Road Trip

Over Columbus Day weekend we took a roadtrip. M’s car had been stored at his parents’ place in NC, so he’d used a rental car initially when he returned home from Iraq. The long weekend was a good time for him to drive up to NC & combine visiting his parents with collecting his car.

He’d asked me if I’d like to do a roadtrip with him on the way back, so he picked me up at Raleigh Airport early Saturday morning & we drove across to Asheville, NC. We booked into a hotel & later in the evening we headed off on a “Brews Cruise”! It was a fun, organized tour of a few local breweries, with lots of “sampling” to be done, as you can imagine. Thankfully we were able to take a taxi, so we were both free to do a little tasting through the night.

Next day we spent some time in Asheville itself, wandering around the town, browsing the bookstores & coffeeshops. It was my first visit to Asheville, & I must say I really liked the little that we saw of it! The downtown area itself is quite quaint, with plenty of quirky shops, bars and restaurants to enjoy, & we decided on a local pub when it got to lunchtime.

Afterwards we headed out along the Blue Ridge Parkway for some sightseeing - what a stunning drive we had along there! The scenery was just breathtaking, & we had such a beautiful day for driving & photographs.

After a few hours driving & stopping off at different locations, we left the Parkway & headed off toward the northern, mountainous region of GA. We spent the night in Helen, a little town that is a re-creation of an Alpine village. It was a lot of fun, especially as we happened to arrive in the middle of Oktoberfest month. It’s quite a tacky, touristy town, but still fun, nevertheless, if you can keep an open mind.

We certainly had some great beer & lovely German food while we were there anyway, & even visited an amazing model train exhibition by a German gentleman who has been here for a long time. He wanted to celebrate his love of model trains by putting together a set-up that represents Germany - from the North Sea to the Alps. It had taken him about 23 years to put together. A fabulous work of art to see.

Overall this weekend was really my first introduction to NC, & I was extremely pleasantly surprised. I’d always known that it boasted some beautiful regions, but it was even more lovely than I’d imagined. Ditto for the mountains region up in northern GA.

Monday afternoon we drove south, & M took me to the airport in Atlanta for my flight home, & then headed home himself. Another fun, but all-too-short, weekend!