Hi world! Chris here. And right off the bat, I’m here to assure every reader that, as I am only 20 years old and not 21, I DID NOT consume ANY alcohol during the time mentioned in this post.

My brother’s a cop. I can’t bend rules like that.

But I’m getting a little ahead of myself. This post isn’t even about drinking. This post is all about exploring the city of Asheville with my sister and her husband. Rae and I had been there once before because our other sister married a man whose family lives there. But this time, we were downtown all on our own.

We planned on spending the day in the city because we were going to be so close to it while we were staying at our house on Lake Lure. We love the lake, but there’s not much to do there but eat and sleep and swim if you can’t take out a boat. So, we decided to wake up nice and early on our second day of vacation and head out.

Tanner braved parallel parking in his monster of a truck, and we ended up down the street from Urban Outfitters. Because of the hour, there were only a handful of shops that were actually open, so we took some time walking around first.

We did wander into a few stores and I even bought some stuff. Namely, two nerdy stickers that I liked. (Side note: I think stickers are underrated items. They can be of just about anything and can go just about anywhere.)

The store itself was really creative and neat. It had local art on sale on top of the other items it normally carried. At the counter, they had a sign asking for support and publicizing, so I had to comply. I’m all about helping local businesses.

We had plenty of time to burn before the brewery that Tanner wanted to visit was going to be open, so we walked all over downtown to explore. There were a lot of stores to look in, but also a lot of stores that were extremely far out of my price range.

I preferred to enjoy the sights and life that was around me instead of the items. Being in a city is always something a little awe inspiring for me. My hometown is so small we don’t even have a single stop light. I love getting the chance to see buildings so high I have to crane my neck to see them all.

And of course, it’s so different to be around so many people. When there’s a lot of people around on campus, it kind of stresses me out, but it’s not like that in a city. Something about the crowds just makes things feel lively instead.

There’s always something neat to take in when I’m in a city. Even the walls of a bank were interesting enough for me to try and be artsy with it.

Eventually, we left the streets of stores for the New Belgium Brewery. I wasn’t particularly expecting to have so much fun there because, I mean, it’s alcohol and I’ve already explained that that’s off limits. But the place was actually a neat stop.

Their symbol is a bike, so they used them to decorate everywhere which was actually cooler than it sounds. I know Tanner enjoyed that because he’s a big biker himself. I just appreciated the environment of the place.

I know Asheville gets a rep for being weird and hippie-ish, but I personally am a big fan of anything that’s going to help the Earth. This brewery was on the right path as they didn’t use plastic and they had several recycling options in place of trashcans.

They even built a park area out front for the town. It had a real family atmosphere instead of just being a watering hole.

The outside was also a great place for pictures 😉

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I wanna take a moment to change the subject and say, how cute is my sundress?? I don’t wanna start bragging on myself or anything, but I loooooove clothes and I particularly love that dress. I got it from Altar’d State for such a DEAL last year.

If you’ve never been to an Altar’d State store, I highly recommend changing that. As an employee there, I can promise that you will get the BEST customer service and every store is taken extreme care of, so everything is in its best condition. Bonus: a percentage of everything you buy goes to sponsor a child in Peru or to a local charity!

If you’re interested, you can click my picture for a link to check it out!

Unfortunately, that’s about all the time we spent in Asheville. I would’ve been fine to actually spend a whole day in the city, but since we were at the lake, we wanted to spend at least a little time on the water again. And Tanner needed the chance to state the quote of the trip:

“I’m just chillin'”

-Tanner V. 2019

That was the main goal for the trip after all. Very unlike the goal for my next traveling adventure. You’ll get to hear all about it next week.

Until then, stay safe out there!

P.S. SUPER EXCITING NEWS!!! I have officially created a YouTube channel to accompany this blog! *Que cheers of excitement* There’s only one video up now because I’m still getting used to editing. I apologize for the low quality, but I’ve never done anything like this before. Also, don’t judge my voice too harshly. Nobody sounds good in videos. Here’s the link to check it out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91GP5Xs6U3s&t=97s.

P.P.S Here, There, and Back Again just celebrated it’s one-month anniversary! Yayyyy. I’m pretty happy with how it’s growing so far. I really appreciate the people who continue to like and follow each post. If you wanna play a part in future blog growth, hit that follow button! Thanks guys!