Before we left for the trip I went by the AAA office to pick up some free maps and guide books that they give you yearly for being a member. It’s such a fantastic thing to take advantage of. I think the cost of buying those kind of books and maps would be more than the yearly membership alone, and that’s not including how much help they’ve been over the years when I’ve needed a free towing (or five).
The first half of the book breaks down each state into cities and surrounding areas and highlights the interesting things to do. Some of them give an AAA discount (though usually not the interesting ones). I can’t attest to how thorough the guides are because the listings under Chapel Hill and Raleigh aren’t that interesting, but it was a great supplement to our trip and without it we wouldn’t have done half the things we did.
The second half of the book lists a bunch of hotels/motels etc in each city (though it’s not all inclusive, for sure– sometimes it’s just as well to pass by the ‘lodging’ signs on the highway and find things), a price range, included amenities and a phone number. It’s incredibly helpful just to have that phone number.
Anyway, we stopped in Asheville to pass some time so that we wouldn’t arrive in Chattanooga too late to do anything but too early to sleep. We dropped into the famous farmer’s market to check out the interesting local products and buy some fresh produce for the road. We left with a bag of apples, port wine cheddar cheese spread, and raspberry jalapeno jelly for my sister.
It was such a gorgeous day out that we stopped by the arboretum as well. 
Wasn’t really the best time of year for it– though it was warm and bright out nothing’s really in bloom, and the bonsai garden which we were excited about was mostly packed up inside somewhere for the winter. Despite it, we ate a picnic lunch and walked around a bit.
I could have spent a lot more time in Asheville because there’s so many attractions in our NC mountains. I live very close, however, so I’ll save that for a weekend when I can spend more time locally. The AAA guidebook for NC is huge so I’m looking forward to revisiting a lot of places my parents took us as kids as well as discovering some new ones. Hopefully it’s a warm and clear spring and summer so I can give my tent some use!
