Hipsters!

To celebrate being a couple for twenty years, Cari and I took a weekend trip over to Asheville recently where we stayed in a nice hotel full of hipsters.  The hotel was downtown, one block from the Grove Arcade and two blocks from the Occupy Asheville group of hippies. We were close to everything.

We spent the day walking around downtown checking out the architecture that surrounded us.  We also visited some great shops full of boards games, yarn, more yarn, and rocks.

We stopped by the Occupy Asheville protest that was busy enjoying a beautiful weekend in the park.  Once we realized nobody was going to get maced, we got bored and moved on.

There are some truly amazing places to visit in this town, and one that got our attention is the Basilica of St. Lawrence.  From the outside, you can see that this church is a beautiful structure.  But when I went inside I wasn't prepared for what I saw.

A large dome structure of ceramic tiles met us when we went inside.  The stained glass windows on every wall were very detailed and brightly colored.  From inside, you don't see any brick.  Just stone and ceramic.  It is beautiful and it was no wonder to us why the Catholic church gave this place the special recoginition as a basiclia.  (the B+W image is not mine, but shows the scale of the large dome in the sanctuary).

After dinner we headed back to the hotel room where we contemplated doing some more shopping as we watched horrible TV.  We went down to the lobby restaurant / bar for a few minutes and found the place to be full of hipsters. We immediately retreated back to our room.  Right.  So, just in case you missed that, let me say this another way.

On a Saturday night away from home, six PM,  in for the night watching bad TV and shopping for yarn and board games on an iPod.  This isn't said as a complaint.  We were both very content and pleased to spend our evening this way. Together.

The next morning we headed back to the Biltmore house, one of our favorite day trips this year, and checked out the Christmas decorations that now fill the house.  The pipe organ in the main dining room was playing on this day and the music can be heard throughout the lower level of the castle.  It was worth another visit.

While we were at Biltmore we attempted our best imitations of being hipsters. 

 After spending more than half of each of our lives together, we have become more like each other in a lot of ways.   Who else would enjoy a weekend avoiding hipsters and looking in shops of yarn, rocks, and board games?

Every day I find myself extremely fortunate to be with such an amazing woman.  On top of all the other wonderful things I can say about her, she is perfect for me.

There's nobody else I would rather share these adventures with.