Blog #29
July 17 – 26
Mountains: Our “Why”
One of the reasons we moved is to be closer to the mountains. At the age of 21, I figured out that my favorite sport is really hiking when I went on a fabulous trip with my mom and sister Linda in NH. Unfortunately, ever since then, I’ve lived on landlocked Long Island. Thirty-plus years later, we’ve rectified that.
When I suggested to David that we take a hike last Sunday, he jumped on the chance. We drove up the Blue Ridge Parkway to get to the trailhead for Rattlesnake Lodge, a highly recommended hike on the AllTrails app. The lodge is long gone — and hopefully so are the rattlesnakes. At any rate, we didn’t see any. Turns out from 1903/4 to 1920 it was a summer getaway for a local doctor’s family. The compound burned down a few years later and now all that is left is the foundation stones. The grandson of Dr. Ambler has a website with more info. https://www.rattlesnakelodge.com/preface.htm
Without air conditioning, cooling off in the mountains must have been the way to go. They even had a swimming pool and tennis court! We had great views and it was nice to use muscles again after having Covid.
David’s Birthday
The next day was David’s birthday. It started with our family’s traditional birthday breakfast in bed. I made “farmer boys” – a stack of pancakes layered with cinnamon sugar and butter, a once-a-year treat. Then David had some fun with his car. After that, I took him to the Western North Carolina Farmer’s Market.
You Call That a Farmer’s Market?
Weekly seasonal farmer’s markets as we know them in the North do exist here. There is a beautiful one every Saturday morning in downtown Asheville, as well as many other weekend markets in the area. But the WNC Farmer’s Market is not like that. It is a permanent daily market with dozens of farmers selling boxes stacked six foot high of fresh produce. There are two covered building you drive through plus a few more buildings on a lower level and a regular covered building including cheese mongers, honey and jams, cured meats, and crafts you can buy. Want tomatoes? You can buy a box of 20 for about $30. Want cucumbers? You better have a restaurant or a big family. You’ll get a dozen. David and I bought a monster basket of peaches for $23. And the basket was pretty! We offloaded most of those on our next stop.
What Did You Do on Your Birthday? I Learned to Drive a Tractor.
We had plans to meet the former owner of the new property (he’s still there until August) so he could teach us how to drive the tractor. After all, we have 26 acres of grass to mow. Okay, not really that much because there is a pond and some woods, but still, this is new to us. We spent the next few hours learning how to work the large compact John Deere with a hydrostatic transmission. Lowering and raising the cutting blades is important and we don’t want to mess up the entire PTO (power take off) drive shaft. I took lots of videos so we’ll remember for the future. David took a video of me with a shit eating grin.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/yARKnJByIo0
After we worked with the big (to us) tractor, we learned how to drive the Z mower. That thing scares the s—t out of me. It goes fast and turns on a dime. It’s what we’ll use around the trees that spot the lawn, but I can see it flipping really easily if the ground is too steep. This is why we watch YouTube videos about driving a tractor – specifically the ones on how not to get killed driving one. I have a healthy respect for farmers.
After a few passes on the lawn, I looked at my handywork. Basically, I butchered Heath’s lawn. He’s a really patient guy, but I think he was trying not to get upset. This is going to take some practice. Luckily, Heath works with a local guy who will be able to cut the lawn (properly) for a few weeks when we are away at some family events. And maybe more than that…
Pizza and Beer
That night we had a special dinner of pizza and beer. It was kinda gourmet. Asheville Pizza South’s pizza of the month was Gonzo Garbanzo. Here’s the description:
This one starts with a in-house made roasted red pepper and garlic hummus base. Then, we add whole leaf spinach, roma tomatoes and red onions. Next it gets blue cheese crumbles and fresh mozzarella. On top, after the oven we add walnuts and a strawberry reduction drizzle. Salty and sweet and creamy and crunchy.
Might not be your speed, but we loved it. Also you can get growlers or microbrewery beers by the can. This menu changes weekly – sometimes daily. It changes again in the winter with more stouts and heavier fare. Toto, we’re not on Long Island any more.
https://www.ashevillepizzasouth.com/beer-wine
There’s lots of house stuff going on. We’re working with mom to get the kitchen she wants in her space and removing (and saving for the future) a perfectly good wine cooler and beverage fridge with a more helpful refrigerator and freezer drawers that she can use. Researching all the changes we need to make is taking some time.
Kids Come to Visit: An Asheville Speed Tour
We had to change a lot of our summer plans. I felt terrible that we couldn’t spend the 10 days we scheduled in NH with my son Alex and his husband Ben. They were flexible though and came down to visit us! A weekend was not enough but we fit in a basic primer on Asheville. On Friday evening, we walked through the bookstore/wine bar, strolled through the vinyl record press/bar, and took a quick walk through the pinball museum all before hitting a rooftop restaurant for Cuban food. We couldn’t miss Asheville’s Sunshine Sammies ice cream sandwiches for dessert. On Saturday, we buzzed over to the new house. Alex and Ben got a quick tour of the house and property. We did walk around the pond. David counted 10 different varieties of dragonflies while talking with Alex.
A quick run over to Hendersonville turned into the rest of the afternoon. We stopped at a local soda fountain (yes, it was originally a pharmacy) for a quick lunch and strolled through the cute town. We then drove all the way north to show our foodie kids the amazing WNC Farmers Market. It was on the other side of town and we then had to head south again to make our scheduled tour of the impressive Sierra Nevada brewery. Learning about the history of Sierra Nevada, how they make their beer and then hitting the tasting room was great fun. However, dinner at SN afterwards was a “no-go” as the wait was 2.5 hours on a Saturday — starting at 5:30pm. Instead, we dropped by Forestry Camp, another much smaller local craft beer taphouse featuring Burial Brewery beers — and great food. Forestry Camp boasts a history as a Civilian Conservation Corp camp for workers building the Blue Ridge Parkway during the Depression. Very cool.
Sunday morning found us putting together a nice meal with all the fruit and jams we bought the day before at the farmer’s market. To make it a little more Southern, I whipped up a batch of biscuits. Who knew I could do that? They were GOOD. North Carolina must be rubbing off on me.
We took a quick drive up the Blue Ridge Parkway and made a driving tour of the RAD, River Arts District, one of the funkiest areas of Asheville. We didn’t have time to visit the local galleries, breweries and restaurants there, but it gave the kids a good primer on Asheville and some of the things we can see when they return.
Training for the Cure
Now that my bout with Covid passed, I feel healthy enough to continue training for the Susan G. Komen 3 Day Walk. After all the great support I’ve gotten from friends and family, I have to be prepared. I walked forever on Monday making my 15-mile goal, meeting David for lunch in the middle. Tuesday saw me getting in another 9-10 miles, enough for me to feel confident that I could complete the entire thing and not get overwhelmed with cramps and blisters. We’ll see when the end of August arrives, but as of right now, I can do it. Here are some pics from the training walks.
The Long And Weinstein Road 