Chocolate, art, nature, good food, hippies... my recipe for a perfect little town. Good Friday weekend Peter, Jackie, Mattan, dog, and I headed to Asheville (it was nice and cozy in the backseat).
The boys had made sexist statements about us girls not being able to be ready by 8am to head out, so there was no doubt in my mind that I would prove them wrong. Until I made some poor life decisions the night before and woke up at 7:25am with my head spinning. In 15 minutes, I did the following (in no particular order, some overlapping, some multiple times because I'd forget something): packed clothes (an overstatement), got dressed, packed food (also an overstatement... when I later looked into what I had packed, it consisted of spinach leaves, mayo & ketchup, tortillas, prosciutto, nutella, and alcohol), brushed my teeth (I think), and headed out. Got to Peter & Jackie's at 7:58am. Bam. I then passed out in their car.
(I woke up to a text message of Robbie being back in town! Best news ever :)) We made a pit stop at Cumberland Falls in KY, famous for its moonbeam which only occurs at full moons on 2 places on Earth (here and in Korea somewhere). Of course it wasn't night, so no moonbeam, but there WAS a double rainbow! Also... the place was kinda a tourist trap and overrated, all fenced in.
Another pit stop in Jellico, TN -- home of the best t-shirts in the world. Picked up 5 requested shirts for friends back in the Cincy and on we went again.
We get to our cabin around 4 (the same one my CS friends have stayed in multiple times!) and search Yelp for a good local eatery... White Duck Tacos. Holy mother of tacos... these were spectacular! Very eclectic delicious combinations of ingredients. I had the Bangkok Shrimp taco and BBQ pulled pork taco. If you're ever in Asheville, def go here.
It happened to be Asheville's Art Walk Friday, so we headed downtown and perused a buncha galleries that all offered alcohol and cheeses. My favorite was Za-Pow, a comic book shop-like gallery that also offered free beer.
During our art walk is where I discovered that Asheville is all about chocolate and will therefore, be one of my favorite places on Earth. I literally found 4 chocolate shops in just the downtown area (and, duh, yeah I got chocolate in all of them...). I bet there were more. Another cool find? A coffee shop in a double decker bus! We also helped "birth" 2 guys through a wall... long story.
After an excellent breakfast at Sunny Point Cafe (french toast chala bread with chocolate, berries, and maple scented whipped cream), went hiking in the Blue Ridge Mountains day. Yes. I said hiking. Friends, for those of you who know me well (or at all, really), know that I'm not quite the active type ("why walk when you can drive?"), but I will let you know that I really enjoyed hiking. Who knew? And not even that winded *high five me*! 2 miles up to the highest peak east of the Mississippi river, 2 miles down.
After Pete's adventures of longboarding down the mountain (and us following him in the car), we got some good ol' bbq at Ruby's (with like SEVEN different types of bbq sauce!), hit up a toy store (Mattan's got some hula hoop hip action), then met up with Mariel and her friend! Ate spicy chocolate ice cream at Hop's, got drinks at the Universal Junction, and ended up playing the alphabet game back at home.
So before we headed out on Sunday, I decided to capture the quirky essence of our cabin. See, little tidbit on our cabin: def has the cabin-feel, big garden, and is decorated with... lotsa oddities. I'm not sure who decorated this place, but I kinda want to meet them. Checked out the arts district before leaving Asheville... and of course made the obligatory stop at Sonic for a chocolate malt on the way home...
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