We had to leave Asheville today. We didn’t want to. We have decided we want to live here.

After breakfast we went for one last coffee at Citizen Vinyl. Best place ever. Not since 12 Tonar in Reykjavik have we enjoyed a place so much.

They were actually pressing records in the plant this morning. Very cool to watch.

Ok we really need to leave Asheville now. Back to the hotel to get our bags and check out. When we checked out – as we often do – we gave a little clip on koala to the guy at reception. He said “my boss is from Australia “ and we were like “oh really! That’s awesome” As we were waiting for the valet to bring our car down, the guy from reception tells us to wait a second – so we did, and then the Australian manager comes out to meet us. She was so happy to meet some Australians as she doesn’t see many in Asheville. We ended up having a long chat about all the things and we even got hugs as we left. It was a nice send off from Asheville.

But wait…! We haven’t left Asheville yet! We hadn’t had a chance to go to Hole Doughnuts yet, which was a place I wanted to go. So the plan was to go pick some up for the road.

Hole Doughnuts make their doughnuts fresh, in house. They have 4 flavours – sesame, cherry glaze, vanilla glaze and cinnamon sugar. We went in to order and the lady behind the counter was just so lovely and excited that we were Australian! She was telling all the other workers and asking us to introduce her to Russell Crowe and she was just awesome. We had such a laugh with her – she said we had “such good energy “ but she was the one with all the energy! Again – it was another lovely send off for us from Asheville. The people here have truly been amazing.

And OMG the doughnuts were the BEST THING EVER!!!! They were hot and so so very tasty!!!!

We really need to leave Asheville.

But first a trip to Whole Foods and a gas station. No more amazing people encounters there though.

Time ti leave. Bye Asheville 👋 Miss you already!

We got on to the Blue Ridge Parkway and begun the drive along it. Beautiful already.

We were driving along the Parkway for like literally 5 minutes – I looked out the window – oh look there’s a bear! Yes there was a black bear just chilling by the side of the road eating some grass or something. OMG. Unfortunately wasn’t quick enough to snap a photo – but wow! We saw a black bear!!!

There are so many stops and vistas along the parkway – you can’t possibly stop at them all. Also it’s really hard to capture the vastness in a photo, but trust me it’s pretty amazing around here.

We stopped at a small visitor center briefly.

People kept coming in to the visitor center asking for things – “ have you got sunscreen?” “Can I bring my dog in?” (Sign clearly says no dogs) and my favourite- “Do you have ice?” To which the reply was “No. We dont have electricity “

We did a short trek up a steep hill to get a nice 360 degree of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Very pretty.

We drove on a bit further and stopped for picnic lunch with some snacks we had packed. It was a great lunch but it was a bit cold up there! We were quite high up in the mountains and it was rather windy.

The rubbish bins here are bear proof but also Steve proof.

We stopped by the visitor centre and restaurant and got a coffee that we had with the last two Hole Doughnuts from Asheville.

Then we continued on our merry way. Time was escaping us by this point but we still managed to have a quick stop in the town of Little Switzerland. There was a good bookshop and a cute souvenir shop. We had a nice chat with the guy running the souvenir shop.

Then it was onwards to Boone, our base for the night. We were staying at the Rhodes Motor Lodge which was a little out of town so we didn’t actually get to see any of Boone. We had dinner at the hotel and it was surprisingly delicious. I had a pulled pork sandwich and Steve had a crispy chicken sandwich.

We needed some yogurt for breakfast so went for a quick walk to a nearby grocery store called Harris Teeter. Not sure why it is called that, I may have to look it up, but we like the name and from henceforth all grocery stores shall be known as Harris Teeter.

That is all.