asheville

what do you do in asheville, north carolina? we were hard-pressed for answers when we rolled off the interstate early one morning after a less-than-restful night sleeping in a field. we had little money, and what everyone regarded as the only hostel wanted $30 per head minimum. where would we sleep? we decided to drink some coffee...

this is sort of how i look before i drink coffee.

 ... and then we met some nice people on the street. we decided to stick with this town, not staying anywhere formally instead, we slept in the car and at least one storage shed (shhh). that left us free to spend what little money we had where our heart was: pizza.

in case you're wondering, barley's is about as good as it gets (and not too spendy either). we got pizza for $4 apiece that blew our minds into oblivion and back! but before that we saw this kid:


jonathan, a fellow traveller, showed us
his strange instrument of wonder!

everyone told us about asheville's beer, and how nice a town it was. when we told them we were from oregon, they insisted that all their friends said they would fit right in in portland. and indeed asheville is much like portland, with a few key differences.

key disparities between asheville and portland:

1. the houseless population is low and/or in hiding.

 2. even the hip folk say 'y'all.'

 3. our beer is better. we had a chance to test this:

if you do, for any reason, need to check for yourself whether "beer city, usa" lives up to its name, you need to check out a couple of brews that will render you sockless. (beer is about $3/ pint if you do it right folks)

3rd place fire escape pale ale (asheville pizza and brewing co.) --> has actual jalepenos in it!!! brilliant flavor, if a little light for my taste.
2nd place shiva ipa (asheville pizza and brewing co.) --> description insists "shiva will destroy all your preconceptions of ipa" well done! bitter has never tasted so entrancingly great!
1st place kashmir ipa (highland brewing company) --> rich and incredibly chill. this beer is the richest brew on asheville's side of the rockies (ninkasilove forever!).

 


we took blue ridge parkway out to skinnydip falls.

 
 

the biltmore estate is america's largest
house. don't ask how we got in...

 

the geese at biltmore estate.
also, we saw a bear (not pictured).



amber charms the geese with dolphin calls.