North Carolina - 12 Bones BBQ

Quite good with quite a following.  Long lines even in mid-afternoon.  Widely acclaimed by Obama so the lines probably trended Democratic!

North Carolina Update - Connor Adopted!

 

North Carolina Dance Practice

Clogging fun!

North Carolina - Day 7

Friday was our last day in Asheville so after a little more tennis we packed up and checked out.

The lobby was cool including a large connect 4 game, Conner - the dog up for adoption, a pool table and a bar.

We scored a bit more BBQ before skipping town.  Bear's was decent but not as good as 12 Bones.

Poor Conner still hadn't been adopted but I'm sure he will be soon.

Back on the road with North Carolina staples.

After dropping Bill off in Charlotte I headed to Waynesville which is close to Jack's Camp Daniel Boone.  You can also note another W city, Weaverville just North of Asheville.  Asheville has gotten to be a pretty expensive city from a real estate perspective with lots of Charlotte and Atlanta people, in particular, choosing to retire in it.  If the prices seem too high in Asheville the local realtors encourage prospective buyers to "Think Weaverville"

Shanghai Dumplings - You Don't Know Nuthin' About Shanghai Dumplings!

Shanghai Dumplings is located just up Biltmore Avenue from Aloft so we walked by it a lot.  On one particular occasion, two gentleman were just in front of us seemingly looking for a place for dinner.  One stepped back to look at and read the sign and his friend returned, "Shanghai Dumplings - you don't know nuthin' about Shanghai dumplings.  You don't know nuthin' about Shanghai."

We kept walking and so did they.

North Carolina Trip - Day 6

After all the hiking we stayed local on Saturday beginning the day with a quick duck into Izzy's

After lunch at the Atlanta based Mellow Mushroom we went to the Moogseum.  A museum dedicated to one of the father's of synthesized music, Bob Moog.  It was small but well-done.

We then went to Asheville's Pinball Museum which was a fun place to spend a few hours.  Below is one of Atari's only pinball offerings.   For $15 you could play all you wanted.

  

 

The views of the Blue Ridge Mountains are quite good from the sixth floor of our hotel, Aloft.

The city had recently removed its final large structure commemorating a Civil War veteran.  Will be interesting to see what they replace it with as this statue is in the heart of the city.  When we arrived in town we thought there was a big protest going on as there was a lot of activity right in front of this area.  Turns out it was just a 3-4 flag wavers excited about Jesus.

North Carolina Trip - Asheville Tourists Game

We scored buy one get one tickets to see the Asheville Tourists play the Winston Salem team.  The Tourists are the High A minor league team for the Houston Astros.

All seats were good in the smallish stadium so we chose to social distance a bit since it wasn't full.

Lots of scoring and a W for the home team!

North Carolina Trip - Day 5.5

Chimney Rock hiking continued. 

The highest elevation is ~2,640 feet above sea level though it certainly seemed higher.

The Skyline Trail was a bit anticlimactic because you couldn't see really actually see the Hickory Nut Falls so we also did the Hickory Nut Falls Trail that went to the bottom of the falls.  It had rained that morning so the falls were flowing pretty well.

Then, having not eaten much breakfast or lunch had our nicest meal of the trip at Chestnuts.  Filet and salmon were the rewards for our 100+ flights of climbing and ~6 miles of hiking.

North Carolina Trip - Day 5

Today was our hiking day with a trip to Chimney Rock State Park, not to be confused with the Chimney Rock in Nebraska.

They had installed an elevator to take you most of the way up to the top of Chimney Rock.  We hiked - mostly climbed stairs.  Bill and I both agreed the flag kind of spoiled the natural elements of the rock.

Definitely some cool views from the top.

We did the Skyline Trail afterwards which was an actual hike that climbed quite a bit higher.  It went to the top of a waterfall.