer and the ambiance.

If you are interested in doing a brewery hop, here are a few tips:

·       Ask for a taste; some breweries will accommodate, others will not. Don’t count on the bartender to make an offer. (Of course, after you sample, you are expected to buy a beer.)

·       Most breweries will do a 5oz pour, but if you don’t ask for it you will get a 12 or 16 ounce glass.

·       Flights are a good way to sample multiple brews.

·       If possible, walk from brewery to brewery to burn calories.

We said “goodbye” to Juanita and Greg with a campfire and promises to stay in touch.

Continuing west, we parked The Wanderer at ABN’s niece and husband’s cabin in Marble, N.C.

After a Saturday morning walk along the Valley and Hiwassee Rivers,

we settled in to watch some disappointing football. Well, it was disappointing for Captain, the Aggie, but Sue and Dave celebrated a win for their team, the Boilermakers.  

Their border collie, Pani, provided most of the entertainment.

Trekking west through the Appalachian Mountains, we have left the grid for a few days.  We are finally in the mountains without electricity, water, sewer connection, and cell service.

 

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So Many Choices!

Asheville, North Carolina is known as “Beer City” for a reason. Apparently there are more craft beer breweries per capita than any other city in the country. That’s a lot of beer! Where does one start?

We started with a recommendation from a millennial age friend and made Wicked Weed Funkatorium our first stop.

Wicked Weed specializes in barrel aged sours; not being too familiar with sours, we started with a sampler. That’s a lot of pucker power!

What we learned; we do not especially like sour beer.  We settled for a nice Dark Aged Imperial Stout; smooth with a hint of anise.

Day 2 we took the recommendation of our East Tennessee beer guru and checked out Burial.

More favorable to our palates, the Hymn of the Serpent was smooth and very good as was Coco Bolo Coconut Brown Ale. However, Fabrication of the Non-believer knocked our socks off! Nice, full bodied stout made with macadamia nuts, macaroon coconut and vanilla beans.

Day 3 found us at Wedge in the River Arts District

where we enjoyed a Bourbon Barrel Aged Cream Ale and a Derailed Hemp Brown Ale (and awesome double cream brie, honey, walnut and sliced apple grilled cheese sandwich.) What made this brewery special is the location right smack in the middle of an art venue.

We were told the brewery is “next to an art gallery.” That was an understatement; there were hundreds of working art studios housed in reclaimed warehouses and mills. The exterior of the buildings looks a bit funky but they enclosed some very fine art.

Day 4 we stopped in The Green Man Brewery. It was nice with a roof top patio that overlooked the city, but really didn’t offer much in the way of character.

Captain enjoyed a smooth, full bodied porter, rich in flavor and ABN gave a thumbs-up to Dweller, a coffee infused imperial stout with a taste of bourbon.

It was our last day in Asheville so we debated, do we try one more brewery? Nah, we decided to have one more glass of Fabrication at Burial. To our disappointment they were out! It had been replaced by another stout, None of This Matters.  Flavored with cinnamon, vanilla and chocolate, it was not as good as Fabrication but close. Without a doubt of the four breweries we tried, Burial is our favorite.

While we were out exploring  sampling beer, The Wanderer was parked at Lake Powhatan Corps of Engineers campground.

The very well maintained recreational area is popular among mountain bikers and trail runners. We did a couple of 4-5 mile hikes (which our Colorado friends would call “a walk in the park.”)

Bent Creek Service Road

Carolina Mountain Trail

Fortuitously, each trail we chose led us to the North Carolina Arboretum. One to the pollinator garden and greenhouse;

Originally a pollinator garden,

turned garden for children (of all ages.)

and the other to the information center and gardens. 

As ABN's idea list grows, so does Captain's "to do'" list.

We love it when we stumble across unplanned places of interest! 

Once again we were four days off the grid but we were able to use the generator which we needed only one evening for the air conditioner. The weather was great with only a few rain showers. Like last weekend in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, children could be heard throughout the campground; a sound from which we never tire.

Breweries, art, horticulture, hiking, discovery, mountains; what’s not to like about Asheville? Looking forward to returning to see what other jewels this area holds. 

Tonight we are doing a Harvest Host stay at Grove Winery near Burlington, N.C. We were pleasantly surprised with the quality of red wines; for our palates, probably the best we have found east of the Mississippi. After 6:00 p.m. we had the entire place to ourselves. We are self-contained (that means we are depending on solar for electricity and our “holding tanks” for water, etc.) but we do have internet and cell service!

Tomorrow we will cross over the state line into Virginia; uncharted territory for The Wanderer.   

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Not quite out of God’s Country

Western North Carolina feels a whole lot like East Tennessee.

Tipsy Tuesday found us at Highland Brewing Company in Asheville.

After a tour of the brewery and a sample of their brews, we settled on a Black Mocha Stout and a Scotch Ale to accompany a burger, a huge tater tot and a side of mac ‘n cheese from the Appalachian Chic food truck. (So much for the commitment to eat healthier, but we did split the meal.)

So many folks have said “You have to visit Biltmore,” so we did.

As we walked toward the house (or is it a chateau?) it reminded us of the chateaus we have visited in Europe, but the similarity ended when we entered. Built in the 1890’s with state of the art (for the time) technology including electricity, central heat and 43 bathrooms, it is much more modern. As we toured the formal rooms, sitting rooms and servants quarters it reminded us of scenes from Downton Abbey

 with a view of the North Carolina mountains.

No expense was spared in the creation of the many gardens; Italian, shrub, spring, walled, rose 

and a glass conservatory.

We can only imagine the beauty of the gardens in spring and early summer.

With The Wanderer parked at Lake Powhatan Recreation Area, a national forest campground,

we took advantage of the well-marked and maintained hiking trails.

We have stayed at several national forest and Corps of Engineers campgrounds and have yet to be disappointed. With our senior discount, we only pay 10 – 12 dollars a night and that includes electricity. We do have to go to a dump station if we are parked for more than three nights, but with our small rig, it isn’t much of a bother.

We found the WNC Farmer’s Market, this is only one of several buildings. We do want to return to Asheville and see what else we can find.  But for now, with Texas on our radar, The Wanderer is pointed east. We are looking forward to seeing our good friends in Lenoir, NC this evening.

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