Camping Near UNC Asheville

A glimpse of the Foothills Before the Rain

We’re relaxing after a quick trip to Asheville, NC. We were up in the mountains to tour the University of North Carolina at Asheville (UNCA). They have a Mechatronics major that interests Noah.  It is a combination of Electrical, Mechanical, and Computer engineering. We were going to drive up and stay in a hotel near the campus, but changed plans when we started pricing hotel rooms, like $425/night at a Hampton Inn!  The leaves have started to change color and that is peak season for hotels in the mountains. 

The Good Side

Another Perspective

Unique Pop-up Trailer

  

 

The River Runs through the Campground

The van came in handy as we found a campground twenty minutes from the school. The KOA East was on a small pond surrounded by hills. Our spot was on the edge of the pond with a variety of camp sites. It reminded me of how important product photography can be.  You can see from the two photos that the site had beautiful views in one direction, and a view of the neighboring trailer park and fence in the other.  We simply chose to draw the curtains across the windshield and enjoy the view of the lake!

Noah looked at the weather forecast and decided to sleep on the floor of the van instead of setting up his tent. It was a good choice as the rain started shortly after dark on Friday and didn’t stop until early Sunday morning. We didn’t see any of the mountains on our visit. It really is a beautiful area.

One of Noah’s good friends from the robotics team is a freshman at UNCA and we met her for lunch. She likes the setting and small class sizes. There are no graduate programs, so all the classes are actually taught by professors. The program is a joint one with NC State in Raleigh and you get a degree from both institutions. The downside is that some of the courses are taught via teleconference. There are 3,700 students at UNCA which is significantly less than the 34,000 at NC State!  Noah is still leaning toward NC State, but is seriously considering UNCA after visiting the campus, despite all the rain.  

After touring the campus, we looked for a place to eat in downtown Asheville. We circled a couple of times and could not find a place to park. We should have planned ahead and scouted a parking area. Beth pulled out google maps and found places out by a mall with plenty of parking. After lunch at an unremarkable Carrabba's Grill, we headed to the Blue Ridge Parkway to see the Folk Art Center where there is plenty of parking for any kind of vehicle.  Folks were making brooms and demonstrating weaving in front of the permanent gallery and gift shop. There is no fee, though you may be hard pressed to leave without purchasing some of the beautiful craft items.

Upon returning to the campsite in the rain, we didn't even bother going outside. A while later, there was someone knocking on the door. We wondered what would bring someone over in the dark on a rainy evening. Turns out it was a neighbor doing a good deed and informing me that I wasn't bright enough to turn my headlights off!  One more thing for the checklist.

Noah worked on honing his college essays Saturday night while drying out in the van.  The early application deadline is this Thursday and he plans to get them done so he can know before the end of January if he has been accepted to NC State and/or UNC Asheville.  

Sunday morning we drove out of the clouds and had an easy 4 hour trip home.