Day 7 - Shenandoah to Asheville, NC

With snowflakes in the air we showered, ate breakfast and packed up the car and followed the Skyline Drive out of the park to the southern end.

Asheville, NC has been a city I have wanted to check out for a long time and Brian's high school friend Dean lives there so we decided we had to make it one of the stops this time around.  Also, we had decided to head west with the thought that there are airports if Brian got the job and he needed to get back in a hurry.

The drive out of VA following the Blue Ridge Mountains to TN is a lovely one and the road was lined with more Eastern Redbuds.  As we entered Johnson City, TN I had to put on Wagon Wheel by The Old Crow Medicine show since the city is mentioned in the song and upon our turn to I-26 we found WNCW a bluegrass station out of Asheville and suddenly the drive was perfect!  I-26 is s gorgeous drive and I highly recommend it.

We arrived at Dean's around 5 pm and headed over to the walk to grounds at the Biltmore Estate.

For more pictures of the grounds, gardens and house exterior go here.
We then headed back for a quick tour of downtown Asheville, including the Montford district and then headed to West Asheville for an amazing dinner at Nine Mile, Caribbean inspired food.

Miles traveled: 380
States traveled: VA, TN, NC