I just got back from visiting Joseph's brother and wife in Asheville, NC. We only had a three day visit, but it was a great time. Asheville is my kind of town- lots of privately owned interesting shops and places to eat. They had a double-decker bus among the buildings that had been converted to a coffee house/bus and had its own address.

We went on a day hike in the Pisgah forest off the Blue Ridge Parkway. We did about 7.5 miles and started at 6am and got to see the sunrise from the top of a mountain. It was a little cool up there and very windy. There were wild blueberries and black berries growing along part of the trail, so we did a lot of foraging. We would be walking along and realize Joseph was gone- and he would be back there shoulder deep in blueberry bushes.

We went swimming in a cold cold mountain swimming hole. It was about seven feet deep and was literally clear to the bottom. There was this perfect rock to jump off of in to the water about 10 feet up. There was a group of elderly people at the hole when we got there and they all watched us jump in and cheered us. It was funny. Really, I'm glad they were watching otherwise I may have chickened out. It was officially the coldest water I have ever been in and just perfectly picturesque.

We also went to some gardens outside of Asheville that had a bonsai garden. It was amazing to see all of these different bonsai. I had thought that they had to be a certain kind of plant, but that is not true. It can be any kind of tree or shrub. Joseph wants to learn how to do bonsai and I would love to try too, but it will be a while because we want to grow ours from seeds. Ask me about it in a couple of years...