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Adventures in North Carolina
July 15th, 2008 by witherow
This weekend, Christy and I headed up to Swannanoa, North Carolina, to visit dear friend Rachel. It was the best road trip we’ve had since … I don’t know. When was our last road trip, Christy?
As a very wise Internet cartoon wrestler has said, every road trip needs a good inside joke. This trip’s joke was “sheep.” Just laugh, it’s funny.
We set out early Saturday morning. First stop: Spinx, where we filled up on gasoline and junk food to last the trip. I purchased a small Frappuccino and then realized I needed to clear out my cup holder if I was going to enjoy the highly caffeinated delight on the way up. So I downed the rest of my large cup of French roast coffee that I had just made that morning and put the cup in the back (I didn’t want it to spill), and then started on the Frapp. Not until later did I realize what I had done. But I was just fine fine finefine <<twitch>> fine fine fine!
REBA THE GUIDE DOG: There she go! People are stupid, I mean it.
We didn’t get lost, which is amazing since every time Christy rides in my car I make a wrong turn that usually adds 20-60 minutes to the trip. But Christy—your power over my sense of direction has met its match.
We arrived at Rachel’s house around 10, where we were met by the exuberant Rachel and the even exuberant-er guide dog Mattie (also called Matilda, Matsters, Fattie Mattie, Mattress and other variations).
MATTIE: Oh boy! People to play with me! Just what I deserve!
We, of course, had a great time with Rachel. We spent a lot of time online watching cartoons, instant messaging each other from across the room and sending ridiculous sound clips, etc.
We also got to talk to Rachel’s mom and dad, who were awesome the whole time. Such sweet people!
We then decided to have a Grand Adventure and visit downtown Asheville nearby. Rachel’s mom was a great help with giving directions.
After arriving and paying this weird machine five dollars so no one would tow my car away, Rachel, Christy and the dogs and I wandered around, looking for a place to eat. We finally settled on Wild Wing Café, where we ended up talking about health food versus junk food (ironically, while munching on mozzerella sticks and eating barbeque wings). Christy and I are opposite: I love veggies and don’t care much for junk food, while Christy loves her Bugles and fried Oreos and hates vegetables of all kinds.
We then went exploring some more. There were a lot of restaurants and shops and people walking dogs and such. Reba and Mattie did well with their guide work, besides a few oopses. But overall they were great. Even when the guy dressed as a clown barked at them (and Rachel told them off with an “Excuse you!” Go Rachel! Boo for rude clowns).
OK, to be fair to the random clown, maybe he didn’t mean it, but it is extremely rude and even dangerous to distract a guide dog, especially in the spot where we were, with cars and people and things in the way. Christy or Rachel could have been hurt if the dogs had paid attention to the clown instead of their job. Thankfully, they didn’t seem to be amused.
REBA: I slap the sheep out of you, I mean it.
The shops we visited included a groovy mineral store.
Honestly, I loved it, because I absolutely love stones and geodes—I love the textures and colors. And the guy at the counter was super cool—very helpful and friendly. But despite the major coolness factor, the store was pretty New Age (but what do you expect with giant quartz crystals everywhere? And I do mean giant crystals. There were some there that were probably over a foot long and probably weighed like 40 pounds, I would guesstimate).
There were a lot of New Agey things downtown, including a store that sold windchimes called Gaea’s (that’s the New Age Earth goddess), stores that sold incense, one called Instant Karma or something, and so on.
Another thing I noticed about Asheville is that there are a lot of people sitting on the sidewalks playing guitars, drums, and I even saw a guy walk by with a wooden flute. The thing is a lot of them kind of look like scruffy and maybe even homeless. So it kind of wasn’t as cool as it sounds.
And though there are good pedestrian-friendly areas, the sidewalks are all kind of broken and covered with old gum spots (which I didn’t tell Rachel or Christy. Grin). Overall I think Greenville’s downtown is much nicer.
On the way back to the car, we stopped at the coolest coffee shop ever. It was an old British double-decker bus that had been converted into a restaurant.
On the first level you can order coffees, coffee frappes, smoothies and more. I got what was called a “nuts and berries” smoothie—raspberry and tiny bits of hazelnut … it was amazing!
On the second deck was a seating area, with bus seats converted into dining booths.
MATTIE: Um, those stairs were not fun. Where’s the elevator?
The tables were slate and you could write on them with chalk! So I illustrated the day’s adventures.
Here’s Christy in the front with Reba, Christy holding the keychain she bought, then me (and I didn’t mean to make myself gigantic next to everyone else … I’m not really that tall). I’m holding a bag with a rock in it … because I bought an awesome geode tealight holder from that groovy mineral store). Then there’s Rachel and Mattie, Rachel holding a poorly-drawn bag with the present we found for her mom’s birthday (don’t tell!).
Rachel’s mom then spoiled us with a great dinner, and then we spent the evening basically goofing off again.
On Sunday, we had a chance to visit Rachel’s church. I really enjoyed the pastor’s message—he’s a very down-to-earth preacher and obviously loves the Lord very much.
After a relaxing afternoon, we finally had to say goodbye. Alas the day!
On the way back, Christy and I went to Cracker Barrel and got a bluegrass CD that was perfect for the drive back through the mountains. And then I made one wrong turn, but it doesn’t count because I knew where we were the whole time, honest!!!
Posted in Emoticons, Uncategorized | | | 0 Comments
Emoticons–Rebecca style
June 30th, 2008 by witherow
Here’s another fresh and original emoticon. After all of these new ones I’m compiling here, who needs to use the boring old conventional ones?
This one arrived via email from my friend Rebecca. (Thanks, Friend Rebecca!)
Posted in Emoticons | tagged Emoticons | | 0 Comments
