Day 62. October 7, 2013.....Asheville

See photo of cabin where we stayed.  The mountains are full of beautiful, huge homes like this.  

We drove about 3hours (other direction) on the Blue Ridge Parkway.  Many of the parks and trails were closed due to the shutdown.  We did find one trail to hike along a pretty waterfall.  We visited Mt Mitchell which has the highest elevation of any mountain in the East.  The clouds covered up the view, though.

Stopped in Little Switzerland where we took a photo of "my" street..see photo.

Arrived in Asheville famished so went to a pub.  Had unusual chicken wings.....garlic sauce, not typical buffalo sauce.  Good!  Then went to Visitor Center for help with a hotel.  We wanted to stay near downtown.  The cheapest one they recommended was $200/night.  I said no.  So, we found a $50/night motel on the outskirts that has bus stops nearby to downtown for 50 cents!  Asheville is the beer Mecca of the East.  It has 12 micro-breweries plus a ton of craft beer pubs.  We visited two.  Both good.  One has "wet noise Wednesdays" when guests are encouraged to bring their dogs to the pub's patio.  They get free dog treats made from spent beer grains and $2 of each pizza goes to a dog shelter.  

This is a real hippy/artsy town. The Biltmore House is nearby, so quite a few tourists.

To save money, we had sandwiches in the room....leftover grilled chicken with cheese, warmed in the microwave.  Not bad!

Y