Tuesday, September 19, 2006
Trip to Asheville
Last December, Bobbi and I decided that for Christmas we would give each other a long weekend together. In other words, we'd go off somewhere and split the cost. I guess that's the sentiment vs the practical reality of it. Anyway, at the time neither of us really had the time or the money to do it. We both had work, I had school, and money was tight (and it always is, so it seems). We decided that we'd do something after the first of the year, maybe in early March, when I had a break from school for a week or so, and the weather would be warming up some. Those were our plans, anyway.
Well, here we are in the middle of September, and this past weekend, we finally took our trip together. We decided to go to Asheville. I've never really been there. I camped nearby in the Pisgah National Forest once, and Bobbi and I spent a weekend in Waynesville, about 30 miles west, but that's about it for me. Bobbi has a son who goes to UNCA, so she has been there a few times to visit. But we've neither of us has been there to sightsee and just hang out. So that's what we did this trip.
All in all it was a pretty good trip. We stayed at a Day's Inn in downtown. It was a little rundown, but Bobbi says it was clean, so I'll take her word for that. This Day's Inn was apparently owned and operated by an Indian (the country India, not the Native American Indian). Attached to one end of it was an Indian art gallery. But once you went inside the place, there were racks of clothes and other cloth goods hanging in the lobby. All were for sale. They had a continental breakfast buffet too. This was in a room full of shelves with all sorts of Indian art (carvings, small paintings, whatever). All for sale. The actual buffet consisted mostly of pastries, which looked like they might have been bought in bulk at Sam's Club or Costco's, along with cookies, fruit, cereal, totally dried out "homemade" biscuits, bagels, and little packages of doughnuts (powdered sugar or chocolate coated, take your pick).
The room wasn't too bad. It was clean and the bed was big. And best of all, we had "Free Wirless Internet" (at least that's what the marquee called it). I had my trusty Zaurus with it's really old version of Opera, but at least I could surf a little and find out local stuff if necessary (assuming the sites didn't crash the browser; more and more do just that). And since my Zaurus runs Linux, I could easily ssh into my school account. I couldn't really do very much once I got there, but I could easily ssh into it if I wanted.
Downtown Asheville is basically an art district. There are lots of little shops and galleries, and they are all within walking distance of where we stayed. There are also lots of little restaurants, so there's plenty to eat. And the prices are pretty decent (almost always for the food, and sometimes for the art). So we basically walked from gallery to gallery with an occasional stop for food and drink. The weather was nice (although a little warmer than I was hoping for) and it made for a nice time.
We also went to the UNCA campus. There is some type of nature trail on or near the campus, so Bobbi's son Eli showed us around that area. Eli has a dog named Igor, so we took Igor along to romp around in the woods. The nature trail is nice, but I was a little disappointed in the actual UNCA campus. It has a 60's look, and just doesn't have the character my campus has (High Point University). But other than that, I'm sure it's a decent place.
Other than that, the trip was fun and uneventful. Nobody lost anything (not permanently anyway), nobody got hurt, nor any of those other things you worry about when you travel. I found some non-tobacco cigarettes I can smoke when I've had a few beers without my nicotine monkey climbing up on my back, and Bobbi got some beads and books on beading. We both liked our Christmas present to each other, even if it was a bit late.
Well, here we are in the middle of September, and this past weekend, we finally took our trip together. We decided to go to Asheville. I've never really been there. I camped nearby in the Pisgah National Forest once, and Bobbi and I spent a weekend in Waynesville, about 30 miles west, but that's about it for me. Bobbi has a son who goes to UNCA, so she has been there a few times to visit. But we've neither of us has been there to sightsee and just hang out. So that's what we did this trip.
All in all it was a pretty good trip. We stayed at a Day's Inn in downtown. It was a little rundown, but Bobbi says it was clean, so I'll take her word for that. This Day's Inn was apparently owned and operated by an Indian (the country India, not the Native American Indian). Attached to one end of it was an Indian art gallery. But once you went inside the place, there were racks of clothes and other cloth goods hanging in the lobby. All were for sale. They had a continental breakfast buffet too. This was in a room full of shelves with all sorts of Indian art (carvings, small paintings, whatever). All for sale. The actual buffet consisted mostly of pastries, which looked like they might have been bought in bulk at Sam's Club or Costco's, along with cookies, fruit, cereal, totally dried out "homemade" biscuits, bagels, and little packages of doughnuts (powdered sugar or chocolate coated, take your pick).
The room wasn't too bad. It was clean and the bed was big. And best of all, we had "Free Wirless Internet" (at least that's what the marquee called it). I had my trusty Zaurus with it's really old version of Opera, but at least I could surf a little and find out local stuff if necessary (assuming the sites didn't crash the browser; more and more do just that). And since my Zaurus runs Linux, I could easily ssh into my school account. I couldn't really do very much once I got there, but I could easily ssh into it if I wanted.
Downtown Asheville is basically an art district. There are lots of little shops and galleries, and they are all within walking distance of where we stayed. There are also lots of little restaurants, so there's plenty to eat. And the prices are pretty decent (almost always for the food, and sometimes for the art). So we basically walked from gallery to gallery with an occasional stop for food and drink. The weather was nice (although a little warmer than I was hoping for) and it made for a nice time.
We also went to the UNCA campus. There is some type of nature trail on or near the campus, so Bobbi's son Eli showed us around that area. Eli has a dog named Igor, so we took Igor along to romp around in the woods. The nature trail is nice, but I was a little disappointed in the actual UNCA campus. It has a 60's look, and just doesn't have the character my campus has (High Point University). But other than that, I'm sure it's a decent place.
Other than that, the trip was fun and uneventful. Nobody lost anything (not permanently anyway), nobody got hurt, nor any of those other things you worry about when you travel. I found some non-tobacco cigarettes I can smoke when I've had a few beers without my nicotine monkey climbing up on my back, and Bobbi got some beads and books on beading. We both liked our Christmas present to each other, even if it was a bit late.
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