I am officially back in Eastern Standard time! But in true Catrina-PST fashion, my brain is switched on and LATE!
Ben and I slept in a bit this morning and took off from Nashville a bit late. I met an absolutely charming gentlemen (with very few teeth) who wanted to know all about San Francisco while coming out of breakfast, and he held up up a little longer.
We blew out of TN rather quickly. Knoxville was the "last stop" in TN. There must be a very strong pro-life presence in Knoxville, there were a number of (reasonably offensive) billboards along the highway. I snapped a picture of a G-rated one. Grrr. We also passed a church with a sign that said "Eternity: Heaven or Hell: You decide." WAY WAY too aggressive for me. I guess Knoxville is out for me!
We got to where we would have been catching 81 N to head north on the final stretch. We realized it was a short day, and Ben said he really liked Asheville, NC, which was only about 100 miles away. Why not, right? I knew we would get to drive through the Smoky Mountains NP, so, I was in. Instead of staying on 40 E, we took 70/25. 2 lanes only and very curvy...but TOTALLY BEAUTIFUL! We got to wind through little towns. It was a great drive and I will definitely be returning to this area.
I had a moment when I thought: You would NOT see this in California. Don't get me wrong, the west is stunning. But there are things to be said about this area. Full, lush, vigorous (aka well watered) vegetation in late May covering beautiful rolling hills. Welcome to the east! I snapped some photos as I was luck enough to be the passenger.
AMAZING. I'm going back. STAT.
Ben and I went to Asheville, NC for lunch to a restaurant called The Mellow Mushroom. We split a ten inch pizza and a local brew. I'm in a serious love affair with beer, so I am obviously totally willing and excited to try local brews. I had the St. Terese's Pale Ale from the Highland Brewing Company in Asheville, NC.
The beer was refreshing and amazing. AND THE FOOD! Awesome. The crush was perfect...thin with a chewy crust that was light and fluffy and obviously fresh baked. Oh, and, did I mention that it was from whole wheat flour? AMAZING. Ben is a pizza adventurer, so we tried a pizza with beef, provolone, feta, artichoke hearts, portobello, kalamata olives, mozz, and GARLIC. It was tasty. We then walked around downtown Asheville for a bit so we were good to drive (1 hour one beer) and hit the road. Asheville is a cool little liberal mecca, similar to Berkeley or Ithaca, only less smelly. :-)
Some snaps from the Mellow Mushroom, which I will be yelping later...
A reasonably amusing bumper sticker!
6 page alcoholic beverage menu. I dig it!
We had to revise our route a little, so now we are in Rocky Mount, NC. We have 5 hours of riding time to get Ben to BWI tomorrow to fly home. Then, I will do the rest of the journey solo. Ben and I are separated just enough in age that we were never in school together. While this trip hasn't been as much fun as a real live vacation, I'm glad we've had this time together to know one another much better. Who knew we both loved music so much? Good stuff!
I'm starting to get anxious thinking about what awaits...ooohhhh boy.
Back on the road tomorrow, time for this girl to hit the hay! Cheers, all!
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