Ya know when you just need an escape? For me, the woods are my vacation. The mountains are my castle and the stars are my blanket.
On Labor Day weekend, we drove up to Asheville with a bunch of beautiful souls and shared a few nights in the great outdoors! Here’s a recap of our awesome weekend.
Welcome to the camp-out: Campers were greeted goodie bags that consisted of local goodies. A huge thanks to Kuka Juice, Whispered June, and Energi Treats for making these goodie bags possible.
Kuka Juice is a locally owned fresh-pressed juicery that even has it’s own delectable menu. Plant-based kale caesar salad, ELT’s, and so much more. It’s one of my favorites places to eat in GVL, so I was happy to have the privilege of sharing it with these campers! Needless to say, the juices were finished within the first hour of camp. You can find Kuka Juice at the Downtown Greenville TD Market or at their home shop in the Village of West Greenville.
Whispered June is a locally owned plant-based candle & skincare shop. The owner of the shop so generously gifted each camper one of her homemade bug sprays! It did just the trick in the Asheville mountains. P.S. It also smells amazing, ya know, it case you want to grab some of your own – click here!
Last but not least is an all-time GVL favorite – you can find her goodies scattered around shops in GVL and other upstate towns! Energi Treats is an incredible local baker that specializes in vegan and gluten free treats. Her passion for baking is showcased in every bite and the campers – no – joke – went crazy when they got to try the cookies! You can find her treats at places like Happy + Hale and Due South! Click here to order some for yourself!
After the treats were given out, tents were set up and the fire was lit. A few of us then decided to go on a little hike around the campground to see the lake and beauty of the park.
Later that night we had the privilege of eating brats and potato salad from the infamous We Got the Beats food truckdynamic duo – Sandy & Eric. To say that was a treat is an understatement!
The next morning we were also treated with the most incredible plant-based egg mcmuffins! Now, this was revolutionary for me because I have longed for a plant-based mcmuffin ever since going vegan. This was literally a dream come true – not only was it the perfect camping breakfast, but it tasted so incredibly legit that it was almost unsettling! Sandy & Eric are truly amazing chefs.
Before leaving to go to the Asheville Vegfest, we had the privilege of doing some yoga thanks to local upstate yogi – Beth Ashley. You can find her teaching at Integrative Yoga Therapy. It was really great to relax and stretch before a day out in the city!
We then proceeded to the Asheville VegFest! It’s a tiny festival located in downtown Asheville. They had a variety of vegan food options and lots of local goodies! Some of my favorite included Revolution Gelato and Gypsy Queen Cuisine.
After we left the festival, practically rolling back to our cars, we ended the night with a fire, more smore’s and late night chatter about life. The craziest part of the trip was that there were bears lurking about! A momma bear and her cubs. The campsite was awesome at making sure everyone was safe and well informed. Hopefully that lil’ cub family safely found food and shelter in a deserted part of the woods!
We woke up the next morning to a delicious breakfast of tofu scramble and Greenfield’s Bagels. Oh man – those are definitely a must-have on a camping trip! Everyone brought their own food, but we got to enjoy it all as a community, sort of like a little camping pot luck. It was fun to see what everyone brought and enjoys eating. See the hash browns in the picture down there? Those are from Trader Joes and make perfect addition to any fire-side meal.
We also got the privilege of having No Evil Foods plant-based meets with our meals. Their sausage is my personal favorite! If you haven’t tried No Evil Foods, I highly recommend grabbing a few tubs of their chorizo and sausage. They make great additions to any meal and can fool even the most dedicated meat eaters…hehe…
Overall, the camping trip was a success.
#1 overall was the food. I’d say we completely nailed it! Even though everyone brought their own, the sense of community and pot-luck ritual was so much fun. We got to share our favorite foods with each other and celebrate being cruelty-free. I can promise you that I ate WAY too many Sweet Chilli Doritos – yes, they are accidentally vegan! #noregrets
The campground was clean and the bathrooms were close by. It was a perfect balance of mountain bliss and being close to the city! It’s great from families to take young children and even better for a cheap vacation (a single campsite starts at $22 a day!). Friendships were made, along with memories to last a lifetime. The one thing we didn’t get to do was take a group photo! Guess we’ll just have to do it again next year!