Last day in Asheville

All good things must come to an end.The last few days of our trip to Asheville had rain in the forcast so our outdoor exploring was put to an end. Good thing there are lots of fun places to go in town. One morning we had breakfast at Sunny Point Cafe. The wait was long and the place was packed! A local favorite for sure.

I had some orange corn cakes that were so yummy! I should try to make them. I wish I could have some this morning.

Travis had the vegan huevos rancheros which he really liked.

We passed the Moog factory several times and decided to visit on Saturday. We wanted to tour it, but sadly the tours only run during the week! It was still fun to play around with all the equipment.

I really liked playing with the theremin. It sounds like a UFO.

We got more donuts at The Vortex, because why not? The one in the back is mango margarita flavor!

Someone at the donut shop recommended that we go to the Grove Arcade downtown. It was mostly lame, not really our thing, but The Battery Park Book Exchange and Champagne Bar was pretty great! It is a big used bookstore with all kinds of nooks and crannies that make you want to explore.

Also you can bring your dog!!! There were sleeping dogs around every corner!

I had been looking for a cool older edition of Watership Down. Perfect!

This teeny baby puppy was the star of the store. Look it how sweet! I wanted to go pick her up!

Another place we wanted to see was The Odditorium. It is a side show themed bar with cool art on the walls and weird stuff for sale. We were pretty lame and went during the day, instead of at night when there was a show.

Every wall outside was painted.

We got some mid afternoon cocktails. I had some kind of cherry cider thing I think?

The bar tender was real cute!

There was cool and weird stuff everywhere.

They even have a mural painted by the wonderful Camille Rose Garcia! I love that gator!

I had heard The Hop had vegan ice cream, and we couldn't pass that up! I got a Sundae...

And Travis got a banana split! Yowza!

When we got back to Lake Junaluska we wanted to swim in the pool but it was reserved for a special event, AGAIN! Ah well, Travis and I rented a canoe and paddled around the lake. (Well, he paddled).

That little canoe speck is us (I think. Crystal took our photo)

It started to rain so we headed back in. Ah well.

Asheville was very good to us. Anywhere with as many waterfalls I can swim under is A-Ok with me!

Mirror Maze!

I guess now I have time to finish posting about our trip to the Appalachia's in the summer! I wanted to tell you about one of my new favorite things, a Mirror Maze! This is the second time we've done one and it is so fun! This time we did Hannah's Maze of Mirrors in Pigeon Forge.

Here we are watching the cheesy intro. Something about a vain princess being banished to a mirror maze and we have to find her? Or a jewel? I can't remember.

When you do a mirror maze you have to wear plastic gloves. You WILL run into the mirrors, and if they are all smudged the illusion is ruined.

We hung back once we were let out of the intro thing. We wanted to be last in, and the halls leading to the maze were so good for photo ops! This perfect green and yellow hallway!

In the maze! It is so fun and disorienting! It looks like this every where you look.

We spent a lot of time dancing! The other people going through probably thought we were crazy. It was just too fun! And that same music played over and over.

DSCF1888 from rae hartsock on Vimeo.

Which one is the real one! Sometimes you really couldn't tell! I would think I was walking towards Crystal or Travis and then they would be right behind me!

Crystal and I would hide from Travis. Here is his fail safe mirror maze technique.

Travis In the Mirror Maze from rae hartsock on Vimeo.

It was so fun! Did I say that yet? Haha. Here is a very attractive photo from when we won. There are fireworks and stars and they seem to go on forever in the mirrors!

After we beat the maze, we couldn't resist a quick go-kart ride on our way out of town. I think it was around 11 pm and this place was jumping!

I love a double go kart. Pigeon Forge, you charmed me again!