Asheville, NC

It was raining steadily as the weather forecast predicted. My plan for the day was to go to the library and then go to the River Arts District.

The Pack Memorial library was an awful experience. The library was filled with homeless people. There was a no loitering sign in the entry way, but there were five people standing there with a shopping cart. I excused myself and walked in. There were many desks along the windows, but they were mostly occupied with people sleeping at the desk. I finally found a table in the back near a student that was trying to study.

I was secluded for about 40 minutes. Shortly before noon several people came in to occupy tables near me. By now there was a guy that kept singing what seemed to be made up songs. Two other guys were playing video games behind me and arguing over how to play the game. I was trying my best to ignore all the distractions, and then a guy sat down beside me and the smell was so bad that I had to pack up and leave. As I left, he said to me, “You have a grand day!”. I thanked him and said “You do the same.”

Homelessness In Asheville

Almost everywhere you go in Asheville, there are homeless people. There is such a contrast between this really hip dynamic culture and the lack of resources for people in need. It wasn’t just in the library, you see it on most streets. People sleeping in freezing weather. Sitting in the rain. Under most bridges, there were people sleeping, or trying to stay warm in some way.

Along the river, there were makeshift cardboard rooms to stay warm. It seemed that people left their belonging behind at lunch time. I assumed to go find food in some way. It didn’t seem like the city had many resources for these people.

River Arts District

I had lunch at Whole Foods and read a chapter of my the French and Indian wars book.

I drove to the River Arts District to get photos of graffiti. The first image I came to was titled “The Hurricane”. I had heard of Hurricane the boxer, but I had to lookup the story to remember what had happened.

I drove around in the drizzle for about two hours trying to get photographs. There was a bridge I was trying to find but never did. Some of the mages are on the side of buildings and seemed to be commissioned because they were signed. Others were under bridges.

French Broad Chocolate

As I was capturing graffiti, I came across the French Broad Cafe, named after the French Broad river that runs through Asheville. French Broad Chocolates are manufactured in Asheville. I had just found the manufacturing site and cafe. The raw cacao comes from all over but most of it is South American. I order a large latte and 10 pieces of hand crafted chocolates and setup my laptop at the bar in front of the manufacturing area. The air was filled with the smell of fresh cacao. It wasn’t a sweet smell, but it was very pleasant. I was in heaven. The chocolate is very high quality and can be ordered for delivery online.

Mathew prepared my coffee and told me a lot about the Asheville area. I asked him for a photograph. I also took the self tour of the manufacturing area and then hung out for a while. Mathew also suggested some restaurants to check out. He told me Jerusalem Garden had really good middle Eastern food and to order the Veggie platter. The other restaurant he thought was good was the Chi Pani Indian restaurant which had just won a James Beard award in 2022.  He said that Chi Pani would be difficult to get a seat since it won the award.

Jerusalem Garden Cafe

I went with the Jerusalem Garden Cafe. It wasn’t crowded on a Tuesday night. It was getting very cold outside and I had a seat near the front door which was chilly when someone came in. They didn’t have any outlets to charge my laptop except at the front.

I order the chicken platter and not Mathew’s recommended veggie platter. There is a back room that is enclosed with hanging red cloth that would have been fun to eat at. I didn’t get a photo. I had a very good, all around experience of this restaurant. There were several parking lots right around the corner.

As I left the restaurant, I thought I’d get a beer somewhere. I walked around to a few places but they were all empty. There were homeless people everywhere. Many of them seemed very disturbed and were pacing in circles or shouting. Several asked me for money, but I don’t carry cash.

Wicked Weed Brewery

I went back to my car and got directions to Wicked Weed Brewery. The restaurant and bar on the top floor were packed and the greeter told me there was more space downstairs. There was a large bar in the basement and the actual brewery was visible. I had one of their stouts and then left.

The Orange Peel

The Orange Peel is a live music venue beside the Wicked Weed Brewery. There was a performance at 8:30pm by Lingua Ignota. They told me she would be playing piano and acting out some of here songs. After looking up some of the performance on YouTube I decided to go get a good night sleep.

Temperatures were going to be in the low twenties. I pulled into Cracker Barrel around 8:45 and ordered a tea. I had the car all setup by 9:45 and was reading my book. I made sure I had all the sleeping bags together. I was actually pretty toasty as the temperatures dropped.