Month: May 2017

Squirreling Around

We chose to make our next stop Asheville, North Carolina because we wanted to scope it out as a possible location for our forever home.  It’s in the mountains, so we would get the nature we crave and from what we had read it also has good food, culture and plenty of things to do.  It doesn’t hurt that it is also less expensive than other locations we were considering in the West.  We admit our expectations were pretty high.  Gary, researcher extraordinaire, dug into this city quite a bit and on paper Asheville ticked all of our boxes.

So, the first thing we did was a walking food tour to check out the downtown.  Eating and walking off the calories at the same time… just genius!  We did the “High Rollers” version of the Eating Asheville Tour.  This meant we got a cocktail paired with our food tasting at each restaurant stop.  Cheers to us!

Even though downtown Asheville was very walkable and had some great restaurants, it seemed a bit generic and what we expected…it just didn’t “feel” like us.  But, luckily Gary had something in his back pocket.  A much smaller town that was about 45 minutes away called Brevard.

Best thing we did?

Exploring the city of Brevard aka “The Land of Waterfalls.”  Brevard is nestled in between the Pisgah National forest and DuPont State Forest.

Brevard is a city that is surrounded by natural beauty and has a fun quirkiness to it as well.

First of all, it is in Transylvania County.  Sounds a bit creepy, but interestingly creepy.  Like maybe they have a Twilight style family of vampires living there.

Second, they don’t just have your normal run of the mill gray squirrels there.  Oh no, they have elusive white squirrels…

No, not just giant squirrel statues, actual real live squirrels. They seem more like they should be prancing around in a Disney movie instead of running around Brevard.  Sounds like we made this up, right?  Well, see them for yourself in this video by clicking here: Brevard White Squirrels

Lastly, they have house accounts.  Not just credit cards or even fancy Apple Pay, but like IOUs.  Yes, you read it correctly…IOUs!  Check out the sign we saw in Bracken Mountain Bakery when we sat down to have our coffee and freshly made lime coconut danish.

Seriously???  Gary would be here every morning!

Best thing we ate?

Even though Asheville has some great restaurants, the best thing we ate was at a lounge…a CHOCOLATE lounge!  When we walked into French Broad Chocolate Lounge we were overwhelmed by all of the yummy goodies they had.  We chose several things of course, but THE BEST thing we ate was the Chocolate Pot De Crème with rose, cardamom and pistachio.  Remember I said we became obsessed with cardamom in desserts.  This amazing tub of yum is another reason why!

What we learned?

We had a bubble burst on us here.  We think we are pretty active, getting out there and finding adventure.  However, we definitely learned we are not as young as we think we are.  When we showed up at a place called Sliding Rock (half waterfall/half waterslide), we noticed a cute young couple in their bathing suites.  Now at the time it was right at 60 degrees.  Sliding Rock is meant to slide down for sure, but in the middle of summer when it is super warm and the water feels refreshing not frigid.  But these kids were here now and they were not waiting for summer for this experience!

We thought about doing it for literally one second (okay maybe that was just Gary not me).   We were just going to have to live this moment vicariously through these young whippersnappers.

Another thing we learned or I guess you would say we “found” is a possible candidate for our forever home.  It had the terroir we were looking for and a small town feel, with a big city, Asheville, close.  There is hope for east coast living!

Next Stop: U-turn to Utah

Take me home, country roads

When we crossed into the mountains of West Virginia headed to Gary’s hometown, there weren’t a lot of campgrounds open yet for the season, but the one we picked was perfect.   The views were pretty great and there was only one other RV at the place, but the best part was that it had a cool dog that barked an aloha to us anytime we came in or out.

The slogan “Wild, Wonderful West Virginia” on the sign as you cross into the state really does ring true. We spent our time here taking a trip down (Gary’s) memory lane.  We explored his old hunting and camping spots, favorite places to eat, and places he has lived. We saw it all with Gary taking in the things that changed and many that stayed almost the exactly same after 40+ years.

Best thing we did?

One of the bonus reasons for Gary with getting an Airstream is that it gave him an excuse to buy a truck to tow it… specifically a truck with 4WD.  In SoCal we didn’t need it at all and it is kind of a negative anyway based on traffic, gas mileage, and glaring stares from all of the electric car owners.  We put in our time with our 10 year old Prius.  It is all about balance, right?

Gary was itching to use the 4 wheel drive since we bought it.  Well, the West Virginia mountains were the exact right place.  This is our view as we actually drove through a creek.

If you want a 30 second taste of our adventure (promise you won’t get sick) click the link here:  Team Tary’s Excellent Adventure

Best thing we ate?

Continuing down memory lane we stopped at Drennen Dairy Bar.  Note: anyone from a small home town has their own version of a Drennen Dairy Bar that just popped into their memory.

You have heard about Chicago dogs, Sonoran dogs and even NY dirty-water dogs, but bet you didn’t know there was a West Virginia style hot dog aka “slaw dog”.  Yep, it’s a thing.  The must have toppings are chili and slaw, but add mustard and onions if you’re sassy (or if you like mustard and onions).  Gary says it isn’t a true West Virginia style hot dog without a toasted, buttered New England style split top bun of course.  Take a gander at these beauties below.  Mine is the sassy one!

What we learned?

One of the tenants of our forever home location is that it needs to have a nature aspect.  Actually, we have three basic tenants that capture what we want in the place we settle down in and call home.  Of course we have an acronym for it: CCT.  This stands for cost, culture and terroir.  Terroir (yes we drink a lot of wine) is where we lump in the climate, landscape, and outdoor activity of a place.

Being back in West Virginia gave Gary a good understanding of where this nature drive came from in him and also the type of nature that he prefers.  As you can see even before the spring bloom the beauty of the area is inspiring.

Next Stop: Asheville, North Carolina

Wait…are we still in the OC?

It might sound crazy, but our time in Tennessee reminded us of living in Southern California.  These feelings are based on the two cities we stayed in: Memphis and Nashville.  They are just over 3 hours apart in driving distance, but miles apart in style. In SoCal you are either an OC person or an LA person.  It’s impossible to be both.  As OC people we loved to “visit” the distinctive neighborhoods and amazing restaurants in LA (when we were up for the drive that is), but we didn’t want to live there.  When you live in a place that is manicured like Disneyland, it is hard to see beyond the grittiness to reap the benefits of a hipper town.  To us Memphis is to Nashville as LA is to the OC.

We had a good time in Memphis checking out the unique neighborhoods that are hipster and fun like Cooper-Young.  We found quite a few great places to hear good music and grab a drink.  But, Nashville is more like a place we would be able to call home IF it wasn’t so big!  It was manicured with beautiful houses and tons of hiking trails for a city.  We had fun in Nashville downtown as well, on the hunt for cowboy boots (so many boots!).

 

One of the things we have started to think about as we travel is balancing doing “touristy” things with more local or “off the beaten path” type adventures.   What we have found is that with touristy things our expectation is higher than it is for something that has a little more local flair.  Perspective really is everything.  A good example of this is the Peabody Ducks daily jaunt to the hotel’s lobby.  They only do this twice a day and people pack in the hotel so you have to get there early for a good viewing spot.  It is free which is always good, BUT it is a super touristy thing to do and it let us down a bit.  For one thing, we didn’t know there are only five ducks…five ducks!?! We thought it was supposed to be a PARADE of ducks – minimum 20 ducks!  Also, the ducks don’t really understand what a parade is and they are pretty squirrely running haphazardly all over the place…don’t they know we need a good single file pic!  I guess we should have known better than to have such high hopes for duck entertainment.

  

Best thing we did?

The Gibson Guitar factory tour in Memphis was hands down one of the best tours we have ever taken.  We initially thought about Graceland, but it was big bucks and honestly The King was a little before our time.  The Gibson tour was a bargain at $10 and they were so detailed on the tour.  We got to learn how guitars are made and what goes in to each and every one (it takes them over a month to make one by the way).  On this journey we are working to be more thoughtful about spending on experiences we feel we will get the most value from and not just things we think we are supposed to do.  We still need to continue to remind ourselves about this, but we are getting there.

Best thing we ate?

Ever since we found our one true bakery love, Sparrow Bakery in Bend, Oregon, we have been on a quest to find bakeries that match its greatness.  In Nashville we found quite a few bakeries to check out but it was Dozen Bakery where we found these Chocolate Cardamom Madeleines.  Spoiler alert: this one cookie kicked off our obsession with desserts with cardamom…more to follow in future posts.

While Dozen did not live up to the high expectations set by Sparrow, they were an amazing bakery none the less.  We watched them making bread in house and thought about why we don’t bake more in the Airstream since we have a perfectly good oven.

Then realized quickly at the bakery we could buy one treat, but when we make something at home we tend to eat the entire thing!

What we learned?

Oh yeah, water freezes at 32 degrees.  One morning during this leg we woke up and turned on the water and nothing came out.  So, Gary gears up to go out and check things (because that is his job, I am in charge of the inside). He unscrews the water hose and holds it up and out flies an ice chunk, then water shot out at him.  Too bad we don’t have a video for you as that was the funniest thing ever!

So, now we know when we are in an area that is going to get under 40 degrees at night it is best to fill your water tank and unhook your hose.  PS I am sure you can tell we are a bit behind on posting as they are having record highs this week in TN.  We promise to get (mostly) caught up within the next few weeks!

Here we also learned that we get a lot more from an area when we pepper in local, everyday fun in addition to the tourist attractions.  While in Memphis we happened upon a regional barrel racing competition right near our RV Park.  This isn’t something that would have been on our radar at all, but we saw something going on, walked in and sat down for about an hour and it was super exciting.  We didn’t have anyone we knew to cheer for, but we made up our own favorites.

 

We realized one of our goals along the way should be to release the FOMO (“fear of missing out” for those of you reading this who aren’t millennials) and not feel as though we have to see only the epic highlights of a town.  Also, it is okay to leave something behind to check out down the road.  There is always next time or the next stop in our case.

Next Stop: Gary’s home town

That’s Gonna Leave a Mark!

We did not know much about Arkansas (well, just about Clinton and Walmart) but, picking out our next stop on the map the four words “Hot Springs National Park” sounded totally stop worthy.

The trip from Texas to Arkansas was one of the longest drive days to date (around 8 hours) and to top it off we were going to arrive in the RAIN after DARK.  To set some context for you, when we started out on this venture we were idealists.  We said we would NEVER drive over six hours and we would NEVER plan to arrive somewhere after dark.  So, we tried to put it out of our minds that there was a good chance that by the time we set up camp in the evening we may be at the point of going all hangry and ballastic on each other.

We were part scared and part excited that we were going to tackle this new experience.  Along the way though there was a major injury that brought us to tears.  Our precious baby got hit with a large board that came flying out of nowhere while driving across interstate 30.  We barely avoided running smack into it with the truck which could have been catastrophic in comparison.  We thankfully got away with just a few dents, but still a permanent scar!  I guess we can say now she has her road legs under her.

We were headed for Gulpha Gorge Campground in Hot Springs National Park.  It was our ideal campground because it was right next to a nice creek and some great hiking trails.  Plus, it was only a few minutes from downtown (which oddly enough is also considered a part of the National Park.  The kicker is it is a no reservation campground.  Explains why we were braving the dark and rain to stake claim to a first come first serve spot!

Best thing we did?

We did a ton of hiking for our week in HSNP.  It was raining off and on, but we didn’t let that stop us.  As you can see we broke out the ponchos and hiked in the rain anyway.

But the best hike we did was the Falls Branch Trail at Lake Catherine State Park.  Why you ask was this the best?   Mostly because it lead to a beautiful waterfall.  This wasn’t just any waterfall…this was the first waterfall on our new journey.  If you are following us on Facebook or Instagram, you know we have done quite a few #waterfallselfies, but this was the first one of our journey so it was the most exciting!  Some may find it cute and some annoying, but for your viewing pleasure there are going to be a lot more waterfalls coming up…so consider this a warning people!

Best thing we ate?

We have come to an agreement as a couple that 95% of the time when we order something from a menu I (Tara) win hands down.  I worked in the food and flavor industry so long that it is fairly easy for me to pick out the best thing on a menu.  So, we were not surprised the cupcake I picked at Fat Bottomed Girl’s Cupcake Shoppe called “Pineapple Paradise” won in our own personal Cupcake Wars session.  It was the perfect amount of fresh pineapple pieces layered inside a vanilla cupcake with pineapple buttercream and brown sugar sprinkled on top.  Simple, fresh, and yummy!

What we learned?

One thing we learned was even though we thought we were close as a couple before, living in this small space is 10x.  Both of our Type A personalities are right in each other’s space now.  We are face to face with every quirk each other has with no escape 🙂 !  That takes some getting used to or what we like to call “rounding off the rough edges.”  We are still working on this, but feel that this effort will make us a better couple after this experience; however, there is a slight chance we may want to go all Lucy and Ricky and have separate beds once we find our forever home LOL!

This leg of our travels also reinforced something we already knew, but it is good to have a reminder of it from time to time.  Things are just things…it would be easy to cry over the Airstream ding – I did obsess for just the tiniest second if we could fix it ourselves and bang out those dents with a rubber hammer.  Gary reminded me it is just a thing and these are experiences we will never forget (mostly because we are writing it all down because to be honest we might forget 50% of them if we didn’t!).

When our week came to an end we were definitely glad we stopped here and got to enjoy this space.

Next Stop:  Music Country