Daily Archives: June 21, 2009

Moose and Squirrel… (What, there’s no squirrel?)

Today was our first full day in Asheville, or actually Fletcher, NC,  where our RV park is.

It’s really a great park,  on a small lake with a lot of shade trees, but not too many to shut down our Direct TV satellite.

Rutledge Lake RV

Rutledge Lake RV

And the weather is great.  We have gotten some rain, but they need it around here. 

Plus the temperature last night was 64 degrees, and the high today was only 85.  This is a nice change from the high 90’s that we’ve been encountering. 

Being over 2000 ft up in the mountains has many advantages, besides the beautiful scenery.

We first headed out about 11:30 am looking for a place to have lunch.  A guy in the site next to us recommended a place to us, but we were never able to find it from his directions.  And although our GPS listed it, when we got there we found no restaurant, either.

So we drove in the opposite direction and stumbled across a little piece of heaven for Jan.

Moose Cafe
Moose Cafe

If you know Jan, you know anything ‘MOOSE’ is a must. 

And the Moose Cafe was a great find.  And they had a moose gift shop too.

The food was good old country cookin’, with all the favorites, fried chicken, meatloaf, chicken & dumplins, Virginia baked ham, and more.

Jan had the one of the specials, the Turkey & Dressing, with mashed potatoes, and green beans, and I had the other special, the Roast Pork Loin & Dressing, with mashed potatoes and collard greens.  We also got an extra order of macaroni & cheese to split between us.

They also serve ‘Cathead’ biscuits.  They’re called that because they are the size of a cat’s head, and they come with homemade apple butter and molasses.

Then for dessert we split a Blackberry Cobbler with Ice Cream.  
 
After an expensive trip thru the Moose Cafe Gift Shop,  we drove around Asheville looking at the homes and the landscaping.  One thing we noticed is that there are day lilies everywhere.  So many that we wondered if the day lily was the North Carolina state flower.  (It’s not, the North Carolina state flower is the Dogwood).
Day Lilies

Day Lilies

Jan said she had never seen ‘red’ day lilies before.  

Later we stopped at a Starbuck’s for a caffeine infusion and some directions to areas with a lot of old homes.

We were told about the Monford area and headed that way.  After a few miles we came upon the Asheville Visitor’s Center and stopped off to pick up more brochures and ideas for things to see.

We also found that Gray Line was running a 1.5 hour Trolley Tour, and that we were there just in time for the last trip at 3:30 pm.

So off we went.

One of the places we saw was this unusual church, especially unusual for a Baptist Church.  This is the First Baptist Church of Asheville.

First Baptist Church

First Baptist Church

The design was based on a Catholic church in Italy.  Certainly different.

On the Trolley Tour

On the Trolley Tour

While we were at the Visitor’s Center, we purchased discounted tickets to the Biltmore Estate that we’re going to visit tomorrow, and also got information on Chimney Rock Park and Grandfather Mountain, two other places we’re interesting in visiting. 

After the tour was over, we headed back to our coach and sat outside for a while with the Mister and Emma, our cats.

Emma

Emma

We keep Emma on a leash because she’s easily spooked and might run off.  Mister, on the other hand, knows who feeds him and never wanders off.

More tomorrow…