Sarah and Derek Go to Asheville

Sometimes even Derek and I get tired of cooking. Sometimes we get hot and bored with our entertainment options. It is too hot to do so many things we enjoy outside. I know we are wimps.

We just had to get out of the Piedmont this weekend.

On a whim we decided to head west to Asheville. I figured Asheville offered the whole package, mountains to hike in during the day and delicious food to feast on in the night. We were right.

You know that phrase, "dance like no one is watching"? There were a lot of people in Asheville doing just that, literally and figuratively.

This woman is dancing. By herself and for herself.

There was live music on the corners, a drum circle in the square, art galleries, and interesting restaurants. There were people just dancing to the music. Just because they wanted to.

Largest drum circle I have ever seen. I don't seek them out, so there could be larger.

Now, I am pretty sure Asheville has embraced this reputation and the tourism department loves it. The city manages to seem real and very livable regardless of all of the tourists.

This is the hike we set out to do.

Plus the town is sitting right in heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Great hikes, beautiful vistas, you know, that kind of thing. Derek and I have a record of bad hiking decisions interesting adventures. Maybe our most epic adventure will be another blog post. Let me just say here that on Saturday we turned a 3 mile meander to see some waterfalls and have a picnic lunch into a 7.5 mile climb up 2,000 feet (trust me, I know, I brought my GPS and calibrated the altimeter before we started).

I conquered that valley and I am proud.

Derek on a cool little bridge. He is mad 'cause we are lost.

Most of our lunch was Appalachian grown, except for the chips from Virginia.

Lunch. Best sourdough ever (I don't care if you live in San Francisco, your bread will not taste this good unless it is eaten on a mountain top)

It was fun, we saw some pretty stuff, had the trail pretty much to ourselves, and felt we earned our dinner. Fortunately, after that one time (information to be disclosed at a later date), we had plenty of water.

After hiking we went to a delicious dinner. Then we went and had some tasty beer. Then we got some chocolate cake. Yes, it was that kind of weekend.

Cats climbing a light post on the "Cat Walk"

It ended the next morning with us sitting outside and sipping coffee and eating freshly baked bagels with cream cheese.

This place no longer had shoe shines, but nice sign!