To celebrate your birthday, here are some options for us. You will start the weekend watching baseball with Sam on Friday night. Then you and I will go early Saturday morning to start our time with Max. There's art to see at Moss Center, and he's planning a birthday meal for you, so I will go shopping with him during our time there. Plus, there's stuff on the VT Parents Weekend Schedule if you want to add any fun like that. Sam told me that I should be aware that you might want to watch baseball each night, and as that might be a priority, we will work our plans around that enjoyment as much as possible. (Like I think we can do evenings in a sports bar if you like. Might actually be fun in a college town.)
Begin by visiting Tech for Parents' Weekend.
WThe TECH program offers these highlights in an ACTION packed Saturday, including a BEER learning event and several art exhibits easy to do at the Moss Arts Center... make sure you click the SATURDAY tab at the top of https://family.dsa.vt.edu/family_weekends/fall_family_weekend/schedule_of_events.html
But for Sunday onward, you need to make a decision:
Pittsburgh, or Asheville with your wifey???? Choose your own adventure, Birthday Boy!!!
If we go to Pittsburgh next, it is a 5 hours, 20 min. hours away. (Then a 3 hour 49 min drive home to NOVA.)
Things to do in Pittsburgh:
I hear you that you don't want to buy tickets for sports in Pittsburgh, so I didn't look further into those options.
Overview at TripAdvisor
Society for Contemporary Craft: https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g53449-d2484939-Reviews-The_Society_for_Contemporary_Craft-Pittsburgh_Pennsylvania.html NOT OPEN SUN. http://contemporarycraft.org/about/contact/
Phipps Conservatory is nearby - plants, art: https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g53449-d209225-Reviews-Phipps_Conservatory-Pittsburgh_Pennsylvania.html Open all days, 9:30 am - 11 pm
See Pitt and Carnegie-Mellon campuses. (I like to pop onto campus briefly just to SEE.) Includes Cathedral of Learning at Pitt's campus, I'm pretty sure, ranked as a top thing to see in Pittsburgh.
Nice art scene, including 38 museums and even these workshops (on beer, etc. but the beer workshops run Tues-Sat only. We'd need to do that Tuesday before we leave town. Whoops, they might not have availability without calling, and even so, maybe not.)
Coming away from Pittsburgh, there's a famous Frank Lloyd Wright house called FALLINGWATER to see, but it's not cheap and we'd have to book tix. go to fallingwater.org for more info. Seeing the cool web site might be enough....
If we go to Asheville instead, it is closer to Blacksburg, but leaves us with a 7+ hour trip home when we finish.
Things to do in Asheville:
General overview at TripAdvisor
Brew Pubs in Asheville: https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurants-g60742-Asheville_North_Carolina.html
Visiting the Biltmore will cost at least $55 per person, but it's a GORGEOUS place to feast the eyes, and apparently THE THING to do in Asheville. It looks beautiful enough to think of it as an experience of art. We could book a room there for $279 plus fees for Monday night as a treat and it will include the $110 we would have paid separately for a tour. But we don't get breakfast with that.
I have a reservation for Sunday night (includes breakfast Mon. morning at the hotel called the Super 8 Asheville Tunnel Road, Asheville. 2 queen beds. I can cancel that up to the last minute at no penalty.
Since our mission statement includes "water experiences," I have found a place near Asheville to do hot springs. Here's general information. In fact, there is a Hot Springs NC where there's a cute inn called MOUNTAIN MAGNOLIA INN, and the package deal is actually a good savings way to do the Biltmore, hot springs, good food at a price that is not unreasonable. But I didn't do a TON of looking around at hotels. I DID look around a lot on Air B+B and was not thinking that would save much money over getting a hotel-- not worth it for the places I saw available, or places I saw, period. Just a lot of rooms within other people's houses, sharing bathrooms, that sort of thing.
If we wanted to try a different route home from Asheville, we could travel through Richmond and it takes approximately the same amount of time. In all, it is WISE to embrace the idea of the BEAUTY of the view whatever route we take while traveling.
I have no work Monday, and have taken the day off of work Tuesday so that we can enjoy a long weekend and make the most of the drive. So, Birthday Boy, where are we going?