Asheville Birthday Trip, Days 4-5

I spent my 40th birthday on a camping trip in Asheville, North Carolina! Yesterday, I shared pictures from my actual birthday, and the day before, I shared images from the first 2 days of our trip. Tonight, I've got the last two days covered.

On Saturday, I woke up to a very cold morning! Our RV stays nice and toasty, but our kitchen is on the outside of the camper, so that meant cooking breakfast in the elements. And that's okay! That's what camping is about. I don't really understand the giant RVs that are basically homes on wheels. I had planned to do yoga and run that morning, but it was a bit too chilly for yoga and I didn't have much time to run since we had plans for the day. So I just threw on some layers and headed out to make breakfast. Paul requested pancakes every day, but I also brought stuff to make Camping Breakfast Wraps, so that's what I had.

These have Just Egg (perfect for camping!), seitan chorizo, vegan pepper jack slices, avocado, and tomato. We enjoyed our breakfasts inside the camper with the heat on. 

Here's what most mornings looked like. No makeup, lots of layers.

After we showered and got ready for the day, we headed out to a couple stores near the campsite that we'd spotted. And then we had lunch at Thai Basil, a Thai place in Black Mountain, NC, by the campsite. Paul had spotted it the day before, and he loves Thai food, so we went! I started with the Deep Fried Tofu appetizer. Very crispy with a yummy sweet and sour sauce.

We split an order of Panang Curry with Tofu. I'm a pad see ew gal, but panang is Paul's fave, and I didn't want us to order two entrees because we didn't want to have leftovers. Our RV fridge was already stuffed with lots of beer, leaving little room for leftovers. This was tasty! I loved all the veggies in it!

We had 1:30 pm reservations at the Biltmore, the largest privately owned house in the US. This is one of those must-do things for Asheville visitors, and we failed to tour the house on our last Asheville trip, so we figured we had to. It's very cool! The home was built in 1895, and it is BEAUTIFUL. So many rooms! So much land! 

My favorite room was the library. It had two floors within the room and one of those cool spiral staircases that leads you up to the landing. And the ceiling was hand-painted. 

The indoor swimming pool was a close second. It's located right in the center of the house, and there were rows of ladies' dressing rooms leading up to the pool room. The house also had a bowling alley and about a million pantries.

The Biltmore has an on-site winery, but you have to make reservations for a tasting in-person. So we headed over there (about a 15 minute drive from the house!) to get our spot. They gave a reservation that was for two hours later, so we had some time to kill. We did some shopping, met some goats, and enjoyed some Raspberry Sorbet and White Wine on the on-site creamery. 

When it was finally wine time, we headed into the winery. We got to taste five wines each, and then we grabbed some bottles to go from the wine shop.

By the time we left the Biltmore, it was well past my dinner time — almost 8 pm! I really wanted to eat at Rosetta's Kitchen (an all-vegan comfort food diner) while we were there, but they were only doing takeout. So we headed there to grab some food to go. Unfortunately, they were pretty much out of everything, so they couldn't make the dish I ordered (mashed potatoes topped with peanut butter tofu, kale, and gravy). So instead they hooked me up with a giant order that PB Tofu and Kale! For free! Thanks Rosetta's! By the way, there's a recipe for this tofu in the No Meat Athlete Cookbook. I've made it a few times, but it's never as good as Rosetta's.

I enjoyed that delicious tofu in the camper when we returned while I waited for Paul to get our fire going. The temps had dropped again, and it was chilly! We spent the rest of the night by the fire until bedtime. 

The next morning, we got up early and started packing up, since we needed to check out by noon. I made another breakfast wrap and got ready for the day, and then said goodbye to our campsite. But before we headed back to Tennessee, we'd planned a stop at Looking Glass Falls, an awesome waterfall we'd visited on our last trip 11 years ago. As we were driving there, we passed a sign for the Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. It's closed for COVID, but we'd heard they were doing curbside meals and six-packs from their restaurant. It was about lunchtime anyway, and Paul had heard good things about their chicken wings (he eats meat, so ...). So we swung by and ordered some takeout and six-packs of beer to take home.

I ordered the Roasted Beet & Kale Salad, which was topped with a Kolsch dressing! We enjoyed our meals on a bench overlooking the waterfall. Y'all, this salad was top-notch! The beets were huge, and that beer dressing was amazing. 

Here we are at Looking Glass Falls!

Paul even got in the ice-cold water because he's crazy.

After we enjoyed the falls for a bit, we hopped in the car and make the 5-hour drive back to Nashville. Paul had to work in Nashville the next day, so he was staying there. But I still needed to complete the drive to Memphis, so I transferred my things to my car and headed out for another 3-hour drive. It was late, and I was hungry again, so I was scoping out every fast food sign off the interstate, looking for a Burger King or Taco Bell. And guess what? I found something even better! White Castle!! They have Impossible Sliders, and Memphis doesn't have White Castles, so this was a treat! They don't look like much, but these are tasty little burgers. I only got two (because I had lots of snacks in the car, and I need to be constantly snacking so I don't get tired), but I was sad that I didn't get 10.

That's it! I finally made it home around 1 am, and I went straight to bed. What a fun trip!