Asheville and Beyond

For this past weekend, we went on holiday to nearby Asheville, NC, a local tourist destination chock full of the three key ingredients for a splendid vacation: shopping, nature, and hippies. Lots and lots of hippies. We decided to stay about 25 minutes away (we didn't want to be caught downwind of the hippies) in a cabin. Observe:

It is called the "Treetop Cabin" because it is elevated such that one feels pretty high off the ground. It had a hot tub (under the deck - which we didn't use) and the only other thing we demand in a woodland cabin: charm. Once again, please observe:
How charming!

Calvin enjoyed himself immensely. There were probably close to 45 thousand new smells for him to investigate and he took to his task immediately. The cabin was also about 5 miles from the Appalachian Trail, which runs pretty close to the NC/Tennessee border in this region. Calvin insisted that we at least walk on it for a while, so we drove up there and scoped it out. Here we are (Sarah is the photographer)


We went into Asheville on Saturday to look at the shops and observe some local flavor. Here's some shots:

Sarah in the Grove Arcade, where posh merchants sell their wares.

Me in front of some cool-looking building, possibly a church.

This was our first choice for accommodations for the weekend, but upon closer inspection, somebody was already living out of it. Darn! Maybe next time.


Sarah resting on a bench (most shots of her will be in the seated position).

One thing Asheville cannot lay claim to is subtlety. Bumper stickers with fervent political messages (drawing many laughs from yours truly) adorn a vast majority of the cars, and the street is teeming with interesting characters. Somehow, Asheville worked its magic on us and we found ourselves indoctrinated without even knowing it. We woke up the following morning, ready to go to the Biltmore Estate wearing matching outfits. One more time, please observe:

The horror of it all - we went GREEN! I guess we read the word or heard the mantra one time too many while in Asheville. Oh well. Next time we'll go gray.

This is the Biltmore House, said to be the biggest house in America. It is rather large, and full of tapestries (which is really why we wanted to see it - tapestry viewing is both of our number one favorite pastime in the whole wide world!)

(Then, there was the REAL reason we came)


Sarah channeling pregnant wisdom under what we assumed was a bodhi tree - seeking spiritual guidance and thanking 'Poptombu', Hindu god of determining when your belly button goes from 'inny' to 'outy' during pregnancy, for letting her belly button remain an inny for one more week (though its days are numbered - it gets shallower every day!)

Here's a shot of her belly from the side:
(she went green again - those brainwashing hippies! I shake my fist at you!)