Asheville to Nashville

Every Friday night in a little square in downtown Asheville, hundreds of people gather for a drum jam that goes on for hours. There are at least 60 people playing drums and everyone else is dancing. We have an amazing video of it, but I can't get the darn thing to load properly. You would love it! 

As you can see from this photo, it's a great place for people watching in Asheville!

In Asheville (and also in Nashville) there are PubCycles like this one that the cyclists drive around town, glass in hand. Looks like fun - or maybe not, since it's 97 degrees here, even at 8 pm.  Better to drink indoors.

We camped 2 nights in the Great Smokies after leaving Asheville. There were lots of rainstorms on and off over the 2 days and nights. Set up the tent the first night just in time for a HUGE downpour. The next day went hiking about 5 miles along a very pretty and fast flowing stream. We saw several guys fishing near here. The light is actually like this - it's mist rising off the water and smoky mist hanging in the higher clouds...

And now we're in Nashville, music capital and home of MANY cowboy boots of every possible description But who needs cowboy boots when it's 97 degrees in the shade, right?

We took a tour of the Ryman Theater, home of the original Grand Ol' Opry. It used to be a church so the seats are actually hard wooden pews. If I saw a show here I'd bring a cushion. For sure.

This is part of the massive hotel complex outside Nashville that now serves the (newer) current Grand Ol' Opry. Lots of shopping, restaurants and a fake river boat ride indoors. There's a glass roof over the whole thing. It wasn't exactly the place we'd planned to spend time, but it turned out to be a pretty good spot to spend a few hours in that 97 degree weather I keep talking about. 

In the complex I just described there are amazing numbers of plants, shrubs and trees along meandering walkways that link one part of the hotel to the next. This is a type of bromeliad that we'd never seen before - very petty.

Tonight we're going out somewhere with live music and tomorrow it's on to Memphis. See y'all later.