North Carolina Mountains

For our fifth wedding anniversary, the husband and I decided to make a trip up to Asheville, N.C. Only about five hours away from Myrtle Beach, it is an easy weekend destination.
In addition to its outdoor beauty with mountains, trails, trees and flowers, Asheville is also quite the foodie destination.
Several chefs have started one of a kind eateries in and around Asheville that make it a top food destination.

The Green Man Brewery

On our way to Asheville, we made a stop in Monroe, North Carolina to check out one of the only places you can get white barbecue sauce. Yes, you read that right: WHITE barbecue sauce. Supposedly, it is an Alabama thing and can only be found in that state. When my husband was researching our trip, he found Big Bob Gibson’s in Monroe. It is an original Alabama restaurant and serves the white barbecue sauce over barbecue chicken. The sauce is very different than the tradition barbecue sauce, but it definitely is tasty and has a place in the competitive BBQ world.
After our short detour to Monroe, we headed to Asheville for our adventure. Our anniversary is July 5 and so we always get to enjoy the Fourth of July festivities. It is always fun to think the fireworks are just for us…
Once we got to Asheville, we checked into our hotel about 10 minutes away from the city center.
On our first evening, we enjoyed music and fireworks Downtown and a Cuban dinner at Havana’s Restaurant. The ropa vieja is to die for.
On July 5, the husband and I enjoyed some sight seeing and an amazing lunch at White Duck Taco. This place serves up fresh, made-to-order tacos and salsas. It is THE hot spot for business luncheons and we were lucky to get a table. On the menu, that changes daily, are a variety of tacos with various ethnicities. You can order mexican tacos, asian tacos, barbecue tacos and so much more. My husband and I only got two tacos each and I regret it every day. I should have gotten more.

Curate

After dinner, we took a stroll over to the French Broad Chocolate Lounge for a slice of cake and a macron. I am a chocoholic and am pretty sure I could have spent hours in that shop tasting and smelling everything.

French Broad Chocolates

Ashveille has so much to offer locals and visitor’s alike. We enjoyed strolling the Whole Foods-esque grocery store, tasting and buying wines from various shops, sipping on a flight of beers from the Green Man Brewery and a stop at the local food co-op where we found fresh, locally sourced goodies that you can’t find anywhere else. While we were there, we even fit in a long hike to the top of a mountain. The views were amazing and totally worth it. Plus, we burned some calories, which is always good on a foodie trip.
If you are looking for an eclectic, hippie, fun and delicious place to go for you next trip, I would highly recommend Asheville. The places I mentioned barely scratch the surface of the amazingness that is Asheville, N.C.