asheville Archives - Saved by the Kale

My days this week have been all wompy! The girls got a Hurricane day last Friday and then were on Fall break Mon-Wed of this week. So basically all I know is today is Friday, right!? Thankfully our area did not receive any real damage from the Hurricane Matthew. We had already left for our vacation so we missed all the weather but kept up with it on the XM during on travels and checked in with family.

Now onto some of the highlights from this week! Warning….lots of pics this week! 🙂

Greenville, SC

On our way up to Black Mountain, NC we spent a night in our favorite Downtown! We miss you Gville!

Favorite Salad

While in Greenville we ate dinner at California Dreaming and I had my favorite salad. Their house dressing is to die for and their croissants melt in your mouth!

Walking around Downtown

The girls were excited to visit the ducks again!

Shrimp and Grits

We were looking forward to hitting up the Downtown Farmer’s Market Saturday but it was canceled due to high winds. Thankfully Soby’s on the Side was open and we were still able to get our Shrimp and Grits and delicious muffins! We were happy!

Corn Maze at Eliada Homes, Asheville

This is the largest corn maze in Western North Carolina. We had fun getting lost in the maze and doing all the other activities they had to offer! Plus it was for a good cause…the proceeds go to helping take care of high risk children and adolescents. Here’s more info about Eliada.

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Green Sage Cafe

Just one of the many awesome things about Asheville is the variety of food. You do not have to look far to find healthy options for everyone. Whether you are vegan, gluten free, dairy free or if you can eat whatever you want, they have it! The Green Sage Cafe had so many vegan and gluten free options and the food was delicious! I ordered a vegan mocha shake, it was made vegan by using coconut milk and coconut ice cream! I also ordered the Buenos Burrito which was filled with scrambled eggs, black beans, spinach, root hash, avocado salsa, and spicy habanero pepper jack cheese. Another thing I love about the Green Sage Cafe is that they use local, organic, non-gmo and humanely-raised ingredients!

Downtown Asheville

Black Mountain

We stayed in a house on Black Mountain and it was so remote and peaceful with beautiful views!

Family Time

In the evenings we enjoyed playing ALL the games! Bingo, Twister, Table Tennis, and Foosball!

Sunrises

We enjoyed the sunrise each morning from our back deck. Nothing like cool, crisp, mountain air to get your day started off right! And a hot mug of Molasses milk!

Craggy Pinnacle

We loved our hike up to the top of Craggy Pinnacle!

Then we drove over to Mt. Mitchell and did the short hike up to the summit, the highest point east of the Mississippi at 6,634 ft.

We had a great time getting away from everything and just enjoying being together!

I hope you all have had a lovely week!

Today I’m linking up with Heather.

Saturday we decided to drive up to Asheville for the day to explore a little of its downtown. Honestly, I wish we had gone to Asheville more before we had kids and while we still lived in Greenville, SC full time. We have been there several times but usually for a purpose, like a concert. I feel like I am just now discovering all the wonderful things it has to offer and it’s much easier exploring when you don’t have children with you. That being said, there are lots of wonderful, family oriented activities there. Unfortunately our kids are still too small to do some of the ones that I would like to do, like zip lining! There are several places up there that offer it and I would love to check them out sometime!

Downtown Asheville has so much to offer; local coffee shops everywhere and tons of fun cafes. Asheville has something for everyone. If you cannot find something you like to eat or do downtown then something is wrong with you! We started off our day eating at Biscuit Head. Like their name implies biscuits are the theme of the menu. How awesome is a place that offers gravy flights and a biscuit bar with all kinds of syrups and jams. Be prepared to wait. When we got there the line was out the door and down the sidewalk. Thankfully it went fairly quickly and we ordered and were seated within about 20 minutes. I ordered the classic biscuit, which was egg and cheese (the biscuits are HUGE by the way) and I got a side of pulled pork. I went to the bar and got some sriracha honey (!!!) to drizzle over my biscuit and I’m so glad I did because it was fantastic and took it to the next level.

After our brunch we went to a downtown park where they were having an arts and craft fair, which are always fun to browse through and listen to local musical talent. Also at the park they have something called Splasheville, which is an interactive water fountain located in the Roger McGuire Green in Pack Square Park. It’s a fun place for the kids to cool off and play. Sadly, it was down for maintenance. Luckily, people were out making balloon animals and bead bracelets so the girls still had fun while Jim and I sat on a blanket in the shade of a tree!

Just a block over from the park is the French Broad Chocolate Lounge, a chocolate lover’s dream come true. They have tours of their chocolate factory that last about 1.5 hours as well, which we’d love to go back and do sometime in the very near future. We ordered quite a few things…. 2 pieces of their Quintessential Chocolate Cake (devil’s food cake featuring Carolina Ground flour, whipped ganache, dark chocolate glaze and curls), 1 cacao nib brownie, 3 chocolate chip cookies and 1 dark chocolate salted caramel. We look forward to going back and sampling more chocolatey treats!

We decided to take the long way home through the mountains. It was a nice way to end the day. It is always fun discovering new things to do close to home!

Let’s Chat:

Have you ever been to Asheville? What are your favorite things to do there?

Grateful Friday #5 (Greenville, Asheville, and Black Mountain)