some girls wander by mistake.

freshly returned to the sunshine state, i wear a few more notches in my travel belt. the trip was fantastic overall--we saw so much and i had a wonderful time. there's a special magic in being on the road, following your own clock and inclination; coming home was hard.

day 1: friday james and i drove up in the wee hours of morn', arriving in savannah, GA by 11am. we visited the welcome center for a map, then parked by the water, as instructed by laughingwoman; regretfully i did not bring the address for the world-famous-bbq place, so we ended up with mediocre cajun food for lunch instead. we did our best to navigate on foot (covering about a 3-5 block radius) but in rare, anti-me form, i did not research or plan anything in advance, so our wandering felt a bit aimless and uninformed. we walked through two oak-covered parks, which were beautiful (saxophonist playing music made it feel especially surreal), toured the city market and had fudge, followed the crowds down several streets (looking for food or boutiques), then headed back up to bay street. we drove through only a bit of the residential area--off mlk and then again off ogelthorpe--but overall i found savannah smaller and less picturesque than i imagined. (i wondered if this has more to do with my extensive amount of time spent in louisiana cities?) we drove onward out of GA and into SC, which i had never seen before, and, other than the 2 black piggies running aside the highway and some blooming floral trees, i would be content never seeing again. finally, the hills gave way to full-fledge mountains, and we crossed the border into NC. there we continued past asheville and into sylva, a cute little town on the cusp of a university where my beloved albertamae and harrison live. we unpacked the car, went out for dinner at soul infusion, a dandelion-esque funky tea-house and restaurant, where i ate food of the gods.

day 2: saturday morning we explored the blue ridge parkway for the first time, a beautiful scenic route that wraps around the smoky mountains. little-flatland-me winced as we took curvy roads at a regular speed, constantly visualizing albertamae's car careening off the cliffs. there was an accident blocking all traffic on the parkway, so we exited and drove through cherokee (home of the cherokee indian reservation and casino)--a dismal stretch of abandoned motels, rotting playgrounds, rundown trailers, and commercialized indian tourism. ironically, cherokee is also home to santaland, a christmas-themed-carnival-zoo trainwreck of a tourist attraction. the whole stretch was depressing as hell, so we headed back onto the parkway. stopping at a few overlooks, we ultimately arrived at graveyard fields, a 3+ mile hike up and down to upper and lower falls. the view was spectacular. however, having spent far too much time in a tourist's town i constantly have the the cynical mentality that beautiful things are not real--rocks, rushing water, strategically-located animals or plants have an initial prop feel i am embarrassed to recognize. that said, the graveyard fields and falls were stunning, and i felt a sense of magic to be amidst such natural perfection. the lower falls were far more impressive than the upper falls (so named, i'm guessing, because of their elevation not size), but the hike up to the upper falls was worth the challenge itself. once we ascended the fields (the end-climb was killer), sweaty and with a sense of accomplishment, we headed back home for some food and gettin' pretty. a few hours later we were en route to asheville, first stopping to pick up albertamae's friend, daniel and then parking downtown. we began our night at the flying frog, where i tried to be upscale (read: not southern comfort) by drinking dirty martinis...then i realized they were expensive and weren't good once warm. we left after a couple drinks, walking around and looking for other places of noteworthy nightlife...surprisingly, downtown asheville was on the quiet and vacant side (on a saturday night, no less!), so our few leads turned out to be either not worth the cover charge or void of any music/people. we ended up at scandals nightclub, a multi-level gay bar, which was lots of fun.

day 3: sunday we woke up late & lazily, then headed back onto the parkway for the waterrock knob trail, a strenuous hike up to a summit view over the mountains. pros included seeing a baby bunny; cons were the scores of bees that surrounded the trail. the hike was difficult but we made it; we came home and made a nice dinner at home, which we ate outside on a picnic table. (i should mention at this point how absolutely adorable murphie's place was: a red cottage in the woods, with a babbling brook running in front. a piece of paradise. we slept with the windows open, listening to the creek or the rain, depending on the night, and i dreamt widly and amazingly each night.) the weather couldn't have been more beautiful--cool, breezy, almost no humidity--and being outside was not a form of torture (like it is in florida, anyway) in the least. after dinner, we drove (and walked) around cullowhee and western carolina university to see the campus that albertamae is attending for her masters. being on a college campus again (for the first time in roughly 4 years) makes me miss academia and being a student, but man did i feel old. i in no way feel like their is an expiration date at which one is "too old" to be a student, but being surrounded by tiny 18-year-olds masquerading around as adults just felt weird.

day 4: monday we spent all day in asheville. the view during the day was even more beautiful than our experience on saturday night, and i marveled at so much of the architecture. seriously, asheville might be one of the quaintest little cities i've ever been to. we began our day with brunch at a cute little outdoor bistro-type place, where everything on the menu sounded like heaven; i settled on an open-faced omelet that was spicy (not my preferred palate) but delicious. we ate and people-watched, where i observed that asheville is a mix of hippy/crunchy/artsy types (i.e. the tie-dye family, the pretty girls with weird haircuts and thrifty clothes) and grup/yuppie types (i.e. everybody else), which isn't a bad thing. after brunch, we walked around and i took a lot of pictures. my favorite buildings in asheville were the grove arcade, the city hall, and a completely amazing art deco (vacant!) commercial building that was for sale...man, seriously i have never wished to be a millionaire before i saw that building. we continued to walk around, breezing in and out of shops like the mast general store, an organic market co-op, and little places that specialized in handmade hippie bags, skirts, crafts, and jewelry. not surprisingly, i didn't really buy anything (buyer's remorse) but i wanted it all. finally we had reached the end of the main stretch of asheville, so we headed back towards "home," the small-town of sylva. surprisingly, sylva's downtown (a literal main street) held for us just as much charm as asheville. we settled on dinner there, again eating outside on the patio (when in rome); i don't know how much to elaborate on these meals--all good in different ways--because i am big-time into food but know it doesn't make for the best read. after dinner we made our way home, leisurely reading through the evening while it rained, then packed up the car when the time came. (ph0enixinflight, i finished fugitives and refugees that night, and i'm even more inspired: thank you!)

day 5: tuesday we left in the morning when murphie did--saying goodbye to her and harrison. hairy howled (well she did every time we left thinking we weren't to return, only this time she was right about it) and it was bittersweet to say goodbye to my dear friend. we made our way out of north carolina--a beautiful state i'm so glad to have visited--back towards home. unexpectedly, we noticed (only about 2 hours after our start) a few signs of interest--the first for a gorge and waterfall state park, the second for a "lookout point" we just couldn't resist. the lookout point was a tallulah point, a general store from the early 1900's perched atop (and looking down upon) the tallulah gorge. the store was a carnival for my senses: glass-bottles of soda in troughs filled with ice, handmade soaps and bath items, moon pie recipes, and bell jars filled with honey--i was in heaven. we talked to the shop-lady, who told us the gorge was only a few minutes off highway 441, so james and i backtracked to the interpretive center, at the head of the tallulah falls trail. the lookout points (5 of them) were incredible and beautiful--well deserving of the title "grand canyon of the east"--in fact, i haven't seen something so naturally awesome since the grand canyon. though our views were more than satisfactory, james and i decided we were hardcore hiking types, and therefore felt completely able-bodied when it came to the 700 steps and 400 feet descent to the gorge's suspension bridge. the bridge--which trembled and swayed under our feet--was terrifyingly beautiful. we continued further down, another 200 steps and 96 feet, to the base of the hurricane falls. by the time we completed our hike (1800 steps; 3+ miles at a 45 degree angle--the gorge is 1200 feet deep) our legs were trembling and gummy...but we did it. james and i got back in the car, just missing a terrible rainstorm, and drove onward, through GA (nothing noteworthy to say here) and back into FL (home of beautiful skies, flat land, and humidity). our road trip munchies had ruined us (bad bad fast food decisions) so we stopped at our favorite vietnamese place for food redemption upon re-entering orlando...spring rolls often equal bliss. so it was, i returned to florida on tuesday night...sore, tired, with lots of memories and photographs, happy to be home.