Day 1: Asheville, Hiking and art professors.

I woke up to Jen saying: "There's someone knocking on the door!".

"I'm not getting it." <- garbled and sleepy. I never thought I'd be able to get out of bed today. (J: I was just hoping that she'd say that we could ignore it so that I wouldn't feel bad. I'm assuming that it was a neighbor checking in on us.)

We decided to drive into downtown Asheville, hit a cute breakfast cafe and sit with our maps and brochures and plan what to do.

Admittedly, the drive down the mountain was much easier and less scary than the drive up, and we laughed at ourselves the entire way down. Still steep mind you, but much less 'Deliverance'.

Downtown Asheville is so quaint. Old brick buildings, artsy shops, cool people, great art - I fell in love and declared that I could move here before we walked 100 feet down the street.

We decided to walk around downtown and take in the sights. We shopped - guess it is good to get it out of the way on the first day.

The camping gear store is so much fun and Jen goes nuts for it. (J: I do, I admit it. Addicted to bags - big, little, you name it.) But we don't camp. I seriously wanted that hatchet and pocket knife, though. Randomly, I ran into my Painting I & II instructor from St. Pete College! They were up here for a weekend wedding and had never been here before. Apparently we all love the gear.

Mrs. Greene gave us the low-down on cool art galleries to see, so we jotted it all down.

After walking and shopping and looking at art for a few hours, we decided it was time for some actual nature. Trusting the local guide, we picked a state park to visit and tried to find directions on the GPS, which apparently doesn't work so well. After much determination and asking locals, we found the state park. This park is more affectionately known as "Oh, that frisbee golf place?". Yes, that's what it was, with some unmarked trails.

We asked a safe looking guy our own age if there were trails or just a golf course, and he said Yes, but it is good there are two of you because there are weird people and locals here. He sent us off in the right direction and away we went.

This was nerve wracking. We didn't know where we were, we were in the middle of the woods, and the trails weren't marked. What kind of state park is this? And a park that is publicized in tourist mags? A short ways into the trail, Jen and I decided that we were too scared to get lost and we would try again tomorrow at the marked trail state park. Consensus was: hiking, FAIL.

(J: So, I suggested that we go to one of the local microbrew places for dinner...Asheville Pizza and Brewing Company was the winner -- delish! I enjoyed the laminated Clint Eastwood quotes on the bathroom stall door.)

After figuring out how to get back to our cabin, we stopped at the grocery store for essentials, and drove back up the steep mountain. It was still scary driving it during the day, but less so than at night. Tomorrow Jen gets to drive it to experience the fun. (J: Can't wait! Please, I'll be going 10 mph. ...and have we mentioned that our house has NO blinds or curtains...and a shower with windows on 3 sides? I do believe the owners are exhibitionists.)

The Drive

We left at 10:45 am after Jen's nephew's Pre-K graduation. Ipods were loaded with songs. We sang Indigo Girls for most of the Florida I-75 part of the trail. I kept eating out of boredom and felt too big for my britches, literally, by the time we hit North Georgia. The air got crisper and cooler as we drove north. Each state line welcome sign brought on a little cheer, woot and clap.

We decided to take a turn off the highway at Macon and take the scenic route, which added 2 hours to our trip, but life's too short not to see the sights. We were worried about it getting dark by the time we reached the mountains, but it amazingly stayed light until 9:15pm. Once we hit North Carolina, the A/C was turned off, the windows were rolled down and I got cold. :) The air smelled so good. Jen remembered the smell from her childhood trips here with the family. It smelled like a mix of fresh alfalfa and jasmine to me. (Jen: I never knew what that smell was, but it has always smelled like North Carolina to me. I have so many memories from NC trips as a kid, both with my Dad's side and Mom's side of the family. My grandparents used to have a cabin in Mountain Home that we affectionately called "The Hut".)

Tired and road faced, we finally arrived at our exit and took off on a country two lane road. The speed limit was 55 and I couldn't fathom how cars could drive so fast around the twist and turns without seeing what was ahead. I drove 35/40, damned be the 4-wheel drive trucks behind me. Jen asked me to slow down. "I'm already going 10 below the speed limit!" 8 miles off the highway seems so much farther than it sounds when there are no street lights. (J: I was freaking out - it seemed like we were going 60 and I was white-knuckling the door handle.)

We found our turn, and we went from a two lane country road to a one lane gravel road, if you could call it a lane. I started hearing music from 'Deliverance' in my head (cue the dueling banjos here). We couldn't see anything unless it was directly in front of us. The road got steeper. A broken-down army truck was on the side of the road. The directions said third house on the left, but we couldn't see any houses. (J: I thought we might have to sleep in the car until it got light out!) Jen wanted to slow down but I felt if we slowed down my car would start sliding backwards down the gravel path!

We finally pulled up to a house right in front of us, both scared out of our minds but not admitting it. Good God Almighty, it was our rental property! Next task, finding the key in the 'scarecrow'. (J: The directions on the paper that the owner gave us said, "Key is in scarecrow beside" Well...beside WHAT? We were in no mood for riddles.)

We took our gas station flashlight and walked around the house, in the woods, with nothing around, looking for a scarecrow. It was finally found by the front door, sitting on a bench, not event 2 feet tall. (J: It may as well have been a clown. Creepiness factor -- HIGH.) We crawled through the 2 inch monster bugs and finally got inside. Phew.

Neither of us could sleep because we were so damn scared so we stayed up and watched a movie. (J: Both of us had minor anxiety attacks but managed to get to sleep at around 2 am.)