Today has certainly been an interesting day. We headed out to Chimney Rock State Park. It was only 23 miles away but took about 40 minutes to get there traveling along some of the most twisting winding roads I've ever driven on. It was amazing to see how the kudzu was growing over entire areas of the forest all along the way.
We pulled into Chimney Rock and got ready to turn onto the Park Road. There were Park Rangers out front stopping all the cars. The park is closed! I couldn't imagine what had happened to close a park on a beautiful summer day.. We found out that the power was out due to a large tree that had fallen across the road coming from the opposite direction. The entire park was out of power and wouldn't have any for quite some time. They were working on trying to get the generators going but that would only work the ticket booth. Some of our group planned to use the elevator to get up to the top of Chimney Rock. They could not tell us how long the power was going to be out but it was definitely going to be more than a couple of hours. Even then the elevator would have to wait until full power was restored. We decided to try again tomorrow so we headed back into town to regroup.
We pulled into Chimney Rock and got ready to turn onto the Park Road. There were Park Rangers out front stopping all the cars. The park is closed! I couldn't imagine what had happened to close a park on a beautiful summer day.. We found out that the power was out due to a large tree that had fallen across the road coming from the opposite direction. The entire park was out of power and wouldn't have any for quite some time. They were working on trying to get the generators going but that would only work the ticket booth. Some of our group planned to use the elevator to get up to the top of Chimney Rock. They could not tell us how long the power was going to be out but it was definitely going to be more than a couple of hours. Even then the elevator would have to wait until full power was restored. We decided to try again tomorrow so we headed back into town to regroup.
We decided to flip flop our activities for today with those of tomorrow and visit the Grove Arcade for a little retail therapy. The Grove Arcade was on the list of must see places. “Opened in 1929 by E.W. Grove, Grove Arcade was built to celebrate the city he loved so much. Its rich history, ornate architecture, and eclectic mix of shops and restaurants were designed to offer patrons a full-day immersion into Asheville lifestyle and culture.” We walked around, did a little shopping and then it was time for lunch.
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Not sure what to do about lunch, Linda talked with a woman in the shop we were just leaving and she recommended we go to the Laughing Seed Cafe. It was a vegetarian and vegan restaurant and had many gluten-free options. To get there we had to descend a set of stairs. On the way down, I saw that each step had been painted and wondered why. At the bottom of the stairs I turned around to see a mural of a waterfall cascading down the steps.
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Once inside the Laughing Seed Cafe we settled in for a very nice lunch. The group had some excitement while I was away from the table. The person they described as a vagrant, came into the restaurant with all of his belongings and headed into the men's room. Apparently he fell right as he was entering the door to the men’s room. He picked himself up and continued on. The ladies were telling me about it when I returned to the table. As we sat waiting, the man came out of the men's room with no shirt on and proceeded to fall in the same spot he had fallen before. He was then escorted from the premises. Lunch finally arrived and it was enjoyed by all.
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When lunch was over Linda K, Linda C. and Linda H.and Victoria decided to return to the hotel. Mom and I wanted to check out a few more studios in the river Arts District. We got in the car and headed out. The first area we decided to visit was the Purple District. We walked around a bit and saw some beautiful pieces. We began to head to the Red District when Mom looked at me and told me I look tired. She was right, I hadn't slept well the night before. We headed back to the hotel for an afternoon rest.
About 6:00 in the evening we knocked on the doors of the other rooms and invited them to join us downstairs in the lobby for drinks. We sat chatting for a while and then I realized I was hungry. The others had decided that they would eat their leftovers from lunch so they did not need to go find food. I checked out all the restaurants in the area and realized what I really wanted was a chicken sandwich. This was to be had at the Village Wayside Bar & Grille, the same restaurant that we ate at on the first night here. Mom accompanied me and decided to get a salad. When we got to the restaurant we found an hour wait to be seated so we ordered takeout and brought it back to the hotel. We had a very pleasant evening on the patio eating dinner since the weather was perfect. Tomorrow we're going to try Chimney Rock again. |