I'm going to recommend Zambra Tapas. Great food experience.

I can safely say that from Nashville to Asheville to Charleston, Covid and all feeling of it's being is over. Absolutely no worries on that front. Anyone looking to make a trip should pony up. Great time to travel. Feel like Marty McFly but instead of going back 30 years, I've gone back 2 years. It's been a great time.

I was following this thread and got a lot of great ideas from it so thought I would first say thank you but also contribute my two cents from the last few days of being here by myself after dropping my son off at camp. Stayed right off of interstate in Hendersonville so that colors some of my activities.

Hikes:
High Falls, Triple Falls and Hooker Falls loop in Dupont State Forest. Wow!
Looking Glass Waterfall. Pro tip: go early morning and definitely not on a weekend afternoon.
Skinny Dip Falls
Bearwallow Mountain
Mount Pisgah
Fryingpan Mountain
Black Balsam Knob
Sam Knob (met two Aggies at the top who just graduated vet school)
And make yourself get up really early one morning and watch the sunrise from the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Breweries:
Green Man
Burial
Catawba (honestly my favorite beer of these three in Asheville)
Oskar Blues (loved the amber beer, iffy on their lager)
Sideways (skip this one)
Sierra Nevada (wow what a beautiful facility they have built.)

Eats:
Did some fast food so not counting that.
The Trail Head Restaurant in Black Mountain. Great bacon cheeseburger.
Mezzaluna and West First Wood Fired Pizza. Both in downtown Hendersonville. Both good, would recommend the latter as the best though. Great bartender and better get reservations if you aren't a single and sitting at the bar like I was. Really liked walking up and down Hendersonville downtown and around their old courthouse.
Rocky's Grill and Soda Shop in Brevard. Hot pimento cheese sandwich with bacon and a lemonade. Delicious.

Today I drove down to Clemson to walk the university and see the football stadium, took a scenic route back. Loved it.

And didn't put a mask on the entire time.

We've spent the past 10 days split between Hendersonville, NC and Knoxville, TN. Initially planned to fly but after seeing rental car prices decided to load up the 4Runner and make a road trip. It's been great, made me feel like a kid again! NC and TN are beautiful and I wish I could stay here another 10 days or longer!

White Duck for lunch downtown.

Bump for upcoming Thanksgiving trip.

Was shocked to see Biltmore tickets are $100+. Worth it? I'm thinking of letting my wife and MIL go and finding something else to do with the kids.

wessimo said:

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Bump for upcoming Thanksgiving trip.

Was shocked to see Biltmore tickets are $100+. Worth it? I'm thinking of letting my wife and MIL go and finding something else to do with the kids.

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It is pricey, but I was glad to check it off the list. Ours was probably half that price. They do have more stuff to do during the holidays, so I think that's where the price hike is coming in.

There's stuff to do with the kids and they get in free, but... if the ladies are interested in truly seeing it all (and they should be at that price), the kids aren't going to be impressed with the house or the winery and you'll just be babysitting at that point.

I'd agree that you're better off finding something more interesting for you and the kids.