Our annual 'explore a US city' trip is one of my favorite trips each year. This year it fell on Michael's first Father's Day, which made it extra special. We have visited Chicago, Saint Louis, and now Asheville. We picked a city within 5 hours of our house because we weren't sure how Genevieve would do with the travel. But she was a champ and slept a huge chunk of the way.
We were happy to see that we could still enjoy going out to eat and walking around a city with a baby. We had to think about naps and early bed time, but we made it work. Luckily, with 3 World Cup games a day, we could make it back to the hotel to watch a game in the afternoon and then again in the evening. It was the perfect first family vacation!
Camping
Oh camping... so we decided to do a trial run at camping and we wanted to save some money. It was only $20 to rent the camp site so it was major savings compared to a hotel. We stayed the night at Lake Powhatan in the Pisgah National Forest, which was absolutely breathtaking. Heads-up, though: if you're camping with a baby, I highly recommend a good air mattress and a bumbo.
Our vacations focus on food. I absolutely love doing research on the best local restaurants, though this time we had plan for a party of two and a half. I was really excited to eat at Curate, a beloved tapas restaurant, but halfway through the meal we decided to have our courses boxed and eat at the park downtown because Genevieve was getting too fidgety and obnoxious and I was sweating from stress. I think we have hit that stage where bringing her to nice restaurants will have to wait. But it wasn't a huge deal because Asheville has so many great options for casual dining. We had everything from Indian street food to bone marrow to duck tacos. It was a very tasty trip!
Chai Pani: Indian Street Food
Bhel Puri, Green Mango Chaat, Samosa Chaat, Chicken Pakoras
Curate: Tapas
Berenjenas la taberna (eggplant), Pimientos de piquillo y queso de cabra (peppers/goat cheese), Pulpo a la gallega (octopus), Butifarra con mongetes (sausage), Rosejat negro (Squid ink pasta)
White Duck Taco: gourmet tacos
Duck Mole, Fish, BBQ Carnitas, Steak and Cheese
and some yummy Peach Sangria
Buffalo Nickel: American
BBQ Potato gnocchi, Roasted bone marrow, WNC Trout
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Table: farm to table brunch
Egg in a hole, Hanger steak
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Sunny Point Cafe: Breakfast
Pimento bacon omelette, Huevos Rancheros
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Looks like it was a fun trip! I wish I could convince my husband to enjoy camping as much as I do; he'd much rather go the hotel route sadly
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