Asheville Part Three: Return of the glass lightsaber wielding Jedi

Lia and I saw an advanced screening of Christopher Nolan's Dunkirk last night, saw Baby Driver last week, and are going to see the new Spiderman tonight — AND I just finished reading John Boyega's GQ profile that's going to be in next month's magazine (hence the Star Wars reference in the title). Quite the movie kick!

However, the trilogy that is Star Wars reminded me I hadn't finished the third instalment of our Asheville trip. We've since been on another out-of-state adventure, this time to Maine, but let's not get ahead of ourselves. Instead, let's finish talking about Asheville. Finally.

We began our final day, a Sunday, like we do many other Lord's Days; a wander around artist studios. Seems a little unfair that they have to work so unappreciated in their own life times AND on weekend for their work to get seen. No wonder they all consider themselves tortured. 

However, the yoga teacher who moonlighted as a glass sculptor that we spent almost half an hour watching certainly didn't seem that tortured, despite spending a good portion of his day sitting in front of a powerful flame. We saw him take a glass rod, solicit a favourite yoga pose from Lia, and skillfully craft a small glass sculpture of a figure in that position, complete with wings, naturally.

It was both mesmerising to watch him work and listen to him narrate, especially as he had the voice of somebody who may do ASMR in his downtime. Maybe he just sounded exactly like somebody who teaches yoga and sculpts glass. He certainly looked like that person.

We mooched around other studios in the River Arts District which were open, which wasn't as many as we might've expected, but there were so many that we certainly didn't exhaust the area. There was something for every art enthusiast, from fine arts, painting, and sculpture, to less traditional mediums like ceramics, reflective tape, and wireworkers. 

All of the studios were housed in old converted warehouses that were located along the train tracks, above the restaurant we'd eaten dinner at the previous night and the brewery next door to it. I'm sure the artists will all be priced out soon and their studios converted to apartments. Aren't hip cities great?

Wanting to make the most of our final day and also leave hating ourselves a little less, we decided to move in the afternoon, and go for a short hike. Asheville is certainly known for its gorgeous surrounding mountains and scenery, so we selected a waterfall trail that wasn't an impossible distance to drive to away, and hit the road. Not before eating another massive fried chicken sandwich though. Hey, I was on holiday.

We drove through a good chunk of bible belt to get there, and I was once again reminded of a) how many people there are in this big ol' world, and b) how people this far removed could think an idiot like Donald Trump would be a good thing for the country. Their reality is so insulated that they likely have never seen a brown or black person, so they have no need to care for them. It doesn't make it right or acceptable, but it at least begins to make such a horrific thing as Trump more understandable. And hopefully closer to fixable. 

My socioeconomic epiphany over, we arrived at Linville Falls late in the afternoon, and the temperature and altitude were perfect for a hike. Deleting photos as I walked to make space for new ones of the gorgeous scenery we were traipsing through, I looked up for long enough to see a few amazing things along our way up the mountainous overlooks — like flowers, fungi, my beautiful girlfriend, my wonderful mum, and of course, waterfalls. 

This cutie even let me take photos of her as we climbed higher up the mountain. It must've been the thin air getting to her.

The views ranged from serene to dramatic, to straight up Bon Iver album cover the further along we went. Maybe if more people saw this side of North Carolina it would make it a more redeemable place. Still a lot of racism though.

My camera could hardly focus at the top of the mountain, the glare was so strong. But it wasn't a big deal. Some views are just best enjoyed with your eyes instead of a screen.