We wanted to take a trip to celebrate our one-year wedding anniversary, and since we had gotten engaged in Asheville, (after what felt like a death-defying mountain climb to the top of Chimney Rock, but is actually a very family-friendly hike) in October of 2006, we decided to go back there. Seeing it in late May officially confirmed for me that I am in the mountains camp in the mountains vs. beach debate. Growing up I went to the Great Lakes well before I ever saw the NC beaches, and I love evergreens, moss and wildflowers. The smells at the lookout points on the Blue Ridge Parkway on the drive to Grandfather Mountain were incredible.
On the way, we stopped at one of our favorite restaurants,
Boba House, in Greensboro and had a nice lunch of Asian vegetarian stir-fries. Every time we go we wish they would open a branch in Durham. That and
Soul Vegetarian.
That night we ate at a restaurant that had both fondue and vegetarian thali. Kate's culinary heaven, in other words.
We then wandered around the streets of Asheville on a Friday night for hours. And literally EVERYTHING in this huge radius of downtown city blocks was a local business, well barring the one Subway. I had heard so much about
Malaprops Bookstore; it's kind of a legend in independent bookstore world, but I had never gotten to go before. It was everything I had heard and more! One thing we noticed was that so many stores had really incredible window displays. We got pictures of this elaborate Alice in Wonderland scene from a headshop, but not the beautiful dyed ballet shoes from the dance store.
On Saturday we went canoing on the French Broad, and I dipped our camera in the water trying to wash of any potential poison ivy from peeing in the woods (yes I had to make multiple stops on the 2.5 hour trip, el niño's favorite resting place is on my bladder...) [N.B. if you ever get your camera wet DO NOT try to operate it until it has dried out for a week or so with memory card and battery removed. End result, we made an unplanned detour to Best Buy. Memory card was salvaged, thank goodness. ]
The trip was really easy and beautiful, and we floated past many geese families and the Biltmore Estate. In the afternoon we ate veggie dogs, fried green tomatoes, veggie chili cheese fries and fried okra and then headed to the Asheville Art Museum to see
Time is of the Essence: Contemporary Landscape Art. It was very well put together, and really interesting. I think Biff and I both like the Maya Lin and Richard Misrach pieces the best. The permanent collection is definitely skipable.
On Sunday we drove to Grandfather Mountain, part of our quest for visiting as many of North Carolina's tourist and/or historical sites as we can. It was seriously gorgeous. There were red/purple rhododendrons in bloom all over. We hiked to the mile-high swinging bridge and then crossed to the rock ledge that overlooks the surrounding mountains. The name Blue Ridge really becomes clear at the point, and if you have any fear of heights, that kicks in too! After that we went to the nature center and animal habitats and saw bears, deer and an otter. Unfortunately the panthers were in transition to a new enclosure and we didn't get to see them.
It turned out to be a wonderful trip, and we can't wait to return with el niño and whatever siblings he may have. I think I should also point out the overly food-oriented nature of this particular post-can you tell that someone is in their second trimester? Time to go eat a leftover Kelley G cupcake.
