#9- A Mountain Gem

           

Thirsty Monk!

I’m going to take you back here for a moment- in the words of Ahmad “back in the days when I was young, I’m not a kid anymore, but some days I sit and wish I was a kid again.” Okay, maybe not that far…but back about a month and a half ago to our time in Asheville, North Carolina. In the grand scheme of our trip, I would feel amiss to go on writing blogs, without including one on this lovely town.

Slurping some oysters down

We first arrived in Asheville fresh from Kentucky via the Blue Ridge Parkway, which is an epically scenic road that is part of the Appalachian Mountains. At this point, we had been camping out, kayaking, hiking, etc. for a big chunk of time- so the thought of not only getting to visit with Elsa, but also having a hot shower and a bed to sleep on sounded a-m-a-z-i-n-g! Which it was.

The streets are alive with the sounds of music!

Asheville is a vibrant mountain town thriving with arts, music, outdoor adventures, tasty food, and lots of yummy craft breweries- not to mention some good people. For the week we were here we ate, drank, laughed and slurped our way through the town (slurping in the form of raw oysters, mmm. Sorry west coast, but east coast definitely ones up us here). We made it our own personal educational field trip to visit a number of small craft breweries, to which Asheville is an epicenter, and try an assortment of beers. I’m talking coconut/chocolate porter, jalapeno pale ale, oyster stout, red-headed step-monk (Thirsty Monk’s American Amber/Red Ale), etc. Beer lover’s paradise. We cruised around the River Arts District (which will soon be the site for Sierra Nevada Breweries Eastern expansion), where the streets are lined with different artists working studios. One night we did a haunted LaZoom comedy bus tour, which is a strange and interesting way to get some history (did you know that Asheville is considered the San Francisco of the East? No wonder we fell in love with it!), as well as a few laughs. We even went to Lake Lure, where one of the best movies of all time, Dirty Dancing, was filmed! By the end of our week here, Asheville had catapulted to the top of our list of dream locations to live. At the very least, we both look forward to when we can return.

Dinner party with Chris & Annette!