First of all, let me show you where we are right now: sitting at the breakfast bar in a hotel in an Arkansas town called “Lonoke” that may very well have been the setting for The Shining. (The hotel is actually very nice in the morning, but last night, when we were wandering the hallways looking for our room: totally kept an eye out for Redrum.)
We didn’t mean to be here, exactly (although it’s a very pretty part of the world) – what happened was that we stopped just outside of Memphis for dinner (more on that later because oh my godddd), with the plan to just wing it and find a place to sleep on the outskirts of town…and then our kids both fell asleep. Instantly. And what I have learned from this trip so far is that if the kids need to nap, let ’em nap; if everyone feels like getting out of the car and running around in a parking lot, go ahead and do that, even if it makes you arrive somewhere an hour later than you’d hoped. Just go with it. The destinations are less important than the journey, you know?
And so we decided to get a head-start on the next day’s drive while the kids were sleeping and find a place to stay somewhere in between Memphis and Arkansas National Park, and then discovered that these “places to stay”? They’re like an hour away from each other around here. And all of them, inexplicably, are completely booked up (presumably by people like us who were all “oh I’ll just find somewhere to sleep tonight”…and then realized that there would be nowhere else to sleep for two hundred miles so they better get a room like now).
Anyway.
Let me back it up, because I have discovered the place where I will live in my next life, when I own a half-bed-and-breakfast-half-honky-tonk-bar.
It is called Asheville. And you all told me I would like it, but in no way did I think I would like it this much. This was not “like,” guys; this was LOVE.
We decided to take the Blue Ridge Parkway to drive into Asheville, which was a good idea because it was one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been in my life, but a bad idea because half an hour after sunset a fog came down that was so thick that visibility was reduced to about two feet, which resulted in us taking about three hours to make what would have been an hour-long drive (we went about ten miles an hour, with our high beams and hazards on to make us as visible as possible, and it was still terrifying). We arrived at 10PM, which would ordinarily have been sort of a bummer, except what we arrived to was paradise in the form of an air bnb with a hidden cave-style bedroom for our son and a rooftop jaccuzi for us.
Yes.
And then the next morning we wandered the town and fell in love. Huevos rancheros (apparently voted number one in the country?) at the Sunny Point Cafe, air plants at Flora (getting married in the area? GET YOUR FLOWERS THERE), gorgeous puzzles and gifts and paper supplies at Whist, and a bunch of country CDs from Harvest Records to replace the songs that our son has put on repeat these past few days because if I hear “Drift Away” one more time I will cry.
One store in particular that I want to point out: a place called Rhetorical Factory? (ha). We stopped because of the name, but inside what we found was a shop dedicated to rescuing clothing that nobody else wants and then bringing it back to life (they also sell accessories, home stuff, and various fair trade and locally made items). Obviously I love everything about this philosophy.
Next stop?
An ENTIRE STORE dedicated to Goo-Goo Clusters (omg they are so delicious).
On me: H&M Fringe Shorts; Birks; Ora Delphine Sofie Pouch c/o.
The best thing that happened in Nashville was that we got to spend time with my college BFF Nes and her family.
The second-best thing that happened in Nashville was that we got to make a family trip to a honky-tonk bar, where we ate fried bologna sandwiches and fried pickles and my son obsessed over needing to get on stage and dance.
The third-best thing that happened in Nashville was that Indy got to sleep in a “secret hiding place” (a.k.a. the closet in the guest bedroom). Don’t ask, guys: this was his decision, and it was apparently going to happen whether we liked it or not.
We also saw the Goo-Goo Cluster Headquarters (YAAAA), found a pair of kid-sized cowboy boots at a yard sale for three bucks, got out ten gallons of energy at a playground, and stayed up late drinking wine and talking. And I wanted to stay forever and ever, but:
onward.
