Hills and Ales

April 26-27

The Foggy Rock Pub had better beer than food. Joanna had spaghetti with a meatball and I had a modified Philly steak. Not bad, but nowhere near as interesting as the beer. 

There were a couple of interesting India pales and an amber, all very tasty. i bought a couple of bottles to go, but didn't get a chance to open them. We got back to the inn and I lay on the bed to rest for a moment and maybe collect my scattered thoughts. I didn't move again for hours.

We spent much of Wednesday on the Blue Ridge Parkway. We stopped at several overlooks to admire the peaks and valleys. Whenever we reached 4,000 feet, it was almost like winter. Wildflowers were blooming in the meadows, but the hardwoods were mostly bare.

At one spot, we climbed down an uneven set of stone steps to stand in a crow's nest of sorts—a platform encircled by a low stone wall (too low for me) and looked out into the sky. The hawks were soaring below our feet. One behind another, the mountains rolled off to the east.

Joanna convinced me to sit on the wall for a snapshot. "How are you?" she asked. "Terrified," I said. 

The trick for me is not to fall. At least, that's what I'm thinking all the time. It's beautiful, but I have this sense that I'm suspended in the air. My balance, which is never that great to begin with, is compromised by the bewildering sense of space.

I am also concerned that my hat will fly off in a gust of wind and, if my reflexes outreach my caution, a lunge to retrieve it will send me over the edge after it.

My hat stayed on my head and I stayed firmly in place.

Another stop on the parkway was at a small lake, which appeared to be artificial, actually two lakes connected by a narrow break in the bank. We walked a path that brought us to a bridge at the narrowest part.

We got to the far side and could see the car parked in the distance. We found a trail bordered by rhododendron. Sections of it had exposed roots that could be footholds, or stumbling blocks, depending on your perspective.

We found the hotel and settled in at Asheville a little before four.

We went to dinner with Joanna's son Christopher and his girlfriend Jill. 

It was a vegan restaurant with a bar. 

There was bok choy in a mild red curry, grilled beets, a salad with fake bacon, a plate with cheese made of cashews. Dessert included rosemary ice cream. I'm not sure what vegetable concoction was used for the ice cream, but it was delicious. Maybe some of you have had it before, but I never would have expected rosemary to go with ice cream. A surprise right up there with bass in vanilla sauce.

The only vegetarian restaurants that I remember being that good were in Buddhist monasteries. And this one had the additional attraction of beer.

I had a local IPA and a local Pilsner that was actually good.

We also went to the Green Man, one of the city's many brew pubs, where I tried a couple of the bitters on tap. 

I was about to order a third round when the bar closed at 9.

So, albeit an early close, Harry closed another bar.