Junebug Retro Resort

In our mission to visit a new place each month, if possible, I’ve been trying to talk B into a treehouse or silo adventure with no success. One day in July, I was perusing Our State magazine and found a little adventure in Weaverville, North Carolina, and I said this is it! It was a town I’d never heard of and the idea caught my eye, a story that is comical, mixed with beautiful, history! For those of you who grew up camping in campers as B did, you’ll get it; for those like me who didn’t, you’ll get it too.

Our adventure centered around the Junebug Retro Resort. The magazine led me to their website which said these were 50s and 60s style campers a couple had collected from all over the country and restored back to their original glory. They were so cute (CG said repeatedly). The campers were spaced out on a plot of land in the mountains with a river running through it, it is even a wedding venue, so it had to be great (CG said repeatedly). Each camper had its own picnic table area and the grounds showed a communal firepit and treehouse that was huge. Some of the campers had their own bathrooms and showers, some didn’t, you choose, but they did show a luxurious bathhouse available.

I discussed it with B and he said, “If we’re going to do this, we have to use the bathhouse to get the full experience.” I then saw a gleam in his eye when he asked, “Have you ever slept in a camper?” I had not.

The resort, and I use that term loosely, was in the middle of nowhere as expected, and I will not deny, my first impression was uh-oh. And when I saw the adorable Red Shasta we had chosen (with no bathroom – on purpose), I realized it was smaller than my front porch and uh-oh was not strong enough. That said, the campsite set up with these 10 colorful retro campers was intriguing to this girl who had never slept in a camper and I was surely not going to let B know I was panicking inside.

Anyway, I could see B’s smile widen as we headed with one of the owners, Charlene, to the Shasta to take our 23-second tour. We step in and all I could think was, “Where’s the bed?” B is smiling. I half-hear what Charlene was saying as I’m trying to convince myself the bed has to be folded up in one of these small walls. Finally, she said, “And the bed is the dining table” as she whips it out from the wall, folds it down, throws the bench cushions onto it for our “mattress,” B is smiling larger than ever. I even swore I heard a chuckle. When the owner walked away, I did hear a laugh, he was loving it.

I’ll finish on the Junebug resort in a moment but all joking aside, our trip was amazing! We took the time to see more of the Blue Ridge Parkway than we’ve ever seen and the colors were as if God chose peak weekend for us. It was breathtaking. We even visited the Blue Ridge Parkway visitor center and that and the rides we experienced made me fall in love with the parkway more than I thought possible. I now have a bucket list that includes seeing it all from one end to the other.

We also decided to take a hike that almost killed me. B told me it was only 2 miles, ‘only’ being the operative word, but he neglected to tell me it was ALL uphill. I’m not even sure he knew that! He kept turning around to see if I was alive and to say “You’re going to kill me, aren’t you?” as I thought “If this climb doesn’t kill me first.” It was the Craggy Gardens Trail in nearby Black Mountain, and yes, it’s all uphill, but beautiful. Just know there are no level parts of this trail to catch your breath. At the top of the trail is a wonderful area to take a break with some beautiful views and then the trail goes downhill through a rougher terrain to another gorgeous overlook at the Craggy Gardens Visitor Center. It was worth the hike but when you go down, you must go back up! We went back the way we came so it was uphill back to the peak and then we had the two miles back down. We got in enough cardio that day to last a good week! But wow, wow, the views were so worth it.

We did enjoy Weaverville for two of our meals. Our first night was relaxing at Twisted Laurel, where we had delicious pizza and cold beer. Our second was a very nice dinner at The Glass Onion which we loved! The decor was beautiful and somewhat eclectic, we had delicious wine we’d never had, and we both had their specials of the evening. I had the pork chop with an apple cinnamon glaze while B had their sea bass. Both meals were out of this world! We would highly recommend The Glass Onion and that you make reservations.

Now back to the finale, the Junebug Retro Resort. Y’all, we laughed a lot, especially as we tried to sleep on the dining table turned bed, with two of us being quite tall and not small people. But the adventure was just that, an adventure, and a memory made. The bath house truly was luxurious by camping standards and for this girl who is hotel-attached, I was quite happy and comfortable with it. The camper was adorable and the view of the stars after dark made it worth the trip along with the proximity to the parkway, Black Mountain, Asheville, and Weaverville. If you are a camper at heart, you will love Junebug! If you are not, you should give it a try anyway. This is the perfect little two or three day getaway!