Resting in Asheville
Trip Start
Jan 01, 2007
1
6
141
Trip End
Ongoing
Asheville,
North Carolina,
United States
Friday, October 27, 2006
After 10 days of camping in the wilderness, with no hot water and below freezing temperatures, we were ready to GET OUT and return to civilization. First on the priority list was a Hot Shower. We left the Smoky Mountains by way of Cherokee, in the North Carolina side. On the way to Cherokee, we did not find any shops offering pay-by-the-minute showers as we had in Tennessee. We did, however, see several signs for Harrah's Casino. Harrah's is an old favorite of Kay's family. Kay was educated in the fine art of gambling by her granny during a trip to Laughlin Nevada. The Blackjack tables and nickel Slot machines at Harrah's Laughlin Casino served as the classroom for her education. Over the years, Kay has collected several decks of Harrah's Casino playing cards from various Harrah's Casino locations in the west coast.
For our camping trip, we packed 3 decks of these Harrah's Casino playing cards. When we saw the signs for Harrah's Cherokee Casino, we immediately lit up - we needed a 4th deck to round out the numbers for a game we play often. Giving up on our search for a hot shower, we instead parked in the Harrah's visitor lot and went in search of a deck of cards.
In the gift shop, we soon learned that Harrah's Cherokee does not sell playing cards. In fact, they don't use any playing cards at all in the casino. What? A casino without cards? How can that be? Well, North Carolina legislature does not allow the use of playing cards, but does allow electronic gambling. So in place of card tables and dealers, there were electronic tables setup in the blackjack and poker areas. These tables were manned (pun intended) by a video screen depicting a lovely and veloptuous female VIRTUAL DEALER. Interesting, indeed.
The rest of the story is rather emberassing...but here it goes:
Leaving the gift shop empty-handed, we decided to go in search of the hotel's gym. We figured that if it was like the other Harrah's Casino Hotels, it should have a large swimming pool, state-of-the-art fitness room, and maybe a yoga center. And of course a changing/shower room too. We searched each level of the hotel, and finally found a tiny wading pool tucked in a corner. We also saw two bathrooms near the pool entrance. Frank headed into the men's bathroom, and Kay into the women's. We struck gold! The bathrooms were small - only one toilet and sink, but each had a shower! Yeah! We both immediately started showering off, enjoying the use of hot water for the first time in 4 days! Ahhhhh...at last...
But then, all of a sudden it went cold. Icy cold. Not a drop of hot or even lukewarm water. Just icy cold water. Kay was convinced they were caught. She imagined a large burly female security guard waiting for her outside the bathroom. She pictured the police arriving, arresting them. She dreaded having to call her family to bail her out, and how in the world would she explain this to them! She quickly finished bathing, dried off, and got dressed. With her hair still wet, she quietly and fearfully slid out of the bathroom and into the hallway. No burly security guard - yeah! She found Frank watching ESPN in the mini-gym and we quickly walked out and back to the casino. Clean and refreshed, but a little shaken up.
Returning to the Casino, we spotted the all-you-can-eat Buffet inside the Casino. After cooking over a campfire in the freezing cold for 10 days, we were ready to have someone else cook for us. Also, after hiking over 10 miles a day and knoshing on rabbit food like granola and apples, our tummies were craving some good homestyle comfort food. The all-you-can-eat Buffet was calling our names... Frank, Kay...Come Hither!!! We spent the next 45 minutes piling our plates full of Mac & Cheese, Ribs, Sausage, Mashed Potatoes, Salad, Rolls, Cookies, Juice, Coffee, Fried Okra, and other Mystery Foods.
With each trip to the all-you-can-eat Buffet, we couldn't resist snatching an extra butter packet or two (or ten), a couple (or 8) extra cookies, some (4) biscuits, etc. We had run out of butter in our cooler while camping, and the cookies & biscuits were so tempting because we had been eating way too healthy until then. In between Buffet runs, we stealth-like would stash these extras into ziplock bags in our backpacks. Well, then came the chicken. Southern Fried Chicken. It smelled so good. After stuffing our bellies full on all the other greasy items at the buffet bar, we were left with several pieces of uneaten fried chicken on our plates. Rather than waste these, we stashed them in another ziplock bag in our backpacks.
We then spent the next 45 minutes in misery. Holding our tummies and whining "Why did you let me eat all that crapola?" The carbohydrates, sodium, sugar (and MSG too!) from that one meal was more than what we had consumed in the last 2 weeks combined. Our bodies and tummies were in shock! We sat at the booth for the next 45 minutes groaning and begging for a wheelchair.
Rolling ourselves out of the restaurant, we made our way through the rows of slot machines and virtual dealers towards the exit. About 10 feet from the exit, we were stopped by 2 security guards. Uh oh! Panic! We were convinced the eye-in-the-sky caught us at the buffet and the locker room and they were finally going to arrest us. They asked to look inside backpacks. Oh no! Please no. We both opened our backpacks, and the guards saw the bags of Fried Chicken on top. They asked us to remove those, and then saw the bags of stolen butter packets, cookies, and biscuits. Uh oh... They continued to search the bags until they found it. Our laptop. They firmly informed us that laptops are strictly prohibited and asked us to leave the premises. Whew... that was it? We gladly left and vowed NEVER EVER to eat at another all-you-can-eat buffet again.
After our adventures in Harrah's, we decided to head north east towards Asheville, North Carolina. A wet cold front was forecast to come through the entire region for the next couple days. The idea of camping in that weather was not very appealing. We instead, decided to drive to Asheville and seek warm shelter and a cold beer for a couple days.
The first night, we stayed at a hostel in town called the Arthaus Hostel. It was right in the middle of town, across from the Asheville Brewery and a block from another great pub called Jack of the Wood. This was Frank's first ever stay in a Hostel. (Kay has stayed in hostels in South America previously, but not the US). We were not sure what we were getting ourselves into, but it turned out great! It was a super-clean hostel, with starched white towels and sheets, clean bathroom, and bright cheery rooms. All of the other guests were our age or older, and very friendly. The private rooms were booked, so we shared a dorm room with 3 other people. The $20/night per person rate included unlimited Ramen noodles, waffles, eggs, tea, coffee, oatmeal, etc.
On the second night, we moved to another hostel because the Arthaus was booked. The second hostel was called Bon Paul and Sharkey's. This place was a dump. It was far outside of town. Dirty and disgusting. The sheets and towels were a scary sight. Luckily, we were able to book the private double room. It was $50/night but it was sketchy.
Frank and Kay had both been to Asheville the year before (in June 2005) with Kay's family to visit her brother. During that trip, we visited the main tourist attractions (such as the Biltmore mansion) and hiked the nearby mountains. So on this return trip, we decided to take it easy and just eat, drink, and be merry. We spent our time there hopping from bar to restaurant to book shop to coffee shop to wine bar to the hostel. It was great. Asheville is a great little mountain town. It has a very good music scene (we heard a fantastic Bluegrass jam one night!). The food is fantastic, and they put a lot of emphasis on locally-grown and organic foods. And the beer is wonderful - several good local microbrews.
After recharging in North Carolina for two days, we decided to head south to Georgia. Next stop: the Chatahoochee Forest!
