This was an escape visit to North Carolina for us, but trying to do it as safely as we could amid coronavirus.
We rented an AirBnB in the town of Saluda which is a picturesque small town in the foothills of the blue ridge mountains, about a half hour drive from Asheville. The town has some great places to eat apparently, but we weren't able to try any of them as we were trying to avoid indoor locations! For groceries we ordered online from Freshmarket as they were able to then just drop the groceries in the back for you car.
Over the seven days we did the following:
Hike to Little Bradley Falls
https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/north-carolina/little-bradley-falls-trail
This is a fun somewhat adventurous hike that is about 2 miles long and took us about an hour each way. It is definitely doable by kids, but make sure to bring water shoes, or be prepared to go barefoot as there are several creek crossings on the way. If you have small kids or are scared of heights be warned that there are some narrow trails along very steep drops. We did see a copperhead snake at the waterfall amongst the rocks, so be careful where you step.
Drive the Blue Ridge Parkway
https://www.blueridgeparkway.org/
The Blue Ridge Parkway is a long 400 mile drive with some incredible vistas and short hikes along the way. We drove along parts of it on two separate days and stopped at various places to do some hiking. The views are well worth it.
North Carolina Arboretum
https://www.blueridgeparkway.org/
We spent a day here and brought a picnic. There are plenty of places of for a picnic and some great hiking around the park. My kids loved the lego exhibit (temporary) and the bonsai exhibit (I think permanent).
Zip Lining
https://ashevilletreetopsadventurepark.com/kidzip/
This is possible to do in a socially distanced way and they are having everyone wear masks. We did it on our last day and our kids had a blast. Kids as young as 4 can go, but younger kids will need an adult to do it with them to help them around some of the parts. We did not do the canopy adventure path (forget exactly what it is called) just the ziplines. It was our kids first time, but they pretty quickly got the hang of it.
One note, make sure to bring waterproof shoes!