Another New State, No. 65

No. 65: Travel to States I've Never Been to Before

North Carolina.
O, this is a state I have really been wanting to do for a while. That desire intensified when my friend, Libby, moved there 18 months ago.  But. But. But.  Airline tickets weren't cheap and it was a long flight requiring connections and THEN we had a pandemic.  

Growing up in Texas of course we get a taste of "The South". But Texas isn't really the old South in many ways- it's its own entity. We have, unfortunately, our share of Confederate flags and statues and an abundance of high schools named Robert E Lee, but in many ways it doesn't seem like the South to me. Like a foot in the South and a foot in the West. but not one or the other. 

I blame my subscription to Garden and Gun magazine. It makes that part of the country seem so inviting. 

I have been to Virginia (definitely considered the South) and Mississippi (also VERY definitely the South) so I've had my intro to Southern ways (the good and the bad) but this trip was to Asheville, North Carolina.  A random check online and I discovered air tickets had dropped to under $300. I'm still unemployed, and while looking for work online, I have found that I have very few job options. Somehow no degree, the inability to type faster than 40 WPM, and few obvious qualifications makes me a hard sell on line. So why not travel??

I have flown quite a bit this summer and have felt relatively comfortable doing so even with this pandemic. Most of my flights have been on Southwest and they have been very good about leaving the middle seats open. Pretty much I've been able to find an empty row on every flight. This trip was on United and I did get a notice that the flight was over 70% full. Yes, that made me a little nervous but I kept checking the seat map and moving my seat further and further back so that I would have an empty row. Arriving at the Denver airport, I discovered long lines, wayyy too many people for my comfort and no empty rows to move to.  Thankfully I was given the option to upgrade at check in which I did immediately. I'm a big believer in enjoying the journey and my choice was in the back with zillions of people or up front with one other person. I took my chances and was delighted with my seat mate who had been camping in Wyoming for the last week with 6 other people. Figured she was most likely "Covid-free" and we had a great chat on the flight. O, we also drank our upgrade fee in Gin and Tonics and Bloody Marys. 


Libby picked me up at the Asheville airport on Friday evening after traveling most of the day. Whenever I mentioned going to Asheville, everyone said "you must go to Tupelo Honey for dinner". So we did.  Grits. Fried Chicken. A flight of desserts (Peanut butter mousse, banana pudding and brown butter pecan pie- doesn't get any more Southern than that.)

Well, if you insist!

My faithful tour guide and friend, Libby

Cheers!

Afterwards we wandered the downtown area where we saw a shrouded Confederate monument and Black Lives Matter painted on the street. The old South is having to confront their past, finally.  We also drove through the arts district and were disappointed that the Friday night drum circle did not happen.

I'm assuming that's a Confederate statue, shrouded in black plastic and protected with a plywood base.

Black Lives Matter paintings all around the roundabout.

Saturday we had biscuits for breakfast from Biscuitheads. Libby scored a free t-shirt with breakfast... so I consider that a good morning!

A free Tee! She asked to buy one but they only had them for employees, so they gave her one.

I'll let you figure out what it says.

 And then we went back to her place to do an online class in cutting and pasting. (I'll post on that soon.) 

First time I've done an online class like this and it was sooo inspiring. 

Afterwards we drove to Sliding Rock- another highly recommended destination.  In the forest, surrounded by trees are some perfect flat rocks in the river made for sliding down. I was super excited about this adventure. Sadly, the river was too high from all of the rain they have had so we did not get to slide or even play in the water. After being in dry dry Colorado it was still lovely to experience all the green of a state that gets summer rains.

Sliding Rock which actually looked more like Gushing Waters Rock

Our day ended driving around looking at houses as Libby would like to get out of her darling apartment at some point and really settle in.  It was a great way to get the feel of the city and there were so many fun cottages. Also,  some of those streets were really narrow so I was grateful I wasn't the one driving.

Sunday was a hiking day and we went to Pisgah Forest (which I want to call Pig-sa because that sounds like more fun) to hike to a water fall. It was another overcast day and the hike was pleasant although truthfully I would have been happier with less people on the trail. I'm delighted people are outdoors during the pandemic, I just don't want them all outdoors at the same time that I am. Ha! O well, the waterfall was gorgeous and it was so nice to be outside. 

Only a 3 mile hike so we were smiling at the outset and on the return.

The sign says "Catawba Falls"

We made it!

And Monday- Monday is another post. I went to the Biltmore and o! it was beautiful. I'll tell you all about it next week.

Anyway, I'm putting North Carolina in the books.