Let's visit Asheville!

We left the rain and yesterday's cool temps behind by the time we blew past the Weaverville exit on our way to Asheville yesterday and it's good thing we did. Usually it's cooler in Asheville than it is in Johnson City but yesterday was not the case. It was actually in the mid 60's in Asheville, compared with low 50's in JC, and while it was a tad overcast there was not a drop of rain in sight, in short it was almost Speedo weather for yours truly.

Artsy Asheville photo #1.

We hit town in that odd hour of Saturday afternoon when lunch service is ending and it's hell to find food before supper service starts. (One time, and this is a true story, we went into a little restaurant at around 1:45 PM and got seated but got no service. Other couples came in and were seated and got service and I finally said something about it to the hostess. She then looked down her nose at me and she said, "I'm sorry sir, we've stopped taking lunch orders. You'll have to come back after 5:30 if you want to eat here." Oddly enough we never set foot back in that joint again.) But yesterday, and this can only be chalked up to a miracle of Zappadan, we found a little bakery/coffee shop open downtown that would serve us something. Sure it was only a cup of coffee, a bottle of root beer, and a danish and a scone, but damn it was good.

Artsy Asheville photo #2.

We poked around in some shops and were poked at in others. I'm not sure which I liked better. Finally we came to one of our main destinations 10,000 Villages. 10,000 Villages is a neat shop that sells fair trade items made in places like Peru, Chile, Bolivia, and many African countries. Certain items were purchased but I have been sworn to secrecy about said items and who or who they won't be given to during this holiday season.


Not too far from 10,000 Villages is Kim's Wig Center. Walking past there is always in adventure in imagination for me because I try to imagine who would buy and wear wigs like this:
For some reason Whiskeymarie came to mind.

Speaking of blog buds, I thought about Kirby and her son when I saw these books:

And then for some reason I felt the urge to "go" myself. I managed to find the only public restroom in all of downtown Asheville before any poo was flung accidentally. On my way out of the public restroom I saw the above sign and it made me happy. It made me happy because now I knew that someone had picked up all those butts I flicked out my truck window all those years when I smoked a pack and a half a day. I ran to catch up with Sparky and I told her about the magical Cigarette Fairy. Then when Sparky explained to me the definition of "mythical" I became sad and I felt guilty for putting my butts all over Mother Earth.

Artsy Asheville photo #3

It must have been "Dress Your Kid Up Cute and Parade Them Around Downtown Day" because everywhere we turned there was some cute kid being escorted by their parent or parents.This little gal loved climbing all over that huge iron. I bet she doesn't feel the same way about irons in 15 years, but I could be wrong.

This cute kid in a hat and his mom were practically running down the street.

I noticed this little girls boots from about two blocks away. By the time we caught up to her she was enthralled with that duck on the table. It quacked to the tune of "Jingle Bells."

Little Helga here we saw in a downtown modern furniture and home accessory store. The store is one of those places where the clerks are too hip to talk to anyone who is not as hip as they think they are or who looks like they make under half a million a year. When they do acknowledge the existence of people like Sparky and I they give us a tortured thin lipped smile that looks like it's actually a grimace caused by constipation.

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After the parade of cute kids stopped for a bit we made our way to Mast General Store. Mast sells mostly clothes and out door gear but the reason I go there is candy. Since I stopped smoking and since I am not allowed to eat chocolate candy bars anymore, I indulge in all manner of hard candy to placate my oral fixation. And the place to find great hard candy in all manner of exotic flavors is in the candy barrels of Mast General Store.More candy than you can shake your monkey maker at.
I ended up buying about two pounds of candy. That should last me until the end of the week. While in Mast I also saw this:
Let me give you a close up of the label on the bottom box:

SNOW NOT INCLUDED, what a freakin' letdown. What good is all that other crap without snow? I was appalled, appalled I tells ya! Luckily for me I was also tired of walking around and we decided to just go to Green Life Grocery and then head back home. We picked up some baby bok choy, some suckling pears, some nice farm raised catfish, and some beer and wine, among other things and we made our way back across the mountain. Night had fallen by the time we hit the road and as we drove past Weaverville, the rain began to fall again as well.

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When we got back I fixed that catfish, the bok choy, and I made a chili releno-esque thingy for supper. I would have taken pictures of it but I was starving, after all the only thing I had to eat the whole afternoon was that scone.