North Carolina- Day 3

Greetings from Asheville, NC!!!!
This town is AMAZING. I never want to leave, except for to go home and pick up the friends and family who are currently missing and bring them back down here with me. The drive down was very easy-going. It took about 12 hours total because I had to get an oil change, plus regular stops for gas and bathroom breaks.

When we got here on our first day here *Monday* we immediately walked around the town. We are in West Asheville. I'm not sure what it reminds me of, but I'm sure that if I really tried (which I won't) I could equate it to something familiar to all of us in NJ. The locals here are great. Thom and I went to a coffee shop and got useful information about the town from the friendly barista. While at the coffee shop we met up with our friend Jon, who by an amazing coincidence is also staying in Asheville for a few days before he moves to Mississippi for construction for 10-months. It's really such a good thing that he is here, because he knows people and knows the town from previous visits. For dinner Monday night, we ate at a downtown restaurant called Rosetta's. The place is completely vegetarian and extremely vegan-friendly. I ordered the special for the first time in my life!!!! It was $6.25 and well worth it- spicy mushroom tacos with vegan queso. Yum. After dinner, Jon took Thom and I to something called Contra dancing. AMAZINGAMAZINGAMAZINGFUN. Thom and I only danced 2 songs, because it wasn't easy and there were no beginner lessons at the place we went to. But we stayed and watched for a good while, which was almost as fun as being a part of the dancing. The whole experience was very interesting and sexy, because the people were unlike anything I would ever expect. Like, cowboy/hippie types who could really move. The band playing (Sporting Pitchforks) was amazing.

Tuesday (yesterday), we went for a morning hike at the Arboretum because it was free. It was also raining: I consider myself a changed woman. The gardens on the grounds were really cool because they had a lot of bonsai information and different bonsai trees. Too bad it was raining though, it would have been much more enjoyable and pretty to look at everything if the weather had been dry. After hiking we went back to Jon's buddy Sean's place, where he is staying until he leaves, and watched a movie called Coffee & Cigarettes. It was different, but overall very enjoyable. Except for the part with Meg White, who I now hate more than ever...after this I fell asleep on the futon. Thom and Jon chilled and I woke up to Jon teaching Thom how to roll tobacco, which I did not partake in. When Sean got back from work, we went thrifting at a place called Goodwill. By far THE BEST THRIFTING EXPERIENCE OF MY ENTIRE LIFE. It was so good and we all found wonderful treasures. The place didn't charge by the item, but by the pound $1.10/lb, which gave it really good value. Also, instead of having racks of items hanging, there were just these enormous blue carts all in aisles with the clothing just thrown in there so that you literally had to dig for your treasure. Nice touch. This place happened to be enormous too, so it really did have limitless potential. I was also in greatgreat company, and all of us spent a good amount of time living in our purchases (rainbow sweaters, rainbow visor, blanket, blazer...the works). After thrift shopping Jon, Thom, and I went to this movie place which I forget the name of. It was very cool because it played movies that were just+ off the big screen. The admission was only $3, less than a Blockbuster rental!!!! What made this place sweet was that you could buy food and eat dinner while watching your movie. Very relaxing and a wonderful concept. When dinner was done we walked around downtown for a while because we were going to try getting into a bar to watch a funk band play live. While walking around, Jon got a tattoo, making it my first tattoo-viewing experience! It was pretty much exactly what you would expect from tattoo-viewing, but we couldn't watch the whole time because it's illegal to do so in NC (weird, right?). So that was good. The tattoo guys were very friendly and nice to be around. When this was done we failed at getting into the bar with the funk band because I am not 21. Alas. I was tired anyway though, so it worked out nicely that we got to go back to the hostel and relax and sleep.
Today is souvenire shopping and the like downtown. And no rain! Woopwoop!






endpost.