Yesterday I did go to the Green Sage for brunch, as promised in my entry on Friday. Overall it was a great experience and I recommend it as a great place to stop for a bite. However, there were a couple of things, good and not so good, worthy of note.
Being that the Green Sage is on the corner of Broadway and College Street, well, it’s crowded in there! The set-up works though - order and pay at the corner, find a seat, and runners from the kitchen bring your food. Though there was a pretty long line, we didn’t have to wait for a seat - and there were 4 of us! On the downside, there’s no separate counter for people who just want a quick cup of a coffee, so you’ll have to wait through the line of folks ordering their food.
Of course, the most appealing part of the Green Sage is the natural, organic foods and drinks. This includes fresh squeezed, organic juices & fair trade, organic coffees and teas. It’s hard to tell what exact food ingredients are local organic, but they promise to use what they can. All of our meals were really tasty, most notably the trout salad (think tuna salad but made with local mountain trout), fresh fruit salad, and sweet potato home fries. Beware of the bland biscuits - go with grits or toast instead.
Overall, the place is really clean, fresh and enjoyable. I love the ‘compost center’ for busing your own table. Patrons are instructed to divide their trash into dishes, fully separated recyclable bins (glass, plastic bottles, aluminum, paper, etc), and finally… the unavoidable trash receptacle. You leave the Green Sage thinking This is how everyone should do it!
All over the web there are recommendations for a girls’ getaway. The best way to plan a group getaway (all girls or not!) is to follow some of the same tips.
An MSNBC article lists the top 10 girls getaway locations (and what you should do there):
1. Florence, Italy (art-viewing)
2. South Beach, Florida (club-hopping)
3. Provence, France (eating & cooking classes)
4. Las Vegas
5. New York City (shopping & shows)
6. Sedona, Arizona (spirituality & spas)
7. Bali, Indonesia (paradise… surfing!)
8. London, England (theater-hopping)
9. Sonoma, California (wine tasting)
10. Costa Rica (eco-tourism, adventure, and yoga)
The host of All-Girl Getaways, Stephanie Oswald, offers a video and article with tips on planning. Some of her ideas include:
-Pick a group with similar interests and travel styles
-Find a reason to celebrate
-Give everyone a task so they feel part of the planning
-Meet in person, via computer, or by conference call
-Choose a group leader
-Have each person pick 3 good dates, and then decide on one everyone can do
-Do something new
-Do your research
-Save money with package deals/all-inclusives
Of course, with today’s economy and gas prices you might want to stick close to home or pick affordable destinations - that’s where Asheville comes in to play!
Don’t forget! Catch an ALL NEW All-Girl Getaways “Blue Ridge Retreat” tonight at 9pm on the Fine Living Network.
Other showtimes include:
Tonight @ 1:00 AM EST
Next Wed, May 28 @ 9:30 PM & 1:30 AM EST
This past weekend my cousin was in town visiting. He recently moved to San Francisco and was telling us about his neighborhood. In fact, he put his address into Google maps to show us the location, and we had the option to select “street view.” In this way, we actually SAW his street, his rowhouse, even his garden!
Here’s a funny YouTube video from Google about Street View:
For those who haven’t already discovered it, Google Street View allows those viewing maps of certain cities to ‘cruise’ around a location at street level. So far, Chapel Hill, Durham, and Raleigh North Carolina are included in Google Street View.
But wait - Asheville, apparently, will also join this list. According to the Mountain Xpress, Google cars with mounted cameras on the hood have been seen perusing the streets of Asheville. It takes about a year after filming for Google to launch street view content, according to a spokeswoman quoted in the article.
Privacy lawsuits have cropped up due to this feature, and the article notes one in Pennsylvania. But Google cars shoot footage from the street, and privacy laws clearly state that there is no reasonable expectation of privacy on public streets or sidewalks. In other words, as the Asheville resident quoted in the article states, if you’ve got a problem with anyone looking at your windows, close your blinds! Anyone who has looked at Google Street View knows it’s next to impossible to look into a home.
In my opinion, this is awesome for future guests of Asheville. Prospectively, you can see downtown Asheville, clear directions to specific locations, even your vacation rental! Very cool.
The recession and painful gas prices are putting a damper on tourism and traveler’s spirits all over the country, but Asheville seems to offer a balm for both.
Never fear, East Coast travel-lovers! Can’t afford to fly to Europe (man the Dollar-to-Euro ratio is a bummer right now) and don’t want to spend the money to drive great distances? Asheville is a great place to visit when trying to keep your travel cost low but still wanting lots to see and do.
Asheville, for those who don’t know, offers a combination of activities to suit any desires:
Culture - art galleries, performances, festivals, shopping, historic sites
Outdoor activities - hiking, swimming, rafting, Blue Ridge Parkway
Pampering - Tons of spas, outdoor hot tubs in Hot Springs, NC
So, no matter what you are looking for in a destination, a trip to Asheville and WNC can be molded to whatever kind of trip you want to take.
Never fear, Asheville! Looks like the tourist industry is “cautiously optimistic” about this year’s tourist season, pretty much for the reasons listed above (“Tourism will likely stay strong despite economy”). Asheville is a really wonderful place (we know, we chose to live here!) that is convenient to a lot of people in the South East, or even up and down the East Coast.
This is pretty pertinent to those who live here, too. The more money tourism brings in, the more locals get to take advantage of the festivals, traveling Broadway performances, great bands, and other fun things that brought us all to Asheville in the first place. So, if this subject interests you, check out the Asheville Citizen-Times linked above.
UPDATE: Some folks over at BlogAsheville have expressed discontent with the poll choices. This was a quickie Hot or Not? #1, more will follow. Please, comment with ideas for #2 and I will definitely use them!!
I’ve created a small poll, just for fun, to gather responses about local Asheville spots. If you live in Asheville or have visited before, feel free to give your opinion on quintessential Asheville downtown and Biltmore Estate stuff! Did you love it, hate it, just think it was overrated? Let it out…
