Ridiculous Road Trip, Day 39-41

 May 8

After an early morning goodbye to the family, we started our way north, toward Asheville, NC. 

We couldn’t pass up the chance to stop at this weird roadside stop, the Museum of the American House Cat. 

Then we headed on to Lake Powhatan Campground in the Pisgah National Forest near Asheville. 

May 9

We headed into Asheville and made our way to the River Arts District. And then realized that our early morning habits are not reflected in their studio hours. So, we headed downtown to an divine bookstore and coffee shop, bought a bunch of books and tasty drinks at Malaprop’s. We also found this super cool shop called Madam Clutterbuckets Neurodiverse Universe, filled with excellently unique items and staffed by neurodiverse and differently-abled adults.

Late-morning was a much better time to visit the River Arts studios. We saw lots of interesting art, and I fell in love with the prints outside of Julie Armbruster’s studio. Sadly, her studio wasn’t open, but I was able to make an appointment in the early evening to see the rest of the fanciful work inside. 

And since we needed to while away the afternoon hours, we found a delicious lunch at La Bodega and some weird beer at White Labs Brewing Co, and much needed couples massage at Merrimon Wellness Center. Completely refreshed, we headed back to the Wedge Studios building. Waiting to meet Julie (and her adorable daughter) was the best possible choice! Her quirky and amazing prints totally tickled my fancy, but it turns out all of the characters and prints have stories! So fun!! We may have bought several more than I intended….totally worth it!

May 10

Wednesday was a day for hiking and enjoying the beautiful campsite at Lake Powhatan. Doug chose a trail with some crazy hills. 

I opted for the more forgiving gentle hills around Lake Powhatan. 

We met back up at the campsite for a relaxing afternoon. 

This campground also had some of the cutest and odd little campers.

I especially like that this campground also provides a bucket at all the water taps, for putting out campfires. So clever!

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Ridiculous Road Trip #2, Day 36-38, Atlanta

 May 5

We headed out from Alabama back to Georgia, but this time with a bonus family visit! We were getting to spend the weekend with Doug’s sister and her family.

But first, we made a stop at the infamous Buc-ee’s gas station, fueled up, grabbed some tasty breakfast treats (brisket burrito!) and some Beaver Nuggets (based on advice from the interwebs).

Before we arrived in Atlanta, we gave Ora a bath, since we were finally leaving “love bugs” behind. <blech> 

Ora’s shower stall was a little snug, but Doug awesomely got her through. 

With the Truckitha and Ora all clean, we happily arrived for our visit!

We had a lovely weekend of family, snuggles, laughter, walks in the neighborhood, tasty food and drinkies, boiled peanuts, glittery makeup, building catapults, clean laundry, and a non-RV bed. There may have also been some crazy exercise competitions between a certain crazy uncle and a nibling. 

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Ridiculous Road Trip #2, Day 34-35, Selma and Montgomery

 May 3

After a goodbye to the live oaks and Lake Pontchartrain, we got on the road again. 

Louisiana was the most southwestern state we needed for this road trip, so we needed to wend our way back east and north again. We decided to stop for a few nights at the  Prairie Creek Campground, an Army Corps of Engineers site, near the Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail. 

The campground was lovely, generously spaced sites, surrounded by one of Alabama river lakes. 

May 4

We headed into Selma and our first stop was the National Voting Rights museum located at the foot of the famous Edmund Pettus Bridge. Despite its nondescript exterior, this museum does a great job with exhibits that show the voting rights struggle in America, especially "Bloody Sunday”, the Selma to Montgomery March, and the Civil Rights Movement throughout the South. 

We crossed over the bridge and paid a visit to the National Park Service Selma Interpretive center, where I inspired a whole bunch of folks to start their own National Park Passports!

After a delicious small town diner lunch, we headed to Montgomery and to the Equal Justice Initiative Museum and Memorial. If you are ever near Montgomery, do not miss these places. The Legacy Museum is an incredibly well done, moving, painful, and sobering experience. It’s an immersive look at the history of the slave trade, racial terrorism, and present day prison system.

The National Memorial for Peace and Justice was also compelling, acknowledging the thousands of racial terror lynchings that have occurred in the U.S.

This was a heavy, thought-provoking day. We unwound with one last outing to the Montgomery Art Museum. There was an event in the sculpture garden where we got to unwind a bit.  

Where’s Fiona?

Alabama!

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