Asheville

The place is incredibly dog friendly.

There seems to be lots of live music in this town.

Asheville was fun. Weird, but fun. It's probably best summed up by a slogan we saw on a t-shirt that read: "If you're too weird for Asheville, you're just too weird." The place is packed with breweries, ranging from very large scale operations like Sierra Nevada and New Belgium, to the very smallest of microbreweries operating out of a barely converted auto garage. We took in a fair sampling of them all, but there are plenty left for a return visit.

The sign on the left says "Ben's Tune-Up", in the rear is "Ben's Beer Garden."

Aren't all llamas magical?

There is a quirky sense of humor in town.

We got a very up close and personal tour of the New Belgium
production facility. It was fascinating.

This picture was taken at New Belgium.
It's one of few pics of us that doesn't suck.

Sierra Nevada built a production facility that is as beautiful
as it is functional. It is also LEED platinum certified.

This is the church in Biltmore Village, the part of Asheville
that was built by the Vanderbilts for the workers employed at
their Biltmore estate. We didn't tour Biltmore because we had
been there in the past and it takes a full day.

Asheville is also the home of Thomas Wolfe. This is his family
home right in the center of town. Apparently the town was upset
with him after "Look Homeward, Angel" was published because
townsfolk recognized themselves in the characters in the book
and didn't find it flattering. 

This is just a beautiful bed of lantana in a shopping center.

There is a drum circle on Friday nights in a downtown park.
People come with all variety of drums and percussion instruments
to make rhythm, dance, and general merriment.

It's not just the few guys you see standing in front. There are probably 30-40 more people sitting
around with all types of drums.

This is a bit of a text conversation with our
housesitter while we were away.

Maya snuggles