Bottoms Up

Wednesday, April 29, 2015 – Sunday, May 3, 2015

Oh Asheville, what can I say about this small city besides that it truly lives up to its reputation as Beer City USA. As craft beer lovers, we spent the majority of our four days in town exploring the numerous breweries scattered throughout. There was no way to do it all, so we picked among the most must-see breweries like Wicked Weed, Green Man, Hi-Wire, One World, and Lexington Avenue Brewery, which was conveniently located downstairs from our accommodations, Sweet Peas Hostel. Speaking of Sweet Peas Hostel, after staying in the filthy, cheap motel in Boone, the hostel was absolutely incredible.  This was especially due to its extremely convenient location right downtown, meaning that we were surrounded by great beer, toe tapping good live bluegrass, and mouthwatering food.

Wednesday evening and Thursday afternoon were mostly filled with exploring downtown, touring different breweries, dancing to amazing music, and listening to some hit-or-miss comedians at an open-mic night.

On Friday we decided on a change of location and booked a room at Bon Paul & Sharky’s Hostel in West Asheville for the night. After enjoying some baby back ribs and beef brisket at 12 Bones for lunch, we spent the rest of the day exploring the art galleries and working studios of the River Arts District. We watched some live demonstrations of glass blowing and met one of local artists, Celia Barbieri, The Button Florist, from whom I purchased a very unique coffee mug. I cannot wait until I can finally enjoy my first cup of coffee out of this charming mug. It automatically puts you in a good mood just by looking at it.

As we strolled along the banks of the French Broad River, we stumbled upon a river festival with local musicians and vendors with art, food, and crafts. However, there was one stand that specifically caught our attention, due to the large crowd and wooden sign on the table, which stated, “Fix it & it’s yours. Repair anything on this table & it’s yours to keep.” As it turned out, the stand was owned by Patagonia and they were promoting their lifetime guarantee on their apparel. They had a treasure box filled with slightly damaged Patagonia clothing and I acquired an ice blue, down jacket, which had a tiny tear on the collar, easily fixed with the tape provided.  I was also gifted a really nice, knee long spring coat, which is missing all the buttons. This should easily be fixed with a YouTube lesson and some precision needlework.

Saturday was the night of the epic fight between Floyd Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao, so we obviously extended our stay once more and booked two bunk beds at Sweet Pea (again). To our disappointment none of the bars in Asheville aired the fight, so in the end we stumbled into a hole in the wall of a bar where we enjoyed some live bluegrass music.

It took us four days to leave this town entirely due to the fact that we were having too much fun. Asheville, NC is definitely near the top of our list of cities we are considering to live. The vibrant city provides great entertainment regardless what day of the week you find yourself in this town, and the mountains are so close.