Hello Fall - A Roadtrip Through Georgia and Western North Carolina
Growing up in Southall, I really didn’t get to experience too much in terms of nature. Our wild was more like this:
Happy Diwali, y’all. Please don’t burn my old neighborhood down.
But over the last decade or so, I went from being someone with zero interest in nature to someone who explored ten National and State Parks over the course of nine days.
In my defense, “nature” usually consisted of man-made ponds in the suburbs or nature preserves where the only thing thicker than the humidity is the blanket of mosquitos trying to devour you.
But then, I discovered that the Great Outdoors is actually pretty…great. There is something about being outside and breathing the daylight that recalibrates me; rearranges my molecules into something a little more whole, a little more alive.
In addition to imbuing Will with a love of travel, I want him to love nature and serve as a steward to conserve and protect it.
Feeling the pull of the mountains and a desire to see fall in full blush, we headed up to Asheville with John’s parents for a week.
John and I had roadtripped to Asheville a few years ago and it was a decidedly different experience than roadtripping with a toddler.
Firstly, stops are more frequent and more planned out. Bathrooms become very important.
I’ve peed in places that look like a murder had just occurred in them like, 20 minutes prior and didn’t really have an issue with it but now? I look for the gold standard in restroom technology - a changing table.
Playground proximity also becomes a big thing on road trips. In the past, I was fine going for long stretches at a time with just a podcast to keep me company but when you have a wriggly toddler? You need to get out and stretch your legs.
We stopped in St. Simons Islands, Georgia for the first couple of nights as it was a good halfway point between home and Asheville.
I highly recommend dinner at Porch - in addition to having spicy Nashville hot chicken and legit macaroni and cheese, they also have a patio where kids can run free.
For all of its beauty, there’s a dark history in St. Simons Island. It’s the site of the Igbo Landing. In 1803, captive Igbo people (enslaved from Nigeria) took control of a slave ship, refused to submit to slavery and drowned in Dunbar Creek.
If this story sounds familiar, it’s because Alex Haley retold it in Roots and more recently, Michael B. Jordan’s Erik Killmonger referenced it in Black Panther - “Bury me in the ocean with my ancestors who jumped from ships, 'cause they knew death was better than bondage.”
Will is far too young to know or comprehend the weight of this but when he’s older, I want him to understand history - where we came from and how we must strive to do better while honoring those that came before us.
The drive from Georgia to North Carolina was gorgeous and we definitely picked the best time of year to visit. The leaves were blushing and I’ve never seen the sunlight look so honeyed and golden.
We stayed in West Asheville in walking distance of a litany of truly excellent restaurants and bars. I’ve always loved walkable neighborhoods and appreciate them even more now that I have a kid because even the most routine errands feel like adventures.
America Walks is a great non-profit working on a national level to advance equitable, walkable and accessible places across the United States if you’re looking to learn more about how you can make your community more walkable and accessible.
West Asheville is filled with incredible places to eat but my favorite was Nine Mile West - a Jamaican-inspired place with the spiciest, most lip-tingling delicious food.
I ordered the special - the smoked chipotle gouda macaroni and cheese with jerk tempeh, fresh jalapeño and red onions - and guys. It was so good, I came home and bought chipotle gouda in the hopes of recreating it.
Apologies for the bobo picture. I was more focused on shoveling dinner into my face than staging an IG worthy picture.
We rolled into town the same time as the first cold front of the year and the temperature plummeted to a low of 29 the first night.
Will is a true Florida Baby and I was worried about how we would handle the cold. Initially, he refused to put on his coat (Colombia makes affordable and cozy fleeces for kids) and had a straight up meltdown because he was cold and hungry and had no idea what the hell was going on, but once he realized coats are good and ate some cheese, he calmed down pretty quickly.
So, what do you do when it’s frosty-frigid outside? You head to a brewery and spend literally all afternoon outside….obviously.
The Sierra Nevada Brewing Company Taproom in Mills River, North Carolina is a great family spot, regardless of the weather. Excellent beer selection (obviously), good food and lots of open space for kids to run around in.
There are worse ways to spend an afternoon than in the cold sunshine, drinking prosecco and snacking on the best pub mix (caramel-cheese popcorn, cashews and pretzels) and this might be one of my favorite memories of our trip.
Before our trip, I researched “Toddler Friendly Hikes” and there is a huge disparity in what constitutes as toddler-friendly.
For example, when we hiked to Delicate Arch in Utah, I saw parents with their toddlers in tow but there is no way I would bring my kid on that hike. He is way too wriggly and rambunctious and would 100% end up leaping off the trail into the waiting jaw of a coyote or something.
But Chimney Rock State Park is pretty perfect for a toddler’s first hike. You take a 26-story elevator to the Chimney Rock viewpoint and as long as you keep an eye (and firm grip) on your kid, it’s a breathtaking experience.
The temperature was like, 29 degrees and with the wind, it felt closer to the low 20s but I wouldn’t trade it for the world. There is nowhere else I would have rather been than atop Chimney Rock with my family.
We even got a chance to explore a kid-friendly wilderness trail while at the park. I was so proud of Will for clambering and climbing all over the place while I was on high-alert for snakes and other little beasties.
Once back on solid ground, we headed to the Hickory Nut Gorge Brewing Company at Chimney Rock which sits along the Rocky Broad River.
Have you ever been somewhere and the beauty of it almost overwhelms you?
As I sat in the abundant sunshine and watched my husband and son climb over river rocks, all I could do was express profound gratitude for everything in my life that lead me to this moment. It was consecrated wild joy and I hope I never forget it.
Oh and a groundhog came right up to us! Apparently, she is the unofficial pet of the Brewery and feasts on dropped potato chips and fish dip. I’m sure she’s charming but I’m not letting anything with claws that big around my kid.
After a day in the wild, we headed back to the very civilized civilization of Asheville gentry - the home of George Washington Vanderbilt, The Biltmore Mansion.
I was initially reluctant about bringing Will here.
John and I went there for the Candlelight Christmas Tour a few years ago and it was beautiful but not really a place I'd consider bringing a small child.
I mean, my kid loves a lot of stuff - garbage trucks, dinosaurs, Yellow Submarine by The Beatles - but a 250-room mansion built on the auspices of generational wealth acquired during the Gilded Era?
Eh, he could give a shit about that.
But the Biltmore Estate is surprisingly kid-friendly if you can stomach the bananas expensive ticket price (think Disney but without the rides or the Dole Whip).
The first floor of the house is stroller-accessible which is great if you have a little Houdini always looking for opportunities to slip the velvet rope. We carried Will through the rest of the house and that trudge up the main staircase with a 20+lbs kid in tow? Yeah. That's no easy task.
The gardens are beautiful and offer stunning views of the Blue Ridge Mountains, there's a playground, a little train exhibit, an ice cream shop, an excellent Irish pub named after the family's St. Bernard Cedric and a small farmyard.
There's even the option to "join in" the wine tastings with grape juice (something Will was familiar with from our travels in France).
Will was great inside the house and dealt with being shuffled from opulent room to opulent room with remarkable poise.
Outside of the house, though? It was the day of a thousand meltdowns complete with lying on the ground, bellowing, "No!" and spilling Mommy's prosecco all over the damn bar (which, come on, my guy. Be cool).
At a certain point, I just kind of stood there, blinking my eyes because honestly? What do you do?
You do your best. It's the only thing you can do. You pick up your kid, you distract him with toys or a walk or chocolate Pocky sticks or Blippi and go forge ahead.
Oh and then, you get a drink because holy shit, you need a drink.
No-one takes pictures of that stuff. We take pictures of adorable shit like this:
But toddler meltdowns are a reality and I 100% appreciate my husband, my in-laws and every single person who showed me kindness and grace by opening doors for me and giving me the, "Girl, I have been there too. Good luck!" face.
And I get it. I mean, the kid is away from his home, his dogs and everything he's familiar with and he's been doing something brand new every single day. It's easy to be overwhelmed and out of sorts. Hell, if I didn’t have the capacity to wax eloquently about how much something sucked, I’d be right there on the floor with him.
Our last day in North Carolina was spent at Jeter Mountain Farm, a super family-friendly apple orchard in Hendersonville. This place is amazing and if we lived closer, it would be a fall family tradition. In addition to an apple orchard and pumpkin patch, Jeter Mountain Farm also has a market, a coffee house, a cider taproom, a BBQ food truck featuring apple-cider BBQ sauce (and great macaroni and cheese), a bakery and a ton of room for kids to run around.
Yeah. Someone put the thought and work into this place.
Best of all? It's free. No admission and you only pay for the stuff you buy - I highly recommend the apple cider and the apple cider donuts (even better the next day reheated in the oven)
Why don't we have something like this in Palm Beach County? We grow a shitload of produce!
I would totally go to the Loxahatchee Strawberry Patch with strawberry jelly and exfoliating soap for sale, chocolate-covered-strawberry iced lattes, chipotle-strawberry BBQ pulled pork and a huge playground in a barn.
Any local Vanderbilts want to make this happen? I feel like it would do really well.
Will's favorite part was the huge play area filled with construction vehicle toys and he could have easily spent hours playing here.
It was a really lovely experience and I hope we get to come back again with friends. We have a pretty big friend group - most of whom have kids around the same age - and it would be a great experience for us to spend a day together here.
That night, we headed back downtown for dinner at Sonora Cocina Mexicana (I have this thing where if I don't eat spicy food often, I basically become a gremlin. John appreciate this and is always down for Indian/Mexican/Jamaican/Eritrean cuisine). If you go, get the fried avocado tacos (fresh corn tortillas!), the barbacoa empanadas and the chile relleno and because it was the first Friday of the month, we caught the drum circle in Pritchard Park.
Will LOVED it and immediately started dancing.
We ran into a street musician in Hendersonville who told us to get Will into music. Encouraged him to play an instrument. John was a self-identified "band dork" and while I can't carry a tune in a bucket, the best writing I've ever done has been about music.
I hope Will discovers his instrument, be it guitar, drums (oh God), trombone or his own voice, and I hope he uses it to make a joyous noise and make a difference. Like I told him last night - "If you're going to be a musician, go the Dave Grohl or Eddie Vedder route. Maybe Alice Cooper. I hear he's good people. Be the good guy who makes great music because here's the thing:
On our way out of town, we stopped at Vortex Donuts for breakfast.
I know I use hyperbole almost to the point of abusing it, but trust me - the blueberry fritter was the greatest goddamn baked good I have ever had in my life and I would throw you, gentle reader, in front of a bus to get another one. I wouldn't even think twice about it.
Travel has always been a priority for myself and John and now that we have a son, we are committed to making travel a vital part of his life.
I pretty much buy all of my clothes from Thred Up, buy $20 ballet flats from Amazon and haven't gotten a mani-pedi in years because I'd rather spend my money on experiences - great food and drink, memberships to the science museum and traveling anywhere we can.
I've already started planning our next Fall Adventure - a trip to Knoxville and the Smoky Mountains - and after reading a fair bit of John Muir's work on this trip, I'm trying to convince John that we need to visit the Sierra Nevadas - Yosemite, Sequioia and Kings Canyon.
Muir once said, “Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out that going to the mountains is going home; that wildness is a necessity.”
I want Will to grow up wild, free and feeling that no matter where he wanders, he is home.
I want him to breathe the daylight and understand that when his nerves ache, he can escape - to the sea, to the woods, to the mountains or he can just step outside, let the sunlight envelope him, breathe deeply and feel free.
I want him to know that he can dance, make music and always find spicy food to devour.
And above all, I want him to know - without any doubt in his mind - that he is his mother and father’s heartbeat and we will spend our lives giving him the whole world.
