We had a blast in Asheville. We stayed in a little cabin on my friend Sabrina’s beautiful homestead a short drive from the city. She’s been homesteading here for six years now, and this is the first time I’ve visited!

She is an herbalist, and her garden is full of magical blooming herbs, all covered in bees and butterflies. 

She has chickens, including an attack rooster (they are free-ranging, only i couldn’t get close to the ones outside the coop,  goats, bees, and the most adorable little pony. 

Clo spent long hours with another girl who was visiting leading the pony around, brushing it, braiding its tail, and feeding it treats. 

Towards the end of our visit, the pony was refusing to go back to its pen with the goats, and had a fit of rage one evening when it had been coaxed back and we were all standing outside chatting. It whinnied and was charging angrily around, so hopefully the girls didn’t spoil it into being a problem animal now.

We also had amazing ice cream at The Hop and Ultimate Ice Cream. Both were really good – Ultimate maybe slightly more creamy and delicious.

We got wonderful home-style Japanese food at Waku Waku, and brought it home to eat for dinner before we watched the next episode of the “Ouran High School Host Club” anime series that Rose has been having us watch bit by bit. Rose was afraid it might make us Weeaboos, but it was fun anyway, and we got to admire the super cute tiny origami art at Waku Waku while we waited for our food to be ready. 

We met up with some old friends who we hadn’t seen for five years since they moved away. It was amazing to see how much everyone had grown, and the kids had so much fun talking and catching up, we felt like it wasn’t enough time, so the next day we also all went to a waterfall with a swimming hole and beautiful hiking trail where we met another friend to hang out for the day. 

Too much fun, we were tired at the end, and got to our next camp ground awfully late!