Asheville, NC

Friday, September 27, 2013

So the RVenture begins!  We have spent the last week in one of our favorite Southeastern USA towns, Asheville, NC.  The campground is simply amazing. Check it out, Campfire Lodgings. The view never gets old!  Somehow we, in my humble opinion, ended up with the best spot in the park.  FANTASTIC!  Check out our view below. Our drive up from Atlanta last Sunday was unexciting, which is very desirable when driving a 36 foot long truck.  Set up was smooth, then we grilled some dinner and enjoyed the sunset.  Ah, what a life.  Come Monday morning, Wade started getting all sorts of work calls.  He has had a much busier week of work than usual.  He was christen by fire in his first ‘mobile’ work week.  However, we made the best of it.  In reality, this week has been one of acclimation.  We are learning the ins and outs of RV life.  You know, how to clean your fresh water tank because the water tastes like poison, how to empty sewage efficiently, how to use a washer/dryer combination unit, where electrical plugs are located, fixing minor defects in the RV, making sure all 4 TVs function properly, how to keep the dog off the bed at night without a crate, the list goes on and on.  I have rather enjoyed watching Wade do all this work.  Just kidding I have helped too.  I have become a pretty good barista.  As I was making our cappuccino one morning, I suddenly felt like a Yuppy.  How many campers drink fresh espresso every morning?   Well, we do!  It is definitely a different lifestyle than our Around the World Trip, as I have all the free time in the world but Wade still has to work 40 hours.  So we can’t just get up in the morning and go explore.  Therefore, we have been going to town in the evenings.  It will take some getting used to with this new schedule and we have decided that we may have to go slower than anticipated to really explore and experience an area. Luckily, this week we were already familiar with Asheville, so we didn’t feel like we missed out on anything.

 

So what did we do?  We ate at many delicious local restaurants.  First we enjoyed the Laughing Seed Cafe.  This downtown Asheville vegetarian restaurant is delicious.  We devoured the fresh raw spinach-pesto manicotti (zucchini “noodles” stuffed with live sunflower-spinach pesto, cashew ricotta, and fresh basil served over sun-dried tomato marinara with house-marinated olives) and a ‘classic’ reuben (marinated organic tempeh, house-made organic purple sauerkraut with cracked juniper and caraway, caramelized onions, and Swiss cheese on grilled multigrain bread with vegan Russian dressing) with some jalapeno onion fries.  Do you think we are Yuppies yet 😉  Tuesday, we visited the Grove Park Inn on a fellow camper recommendation.  This historic hotel is quite impressive!  The two fireplaces in the lobby are like walk in closets framed with gigantic boulders.  They reminded me of fireplaces in some of the historic National Parks Lodges.  We wandered the halls a bit, then sat on the terrace for some pre-dinner drinks.  I felt a little hoity-toity while there.  After enjoying the view and drinks, we headed to downtown Asheville for some food.  We landed at Lexington Ave Brewery (Lab).  This awesome pub serves fresh beer and food made from local ingredients.  Double win!  Again, we throughly enjoyed our meals.  Wednesday we continued the brewery tours and visited Asheville Pizza and Brewing Company.  We landed at their Brew’n View location.  They converted an old movie theater in to the brewery and restaurant, but kept the two movie screens. One is still in use as a theater and the second has been converted into a game room for the kids.  Pretty cool.  Their active theater plays movies just out of theater but before video release.  So you pay $3 and get a movie, food, and a bar.  I dig it.

 

However, we arrived on an off hour so we drank and ate with the crew from Star Wars.  Thursday was a little more mellow for us as we headed to Camping World for some supplies.  We did end up eating at Isa’s Bistro.  Isa’s menu is specialized to celebrate the freshness of Western North Carolina’s seasonal harvest and fresh local produce.  Again, winning.  We sat on the patio, enjoyed drinks, delicious food and music from some street musicians.  It doesn’t get much better than that.  Well, unless you hop aboard the Amazing Pubcycle.  Next time, we might attempt it.  Instead, we headed home for a nice campfire.  Today, has been a day of relaxing (or working for Wade) and enjoying the great outdoors.  But, I think our goal has become to eat our way across America!  Until next time, travel safe my friends!

Oh, and Happy Birthday to my 5 year old niece, Maegan!

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