BBQ, arts, and crafts around Asheville

Getting on the road from south of Atlanta after the repair of the Lexus lube pump, we headed for the Asheville area.  Heading into South Carolina presented us with rain showers and dark clouds.

Driving in rain in South Carolina

Navigator, Linda, didn't like what she saw on radar and looking at the dark clouds approaching, we decided to head to the closest truck stop and sit out the storm. 

Waiting out the storm in a truck stop in South Carolina

After waiting awhile, we proceeding on the journey.  Well, we avoided the worst of the storm, but not the rain.  We drove through rain in Greenville and Spartanburg areas.  Heading on I-26 the rain left us as we approached the Asheville area.  We arrived at the Western North Carolina Agricultural Center, site of the Carolina West Ribfest, late afternoon.  The storm had pass through that area earlier in the day.  We rented a campsite for the ribfest and found out we were the only people who did.

Lonely Big Red at WNC Ag Ctr

On Friday we attended the first day of the ribfest.  The ribfest was okay, not great.  We did enjoy the food, music and talking to people, but attendance was poor.

BBQ booth at Ribfest

Tim ready to get some BBQ at Ribfest

Pails of BBQ sauces to try

Wooden piglet in a craft booth at Ribfest

Band on stage at Ribfest

We ate and listened to music some of the next two days at Ribfest.  Most of the BBQ was good.  We voted for the winner of the BBQ contest, so I guess we have good taste.  Some of the music groups were very good....others not so much.  So we decided to explore some of the Asheville area.
Asheville has a thriving arts district and many craft breweries.  On  July 12 we headed to find them.

River Arts District in Asheville

Many of the art shops had live demos.  We saw painters, clay throwers, & glass blowers.  Linda had a great time.  Tim found a places to relax.

Tim relaxing in the Asheville River Arts District

Tim had a beer in the Wedge as suggested by someone we met at Ribfest

Tim checking out a cool van of the owner/painter of a gallery

Saturday night the city of Asheville hosts a free bluegrass and old time music concert series called Shindig on the Green in a park downtown.  We took our lawn chairs and parked ourselves on the grass and enjoyed a wonderful night of music.

Downtown Asheville park band shell for the Shindig on the Green

Enough of the arts and crafts, and music.  We headed to the gun show!  Yep, we went to a gun show.  We saw a bunch of cars around a large building at the Ag Center, where the Ribfest was being held.  We found a packed gun show with lots of people buying.  People brought guns in and out.  No pictures were allowed inside.

Tim by a sign at the entry to the gun show

We've never seen so many guns and accessories.  New guns, old guns, and all kinds of guns were seen.  Sellers of ammo did very well.  Most attendees were buying.  We felt very safe inside the gun show.

Time to take in some scenery.  The Blue Ridge Parkway runs very close to Asheville for part of its 469 miles.  After stopping at a great Visitor Center, we headed north on the parkway.

Tim in front of Blue Ridge Parkway Visitor Center near Asheville

We soon came to a sign:

Folk Art Center on the Blue Ridge Parkway near Asheville

Unfortunately, you are not allowed to take pictures in the Folk Art Center.  We spent a couple of hours perusing the paintings, quilts, woodwork, clay pots, and other Appalachian  crafts.  There was also an exhibit from work done by students at a local community college.  Time to move on the Parkway.  We packed a lunch an stopped to each at a picnic area on a high pass.

Bearpen Gap elevation 5220 feet

Tim loved the temperature at the gap during our picnic.  Finally we found cool weather.  See below the picture of the thermometer on the car dash:

Yes, a cool 68 degrees

After a great picnic in nice cool 68 degree temp, we headed back to Big Red to watch the soccer World Cup championship game.  We left the Asheville area on Monday headed for Bristol, Tn.  See our next post.