Archive for June, 2010
When you walk into the 3 Dog Bakery, you may get confused when you see all the bakery delicasies in the two large glass cases in the front. You may think these are human baked goods. uh uh, they are for pups. They use human grade ingredients, decorate with carob, nuts, etc. which are good for doggies, and present them just exactly as you would see them in a bakery for humans.
When you are on your Asheville dog friendly vacation, you will want to be sure to take your pup with you to pick out the goodies he or she will like. They also give free samples to the pup just for visiting. They love four legged visitors. You will also find all kinds of things for your pup’s lifestyle such as beds, bowls, etc.
It’s getting to be close to that time of the year when everyone on the planet ascends on Asheville North Carolina for their Belle Chere Festival on July 23-25. Ok, that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but it feels that way to everyone who lives in Asheville. It seems like everyone who is in the proximity of the festival attends, and that is hundreds of thousands of people. Can you imagine? And all on just a few blocks in the center of town.
I certainly know why. The crafts are great, the food is great, the beer is great, the music is phenomenal. 4 stages are set up in opposite sides of downtown. There is music on nearly all the stages every hour from when the festival begins til late at night. There are paid performances, but you can come and listen to music all day for free. Of course you pay for the food and drinks. So pack up everybody and come on down for your Asheville kid-friendly, pet-friendly vacation.
One of the nicest things about our new Pack Park is Shindig on the Green will have a new home. This is the best event in Asheville and I highly recommend you go when you come on your Asheville pet friendly vacation. If your pup likes crowds and music and morsels of food to find on the ground, then this is the place for you.
Shindig starts this year on July 3rd and will continue to happen every Friday nite for the remainder of the summer. You will hear some of the best musical groups, great food vendors, lots of drinks, and it’s free! Just throw down your blanket, tether the pup, send the kids off to play, sit back and enjoy a nite of bliss. This is a good old fashioned mountain nite of fun at the Park.
I have been in the mountains of North Carolina for 26 years now and the most exciting thing around, next to the firefly season starting in June, is the fireworks that happen all over the mountains on the 4th of July. One can stand on any mountain and watch the fireworks go off from a 360 degree view. At your Asheville pet friendly cabin, you can stand on the porch and watch the lights all around you, intermingled with all the fireflies. It’s an awesome sight and it brings you back in time to when the cannons were going off and the gunpowder was popping all around you. In your imagination you feel like you are right in the midst of why we are even celebrating the day.
Or, if you like to go to professional fireworks displays, let me tell you downtown fireworks are the best. It will be held at our new Pack Park sponsored by Ingles Markets this year. Throw out a blanket, bring a picnic, and watch the fireworks. It’s a big party for Asheville.
Oh boy! We must be getting really big time around here. They just spent millions and millions of dollars on our new downtown park. And it’s quite a showcase. Many of our downtown events are being planned there. My hope is that we will get good use out of this lovely park.
When you come on your Asheville Pet Friendly vacation, be sure to visit downtown. And when your tootsies get tired, find Pack Place, the center of town, and have a seat under the giant magnolia tree to keep you cool from the sun, sitting on the cool grass. You never know who will start strumming. Picnics, music, poetry readings, festivals, all can be found at our lovely new downtown park.
When the Blue Ridge Parkway opened 75 years ago, tens of thousands of motorists experienced the breathtaking vistas along the 469 mile road. I remember my Mother telling me not long after my husband and I moved to this area that she and my father went to the Smokies for their honeymoon, as did many many folks from all over the country. We have these wonderful old pictures of her on the Parkway on their honeymoon.
Today, an estimated 17 million people each year visit the parkway, which connects Shenandoah National Park near Waynesboro, Virginia with Great Smoky Mountains National Park near Cherokee.
I know I’ve written about Navitat before, but I’m still fascinated with the concept and would love to find the time to act like a bird and fly. I remember seeing them do this on that TV program that tears down people’s houses and rebuilds them a new and better one – Home Makeover or something like that – with Ty as the leader of the group. If you want a good cry, watch that show. But then I digress. I remember seeing the family with disabled children being taken to this incredible place to allow them to zip through the trees, on top of the trees. They had a fabulous time. I was breathless as I watched. It never seemed long enough though. I would want to go for miles.
And then here it is, one pops up right outside Asheville. I want to go. I will go. But I want to tell you about it too because maybe you will come on your Asheville Mountain Vacation and go before me and tell me all about it.
On your Asheville Mountain Vacation, another Blue Ridge Parkway trail that you will probably enjoy to the fullest is to start at the Greybeard Overlook at Milepost 363, 364, just north of Craggy Gardens and hike north to the Glassmine Falls Overlook at Milepost 361.
If you are looking for a hike with a bit of history, check out the Buck Spring Lodge Trail, which can be accessed from the parking lot of the Pisgah Inn at Milepost 408, south of Asheville.
There are so many beautiful trails to hike, on an Asheville mountain vacation. Try to make one of them your goal while you stay here in the Blue Ridge mountains. Venture out of your car as you drive the Blue Ridge Parkway and take a hike. The Obamas did and this is where they went.
The first couple took an hourlong stroll along the Mountains to Sea Trail just north of Asheville at the Ox Creek Road trailhead, heading south and turning around after about a mile. The trail the Obamas hiked is a pretty trail, but when you come, try using that as a jump off point. You can also start at Milepost 359 about 23 miles northeast of Asheville for a lovely hike. Go from Balsam Gap and head toward Mount Mitchell over Blackstock Knob. It has 360 degree views from Promontory Ridge. It looks all the way back from Craggy, across the Asheville watershed. It is one of the most awesome views.
When hiking to Buck Spring Lodge, start at Milepost 407 for a 2.7 “Moderate” hike. Walt Weber, author of a trail guide to the Mountains-to-Sea Trail, suggests making a 3m loop starting at the Pisgah Camp store, at the north end of the Pisgah Inn parking area, crossing the Parkway and heading down the MST to the right. Walk along the parkway to the Mount pisgah parking sign and turn to the right to the site of where George Vanderbilt’s hunting lodge once stood, and continue to follow MST back to the Pisgah Inn.
Beautiful sites to see and experience. Then jump in your car and drive back to the Asheville pet friendly cabin you are staying at for a lovely glass of wine and a soak in the hot tub.