The last day of the road trip started with a visit to the Southern Highland Craft Guild. During the summer demonstrations are held and I talked to a woodcarver for a long time. The building has a museum of folk art items and also a very large store of every kind of hand made item imaginable.
The next stop was downtown Asheville to the Grove Arcade, a shopping mall constructed in the 1920s. The building is beautiful and it's a good place to catch lunch. There are a variety of interesting stores there, including a fiber craft store and a used bookstore that doubles as a champagne bar.
The last stop was DuPont State Forest that houses several impressive waterfalls that were used in the filming of the Hunger Games movies. High Falls is especially impressive and offers a lot of photo opportunities.
0 Comments
The rain finally caught up with us and we decided to go to Pisgah National Forest. There are some good and bad things about Pisgah. One of the good things is that there is a large waterfall near the road that is easy to find. Moore Cove Falls is also fairly easy to find.
The problem is that Pisgah's maps to other waterfalls aren't very good and the forest has had recent flooding that has caused some of the roads to be blocked off. My understanding is that the park doesn't have the money to fix some of these things, so there are maps showing directions to waterfalls that it is not possible to find. And some of the directions are just bad.
That's a major problem since one of the main draws to Pisgah is the waterfalls. We saw maybe one other hike within a reasonable distance from the visitor center, the rest was just driving through forest.
Despite weather predictions being for rain all week, this day turned out lovely to visit the Biltmore. Biltmore tickets are expensive and it behooves you to spend all day there. Get there early. I made the mistake of not getting there ahead of my tour ticket time, which made me have to stop at information. That wasn't all bad considering internet was very spotty there and I needed my tickets printed out anyway.
Expect big crowds at the Biltmore. It wasn't completely overwhelming when we went, but I can see it getting packed easily on weekends. The ticket includes a very nice two hour tour of the house with a handset. It was much nicer than having to follow a tour guide around and not be able to hear or see with a group. I would suggest adding an additional tour package, as I was interested in the Roof Tour, but none were really being offered this summer, which is a shame.
Definitely use the bathroom before going on the tour since there are none after you go into the house. And do your shopping at the very end. No one wants to tote bags around or have to rent a locker to store things. I do think the shops hold items for people at the end of the day. The candy store is very nice and if you're looking for food take your lunch at the Stable Cafe. The novelty of eating in the old stables is worth it.
If you can, walk the gardens early. They are worth going to, especially the conservatory, but in hot weather they're a killer. It's also worth stopping at the winery and village on the drive away from the house as it is less crowded and the village has working craftsmen.
|
AuthorA librarian who likes to travel and experience life. CategoriesArchives
June 2022
|