Quaint, friendly and artsy are a few words I would use to describe Asheville, NC. That's where my husband and I decided to spend our first year wedding anniversary. Asheville is one of the best kept secrets for tourism in a state known for tobacco and basketball.

Asheville is nestled in the mountains of Western NC. The one thing that impressed us the most about Asheville was the fact that we just blended in. No one treated us like tourists. Every place we went we felt welcome and easily struck up conversations with many of the locals. It was really difficult to tell who the tourists were. Another observation was the fact that people who appeared to be homeless weren't walking around begging for food or money. They just "blended in" and no one seemed bothered by them.

During our stay, we toured the Biltmore House, along with several hundred other folks. The tour goes on for hours because there are 250 rooms and each one has an interesting story behind it. If you have children, it’s a great history lesson for them from the top to basement floors. The Biltmore gardens were absolutely exquisite! The array of colors was breath-taking and gave you the sense that summer was alive and well. We also toured their Winery where they had a wine tasting.

I would definitely recommend Asheville, NC as a vacation spot.