I’m home after 5 days in Asheville, North Carolina. I loved Asheville! Now I want to go back and see more of the state!

My division at work was recently formed and we’ve been shuffled into new teams. My new team is just 3 people at the moment, so we did a overlapping meetup with some other folks from our division for a total of 7 of us.

My friend, loyal blog subscriber, and coworker, Lori, picked me up from the airport! ❤️ Nothing is better than seeing Lori’s big smile when you get off a flight! She also had a treat for me: a cold pop on ice! That hit the spot! Lori leads a different department at work, but does live in Asheville, and seemed super excited to have some coworkers in her town!

For supper the first night, I joined my coworkers at the Asheville Omni Grove Park Inn. What a building!! It is listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.

I wanted to get a better exterior photo of the building, since it was so unique and made of stone, but I just couldn’t stand back far enough! The place was enormous!

It was an interesting time to visit the building, too, since the Omni Hotel chain was suffering from some sort of cyber attack, and they could not process any payments other than cheques or cash. We read stories online about how even the room key cards wouldn’t work at any of their facilities. Luckily one of us had a cheque book!

Take a look at this fireplace! There were actually two of these, one on each end of the large lobby room.

Here are 6 of us (the 7th had a missed connection and was delayed until the next morning.)

We stayed at The Element hotel in Asheville. It felt like a new building, a little odd looking (no obvious lobby entrance), yet turned out to be an amazing place to stay, with a surprisingly affordable price! Here is my view the next morning:

The weather was at least 27°C on the day arrived, but then it plummeted. Did I bring the cold with me? It was between 1°C and 9°C for the rest of my visit!

My impressions of Asheville. It’s lovely! It has a strong arts and crafting element, musicians, and delicious food (pizza, southern, tacos, plenty of chicken options). The North Carolina southern accent is adorable. I could listen to it all day. Asheville felt easily walkable, some hills, and had a safe feeling. We took plenty of short Uber and Lyft rides (it was pretty chilly and windy for some people to enjoy the outdoors).

We walked for wood fire pizzas at this appropriately named Fresh Wood Fired Pizzas establishment for lunch one day.

Look at this pizza! I shared a BBQ one and it was so delicious!

Near this pizza place, there was a nice river with walking and bike paths along it that we enjoyed after lunch. Then we explored a building where artists and craftsmen were selling their wares. Like this art: (I love C3PO!)

And these smelly boobie candles!

These pinky/purple flowering trees were breathtaking! They didn’t have a flowery scent that I could smell. We found out later they are called the Eastern Redbud (Cercis canadensis). What a beautiful tree to have in the spring!

Have you ever wondered what a posse of Code Wranglers looks like?! Here ya go:

I really dislike graffiti, but this Homer was pretty neat:

We visited a beer garden that afternoon too. It was cold and windy but sunny!

They even had a drink for me!

Still no regrets about giving up drinking. It’s just as easy to find a mocktail or sparkling water, and while I am certainly quieter and a bit more reserved, I feel like I’m having just as much fun, so I don’t mind tagging along to beer gardens!

This one even had a fun game to pass around!

The friendly driver who picked us up took this group photo of us:

There was a lot of graffiti around the old buildings in this part of town. It felt like an art movement more than a crime. We picked this dragon for our group shot.

Lori had us over to her house one night to show us what southern hospitality (and food!) was like! I had a few firsts!

Like this Cheerwine! This is a local cherry pop that tasted like Robitussin. And I loved it! And with Lori’s insistence, I even left with another one in my pocket to enjoy later!

I tried collared greens for the first time too, and I really liked them! They were prepared with ham hocks, and boiled for at least 6 hours. Yum! Lori also served us pulled pork, ribs, mac and cheese, corn bread, potato salad, pickles, baked beans, some vegetarian options, deviled eggs, smoked brisket, all with a choice of bbq sauces. AMAZING! What a FEAST!

I think I could have moved in with my fork and feasted for a month!

Stephanie, our other Asheville local, made us some desserts that were more amazing than you’d find in a fancy restaurant! She somehow made these chocolate bowls totally by hand, and gave them an orange chocolate flavour. I’ve never had anything like it!

This was a night to remember! We had some great conversations – one of which had me Googling for an hour before sleeping that night! My coworkers were discussing the voice in their heads, the one that narrates their every move and thought, in complete sentences. Everyone was nodding along. But… wait.. what? I was so perplexed I couldn’t continue. Hold on a second, I said, you are all hearing full sentences narrated to you in your head all the time? Yes, indeed they do. I was flabbergasted. That sounds exhausting! I have no idea what the actual breakdown is, and how many people do this, but this was an interesting read I found later that night. Why am I different? What is the consequence of not having this? Is this similar to how I don’t hear the words when I read? I just look at them. Possibly they said! I wonder if it is also why I struggle to verbally explain things. My brain isn’t practising composing verbal sentences all day!

There really is something special about sitting around a dining room table with your work pals. After the rest of the company learns what a great place Asheville is for a meetup, Lori’s going to need a smokehouse out back and a pot of collard greens perpetually on her stovetop! And Stephanie will need to rearrange her schedule around the needs of her dessert creations!

That hotel we stayed in had a shared/open second floor with amazing full windows on most sides. There was a free breakfast each morning, a free happy hour with wine and beer and charcuterie boards. There was a pool, gym, and laundry too. We booked a little conference room to work in, but it turned out there was plenty of space in the main lounge for us too.

And the hotel staff were so friendly and helpful.

We tried an Italian restaurant one night too after working together all day.

The atmosphere was nice and the waitress was lovely, but I confess I just wasn’t crazy about my ravioli. It was a bit crunchy and the chicken was cold. But everyone else had delicious meals so I won’t hold a grudge 🤭

We visited a chocolate shop after supper and a couple tiki bars that night too.

The chocolates came with a QR code so you could remember which flavours you were sampling! Nice touch!

Tiki bars seem to be a theme with this division, so we were amazed to find TWO tiki bars in Asheville! The first, the Yacht Club, was not at all what I expected from the name. It was a loud dive bar with tiki touches here and there.

The second was in the back of a brewery. It was wild! There was even a storm with thunder and wind that blew through (I think it signified last call!?). It felt like being in a secret clubhouse.

I had a blood orange seltzer that came with fruit and a flower in it. Highly recommend!

And if we didn’t already have enough fun and great food, the next day we visited a cookie store!

I went for the oatmeal raisin:

Due to the overlapping meetup schedule, there were just 3 of us left on the last afternoon. Lori took us to the North Carolina Arboretum! This place is a gem! Full of trees, plants, flowers, ponds, hikes, greenhouses, a gift shop, and a place to host weddings (and we just missed one!)

The daffodils seemed to be done already, but there were still tulips!

I brought my binoculars and identified three new birds for my life list: a Carolina wren, an Eastern towhee, and an Eastern bluebird! Pretty birds!

I could see myself wandering this property often if I lived in the Asheville area! I bet every season gives a new experience. I especially loved the labels of all the trees, shrubs, and plants. So much new taxonomy to learn! And trees I’ve never heard of! (Apologies to my University forestry professors if I didn’t retain these southern species!…)

I’m totally stealing this photo from my lead to share since I’m not in any of these other ones. Three of us in front of a redbud!

They had a bonsai exhibit too, but they were inside to be safe from the cold. Here are two of my favourites!

I wonder how old they are!?

That night we walked to a taco shop for supper – White Duck Taco. Here are some scenes along the way:

I had a General Tso’s Chicken (left) and a Mole Roasted Duck taco (right). Both were delicious!

Saturday came too soon and it was time to head home. I had another 5 flights over 2 days.

Since I flew WestJet this trip, they partner with Delta in America. I haven’t flown with Delta in several years. I found their service to be better than average. The agents gave many updates and were quite nice, even when we had some delays due to some issues with a couple of planes.

By the way, the Asheville airport is quite nice, and it looks like it is expanding! Right now, you go outside to get to/from your plane, but I wonder if gates are coming with this expansion I saw:

Guess I’ll have to go back some day to find out!

Here are some views as we took off:

There are lovely neighbourhoods around Asheville, I’m guessing, after seeing many country residential homes with plenty of space and privacy, grass and trees, and some cattle and farms too.

As we got higher, I could see the fires that I had heard about from watching recent Appalachian Trail hiking videos again this year (the Appalachian Trail is near Asheville!). A mix of wildfires and prescribed fires I think? I saw them all the way to Atlanta.

I had 3.5 hours in the Atlanta airport to kill. I walked from concourse to concourse trying to decide what to have for lunch. I settled on Five Guys. I’ve never had it before, and remembered that Beard Meats Food guy always says it is his favourite burger. I ordered a small cheeseburger, with all of the toppings, and a side of small fries. I usually go for chicken over a burger, but maybe no longer. This was the best burger I’ve ever had!

After that I was off to Calgary! I flew WestJet and have no complaints. I think I’ve travelled through the Calgary airport before, but none of it seemed familiar. Actually most of it seemed like a brand new building. I breezed quickly through customs (thank-you Nexus card). And I adore this little sitting area that was near my gate!

As I waited to board for Vancouver, I was struck by the sudden observation that people are so nice and kind. Everyone of them. I feel a bit sorry for all the people I know who avoid communicating with people in person. People are lovely! I had 10 flights over two weeks, waited in airport lounges, sat in close quarters with people from all over, stayed in hotels, dined in restaurants, and not one unkind person. Not one. Just smiles and kindness. I think unkindness must be a characteristic reserved for online communication only.

I landed in Vancouver late that night and had a reservation at a nearby hotel to get some sleep for a few hours.

On Sunday, I switched back to the Yukon’s airline, Air North, and travelled from Vancouver to Whitehorse. I had a entire row to myself! How often does that happen!?

After two weeks of travel, it was nice to be back in the Yukon.

But the day was possibly going to get even more interesting. As we were lining up to board for Dawson, we learned the flight was possibly not going to be able to land in Dawson due to some low cloud cover. There were only 4 of us headed to Dawson and everyone else was on board to travel to Old Crow or Inuvik. They gave us the choice of staying in Whitehorse, or taking a gamble. If we couldn’t land in Dawson, we’d travel on to Old Crow and Inuvik, and try on the way back south. If we weren’t able to land either time, then they’d let us try again tomorrow. I was all in on the gamble and boarded the plane. They must have really wondered if the 4 of us were going to join the flight, since I saw my new suitcase waiting outside the plane when I was boarding.

I love my new suitcase. It’s big. And no one had the same colour! Easy to spot! I saw that suitcase board last in Calgary from my window. I noticed it here waiting to be loaded. And then, on the way to Dawson, the luggage compartment is between the passenger area and the cockpit. The flight attendant tried to bring the pilots a coffee but when she attempted to open the door to pass through the luggage compartment, there was my suitcase blocking the door! She had to retreat and call the co-pilot on the phone to come back and move it out of the way! Ha!

Anyway, the clouds actually were suddenly thick and tall near Dawson. I was actually feeling a little uneasy as we navigated around our hills, at a super low altitude. We hit a pocket once that had us gasp as we seemed to fall a bit. I swear I’m a little more uneasy on plane landings after we had that aborted landing in Whitehorse last fall.

So that’s my Asheville meetup recap. Here’s hoping I have the opportunity to return again some day!