My fall roadtrip to the Smoky Mountains, Savannah and Charleston started from Maryland. We made some stops on the way to Roanoke, the Blue Ridge Mountains and Asheville. I’ve always gone to the Shenandoah mountains and never quite ventured into the Blue Ridge region so I thought a stop through would be really great on our way to Asheville, Savannah and Charleston.
Roanoke
So I'm kind of obsessed with reading memoirs about hiking the Appalachian Trail (the whole trail is 2,281 miles, covering 14 states) so I am always excited when there is an opportunity to hike pieces of it. Roanoke Virginia has the most photographed hike on the Appalachian Trail, McAffee Knob. Its an 8.8 mile hike up and back but pretty mild and well-worth the views!
Some of the Appalachian Trail books I have read wrote about this really amazing all-you-can eat fried chicken and sides restaurant located right off the trail so I definitely wanted to check it out. The Homeplace Restaurant is located in a 1907 home and a must after a long hike.
Blue Ridge Mountains
So continuing down south making our way into North Carolina are the Blue Ridge Mountains, connected by a beautiful drive surrounded by trees known as the Blue Ridge Parkway. A nice lunch stop along the way is in Blowing Rock North Carolina called Bistro Roca. I am all about atmosphere when picking places to dine and the restaurant has the cutest patio with big glass windows with views of the trees.
A must stop along the way is Grandfather Mountain. Its known for “the mile high bridge” which was literally built at a mile high and has the best views of the Blue Ridge Mountains. It also has several wildlife habitats including cougars, black bears, eagles and river otters. Grandfather Mountain was featured in “Forrest Gump” in one of the scenes where Forrest is running all over America. There is a sign called Forrest Gump way that shows where that scene was filmed specifically. Also because of the very windy road, a lot of car commercials are filmed there.
Asheville
Less than a two hour drive from Grandfather Mountain is Asheville, commonly known for the Biltmore Estate. The Biltmore Estate is known as “America’s Largest Home,” with 250 rooms and 8,000 acres. It was built in the late 1800’s by the Vanderbilt family. The house is absolutely gorgeous, surrounded by mountain views. It took 1000 men and six years to build the Biltmore. George Vanderbilt took many trips to Europe and the Orient, bringing back furniture, paintings, and other pieces to decorate the home. The estate even has an indoor pool that had to be drained every time it was used and it took 48 hours to drain the pool since there was only one small drain. The estate also had gorgeous stables which have now been turned into a restaurant so you get to eat in a stable! Your ticket also includes a free wine tasting at the winery. And this winery gives you about 20 different wines to sample!
Asheville is also known for its breweries and I visited the Sierra Nevada Brewery which quickly became my favorite brewery I’ve ever been to. Its nestled in the Appalachians and is used as a full beer production site which offers tours as well as a restaurant and has a large beautiful outdoor area.
This portion of the trip took just a few days so this could even be done in a long weekend. I will post an itinerary of the complete trip that also added on the Smoky Mountains, Savannah and Charleston. Such a fun roadtrip!
