The Wandering Disciple

Asheville, North Carolina:  There is no better way to see and learn about a city than by taking a ride with a local.  That's exactly what Asheville Trolley Tours does, gives riders a glimpse into the local culture of Asheville.  Cradled in the mountains, Asheville is a quirky town with something to offer for everyone. Your trip on the bright red trolley begins at the Asheville Visitor's Center, stop one of the tour.  Park your car here in one of the many free parking spots and hop aboard the trolley for a day filled with interesting stories and amazing sights. There are ten stops along the route, each with something new and exciting to explore.  During the summer, there is a trolley every thirty minutes giving you time to explore the area around the stop.  If you choose to stay on the trolley, it takes about an hour and a half to complete the entire circuit.  We chose to stay onboard for one entire circuit to hear the history of the area and get ...

Asheville, North Carolina: Today we had a big day exploring the Biltmore Estate.  The crown jewel of Asheville, the Biltmore has been a place we have wanted to visit for a while.  It was also a bucket list thing to do for my wife so we were pretty excited to visit. We started the day with breakfast at the hotel.  The free complimentary breakfast was a lot better than we had expected.  It had omelets, waffles, biscuits and gravy, sausage and much more.  Much more than the standard cereals, toast, etc you come to expect at a hotel complimentary breakfast. After breakfast, we headed out to the Biltmore.  To say the grounds and estates were awe-inspiring is an understatement,   During our trolley tour yesterday, they told the story of the Vanderbildt's and described the immense size of the property, but it doesn't truly sink in until you arrive at the estate.  From the gate, it is still a 2 1/2 mile drive to the Biltmore House. We decided to...

Asheville, North Carolina: After a great trip in the mountains last year, we decided to return to the mountains again this year for our summer vacation.  We had originally planned on going to New Orleans, however the great advertising package run on television by Visit Asheville guided us to changing out venue to North Carolina. We departed for North Carolina early, hitting the road by 3am.  The original plan was to leave early and reach Columbia, South Carolina in time for the Columbia FireFlies matinee.  However, my wife had woken up early so we decided to hit the road earlier than planned.  As a result, we were going to be passing through Columbia too early for the game so we decided to head straight to Asheville instead. While on the way up, my wife checked on the rates at our hotel and found that the room had been reduced again.  Over the course of planning this trip, we have saved considerably since the original booking.  When we changed the t...