Adventures in Asheville!

We recently took a week long family vacation to Asheville, North Carolina. This was our first time in Asheville but after an amazing week of adventures, it probably won't be our last time. 

Check out our adventures, thoughts, and recommendations - 

 

I'm including our Air BNB rental as the first thing because this was a true gem that we found just a few minutes south of Asheville. Jan and Larry, our Air BNB hosts, were truly the best - made even better by their two sweet dogs, Toby and Greta. 

Cane Creek Valley is a recently renovated guest space which includes a private saltwater pool, hot tub, and gorgeous mountain views. Lots of little details were thought of by the hosts to make sure every guest has the best stay.  

Lots of gymnastics happened off the diving board at our Air BNB

The kids loved Toby - the sweetest host! He also looks exactly like our dog Ollie. Toby will come visit the guest quarters and my kids loved having a furry visitor. 

Where to Adventure 

When I start planning our family vacations, I do a basic 'what to do in Asheville...' google search and then open every single tab until I'm totally overwhelmed ;)  Then I slowly sort through them and start making us a list of actual viable adventure options. 

There was so much to do in Asheville - outdoor adventures, amazing breweries and restaurants, and of course a pretty famous mansion. 

Biltmore Estate - (Mike's favorite adventure) We spent our first full day in Asheville just touring some casual real estate. The Biltmore Estate is synonymous with Asheville and there's good reason. The entire experience is impressive, starting with the 15 minute drive up the winding driveway. Make sure to buy tickets online first to save a little bit of money. Give yourself lots of time to explore the grounds and shops. We enjoyed dinner at the Stable Restaurant where they have renovated the old stable into a unique dining experience. As a former equestrian, eating in a horse stall felt very natural. The chicken cobb salad was so good that my kids have requested I make it at home and we've named it Biltmore chicken salad. 

After lunch we toured the estate - each guest gets a handheld audio device to personally listen to the tour at their own pace. The kids tour is narrated by the notorious Vanderbilt St. Bernard - Cedric. All that walking through the house worked up our sweet tooth and we grabbed some ice cream from the dairy shop right next to the house - get the vanilla churn with cookie dough!

Tubing down the French Broad River - This was the closest I got to relaxing for 2 hours while vacationing with kids. We booked through Asheville Adventure Company and they were so great - so easy to book, just show up ready to float down the river. We packed some snacks and got the extra cooler tube so the kids could enjoy snacks as we floated. This section of the French Broad River has a nice, calm current, and everyone really enjoyed the views and sunshine from the water.

This river float will also be notoriously known in our family as the day I was bitten by a wild duck...it's a story for another day. 

Lake Lure - (Emerson's favorite adventure) As a fan of Dirty Dancing, I was so excited to visit the Lake where they filmed the famous water lift scene. Despite Mike not being willing to recreate the lift scene with me, Lake Lure is a true gem. This gorgeous lake cuts between the mountains for some breathtaking views. The beach area is easy to access and has a convenient check in building with changing rooms and lake day supplies for purchase. There is a fee for beach access and everything I read said to get there early because there's a 400 person capacity on the beach. We did get there around 10am and stayed until 2pm, it was busy but didn't reach capacity and there was a lot of space to enjoy the lake. 

The beach/swimming area of the lake has a splash pad and two racing water slides that dump you quickly into the shallow lake. Our kids must have ridden the slides 50 times, and those fast slides solidified Lake Lure as Emerson's favorite Asheville adventure. 

After you enjoy your day at Lake Lure, walk across the street to this little ice cream shack. It's the most unassuming roadside stand with the best mint chocolate chip ice cream I've ever had. 

Lake Lure cutting through the mountain is too gorgeous to capture in a photo. 

The water slides were a kid favorite. If you zoom in on the second slide, you can see Emerson making a very graceful entrance into the water. 

Chimney Rock (Everett's favorite adventure) - After a great lake day, we stopped at nearby Chimney Rock and climbed what felt like 120 flights of stairs. Chimney Rock is very popular and the visit is easy to navigate by driving up a long driveway, paying a recreation fee, and then follow the signs. All of the trails and views are well marked and Everett proclaimed our trip as the best vacation ever while standing at the top of Chimney Rock. The views are worth every single step climbed. I also recommend the short hike to a gorgeous waterfall that was staffed with a park ranger who happily shared knowledge and showed my kids some water snakes. 

All smiles after a long climb up. 

The view was worth all the steps. 

Sliding Rock at Pisgah National Forest - Sliding Rock is so fun! That's the headline on this adventure. Parking at the site fills up quickly so plan to go early and on a weekday, I could imagine that it gets packed on a hot weekend. A 60 foot natural rock water slide cuts through the forest and people line up patiently to slide down and  plunge into VERY cold mountain water. This Explore Asheville site helped me to plan however the pricing information is outdated. Pricing for parking in the recreation area for Sliding Rock is now $5 per person in the car. I recommend wearing water shoes because the rocks get slippery. There are changing rooms right by the rock but no food permitted in the recreation area. 


Both kids loved the cold plunge down the natural rock water slide.

Hiking in Pisgah National Forest - After the cold plunge, we changed and drove a little bit to the Slick Rock trailhead for a hike. Slick Rock has a small waterfall by the roadside followed up a steep 2 mile trail up the mountain. It was very hot and humid for our hike and the highlight was seeing a rattlesnake (from a safe distance) when we got to the base of the mountainside. 

Downtown Asheville - Asheville is a wonderful city full of small businesses, breweries, great food, and public art displays. We found it so easy to find a place to park, and walk around to explore the town. We stumbled upon Kress Emporium which is a large marketplace of independent artist booths. Both of my kids got gorgeous prints by local artists, and I bought a handsewn, upcycled leather bag by The Inverse. I'm already planning another purchase from her because her work is so high quality and gorgeous. 

Like a naïve person, I packed 3 books to read. 3 books? While vacationing with kids? Laughable. 

I only got through one book- Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid. It was a good, easy vacation read but not a must read recommendation from me. I liked the multi generational storyline but it drug on a bit long for me and lacked surprises along the way. 

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Have you been to Asheville? What was your favorite adventure? 

Planning a trip to Asheville? Let me know if I can expand on any recommendations! 

Bonus Selfie - this was me, sweaty and wondering why I don't have an all-inclusive resort type family.