Day 3: Destination SE - Asheville NC

A beautiful sunny day, with temperatures headed for the mid-60s here. Everyone tells us we brought the good weather with us--little do they know how untrue that is!

I wanted to take a bus or trolley tour of Asheville as a means of familiarizing ourselves with the area, and sure enough, they have a trolley tour that runs seven days a week all year long...except January and February.

So, next best thing, we used the trolley tour as a guide for grabbing brochures at the Asheville Chamber of Commerce's visitors center, just a few blocks away from where we are staying. You can see in this photo I have an armload of them. Also note the mountains in the background.

I don't know how others organize trips, but today, our method was taking turns. I suggested the visitor center, and Ken's pick was a drive to what is called the "River Arts District," a bunch of warehouses-turned-art galleries alongside the French Broad. Stop your giggling, that's the name of the river.

When we got to the River Arts District, we drove past a public access site and stopped to take some photos. The landing has seen better days, and probably will again. We're told that New Belgium is building a state-of-the-art brewery just across the river. That will mean more visitors and more attention to facilities like this. They've already put in a nice viewing area, pictured below.

The next three photos are of artist/shop owners in the renovated warehouses. I had a nice visit with each of them, to learn about their work and new spaces.

Rebecca's husband Robert is the artist at this shop, called "Splurge." His found-object chandeliers were wonderful, and I liked a lot of the other art work and jewelry in their shop. They moved to Asheville from Atlanta.

This is Pamella, who started out as an actor, became a puppeteer, and through making puppets and producing shows, found a passion for making beautiful objects using some of the same processes she had used in making puppets. She fashions botanical shapes by layering sheer paper over clear plastic molds, and uses them in sculptures which are illuminated (electrically) from within.

These two women, Vicky and Joyce, share an exhibit space in the same building. I loved their work. This photo was taken in Vicky's part of the space, and Joyce is holding one of her paintings. The neat thing about these artist-run spaces is they show the artists at work, not just the artwork. So you get a glimpse into the process of creating the work, which makes it all the more meaningful.

And speaking of processes, here is David, our host, in the process of stripping a layer of plastic off the bottom of the drift boat he is restoring in the little garage that sits behind his house. I stuck the camera under the boat to get a shot of the inside (below). I told David about the Quiet Water Symposium and the Kruger boats Pa paid to restore.

We went back to the apartment to sort through the brochures we snagged at the visitors center, and decided to split up for a while before dinner to allow us to pursue our own interests. I did quite a bit of walking and peering into stores, Ken tested the local brews at a downtown establishment and then walked around for some people watching.

We met up at a restaurant called "Strada" and sat at the bar for dinner.

The walk home after dinner--tonight about half a mile--is a good thing. Gives the ol' digestion a chance to work before settling in for the night. Which is happening...now.

Days 1 & 2: Destination Southeast - Lexington, Asheville

See you later, snow and cold.

With gas prices low and a couple weeks free between scheduled events, Ken and I decided to take a car trip we've been thinking about for some time and visit some notable locations in the Carolinas and possibly Georgia. First stop Asheville, North Carolina, a place recommended to us by multiple reliable sources. After that, depending on our mood and the weather, Charlotte, Myrtle Beach, Charleston, Savannah....we will follow our inclinations as the days unfold.

We set out on I-69 on a Thursday and drove as far as Lexington, Kentucky--just this side of the Smoky Mountains. I was a bit leery of the mountain drive, based on memories of my last crossing; it seemed prudent to break up the trip and be fresh on Friday for the ups, downs, and switchbacks.

This is our first car trip in the age of smart phones, so booking rooms and finding restaurants is much more high tech than during our trip to Maine. As we approached Kentucky, I began Googling for a dinner spot with both good beer and good BBQ. Seemed important to hit a BBQ joint as we went through this part of America's BBQ belt.

The place that kept coming up in the results was a humble little place called "Red State BBQ," right in the middle of horse country. Not far from I-75, but from the way we approached Lexington the drive took us past miles and miles of beautiful hilly horse farms. We saw signs posted marking the "Bluegrass Country Driving Route" and every farm we passed was prettier than last, all with long stretches of black wooden fences. (I snarfed this photo off the Internet--here's the source.)

As advertised, Red State BBQ was a humble little place about the size of our cottage, broken into two smallish rooms. The TV was tuned in to a quilting show. I had pulled pork with greens and coleslaw; Ken had the brisket with baked beans and mac & cheese. So scrumptious we over-ate a bit.

After dinner, off to the Fairfield Inn & Suites in Lexington, which had the best combination of price and positive reviews in my smartphone search. Good room, good night's sleep, good (and free) breakfast.

On the road at 10:10 a.m., 443 miles on the tripometer. Still really cold (20s) and still some snow in shady spots, but the scenery is much more interesting now. No more flat Indiana.


The roads are incredibly smooth and bone dry, but you can see winter is still with us on the rock faces alongside the road.

One of our first views of the mountains ahead.

I spent a lot of time on Tennessee and North Carolina's departments of transportation websites trying to ascertain the road conditions on I-40, the shortest route through the mountains. Finally I found "511," a number similar to 911 but for traffic and road emergencies. But it was the sunny, dry road we were on that ultimately convinced me it was unnecessary to divert to the longer, lower route. And as it turned out, I-40 was a relatively easy drive. The most challenging aspect was sharing the road with 18-wheelers, which were limited to the right lane. It was a bit claustrophobic to be driving between concrete dividers and big trucks, but not too bad. Certainly no big scary drop-offs as I had imagined. Anticlimactic, but happily so.

We were in Asheville by 2:45, and since our check-in at 30 E. Chestnut wasn't until 4 p.m., we parked and walked through Harrison Teeter (a big fancy grocery store) and Trader Joe's. At about 3:30 I texted David and he was ready for us, so we rolled down the block to our Asheville digs.

David's house was built in the late 1800s, he told us. He has done extensive work on the place, and we're quite content in our little apartment--two bedrooms, kitchenette, half bath, walk-in shower, and a little table and chairs at which I now sit to write this account.

After we unpacked (and when I say "we" I mean Ken), we got ourselves oriented and set out walking downtown. We explored a bit, and Ken chose our happy hour/dinner destination: Wicked Weed Brewing, a brew pub at 91 Biltmore. It was really cool, and he was happy to be sipping and noshing.

After dinner, we made the one mile walk back to the apartment. I finished up my 10,000 steps for the day by walking up to the Harrison Teeter for some morning coffee and a couple treats for Kenny: salted peanuts and donut holes.

My chaffeur, my hero, taking a nap before bed

And that's the trip down to Asheville! More adventures to follow, after a good night's sleep.

Blue Huron for Lord Huron

John and Sharon honored us by asking for our help with Ben's wedding in one particular way: using Sharon's blue mojito recipe, produce the beverage in sufficient quantity and serve it to 150 potential takers at Ben and Sacha's wedding.

We were delighted to comply!

Cutting to the chase: Here's the wedding couple enjoying their "Blue Hurons":

The rest of the story:

The Test Recipe

Developing the recipe for large quantities involved multiple rounds of back-of-envelope calculations by both Sharon and me.

Our cottage neighbors were only too happy to test the initial recipe. We made some adjustments based on their feedback: More mint, less lime juice. We also upped the rum when we saw Ben's sign for the drink stand: "Try a Blue Huron - Strong as the Great Lakes!"

The Mint

The mint we used came mostly from our neighbors waterfront. It grows wild there, and I harvested it with abandon. As a result, we had enough for three big batches of minted simple syrup and a nice healthy sprig in every drink.

The quantity recipe for minted simple syrup:

Heat 16 cups water with 12 cups sugar till sugar is dissolved completely and mixture begins to boil. Remove from heat and stir in ~10 cups snipped mint branches (washed), stems and all. Allow to steep until mixture cools and mint loses its bright green color. Strain into containers, refrigerate thoroughly. This makes enough simple syrup for about four gallons of mojitos. I made three batches.

The Mix

Our plan was to combine the non-fizzy ingredients in ten one-gallon containers. The day before the wedding, we assembled all our containers and all our ingredients (well-chilled, even the rum and Blue Curacao), and began combining everything except the club soda, which we planned to add directly to the beverage dispensers to preserve the carbonation. Ken said the kitchen looked like a scene out of Breaking Bad. "I was working in the lab, late one night..."

Everything went into the garage fridge for an overnight cool down. Saturday afternoon, Ken loaded up the coolers and put them in the Subaru for the trip to the Hammond Bay Refuge Harbor, the site of the reception.  To save space in transport, Ken had consolidated the mix for ten gallons of mojitos into seven gallon jugs, so we did some quick calculations and came ready to mix the drinks in the two 5-gallon dispensers. Glitch: The dispensers provided by the caterer turned out to be 3-gallon, not 5-gallon. Ken made another quick mental calculation and determined the magic ratio was 2:1, booze/mix to club soda. No problem. We dropped off the coolers and headed up to the wedding.

The Fix

After the group wedding photo was taken, we scooted out to the car and drove down to the harbor.

The set up was in a windy spot outside the tent, and everything (even glasses) wanted to fly off the table. Ken to the rescue again: he figured out a sequence that kept the glasses on the table while I worked with the customers. The line grew quite quickly so we were kept very busy for a while!

Before long we were getting repeat customers, and they seemed quite happy. About halfway through my first Blue Huron, I figured out why: These puppies were STRONG. Ken noticed we seemed to have more club soda remaining that we should have. Another quick mental calculation: WHOOPS, we had mixed the first two rounds 4:1 (booze mix to club soda), not 2:1. We added more club soda to the next batches and no one was the wiser.

Photo Finish

The wedding guests went through all but about a gallon or two of the drinks before dinner. We converted the drink station to self-serve and joined the other guests inside the tent.

What a wonderful experience! We got to meet many more of the wedding guests than otherwise, and got more than a few of them pretty tipsy. Success!

If you've read this far down in the post, you've earned the right to the recipe. Bear in mind this is the quantity version developed for the event: for the original Sharon Emery mojito, you must court the source herself.

Sharon's Blue Huron Mojitos - makes one gallon; 16 8-oz. servings

32 ounces of rum
32 ounces of minted simple syrup
16 ounces (one bottle) of Key West Lime Juice
4 ounces of Blue Curacao
44 ounces club soda

A BIG gap

There's a big gap between the previous post and the next one. I attribute my lack of blogging to the busy-ness of the summer.

I have a lot of filling in to do!

Visiting the Parents in Waiting

Today, we're visiting Joe and Ashley--and Lexie--at their new home in Macomb. They prepared a beautiful breakfast for us: crepes with fresh fruit and homemade whipped cream (two kinds, one with cinnamon and one without).

And the next treat was watching Joe and Ken (mostly Joe) putting together a new bookshelf for the baby's room. (In the background you can see Isla's bassinet, a gift from Grandma Denise complete with the beautiful eyelet skirt from Ashley's own bassinet.)

Well, Ken did help, finally....

And...the finished product:

Mommy took care of the aesthetics...

And, the final look:

Grandpa looked over Isla's wardrobe:

And Ashley and Joe obliged me with a display of the "I Love Mommy" and "Daddy's Girl" onesies.

Lexie seems indifferent to the new bookshelf but is very interested in sharing Isla's Sophie the Giraffe chew toy.

Back downstairs, Ashley shopped online for gliders and found one she liked while Joe worked on his page in Isla's ABC book. Here he is, staring at the blank paper. Hardest part of any project.

Later we met Denise and Rob at Osaka Hibachi Grill for a DEEE-licious carb-rich cook-at-the-table Japanese meal. 

It was a lovely day, and we look forward to many visits-yet-to-come with a little girl in the mix. See you soon, Isla!

Enjoy this October morning

Looking east

Directly across the lake (look carefully and you can see the tree line on the opposite shore)

Looking west

It was 31 degrees out at 8:00 a.m., but the lake was too beautiful for me to remain inside. I sat for a while on the lake steps, taking it all in, until my feet were too cold for me to remain outside.

Another one bites the dust....but which one?

What?
Avila!
What?
Avila!
What?
Avila!

Er....go Tigers.

Bye bye, Bunker Barge...see you in the spring.

Our beloved pontoon is making its last voyage of the year, down the lake to the boat ramp at the Black Lake State Forest Campground, where Mark Miller and Jeff Turi will take it out of the water, winterize it, and store it in Mark's pole barn for the winter.

This annual ritual is made more tolerable this year by our imminent family vacation to Aruba.

Bye bye, Bunker Barge, and in just over 30 days, hello Bunker Bar.