Asheville

Things to do in Asheville:
wander around downtown - they have lots of quirky shops (i like this tea/spice shop downtown)
Biltmore - great gardens, if you want to pay the cost to get in, you could spend a whole day there if you wanted.  http://www.biltmore.com/

outside of Biltmore is the Biltmore Village which has high end shops and restaurants 
Blue Ridge Parkway http://www.blueridgeparkway.org/   - Time goes slower on the parkway. Mileage too. The normal time it takes to drive 10 miles anywhere else is doubled on the parkway. It's great but you have to remember not to try and bite off more than you can chew.
Chimney Rock, I haven't been here yet but one day: http://www.chimneyrockpark.com/
The Arboretum: http://www.ncarboretum.org/  It's pretty neat and not too expensive. There are some easy trails around the property that are nice. 
Asheville also has a lot of good music venues, if you wanted to check them out. This is one I've heard of: http://www.theorangepeel.net/

Tupelo Honey Cafe - this is my favorite restaurant. It's local, organic, made from scratch and a great Asheville institution. I like going to the one in south Asheville just because you can make reservations but you usually don't need them, they're larger and usually less crowded. But the one downtown is the original and has more "character" http://tupelohoneycafe.com/

Breweries - Asheville is becoming one of the best places for beer in the Southeast. Many breweries are opening up East coast locations in Asheville. You can check out this visitor site which is helpful: http://www.exploreasheville.com/foodtopia/food-adventures/asheville-beer/. They say that Asheville has more breweries per capita in the US. We enjoyed our visit to Highlands Brewing Company. Many of these places host music events on the weekends, as well.   

To stay: Down to Earth cottages: http://www.downtoearthcottages.com/
it's like if you had your own cottage in the mountains. You take care of food and all yourself but they also leave you alone. They also have a garden and fire pit and things to do around there. Brevard is about 45 min- an hour drive from asheville. I love Brevard as a mountain town.  I will do a mountain/Brevard post in the future.

Also, west of Asheville is Waynesville which is a pretty cool mountain town. 

I use a lot of the tourism websites for town info. Also for events calendars. I find out a lot of fun things via these sites. Here: 

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