Bears & Hippies: Black Mountain

The last couple of weeks have been a whirlwind!  I finally put in my 2 weeks notice at the hotel and therefore won't be doing the 40 minute drive 5 days a week to go to work.  I'm ecstatic about that.  I came to this decision after a wonderful, relaxing weekend in Black Mountain, NC.  (Probably not a good idea to decide to quit your job while you're on vacation huh?)

One of the reasons I love the mountains so much is because they sneak up on you.  I get giddy like a kid and start yelling, "We're here look at the mountains!!!" when I see this view.

The point of the trip was for Daniel's birthday.  He used to be real big in to boy scouts when he was a kid and went to Montreat NC with his troop.  Or so I thought.

 When I booked the trip I kept it a secret for about a month.  Which was hard for me because when it's a secret that is really exciting I just grin alot and act goofy enough that the secret eventually comes out.  One day he mentioned something about learning to tie knots in boy scouts.  I said, "Oh, you learn that when y'all would go to the mountains?"  You know, trying to be all sneaky.  His response: "No, I didn't go to Montreat with boy scouts.  I went with my ex girlfriend from high school and her family."  Crap. 

We did get a good laugh out of it though.  And some new, great memories were made.  The above picture is of the cabin we stayed in, "Bear Den".  I'd never been to Black Mountain so I didn't know what to expect.  If you haven't been, you should go.  It's a quaint little town nestled in the mountains with great local restaurants, small galleries, and a few local places to shop.  We never had a bad meal and most of the restaurants carried craft beers from breweries all over NC. 

It's interesting that we stayed in "Bear Den" because I'm absolutely terrified of bears.  I've had this dream that occurs every couple of years that I'm face to face with a bear.  It's the only dream that makes me jump out of bed panicked and covered in sweat.  It's a thing, I don't know what it means.  Anyway, here's a picture of the master bedroom with a slide door that goes out onto a back deck.

Here's what you see when standing on the back deck.  The lady that runs the place said that bears use the creek for trafficking down the mountain and not to be alarmed if we see one.  Apparently it's the norm there.  Of course my heart started beating a bit faster after she said that.  It kept me on my toes for most of the weekend.  One day I fell asleep and forgot to slide the glass door shut so just the screen was protecting me and the bear that would stick my head in his mouth and swallow me whole in one bite. 

Shopping was fun because we found these shirts with cool designs like the one above.  Daniel hadn't been shopping in eight years so I was a retail queen, throwing pants and buckles and shirts over the dressing room door.  It was like playing dress up.  (Although I'm sure it wasn't as much fun for him.)

Here's a cool coffee shop/nonfunctional bus in downtown Asheville that we stopped in.  On our last day we walked downtown and mostly people watched.  The sign when you come in to Asheville should say, "Welcome to Asheville, People Watching Capital of the World" because there was so much to take in.  Aside from the homeless people, there were hippies, hipsters, and dogs everywhere.  I was hoping to run in to my hippie friend Cate but didn't see her.  Had to do a double take a few times though. We'd already made friends with a hippie in Black Mountain named Dean who had the same birthday as Daniel and therefore ended up eating lunch and having a beer with us.  He was a catholic that had been living in his car for the last year and was the most happy-go-lucky person I've ever met.  He was cool but I wasn't willing to do that again with the hippies in Asheville.  Although Daniel seems to attract them like white on rice.  It's probably something to do with the fact that he doesn't run the other way when someone comes up to talk to him like I do.

Did I mention that I surprised Daniel by inviting his best friend from high school, Andrew, and his girlfriend Erin to come stay with us for a night?  They live in Asheville so what better time to see them.  I'd never spent much time with Andrew and it was the first time I'd met Erin.  We had a fabulous time.  The boys grilled steaks and Erin and I drank bottles of wine by the fire. 

Before we left, we met Andrew in Asheville for lunch at a local gem called White Duck Taco.  It's outside of the city in what I think they call the Arts District.  While we were eating outside, I saw some hippies come out from under a bridge across the street.  On the other side of us was the silo with graffiti on it.

I was sad to leave but was missing my baby and ready to see him.  That's his happy face when I made it home.