The Nu-Wray Inn

A highlight of our winter trip to Cattail was our three-night stay at the historic Nu-Wray Inn in Burnsville. Susan and I believe we once stayed there one Christmas before we had kids, and all of us have eaten many family style meals there over the years, but this was the first time we just settled in and really nurtured ourselves. WE played scrabble in front of the fireplace one night, and read and did computer things (on their nice wireless network) in one of the 2^nd floor lounges. As you can see, the Inn was fully decorated for the holidays.

We also sat in our comfortable room and watched plenty of bowl games and drank good Asheville beer.

During the day, of course, we hiked out at Cattail and visited Louise, who is in great shaped by the way – we think she is 79. In the evenings we had several great meals at the Hilltop Inn, and also enjoyed a good meal at the China Garden just down the hill from the movie theater. The Appalachian Coffee House, across the street from the Hilltop, had some of the best chicken noodle soup for lunch I’ve ever had – the secret was home-made noodles!

The Nu-Wray Inn still serves family style meals, on Thursdays, with reservations. We also learned that Elvis Presley stayed there in 1969, and that Christopher Reeves lived there when he worked at the Parkway Playhouse! The Inn is apparently owned now by a British man who lives in South Carolina and is run by a Burnsville woman named “Wanda,” who is a real go getter and fixed us up with muffins and sandwiches to take on our hikes. The place was quiet, clean, and comfortable, as well as reasonably priced.