[Asheville, NC, Oct 14, 2023]

After all the festivities yesterday, it was not easy to get up early for our 3-ish hour drive to Asheville, NC. But we had a 9:30 e-bike tour reserved, so we couldn’t sleep in. After a Starbucks stop to get everyone caffeinated, we were on the road.

The e-bike tour with The Flying Bike was fantastic. It was a crisp but sunny day, the perfect Fall weather we all wanted.

We started out in the River Arts District. The RAD is Asheville’s creative hub along the French Broad River. Former warehouses and mills, many with colorful exterior murals, house glassblowing, pottery, and indie art galleries. The are is also full of hip cafes, BBQ restaurants, craft breweries, and cozy music venues.

From there, we meandered through a park and some of Asheville’s residential neighborhoods. The fall colors were not at peak yet but they were definitely there!

Because it was a Saturday, we also got to visit the Farmer’s market at UNC Asheville. The selection of pastries was amazing and I couldn’t resist getting a Kouign Amann.

The highlight of the tour was Grove Park Inn. Set atop the Sunset Mountains, the inn offers sweeping views of the Blue Ridge Mountains and Asheville.

The hotel featured photographs by Japanese-born photographer George Masa. Even though he wasn’t given credit for his work due to his heritage, it did help protect the Great Smoky Mountains. Like his better-known contemporary Ansel Adams, who documented now-famous landscapes in the American West, Masa captured some of the first photographs to accurately portray the characteristic ripple of the Smokies’ mountains and valleys.

After the tour, we grabbed a classic southern lunch at Tupelo Honey. Nothing says southern cuisine more than shrimp and grits, but I also had to get the fried chicken this place is so famous for.

Afterwards, we took a walk around Asheville before heading back to Charlotte. We got to facetime with our friend Mike. As an honorary member of the Running Girls, he has done many races with us and is probably the only guy on the planet who can survive in a van with 5 of us, like he did during both Ragnar Hawaii and Ragnar Northwest Passage. He just had a baby, and we were excited to meet him, albeit remotely.

One we arrived back in Charlotte, we finally had time to taste the Ukrainian honey cake Lena had ordered for her wedding day. It was absolutely delicious!

What a whirlwind of a trip! We don’t know when we will be all together again, and this combined with Lena’s impromptu wedding made this trip all the more special.