As promised, I am here to once again regale you with stories of our romantic weekend getaway to Asheville. Don't worry, it won't get mushy. It is quite the flourishing town, with plenty of gathering spots and green spaces for people to interact with each other. In hind sight, I didn't see everyone on their cell phones and in their own worlds ,as is the case in most places. Instead, I saw a ton of face-to-face communication, laughter, and friendliness among strangers. What a concept?!
There was one side street where the light posts and bollards were yarn bombed. At first, I thought it was the handiwork of some random knitter. You know you are in a hip town when you find a place that has been yarn bombed. #hipstercentral
I later realized, with a little disappointment, that there was in fact a yarn shop on this street which better explains the yarn art. Whatever Asheville, you're still hip to me.
The Grove Arcade is a building in the middle of town that was finished in 1929, with the sole purpose of housing offices and businesses alike. It was to be the epicenter of downtown and proved to be just that until it was taken over by the federal government in an effort to win World War II. They felt that the building's size and safe location would be an ideal place to hole up and do government-y things to defeat the Nazis. Or something like that. All of the candy shops, barbers, and restaurateurs had less than a month to vacate the premises so they could "get down to business". The city of Asheville finally got it back in 1997 and it has once again been returned to its original state, housing everything from clothing boutiques to salons. The architecture of this building, though, is the real gem. Check it.
See what I mean?
Moving along. We found a really cool courtyard that didn't look particularly inviting to those of us not in the know, but that didn't stop me from taking a shot.
Before we left for this trip, we checked out some of the restaurants that we wanted to try while in town. One of my "must-do's" was Dobra Tea. I really wanted to try an authentic tea room experience, but by the time we got there we decided that it was too warm for hot tea and instead opted to continue our explorations with an iced tea. We both got the Forest Dragon, though for the life of me I can't remember why exactly it called to both of us. When it was presented to us in clear "to-go" cups and was very, very green, we were a little hesitant. Never one to shy away from trying things at least once, we dove in. I LOVED it!!! So refreshing and different, it had a full-bodied taste to it. I don't really know how else to describe it. Craig would probably describe it as...disgusting. Yeah, he didn't like it. Eh, to each his own.
It seems that art of all forms is taken very seriously in this hip city. Everything from intricate sculptures in front of government buildings and banks...
...to handwoven baskets hanging outside of shops along the street.
Still haven't had your fill of all that Asheville has to offer? Oh just wait, there's more. See you here in a couple of days.
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