Asheville, NC

I don't have far to travel today, maybe about two hours and I should be meeting a friend for lunch today so I am relaxing in a coffeeshop in Asheville spending time writing this blog and it is a beautiful morning. Many things on this trip are a bit stressful such as finding places to stay and where I will be the next day so when I have opportunity to relax, I take full advantage and that is just what I am doing right now.

Yesterday morning, I left my friends place in Hendersonville and headed up to Asheville. Ive never been to Asheville before. I haven't heard much about this city throughout my life so when I got here I was shocked. Take my word, it is a cool place. It is like a really cool little college town tucked away with countless recreation opportunities. I am having fun here!

Before I got to Asheville, I heard on the Travel Channel a couple weeks ago of a mansion in the area called the Biltmore Estate that is apparently the largest privately owned home in the US. I figured I'd go up and check it out, until I found out tickets to get inside were $60, so instead I walked around the town and checked out Biltmore Village, which was a really cool little cozy town.

I had some lunch in the village and since everyone in this area is healthy I bought some greens. I had not had much of health throughout this trip because everywhere I go has a great little spot to eat at, and my idea of great, exciting, zesty food is not a salad, but this salad that I got was really good. And I forgot how nice a good poop feels after eating healthy food compared to fried foods and comfort foods.

Next I checked out downtown Asheville and walked around a bit. I was amazed at this little place, it really is a secret to most of the world I guess because Ive never really heard about it. It is definitely a hip little place with cool little sidewalk cafes and it amazes me that people walk around outside, unlike in Houston.

There are also tons of little micro breweries here so I went in a couple and took a tour of Highland Brewery.

On this night I called up my friend from elementary school who I havent seen or spoken to in about 12 years and asked if he wouldnt mind hosting me for the night. He said it would be totally fine, so after the brewery tour, I went and met him for dinner. We went to a pizza pub in town and watched USA beat Ghana in the World Cup and talked and laughed and it felt like we didnt miss a beat after 12 years. Im glad to see that Matt Wunder's personality didnt change at all. After dinner, Matt and I went over to see his parents which was really fun because I hadnt seen them either in 12 years so it was a great night of reunions.

Hey, thanks for spending your time reading this one.
Ryan