Swamp Travel Companion: Pick My Next City

[govmentchedda]

1. Doubtful, but also my only experience with caged animals is the Western North Carolina Nature Center. It's not bad, but I doubt it would compete with big city stuff. On the plus side, it's very close to Highland Brewing.
2. I'm sure you can find good ice cream but I don't have a spot to direct you to.

[wlu_lax6]

Follow-up questions:
2. Ice cream shop recs?

Sunshine Sammies
https://www.sunshinesammies.com/
Walkable from wicked weed and the other downtown breweries.

[mister d]

We did it, we travelled!

It felt like every restaurant was either really, really good or very meh, nothing really in between.

Food of note:
Sunny Point Cafe: Biscuits and gravy and tangerine juice. Everything was excellent and we considered trying to go again on Saturday before the flight but it would have been a lot.
12 Bones BBQ: Ribs (solid) + a variety of sides (all very mushy) ... honestly really disappointing although I'm sure the fact it was pouring and crowded inside didn't help, nor does me weighing sides almost on par with meat at bbq places.
Curate: A lot of small plates with the standouts being the octopus in the best potato puree I've ever had and scallops in a charred leek sauce. Fried eggplant w/ honey and rosemary is one of those plates that any restaurant could do but you'd get a massive range as far as execution and I can't imagine it being done better.
White Duck: I'm torn ... as a taco place it was kinda goofy and as inauthentic as you can get but if you looked at it instead as a mini-sandwich place that just uses tortillas, it was all pretty well done.
Good Hot Fish: Split the fried catfish sandwich, trout bologna sandwich and then pretty much every side they had ... if we could go back and eat one place, it would no doubt be here. If we could eat two places we might eat here twice. The sides were the opposite of 12 Bones (esp the pork rinds and mac & cheese) and the trout bologna is the best combination of creativity and taste I've had in years, possibly back to the last visit to Eventide. We knew a little background but since we don't watch Top Chef anymore we didn't realize the chef was on the show and was there when we were. My favorite restaurants are always the ones that are casual but super creative and this was a perfect example. (Also, the bathroom was completely wallpapered in old Jet magazine centerfolds which the kids loved.)

Breweries:
Overall we noticed everything outside Burial and DSSOLVR was way less IPA-centric than the northeast and even when they did have a few, there might have been more west coast than not. Not surprisingly, those were our two favorite. Zillicoah was solid, Hi-Tide and Archtype were meh but all were a good time because everything is so focused on outdoor space. Real different from here.

Other Stuff:
Mountains: Did a trip in Thursday for some walking around a big waterfall, tried to do some hiking but the "watch out for snakes" sign ruined it for the oldest and the drop-offs on the side of the road ruined it for my wife so that was cut a little short. Youngest got a stuffed trout at the welcome center that she decided would have a voice like post-accident DOC.
Airport: The kids had never been to a small airport before and they found it hilarious that you could basically see the entire thing from any spot inside. Oldest's first comment on landing was that she felt weird wearing a green hoodie with everyone else dressed in tan. Youngest thought "a lot of people look real sad here".
Hotel: Doubletree downtown was def worth the stay, especially with the bar that overlooked the mountains on the top floor. Our room was right across the hall but we couldn't convince them to let us use the pass-through door. Still left the kids in the room on two occasions for a drink which was nice. Pool was fine, solid B+ hotel pool.
People: Kinda expected more attractive overall? Ever fourth dude was likely related to the lead singer of Band of Horses.
Biltmore Estate: Skipped.
Arts: Lots of cool galleries down by the waterfront that we walked through, a few we might order online but there was no real way to transport anything back. Assuming they go the way of most rising cities I assume half those people will be priced out in the next 10-20 years which sucks.
Late night pizza delivery (Standard): Mistake ... almost like they were going for the 4 cheese microwavable Celeste style
Doughnuts: Vortex was a solid B/B+
Ice cream: The Hop also solid

I think that's it. Thanks all for the recs and if you do go there, I cannot stress enough how much you can't miss Good Hot Fish.

[Nonlinear FC]

One of BIL's just bought a place about 90 minutes away from Asheville. I predict I'll use this write-up for future travels.

So, yeah, thanks Mr. D for compiling and everyone else that chipped in.

I've used the collective knowledge on this board for many trips and it's a huge TWILTS bonus feature.

[govmentchedda]

Adding Good Hot Fish to this summer's musts.

[Shirley]

Pretty unlikely to find snakes in the mountains this time of year, I’d think. Probably too early. (Although the high here today is supposed to be 87), so maybe I’m wrong.