Sister Weekend In Asheville, North Carolina!

Earlier in the year, Kevin (who had been traveling a good bit for work) suggested my sister, Susan, and I plan a sister weekend, and offered to book us a hotel room using travel points. Susan and I both happily took him up on that offer, and we met up in Greenville, South Carolina back in March, where we had a wonderful time together.

We quickly decided this was something worth developing into a tradition, and so last weekend we traveled to Asheville, North Carolina for Sister Weekend #2. The weekend was as close to perfect as I can imagine, and I thought I’d share some details about what we did, where we stayed, places we ate, etc. in case you’re planning a trip to Asheville and would find this helpful!

For one, we lucked out BIG TIME weather wise. Our Greenville trip in the spring was fun, but chilly and rainy. Rain was on the forecast for Asheville, too, but it ended up only raining at relatively convenient times — it didn’t get in the way of our plans at all!

Oh, and a quick side note: Susan and I have often been told we look similar (and if you’ve met us in person you know we SOUND eerily similar and have virtually identical mannerisms), but we were asked more times than ever if we were twins this past weekend. It was fun!

Okay, let’s get into the recap!:

HOTEL:

We stayed at the AC Hotel Asheville Downtown, and it was a wonderful spot! Not only was the location amazing, the hotel also had a gorgeous rooftop space — Capella on 9 — where we soaked in the beautiful mountain sunset views on our first night there (with tasty drinks from the bar in hand!). The rooftop is available to guests and non-guests alike, so even if you don’t stay at the AC it’s worth a visit!

RESTAURANTS:

We ate some great food while we were in Asheville, including three visits to the cafe directly across the street from the hotel.

Dinner on Friday night was at Limones, where we had amazing margaritas (our server told us it was well known that they’re the best in town!) and tasty meals. I got the blood orange margarita, which I highly recommend, and Susan’s spicy margarita was also great. Heads up: There weren’t any plant-based entrees on the menu, but I asked our server if the chef could make me a vegan plate and THEY DELIVERED. I ended up with a ridiculously good meal as a result!

Saturday morning, Saturday afternoon, AND Sunday morning we ended up at Green Sage Cafe, the spot across from our hotel. Everyone there was so nice, and we loved the fresh ingredients and menu selection. For breakfast Saturday I got the Good Life Bowl, and then for lunch Saturday I had the Green Day smoothie and a chocolate chip cookie, and for breakfast Sunday I ordered the Almond Brothers smoothie. Everything was wonderful!

It was rainy during dinnertime on Saturday night, so Susan and I were in the mood for something warm and comforting. We found it at Blue Dream Curry House, where we split a naan taco and then each got a curry dish. Perfection!

Our last meal together, lunch on Sunday, was at Farm Burger (their South Asheville location), which is a restaurant I’m very familiar with because its first location opened in Decatur, Georgia, when I lived in Atlanta. We both got the housemade vegan burger (SO GOOD!) over salads — Superfood Salad for me and Farm Salad for Susan — and shared an order of sweet potato fries. YUM.

(Note: We tried to eat at Pulp + Sprout Sunday morning, because it looked SO good, but they ended up opening late the day we stopped by. Next time!!)

ACTIVITIES:

We had the best mix of both planned and unplanned activities! Saturday morning we took a three-hour self-guided kayak tour down the French Broad River through Asheville Adventure Company, and it was delightful. The weather was perfect, and it was such a fun way to start our day — enjoying the beautiful surroundings and chatting the whole way. I would definitely do this again! (We met a nice couple from California who took a couple of photos of in our kayaks us since we didn’t have our phones on us, but they must have gotten my number wrong because we never got the pictures. Bummer! But trust me — the views on the river were so, so pretty.)

Then, after grabbing our smoothies for a light lunch, we browsed a pop-up market that was set up near our hotel and explored a few stores as we leisurely made our way to our 90-minute massage appointments at Blazing Lotus Healing House, which was in walking distance from our hotel. (By the way, if you haven’t had a 90-minute massage before, it’s a total game changer!) We both had a great experience — our therapists each gave us really firm massages which were also very effective — and loved our time there. Again — I would absolutely go back!

During our massages, a rainstorm began. Instead of dealing with an Uber for the half-mile trip back to the hotel, we opted to just run through the rain, knowing we’d be showering at the hotel anyway. It ended up being such fun to go that route — the perfect time to get soaking wet and laugh along the way!

We’d seen that there was a show at The Orange Peel that evening — Chvrches was playing! — but the show was sold out. I called the box office Saturday afternoon to see if they happened to have any tickets there, and the nice woman on the phone suggested we come by around 8:30 or 9 (the show started at 8) to see if there were any unclaimed tickets. We filed that away as an option, and then walked down to the venue after dinner to see what the ticket situation was. By chance, we ended up at The Orange Peel right at 8:30, and there was a guy in front of us in line dropping off a ticket he wasn’t going to use (it was for a friend of his who couldn’t make the show). The woman at the box office gave us that ticket for free, and then we ran into a guy selling a ticket for face value: $44. We split that cost between the two of us, so Susan and I ended up going to the show for just $22 each! The show was an incredible one — so high energy, and the band was a blast. We were so glad we lucked out and ended up there.

On Sunday morning, after a slow start to our day, we went to Pure Barre Asheville for a Reform class. Susan and I are both Pure Barre fans, so we love going to class whenever we’re together.

NEXT UP:

We’re thinking Knoxville, Tennessee will be a fun spot for Sister Weekend #3, so we’re tentatively planning a trip there for the spring of 2023. Any Knoxville-area suggestions (restaurants, activities, etc.) are very welcome! (Kristen McBee — I bet you’ll have some good thoughts for us! 😉)