DOs
- DO go to Asheville at some point. It's a great city nestled in the Blue Ridge, full of nifty shops, lots of art, an abundance of hippies, and many, many Subarus.
- DO take a stroll downtown and enjoy the sights -- maybe even dine at one of the city's many excellent restaurants. (In the past, we've had great meals at Table and Zambra.)
- DO consider staying at one of Asheville's many bed-and-breakfasts. We stayed at the Inn at Cumberland Falls last October and had a delightful time.
- DO visit the Biltmore Village -- the shops are a bit too chi-chi for our taste, but the site of the all the shops decorated identically for the holidays is pretty amusing. (As the hostess at our restaurant put it, it's like walking through the Smurf Village.)
- DO dine at the Corner Kitchen (house in one of those Smurf cottages in that Smurf village). We had two great "high-gravity" beers (Duvel and Three Philosophers), appetizers of calamari and brie and two entrees that included a pecan-crusted trout served with sweet potatoes and green beans and unique, delicious medallions of meat loaf served with cheddar grits and collard greens. We topped it off with a scrumptious white chocolate vanilla bread pudding with caramel sauce. Yum!
DON'Ts
- DON'T -- no matter how appealing the website might seem or how economy-friendly the price might be -- DON'T stay at the Four Points by Sheraton Asheville Downtown. DON'T. First, your room probably won't be ready when you arrive -- and it still won't be ready an hour after you arrive. In fact, the housekeeping manager will probably still be in your room once you're finally given the key. Also, you'll soon realize (as I did the minute we drove up) that the hotel is not new (as the website seems to suggest); it is a renovation of an old Best Western. DON'T assume that your upgraded room will be that great -- especially if it is right beside the noisy 1970s elevator. Also, DON'T assume that your upgraded room will have a great view -- unless you are really into looking at the heating and cooling systems on the next roof.
- DON'T even think about getting breakfast at any local establishment that sells breakfast. (See my note above about staying at a bed-and-breakfast.) The only way to ensure that you could get breakfast at a local restaurant would be to either a) be there when the place opens or 2) have breakfast for lunch after waiting for two hours. (We ended up having breakfast at a Waffle House on the outskirts of town.)
- DON'T assume that your new GPS device is going to always know exactly where to go. The twisty streets of the Biltmore Village had our TomTom very confused. (It thought that the local Hardee's was the restaurant we wanted to go to.)
- DON'T think about going to the Biltmore Estate during the holiday season -- the tickets are $57 PER PERSON! Come on! Really?
Okay, that's all for now.
