As we have been navigating the 2020 travel scene, we have been trying to figure out what our husband/wife vacation was going to look like this year.

Plan A was a river boat cruise in Europe, Plan B was an all inclusive trip to Costa Rica, and when those fell through for one reason or another, Plan C emerged and the Smith Southern Road Trip was born.

We sure love a good old fashioned American Road Trip! And I have always wanted to get my husband to Charleston, SC….so Plan C became Plan Charleston!

We departed on Saturday at 6:30am (only 30 minutes late after discovering that in the 13 degree weather, our furnace had stopped working over night – after trouble shooting, replacing the filter, and making sure it was up and running, we hit the road).

Our first stop along the way was Winchester, Virginia. We used this destination as great hold over location and stayed at The George Washington. This was fabulously located just a block from the pedestrian zone and being that few people are traveling, we got a great rate!

We arrived near 5pm after 9 states and nearly 600 miles.

We enjoyed a lovely stroll (seeing lots of masked trick or treaters) and a great dinner al fresco!

Sunday morning we were at it again, headed to Asheville, North Carolina. We hit the road around 6:30am and our plan was to take the Blue Ridge Parkway from Staunton, VA to Roanoke. As we approached Staunton, the weather turned pretty nasty with winds, heavy rain and fog…..but we persevered!

In spite of the crazy weather, the sun broke through finally as we approached the end of our trek on the Blue Ridge, but even through the fog, wind and rain, the beauty of the area was evident and we are so glad we stayed the course!

We arrived in Asheville around 4pm (after purposely taking some wrong turns through the valleys and hills of the Great Smokey Mountains) just in time to unpack and get ready to meet up with some friends we haven’t seen since our Eleuthera winters! We cherish friendships that pick up right where we left them and would have taken pictures but we were too busy laughing, reminiscing and eating at Tupelo Honey!

Day 3 is our visit to a bucket list destination for me….Biltmore Estate!