Team Smokies

We set off from Richmond for adventure Saturday morning, but not before grabbing a big old Pearly’s breakfast first. After a few truck stop bathroom breaks, many quarters lost (and won) in the push-a-quarter game, and giant activity book of KITTENS, we arrived in Blacksburg, VA, home of Phil’s alma mater, Virginia Tech.

We walked around the campus for a while and Phil indulged in some nostalgia then we grabbed some super tasty gyros from Souvlaki on College Ave and some not-so-tasty fro-yo from a place up the street (get some new candy corn, dudes! yours were like tiny pebbles in our frozen yogurt!). Then we were back on the road to Asheville… UNTIL we spotted a place that Phil hoped would be the mother of all cowboy shirt stores that he’s been searching for.

Unfortunately, he struck out (sorry, cowboy). But at least we got to try on some cowhide holsters while we were shopping (guns not included). And then it was back on the road.

Half an hour outside Asheville, we came tp a favorite scenic overlook that we’d stopped at the year before. The view of the mountains and the foliage was beautiful and we spent a lot of time there gratuitously taking artsy pictures of each other. So yeah, stay tuned for that…

We arrived in Asheville just before sunset and headed into town after checking in at our snazzy Holiday Inn (conveniently located between Outback Steakhouse and Buffalo Wild Wings!). Dinner was first on the agenda and we grabbed a table at the mega busy Lexington Avenue Brewery. Despite some confusion with the “seat yourself and pray a server comes to find you” policy, we did eventually get a great server and an even better meal. We split 3 small plates— the flatbread pizza, the sliders, and the cheese plate— and it was MORE than enough food. The sliders were hands-down our favorite but we were literally blown away with each bite of all of our choices. We washed it all down with some American Pale Ale (brewed right there at LAB) and headed back out into the chilly Asheville night to find some fun.

Across the river in West Asheville, we found hipster mecca the Admiral. We’d heard incredible things about their high brow menu in a dive bar setting but bad things about how impossible it is to get a table on a Saturday night, so we just went there for the Soul/R&B/Mod/Garage dance party (yes, I said Soul/R&B/Mod/Garage dance party). After shimmying and shaking our hearts out, we were exhausted and headed home to get some sleep before day 2 of our Team Smokies adventure. We’re psyched to see what Asheville has in store for us next.