Vacation to Virginia: Day 8 - Heading to NC

On Day 8, we knew our vacation was slowly coming to an end. :(





We said good-bye to the colonial experience and headed for the mountains in NC.



During our drive down I-95, while Jen was taking pictures instead of navigating, we discovered that we missed a turn and made it to NC much faster than we had expected. Fortunately, we realized this as soon as we looked at the map in the NC welcome center so we didn't get too far off track and with the help of our AAA tour book and TripTiks, we were able to find a state highway that eventually brought us to I-85.

After getting ourselves back on track, we stopped for lunch at Ruby Tuesday. We're really going to miss their salad bars.

After several hours of driving, we finally saw the mountains. They were breathtaking! And best of all, we knew we were almost at our destination: Asheville, NC.

View of street in Asheville

After settling into our hotel in Asheville, we headed out for dinner. The brochure in our room mentioned a place called Picnic's that had been featured on Rachel Ray. Considering Rachel Ray a reliable source, we decided to try it out. When we first walked in we were a little worried that we were in the wrong place becuase it was a little hole in the wall. But we were quickly welcomed with friendly faces and a brief orientation on what the place is all about and how to order. It's a cafeteria style restaurant that offers fresh home cooked food. Don't be deceived by the humble appearance of the food. They offer the BEST wood smoked chicken, home cooked mashed potatoes, home made macaroni and cheese...and more! But the good food doesn't end with dinner...Nope! We took two slices of home baked desserts back to the hotel. Jacob had fresh strawberry pie and I had carrot cake. OMG!!!!! Both were heavenly (I would say more but we're trying to keep this site G rated)! We've decided that next time we are in Asheville we will definitely be stopping by Picnic's.