July 10, 2012

NC Recap–Day 1

 

After leaving Orlando around 8:30 pm and driving through he night, we arrived in Hendersonville around 5:00 am last Wednesday morning.  With off and on sleeping throughout the ride, we were all still so tired.  We got a few more hours of sleep after unloading the van and had a 10 am wake-up call to get our mountain vacation started. 

Here’s what day 1 entailed:

 

  • Breakfast @ Joey’s - Hendersonville, NC

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If you ever happen to be in the Hendersonville area I would highly recommend Joey’s New York Bagels for breakfast.  I found it while looking on my Urbanspoon and Trip Advisor apps, both which gave it great reviews.  It was only about a 5 minute drive from our house and definitely lived up to the hype.

 

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The made from scratch bagels and hot coffee were delicious and the staff was very friendly.  Mike and I chose the bagel and egg sandwich with cheddar while others tried wraps and bagels with schmear.

 

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 Soooo good!

 

After eating, grocery shopping, yard working and showering, we headed to Asheville for the rest of the day/night.

 

  • 4th of July in Asheville

 

Asheville, about 20 miles west of Hendersonville is an eclectic, artsy and some might say “Hippie” kind of town.  Deemed as Beer City, USA it is full of local flair, local brews and local eats.

 

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SNACKS:

Jack of the Wood  95 Patton Ave, Asheville

Our first stop when arriving to Asheville was Jack of the Wood.  It is a Celtic style pub that is the original home of Green Man Brewing – specializing in English crafted beers - and offered yummy appetizers (along with a full menu) and great music.

 

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We opted for:

  • Jack’s Barbecue Potato Chips - hand-cut barbecue seasoned potato chips, served with a side of bleu cheese and scallion dip.
  • Garlic & Cheese Fries - steak-cut fries, tossed in garlic and rosemary, then finished with melted cheddar-Jack cheese.
  • Pickle Chips - A basket of batter-dipped, deep fried pickle slices served with a side of chipotle ranch dressing.

Not the most figure friendly dishes, but definitely perfect with a few beers.

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Mellow Mushroom  50 Broadway St, Asheville

After leaving Jack of the Wood we stumbled upon one of our hometown favorites, Mellow Mushroom.

They didn’t have the same garlic knots that we know and love in Orlando, did have delectable garlic pretzels that hit the spot.

 

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With a pitcher of Purple Haze amongst other beer choices to wash the pretzels down, we were ready to explore the town.

 

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The mulit-purpose koozie.

 

FUNSIES:

Because it was the Fourth of July, Asheville had a huge downtown festival going on.  Lots of food vendors and tons of things for the kiddos to do.

 

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Well, I guess kiddos or adults.  Our guys couldn’t resist the “Sports Arena”.

 

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DINNER:

Lexington Avenue Brewery (Lab)  39 N. Lexington Ave, Asheville

Since we had only been noshing on appetizers for lunch, we were starting to get hungry for an actual dinner.  We read about a local restaurant that was also a brewery where our friend was a food runner, so we thought we would try it out.

 

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Lab didn’t disappoint.  I loved my meal and the atmosphere.  We sat on the patio and enjoyed the open air and great people watching.

Afterwards, we even found out that this was one of the hang outs of the Hunger Games cast when they were filming the movie (we hit other spots that had movie significance as well, more to come.).

 

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I love this message board (above). The entire thing, including the bricks were drawn in chalk.  So cool.

 

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The food was delish and not overpriced (yay). I had the burger and  highly recommend it.  Simple, but bold and absolutely filling.  The shoestring fries were in a league of their own.

 

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After dinner we headed back downtown to get ready for fireworks.  The weather was perfect, bands were loud and the fireworks impressive. 

 

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All in all, a great first day!

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