Asheville and a Waterfall

After my hike up to Pilot Rock I returned to the campground and took a quick shower. Carole had arranged for us to meet up with one of her co-workers in Asheville who also happened to be spending the weekend there. We were afraid that it would take some time and co-ordination to hook up with Angel but as we pulled into a parking spot in downtown Asheville, there she was! Synchronicity in action!

We got our vehicles parked and then Carole, Andy, and Angel did some shopping while I just sat on the street and watched the crowds. Asheville is a very cool city and is packed with hippies and New Age types, so it's never boring to just watch the people go by. There's also lots of street performers working--actors, musicians, artists. We saw a guy doing wood-burning with a magnifying glass!

Our first order of the day was to head straight to our favorite pizza parlor in Asheville: The Mellow Mushroom. We really like their pies. Carole and I ordered one to share and Angel and Andy ordered one. We did not leave with a doggy bag, consuming every slice. We all highly recommend the Mellow Mushroom.

After that we walked around downtown a little more and hit up another favorite shop of ours, The Mast General Store. Then we headed back to the parking lot and retrieved our vehicles. We stashed Angel's car near the campground and then we drove over to see Looking Glass Falls on Highway 276. Angel had never seen it, and it's a great waterfall that is one of the most accessible large waterfalls in North Carolina.

We then drove up a couple of miles to Sliding Rock and took a look at that. We tried to go to the Fish Hatchery around the bend, but it was closed for the day and that meant that we were left with no other choice but to drive up to the Blue Ridge Parkway. I figured that since Angel had stood at the base of Looking Glass Rock looking up at the summit towering a thousand feet above, it would be cool to take her to an overlook one thousand feet over the summit and looking down at Looking Glass Rock. She got a kick out of that.

With that, the daylight was beginning to fade so it was time to head back to the campground. At the parking area Angel got back into her car and went back to her hotel in Asheville and we returned to our campsite.

Our favorite pizza joint, The Mellow Mushroom!

Carole and Angel.

Friendly downtown Asheville.

Steel drums!

This guy serenaded us when we dropped some money to show our appreciation for his talent.

The easily accessible Looking Glass Falls.

Angel and Carole wade in the cold water.

My son, Andy, at Looking Glass Falls.

Lots of people (and Andy) at Looking Glass Falls.

Looking down on Looking Glass Rock!

With daylight fading, it was time to rest.

North Mills River Campground

Andy, Carole and I stayed at the North Mills River Campground in western North Carolina for a couple of days. It's a National Forest facility that's administered by the Cradle of Forestry concessionaire. I've never been completely happy with how Cradle of Forestry runs our National Forest campgrounds and this trip was no different. When we arrived the campground host wasn't even present, and we had to remove garbage from our campsite (left by the previous camper). And we never did more than see the host as he was always busy staying in his mobile home or entertaining his friends.

Oh, well.

North Mills River campground is a beautiful place. The campground is situated five miles down North Mills River Road from NC 280. There's a nice Ingles Grocery if you need supplies (located at the intersection). Half of the campground is on one side of North Mills River and half is on the other side. I would recommend the half accessible by bridge as that is where the showers and nicer bathrooms are located. On the side we used there are only smelly pit toilets and a bathroom that has only urinals and no toilet! So we had to trek across the bridge and uphill to use the showers and better bathrooms.

There are no hookups so you need to fill your onboard water tanks and bring your generator. We like to boondock, so this was fine for us. We filled our 24-gallon tank and took our Honda 2000 generator. There are water spigots located throughout the campground if you need extra water.

If you like to fly-fish, this is the place for you. We saw many people who had arrived just for that. Apparently North Mills River is known for excellent trout fishing. Lots of opportunities for horeseback riding, hiking, and mountain biking. We saw many doing all of these, and I took the opportunity to hit the trails, of which there are many, many miles convenient to the campground.

Also, Asheville is less than 20 miles away, and the Blue Ridge Parkway is just up the nearest Forest Service Road (albeit via a 30-minute rocky ride).

Despite a lukewarm judgment on the campground host, we can recommend North Mills River Campground. There's plenty to offer for any camper and just about any kind of outdoorsman.

Our campsite (#4) at North Mills River.

Who doesn't like a roaring campfire?!

The view from an overlook on one of my hikes.

My son at Looking Glass Falls, a short drive from the campground.

Looking Glass Rock, from the Blue Ridge Parkway. Also not too far to drive as part of a day-time jaunt from the campground!

The bathhouse/showerhouse at the campground. Two bathrooms and two showers on either side of the building for a total of four of each.

Asheville

Carole and I had a 30th wedding anniversary dinner at a restaurant in Asheville. I really like the town. There's always something cool and interesting going on downtown. I wouldn't mind living there.

Tupelo Honey where we had dinner.

The Mast General Store. We always stop and shop if there's one of these nearby. There are only a half dozen of them, I think.

Part of downtown. They're renovating a very interesting building there. I don't know what it is.

Detail of the building.

Bagpipers were at work.

These kids were jamming in front of the arm museum.

Lots of performance artists all around the streets.

Detail of the very pretty girl.

Marker noting the artistic merit of the old S &W Cafeteria building.

And the building. I couldn't get a better photo without crossing the street.

Another view of the square. Not sure who the obelisk was built to honor, but some local dude. There was a craft fair going on around it.

Trip to Asheville

I had to take my son and wife to Asheville. It was a bit of a whirlwind trip, but since the drive up is only about two hours, it's not something that we don't look forward to. My son especially likes the town because everyone there looks like him. As the bumper stickers say: "Weird is Normal in Asheville". When we drove into town there was a peace march going down the center of town. Very cool.

In a cleared area near the Hamrick's store that my wife likes to shop along the Interstate in South Carolina there is an historic one-room schoolhouse with an amusing name. I'd never looked at it up close before, so I hiked across the grassy field to see it.

Sign on the front door.

It was locked, so I did my best to take a photo of the inside through the window.

The Mellow Mushroom. This is our favorite fast food restaurant in Asheville. We generally try to eat there. They serve vegetarian dishes, so my son is able to find stuff on the menu.

Andy and Carole. We ate on the outside tables.

Yum!

The view at the old buildings across the street from the Mellow Mushroom.

This little bird was panhandling from us. I got a kick out of feeding him/her.

A building near where we parked the truck.

I hadn't realized when I parked my truck that it was sitting next to the Thomas Wolfe Memorial. This was the boarding house owned by his family where he was raised.

Thomas Wolfe's bronzed shoes. I'm a size 13, so that fucker had some big goddamned feet.

The front of the house. It's a big one and must have been quite a spacious rooming house.

Carole's Trip to Asheville

Well, Carole went with her friend Janice and Janice's daughter Maxine to a fabrics show in Asheville. As it was on one of my work days, I didn't get to tag along. Janice is one of Carole's more interesting friends. She's originally from Johannesberg South Africa, educated in Africa and Scotland as a midwife, and has been living here in the States for some time. However, she and her family are soon moving permanently to Australia. Maxine is going ahead of her parents to attend boarding school there, joining her older sister who is already attending college in that country.

As soon as Janice and her husband sell their house, they're off Down Under for good. Carole will miss them.

A lot of the fabrics they saw were woven from lama and alpaca wool. And so these critters were on display of course. Here Janice and Maxine view an alpaca.

Maxine and one of the critters.

Carole bought a very nice scarf made from alpaca wool. It's really soft and I wish she'd bought me one, too. It wasn't very expensive. She also bought some fudge made with goat's milk from a farm outside of Asheville. That was the best fudge I've ever had. We'll have to visit that place and buy some more.

All in all, she made me wish I'd been able to go with them. Life is short. Alas!