6/14-6/22/17
Current location: Golden, Colorado
We pulled into the hotel in Raleigh as our stomaches were starting to grumble with hunger. After a quick turnaround, we headed into downtown to check out a few of the breweries and restaurants that came with high recommendations. We ponied up to the bar at The Pit Authentic Barbecue, just as the work crowd was hitting happy hour. The food was just as delicious as we heard it would be. Across the street was Crank Arm Brewery, complete with bicycle motif. We finished the night with a pint from Big Boss Brewing. Our quick tour of Raleigh led us to some great spots. Hopefully we’ll be back one day to enjoy all of the other places on the recommendations list.
Bright and early the next morning, we continued south to Tybee Island just outside of Savannah. We enjoyed about an hour or two sitting in the pools created by the sandbar, wandering the knee deep water and taking in the sunshine. Unfortunately, we didn’t apply our sunscreen when we thought of it, and instead headed directly into the water. The familiar tingle of skin that isn’t typically in the sun kicked in as we headed back to the car, only to increase in the bright red lobster color as the night wore on. After checking into the hotel and washing the salt and sand off, we took a Lyft into downtown to wander the town. First stop: Service Brewing. Entry into the brewery required a purchase of a brewery tour, per current Georgia law. We sat at the bar and chatted with the bar tenders and fellow patrons. Service Brewing is veteran owned and pays homage to those who serve through the beer names, interior motif of the tasting room, as well as a blackboard where those who have served are encouraged to leave their mark. Our brewery tour was an abbreviated one as part of their space was being used for brews and yoga. We did however get to see where the brewery cats, Chinook and Blackhawk watch over the beer making process.
Our walk took us down cobble stone streets, and historic stairways complete with ‘use at your own risk’ warning signs. It was fun to imagine Savannah throughout its history. We found a great little seafood spot for dinner- Savannah Seafood Shack. The narrow restaurant was a counter service hole-in-the-wall joint that was delicious! We took our beverages with us (Savannah has open container laws) as we wandered along the river where we sat and watched the river boats, street performers and tourists out for a sunset walk.
In the morning, it was obvious we would be in a world of hurt for a few days minimum as we cringed anytime the seatbelt hit our shoulders. The heat coming off our bodies and the lack of air-conditioning in Florida in June was intense. We spent the weekend visiting with Dan and Megan as she recovers in the rehabilitation hospital. (The girls were out adventuring at Lake Geneva and Europe, respectively) We spent some good quality time together sharing stories and cracking jokes.
As we made our way back north, we pointed ourselves to South Carolina and Brickhouse Campground. The temps were slightly cooler, but humidity from building storms was high. Tonight would be our first night setting up a tarp overhang to create a dry “front porch”. As we turned in for the night the threatening clouds kept their promise and unleashed heavy rain and lightning. Not feeling like pressing our luck, we decided to sit in the car and let the storm pass. After about 30 minutes, we returned to the tent and tried to feel the bit of breeze put out by our newest tent edition- a fan. The rest of the night proved to be a quiet, restful one, albeit a bit sticky in the humidity.
Asheville was high on our list of places to visit. Since we had to rearrange our travel plans in January, we made sure we were going to spend some time there this time around. We hopped back onto the Blue Ridge Parkway and made a stop at Mount Mitchell to the high point of North Carolina and highest point east of the Mississippi. We made our way down into town and made our first stop of many into one of the breweries that gives Asheville it’s nickname of Beertown, USA. We sat near the bar and chatted with the bartender at French Broad Brewery about some highlights we should hit while we are in town. I frantically tried to keep up jotting them down in the ‘places to go’ list. After exchanging trip ideas we decided to find one of her favorite breweries in town.
Greenman brewery was closer to the center of town and was a much bigger space. As we finished our pints, our bartender changed into her work attire for her second job. Taking a hint from the emblem on her shirt, we looked up what team it represented. Asheville City Soccer Club was playing in a few hours, just a few blocks from where we were sitting. We headed to camp just outside of town in the Powhatan Recreation Area, set up and relaxed for a bit before heading back into town to enjoy the game. The stadium was small, but packed with fans ready to cheer on the newest semi-pro team in their inaugural season. The game was fun to watch as was the incredible sunset over the stadium.
We woke to misty skies and decided it would be a great day to head into Pisquah National Forest for a drive and to hit some of the highlights. First up: sliding rock. This natural formation/attraction has parking spots for at least 100 cars. Fortunately, weather kept the crowds down some. We hiked the short trail down to the river bed and up the incline of rock. At the top, we picked our line and sat in the 4 inch deep creek and slid down the 60 yard natural slide into a pool of water at the bottom. The 55 degree water was invigorating, and we repeated the walk up the rock followed by a chilly slide down a few times. Dried off and slightly warmer, we continued on down the road to Looking Glass Falls, a tall waterfall a few miles downstream from where we just slid.
Back in town, we found some lunch and prepared for our next adventure. We met our stand up paddle boarding guide on the banks of the French Broad River and after a quick tutorial and shuttle up river, we were off! 2 hours later, we decided that we could see ourselves getting into the sport of SUP in our future home in the Seattle area. Afterward, we stopped at the local watering hole of The Wedge in the River Arts District before heading to the hotel to shower before getting tacos at the local favorite spot of White Duck Taco. After just a few bites into their creative menu, we could easily see why this was the place to be. We continued our brewery tour with stops at Burial and Wicked Weed. It was nice having a hotel room right in Asheville and numerous places to try within walking distance.
Eager to check out more of the recommendations of our SUP tour guide, we had breakfast at Taco Billy’s, the best breakfast taco place in town. I’d have to agree, they were mighty tasty breakfast tacos. We spent the next few hours wandering in and out of the art galleries along the river. There are plans for the town to repurpose the old warehouses and create more galleries and art studios. After our fill of walking between the raindrops and in and out of shops, we hopped over the river to New Belgium Brewery for their tour of the facility. The brewery was filled with artwork pulling in elements of their signature circus elements. No New Belgium tour would be complete without a trip down the slide from workspace to tasting room space. The Colorado based brewery has done a fantastic job of putting an otherwise unusable piece of property into a beautiful facility with green space along the river and bike lanes along the road. (the property was once a cattle market and was deemed brown space, unusable for any farming or living purposes) We rounded out our tour of Asheville with dinner and beverage at Asheville Brewing before enjoying our front row seats at the Asheville Tourists baseball game. We had seen the baseball stadium from the soccer game a couple nights earlier and decided to see if the Tourists were in town. Luckily they were and, front row tickets were pretty darn cheap. The stands were once again full with a small, mountain town feel during a Minor League, Single A baseball game.
We’ve heard great things about Asheville over many years. It delivered. This is one place we’ll add to our ’need to come back here’ list.