cjfreitag
01-23-2008, 05:58 AM
If you are doing a PCD and driving north, here are a couple of suggestions based on our trip last week.
First, Asheville NC is a very nice destination for your first night. It's less than 2 hours via a very scenic and fun drive, and it is full of nice restaurants and B&Bs. Jonathan Stribble suggested a really nice route using SC 290/276 to the Blue Ridge Parkway. It's an ideal first drive for your new ride. Lots of twists and turns but no chances to go TOO fast. And a lot of nice scenic overviews where you can photograph your new car with great backgrounds before it gets too dirty!
In Asheville itself, we stayed at the 1889 WhiteGate Inn and can recommend it highly. While touring the Biltmore estate we saw the Inn at the Biltmore, which looks very nice but is a LONG way from anything in town. On the other side of town is the Grove Park Inn. We went there for a drink (great idea in the cold months when the huge fireplace is blazing!), but again it is a long way from the center of town. If you have the time, stay two nights in Asheville and don't miss the Biltmore. In Asheville we had a really nice dinner at Cafe on the Square, and they do live acoustic jazz on Tuesday nights.
Going north, weather prohibited us from taking the Parkway as planned, but I-26 from Asheville to Johnson City TN is a very pretty road for an interstate, and I-81 north to VA is not to bad either. I put it on cruise and shifted back and forth between 5th and 6th periodically. If you CAN take the Parkway, do.
An unlikely destination is Christiansburg VA. It's a small town not far off the BRP, and it's worth a stop if only for the Oaks Victorian Inn...one of the nicer B&B's we have stayed at. If you opt to take the BRP north from Asheville it would be at the end of a nice day's drive. We can also recommend the Summit Restaurant. After a phone call from our hostess at the Inn they were nice enough to open for us (a big snowfall at hit the town the night before and people were slow to dig out). They were shovelling the drive when we got there, and then they went in and made us a delicious dinner...we had the whole place to ourselves!
First, Asheville NC is a very nice destination for your first night. It's less than 2 hours via a very scenic and fun drive, and it is full of nice restaurants and B&Bs. Jonathan Stribble suggested a really nice route using SC 290/276 to the Blue Ridge Parkway. It's an ideal first drive for your new ride. Lots of twists and turns but no chances to go TOO fast. And a lot of nice scenic overviews where you can photograph your new car with great backgrounds before it gets too dirty!
In Asheville itself, we stayed at the 1889 WhiteGate Inn and can recommend it highly. While touring the Biltmore estate we saw the Inn at the Biltmore, which looks very nice but is a LONG way from anything in town. On the other side of town is the Grove Park Inn. We went there for a drink (great idea in the cold months when the huge fireplace is blazing!), but again it is a long way from the center of town. If you have the time, stay two nights in Asheville and don't miss the Biltmore. In Asheville we had a really nice dinner at Cafe on the Square, and they do live acoustic jazz on Tuesday nights.
Going north, weather prohibited us from taking the Parkway as planned, but I-26 from Asheville to Johnson City TN is a very pretty road for an interstate, and I-81 north to VA is not to bad either. I put it on cruise and shifted back and forth between 5th and 6th periodically. If you CAN take the Parkway, do.
An unlikely destination is Christiansburg VA. It's a small town not far off the BRP, and it's worth a stop if only for the Oaks Victorian Inn...one of the nicer B&B's we have stayed at. If you opt to take the BRP north from Asheville it would be at the end of a nice day's drive. We can also recommend the Summit Restaurant. After a phone call from our hostess at the Inn they were nice enough to open for us (a big snowfall at hit the town the night before and people were slow to dig out). They were shovelling the drive when we got there, and then they went in and made us a delicious dinner...we had the whole place to ourselves!