Disclosure: our stay, several meals and the welcome bag were provided, and our travel costs reimbursed, as part of a hosted trip coordinated by One For The Books (Catherine Campbell). Opinions are our own.
By Heather, who took this trip with Rob.
Illustration, not a photo from our trip.
Rob and I drove from Huntsville to Asheville on Wednesday, November 4, 2026, and the last stretch of I-40 through the Pigeon River Gorge is still one lane each way, two years after Hurricane Helene. NCDOT’s next milestone adds a second lane eastbound only, so if you live west of Asheville like we do, the drive home stays on a single lane until the full repair, now expected in late 2029.
That is the only hassle in this whole weekend, so I want to get it out of the way first. Everything after it was the kind of trip I would plan again: a welcome bag full of Western North Carolina makers, a suite with a mountain view, two good distilleries, and a small town with the tourist edges filed off. Below is every stop, in order, with what we would do the same and what we would change.
The drive in: what one lane through the Pigeon River Gorge means for a weekend
It took us about six hours from Huntsville, in heavy rain the whole way. The last stretch, where I-40 crosses from Tennessee into North Carolina, runs through the gorge where Helene took the road out in September 2024. Rob said it best: “You feel what this region has been through before you ever see Asheville.”
Here is what the official numbers say, as reported by WFAE and BPR News on September 3, 2026. The road reopened in March 2025 after more than five months closed. It has been one lane in each direction ever since. NCDOT is aiming for two eastbound lanes and one westbound lane by late 2028, with the full project expected in late 2029. The repair estimate is now $2.8 billion, nearly triple the first estimate of $1 billion.
We did the counting. By the time we drove it, the gorge had been one lane each way for 20 months. The 2028 milestone helps people driving east into Asheville. It does not add a lane westbound, which is the direction you drive home if you come from Tennessee, Alabama or anywhere west. So early November in 2026, 2027 and 2028 all fall before the westbound side is finished: three autumn weekends, at least, on one lane home.
What it means for you: do not wait for the road to be fixed before you plan this trip, because waiting for the westbound side means waiting until late 2029. Plan around it instead. Nobody we read publishes how much time the single lane adds, so there is no honest number to build a buffer from. That is the real cost: you cannot predict it, so leave slack on both travel days.
- Check DriveNC, North Carolina’s travel site, before you leave home and again before you leave Asheville. It shows incidents, road work and traffic cameras.
- Keep arrival-night plans you can move. That is our habit, not a rule anyone published.
The welcome bag, and the note that came with it
Our welcome bag, November 4, 2026.
The bag was waiting at check-in, and the first thing I found was a handwritten note from Catherine on Provisions stationery. Here is everything that was in it:
- Poppy Reindeer Crunch popcorn
- French Broad Chocolate peppermint bark and their classic milk hot chocolate
- a Spicewalla mulling spice tin
- a Clark & June “Home for the Holidays” candle
- a Dailey Acres simmer pot kit
- Legally Addictive crackers
- a hand-printed tea towel from The High Fiber
I wrote up each maker, with current prices and the date each one needs your order to ship by Christmas, in our guide to the makers behind the welcome bag. One thing worth knowing now: one maker in the bag, Clark & June, pours its candles in Nashville, Tennessee, according to the company, so not everything was made in the mountains.
Illustration, not a photo from our trip.
Our suite on Haywood Street
We stayed at the DoubleTree by Hilton Asheville Downtown on Haywood Street, right across from the Grove Arcade. The small kitchen is built like a wet bar, with everything within reach. It opens into a living space with an L-shaped couch and a wall-mounted TV.
The closet was the biggest we have ever had in a hotel, nearly the size of the bathroom. The bathroom had a glass-tiled walk-in shower. The windows look past the interstate to the mountains. Once the rain cleared, the bedroom’s corner window gave us close to a 180-degree mountain view.
What to ask for: if you book a suite here, ask for a corner room facing the mountains.
Our first walk: the Grove Arcade, Wall Street and Battery Park
The nice thing about this hotel is that you can just cross the street. We walked into the Grove Arcade and out along the Wall Street and Battery Park blocks, and got coffee at Summit Coffee on the Page Avenue side of the Arcade.
Good to know: Spicewalla, the maker of the mulling spice tin in our bag, lists its Asheville retail store at the Grove Arcade, according to its FAQ. If you liked something in a welcome bag, that is one maker you can buy from across the street.
Dinner at Jettie Rae’s Oyster House
Rob summed up Jettie Rae’s in one line: “The room is casual, the food is not.” The chef sent out a dressed oyster sampler, two each of four styles: Cajun, Italian, Asian-style and smoky bacon. The Cajun and the Italian were our favorites.
We ordered the crab and corn fried rice, a beet salad, the seared white fish of the day, and tuna on house chips. The fried rice is the first thing we would order again.
The Harvest Moon, left, and the Postcard from Jalisco at Jettie Rae’s, November 4, 2026.
A nightcap at Montford Rooftop
Rob had a whiskey neat, bartender’s choice, and I had one of their signature cocktails. The night was mild enough that the heaters and wind nets were beside the point. In early November, that is luck.
Thursday: amaro, chaat and the best distillery of the trip
After breakfast and a walk downtown, we spent the day eating and tasting our way from Asheville out to Black Mountain.
Eda Rhyne Distilling
A short tasting of their Appalachian amaro. The story here is foraged local botanicals. The Appalachian Fernet is the one that stuck.
Lunch at Chai Pani
We had chaat, a thali and the Sloppy Jai. Here is a small connection I only found later: Spicewalla, the spice company behind the tin in our welcome bag, was founded by Meherwan Irani, who founded Chai Pani in 2009, according to Spicewalla.
Oak & Grist Distilling in Black Mountain
This was the best distillery of the trip. They make whiskey from North Carolina barley, and we came home with a bottle of their Barrel Reserve Genever. If you only have time for one tasting room, make it this one.
An afternoon in Black Mountain
Rob called Black Mountain “a mountain town with the tourist edges filed off,” and I agree. We wandered Town Hardware & General Store, the galleries on Cherry Street, and stopped for coffee.
Illustration, not a photo from our trip.
Dinner at Bev’s
Bev’s is a basement steakhouse on Cherry Street, and it is a small room. Rob had the wagyu and I had seafood. Rob’s whiskey sour came in an egg-white coupe and my French 75 came in a flute.
It was half empty on a Thursday. Our host booked it for us, and we would still make a reservation if we went back.
Friday: biscuits, one last shop, and pizza for the road
We checked out and went to Biscuit Head for breakfast. Then we stopped at Provisions, the modern-day mercantile whose stationery Catherine had used for our note. It’s at 728 Haywood Road in West Asheville (Haywood Road, not Haywood Street downtown), and Catherine told us the shop also helped her put our welcome bag together.
Lunch was at Soprana Rooftop Cucina: the Asheville pepperoni pizza, one cocktail and one non-alcoholic drink, because the drive was still ahead of us. We headed straight home after lunch.
Who this weekend is for
This trip suits couples within a half-day drive who want a weekend built around food and drink, with drinks as part of it rather than the whole point. For us, early November was warmer than we expected and the crowds were gone. That is one weekend’s experience, not a forecast.
If cocktails and whiskey are the main event for you, Rob wrote an Asheville long weekend for whiskey and cocktail lovers for his own site.
Plan your own cozy Asheville weekend
- Pick your days around the drive. Expect one lane each way through the Pigeon River Gorge, and leave slack on both travel days.
- Book the suite with the view. Ask for a corner room facing the mountains.
- Reserve Bev’s ahead. It is a small room, and we would not count on a walk-in.
- Save Black Mountain for a full afternoon. Oak & Grist, Cherry Street and dinner at Bev’s fill it nicely.
- Check DriveNC before you leave, both ways.
Keep going
- The makers behind our welcome bag, with prices and order-by dates for Christmas
- The best thrift stores in Huntsville, AL, where this drive started
- Vintage Christmas kitchen decor ideas
Sources
- Felicia Sonmez, BPR News, via WFAE, $2.8 billion Pigeon River Gorge I-40 repairs nearly triple original estimate, September 3, 2026. Read November 13, 2026.
- North Carolina travel information, DriveNC. Read November 13, 2026.
- Spicewalla, FAQs (Grove Arcade store) and About us (founder and Chai Pani). Read November 13, 2026.
- Clark & June Candle Co., Shipping policy (ships from Nashville, TN). Read November 13, 2026.
- Provisions Mercantile, About us (West Asheville address). Read November 13, 2026.
- Everything else on this page is from our own trip, November 4 to 6, 2026.
