North Carolina, Asheville - Sunday, May 17, 2015 - Scenes from Asheville, NC

The Lobster Trap restaurant was our destination for the evening.  Great food, unfortunately, I was done eating it before I realized I didn’t take any pictures.  We can recommend the large bowl of steamed shrimp and lobster mac and cheese.

 

 

We caught up with our friends Les and Amy who have lived here for the past year.  It was great to see them again.  They were kind enough to come pick us up and give us a tour of the downtown Asheville area.  Lots to see and do, I can understand why they picked this area.

The blue building is the French Broad Chocolate Lounge.  French Broad is the name of a nearby river, not a reference to a French “lady”.

 

 

Les told us that there is some controversy surrounding this monument.  I guess in the past it was where slave trading was conducted.  Right now it is undergoing some repair work.

This plaque was on the front of the monument.

 

 

The pigs were also in front of the monument, I’m not sure what their significance is but the kids liked to have their picture taken with them.

 

 

There was a swing band playing in one of the parks tonight.  The two buildings in the background are government buildings, don’t see architecture like that in most government buildings.

This building is the Flat Iron Building.  There is supposed to be a bar on top of it where you can view the city.

I’m not sure whether the Flat Iron Building or the Flat Iron Sculpture came first, both of them are interesting.

This is the view down Wall Street, Asheville.  Note the knitted cozies on the lampposts, and parking meters.

 

 

Street musicians were starting to come out as we were walking around.  I had no idea so much rhythm could come from a set of spoons – she was great.

 

 

We brought dessert back home from the French Broad Chocolate Lounge – brownies with crunchy chocolate nibs – excellent.  Greg thought they were a little dry and added whipped cream and pecans to his.  I thought it was wonderful as is but I prefer cake-like brownies over fudgy brownies.  I offered to eat his if he didn’t like it and he was quick to decline J

 

 

The Ashville Farmer’s Market is just across the street from where we are staying, may try to get to it tomorrow.  The last time we were in this area our friends Barb and Ann introduced us to the market – we had such a good time with them.  They are back in Indiana now taking care of their race horses.  We look forward to catching up with them when we get to Indiana.  

North Carolina, Asheville - Friday, May 15, 2015 - Bear Creek RV Park

We are in site 27 in Bear Creek RV Park, Asheville, NC.  If we are in this area again we need to ask for site 35, looks like it has more patio room.

 

 

The weather was pretty overcast as we left South Carolina this morning.  Our GPS sent us on the scenic route, nice views, hard on fuel mileage.

Looks like North Carolina crews are getting ready for some road work.

The weather cleared up as we got into North Carolina.

Bear Creek RV Park has been in business since 1981.  It’s a nice campground.  All sites are paved and surprisingly level.  The site we are in goes uphill coming off the road so where we park the bike is a little awkward to maneuver.  If you come here and park in site 27 be sure to have extra sewer hose.  The sewer hookup is at the rear of this site.  We had three sections with us and had to go after another one.  Luckily, Camping World is only about 15 miles away.

The pool is open during office hours 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.  We haven’t checked it out but it is supposed to be heated.

Laundry rooms are small, but look functional.  There are two of them on site.

We can see Biltmore from the park J.

South Carolina, Greenville - Thursday, May 14, 2015 - Ivy Acres Lodge and RV Park

We are in site 315 at Ivy Acres Lodge and RV Park.  It appears they only have 6 spots for short time stays so reservations are pretty much required.  There are other sites here but they are for long term stays.  We have the only site that has cement strips for parking, the others are stone.  Everything seems to be very well kept.  Roads are good, mowing is done, utilities are good and the Wi-Fi at our site is great.  There are no shower or laundry facilities that we have seen, but we have both of those ourselves so we don’t really care if the campground has them.  The only downside is we can’t get any TV reception.

 

 

When we left Alabama headed to Georgia the weather was great.  Ignore the windshield streaks, in some of my pictures they look like a meteorite is coming in to take out the traffic in front of us.

Going through Atlanta was inevitable, Greg doesn’t seem to mind this, but it makes me crazy.

We did get a glimpse of the 1996 Olympic structures as we came into Atlanta.

Coming into South Carolina on I-85 we saw a huge lake, I think it was Hartwell – will have to check out this area for another time.

Out our side windows we can see the huge pasture field where pets can get some exercise.

 

 

Out the kitchen window this morning I saw a rather large snake in a tree.  By the time I got the camera out it was about half gone.  I’ve cropped the picture so the snake can be seen, it really wasn’t this close to us.

Greg got my seat to go down so we can get to the door a little easier to get out and look around.  We don’t intend to do any sightseeing this time through Greenville.  We need a couple of days in a nice place to get some laundry and work done so we can play tourist again in Ashville.

After lunch we walked down to see the fishing pond.  The owner says he has landed a couple of nine-pound largemouth bass out of here.

From the pond we walked a well-maintained trail to the river.

 

When we got to the river we discovered they have all the makings for a party there :).  I didn’t take pictures of it all – there was a shelter with a stocked fridge, grill and stereo.

 

 

 

Throughout the property there are fire pits ready to light.

And some inviting swings.  This is a 45 and older park so it looks like they are trying to makes things comfortable for that age range to just kick back and enjoy the country.

There is a lodge here also that can be rented.  We walked up to that area hoping to get a better look at it but they were having a party there so we didn’t intrude.

The owners are the staff here and are usually out working in the park.  I had to chuckle at the “ring the bell” sign.

 

 

While we were out walking we noticed lots of shiny almost mirror-like rocks along the trail.  I picked up one and brought it home for some further research.  There are shiny scales throughout the rock.