Help me with Asheville planning

I searched and read through a lot of the Asheville threads, and have a pretty good idea of what to do there, but I need help on a few things.

2 adults, probably spending 3-4 nights in Asheville in late October. Planning on spending a full day at Biltmore, and a full day along the Blue Ridge Parkway checking out the fall foilage.

Here is where I need some help / thoughts / recs:

1) Want to get some kind of cabin in the mountains. Anyone have any good recs of specific cabins / areas / websites to use? I looked on VRBO and felt it was kind of meh, especially compared to Gatlinburg area. Doesn't need to be huge since only 2 people.

2) Trying to decide between two options:

Option A is to fly into Asheville late on a Wed night night, do the two things mentioned above Thurs and Fri, then find something else to do Sat and then Sun before flying home.

Option B is to fly into Atlanta late on a Wed night, spend Wed night in Atlanta, spend Thursday doing tourist stuff in Atlanta, drive Thursday evening to Asheville (looks like about 3 hours drive). then do the above mentioned stuff Friday and Saturday, then Sunday, drive back to Atlanta, and maybe do something else in Atlanta Sunday afternoon, then fly back Sunday night.

Reasons to do Atlanta would be better/cheaper flight availability, and not sure what else there is to do in Asheville for another day and a half. I'm a little concerned about how the drive from Atlanta to Asheville is, especially after dark - anyone done this?