Asheville and its surrounding mountainous border has much to see and enjoy. But what if you only have $10.00 in your pocket to “enjoy” the sights, sounds, smells, and secret treasures? How would you spend $10.00 during one fun-filled afternoon? That’s the question we posed to local residents on a particularly snowy winter afternoon. Their responses varied, but seemed to fall into two major categories: (1)Eating and Drinking; and (2)Outdoor Fun. Let’s explore some of their responses.
• Leslie: “Visit the Farmers Market and follow with lunch at the Moose Cafe
• Karen: “Walk through downtown, making sure to stop at the drum circle. Follow this experience with a cold, local craft brew.”
• Carol: “Drive to Mt. Mitchell, take a hike, stop by the Folk Art Center, and grab a snack on the way home.”
• Pam: “Complete a walking tour of the downtown Asheville area followed by a taco from White Duck Taco on Broadway.”
• Abby: “Grab lunch or dinner at the Green Sage Cafe.”
• Bonnie: “Visit the North Carolina Arboretum ($5.00 parking) and take along a picnic lunch.”
• Kitty: “Rent a bike and explore local sites.”
• Rachel: “Eat brunch at Sunny Point Cafe and select the ‘build your own omelet’ option, starting at $8.00.”
Based on these responses, it’s safe to assume that Asheville has fantastic restaurants with reasonable lunch or dinner rates, and lots of outdoor activities to fill an entire day. From hiking and biking to brunch and brews, the area attracts visitors because of its diverse menu of enjoyable activities. Additionally, many of the activities detailed by our residents include “free stuff.” It doesn’t cost a dime to hike the parkway, roam through downtown Asheville’s art deco buildings, or enjoy an outdoor drum circle event.
But no list of Asheville activities is complete without a visit to the bookstores, even if you’re just browsing. Trust me, this nerdy, teetotaler blogger could spend days just roaming through Asheville’s bookstores with a cold lemonade in one hand and a European pastry from Old Europe in the other. From Mr. K’s Used Books, Music, and More and the faith focused Lifeway store to Malaprop’s Bookstore & Cafe and Battery Park Book Exchange & Champagne Bar, you’ll find enough books, digital texts, and magazines to last you for years.
To continue researching other Asheville options, check out the rest of the AskAsheville site. Most importantly, have fun exploring this vibrant city and its surrounding beauty, with as little as $10.00 in your pocket!
Blog Post by Lori Brown
I was nervous, and that couldn’t be denied. The thought of standing in a wicker basket while a man I’ve never met before shoots fire into a flammable object doesn’t tend to be on my repertoire of relaxation exercises. I’m also not terribly good at being out of control, which is pretty laughable at 4,000 feet above sea level. 
I was going to do it though, if for no other reason, than to check it off my bucket list. The small community of Candler, NC has always embraced the hot air balloons. If one landed in your yard, it was an honor. The colorful aircraft have been decorating the morning skies on weather-friendly days for twenty-some-odd years. As a child I would run outside to get a glimpse, and I knew I’d have to experience it one day, just to see what the ado was about. It went to the bucket list. That’s exactly what I thought it would be too, just a flight, like being in an outdoor plane…something to say I made it through and put a check beside. I went through the motions, signed the waivers, and talked to the pilots (who were more than experts, and extremely helpful by the way), before heading out to the launch site in a Candler resident’s front yard. At this point, I was anxious, and all business. 
As I climbed into the basket that sported smiley faces for footholds, I felt my heartbeat quicken. I told myself to breathe, this was just for the bucket list. It would be something I would make it through…and, maybe those first thirtish seconds were. Those were the seconds before I entered the dreamland. They were the seconds when the mind races the same way it does just before rapid eye movement sets in on a Tuesday midnight. All the things in the world there are to think about get thought about. All of the things to get nervous about, were gotten nervous about. I could see the ground getting further away, and could feel the intense heat from the primitive force that began removing the basket and its cargo from the Earth. I don’t remember noting the noise though…to me, all was silent as the balloon invaded the morning mist…when everything changed. It wasn’t a breath-taking moment. Those can sometimes be described in a realistic way. I’ve seen “amazing” before. This was something different. To fully grasp it, it must be done, but I’ll do my very best. Think back…there’s that one fairytale unlike the others…that magical one that even in adulthood still makes us feel warm and fuzzy and think maybe mermaids do live in the ocean after all. For me, it’s Peter Pan. I’m convinced I may find Neverland yet, and almost did Saturday morning in that balloon. 
First of all, the air was perfect. I could have been comfortable in a tank top or a sweater either one, and the blinding sunrise was somehow easily to fixate upon. It was such a curious setting, and nothing like flying in a plane. It was gentle, while daring; peaceful, while exhilarating. My senses seemed different, and I secretly wondered if this balloon was the new way to Narnia. The tops of the mountains I’d grown up in, with my summertime swimming holes visible from the air, somehow seemed more regal. They were reigning over this place, and presenting their freshly grown leaves with the cockiness of the poppies from Wizard of Oz. Maybe it was the time of day, the time of year, or the altitude, but the colors I saw aren’t available below 500 feet. 
At one point I saw everyone looking to the left, and oohing and ahhing…one of the only things I remember actively hearing. It was a shadow of our vessel in a cloud, encircled by a rainbow halo, a phenomenon the pilot says happens almost every morning. With this on one side, and a half-misted Blue Ridge dawn on the other, I realized this wasn’t something to mark off on a bucket list, but to feel more alive about forever. Forget the fears. Though our pilot, Danny Smith, told me they had a perfect safety record pre-flight, I’d still been frightened until I became part of it all. Somehow I realized the magic in it, and realized the experience gives far more than it could take. I was in another place, floating up and down to the dew-dropped tree tops and back to the clouds. I wasn’t on a ride, but a journey…a journey that has to be felt, smelled, seen, heard, and tasted. 
When I got home, I crawled back under the covers to nap after my daybreak voyage. I drifted off to sleep quickly, and don’t think I dreamed. The dream already occurred, and felt somehow far away from me when I awoke, as if the balloon existed in a realm almost like Earth, but not quite. The flight was truly that remarkable, and I longed for it. It was so supernatural that I wondered for a minute if it had happened at all. Then for some reason, a quote from a Shakespeare play I read more than a decade ago came to mind, “…you have but slumbered here/while these visions did appear.”