We stayed at a privately owned RV park called Land of Waterfalls just outside of Asheville, NC. The park was cute and well-maintained. This quaint little park did not have a bathhouse so we hooked our camper up to water for the first time since we bought it. I thought we had to light a pilot light outside for the water heater to work. I read the directions and still could not figure out how to get it lit. I gave up trying after about 30 minutes. Sterling flipped a switch on the control panel by the door and it lit up red. “Do you think it was this switch that says WATER HEATER above it?” So, it was much easier than the old 1962 model I’m used to. Now that everything was settled, I was ready to eat dinner. We drove to downtown Asheville to enjoy our favorite vegan wings at an old favorite, Rosetta’s kitchen. The vegan tempalo wings are a culinary delight in both buffalo flavor and crispy texture on the outside of the seitan. Tempeh? I don’t care, they’re amazing. We had just enough time to hit the chocolate shop up and spend $100 on local chocolates. This impromptu date night was the Sunday kind of love I’ve been hoping for. We needed to buy groceries to stock the camper for our trip, but after dinner & dessert was over, we were ready to go to bed. I spent some time in bed, shopping on my phone at the nearest target so we could have our drive up order ready to pick up when we woke up. I wanted to spend more time hiking than grocery shopping.

We woke up and headed into town to pick up our goods. While we waited on the target drive-up order, Sterling walked Hubble around the parking lot. “Babe- I just found a huge unopened pack of 1-ply toilet paper in the bushes over here” Sterling told me over the phone. I was like dude- grab it! Hello?! They walked back to the truck with this rain-soaked package of the exact type of toilet paper we need to use for the RV toilet. “Right before I saw this, I read a bumper sticker that said I hope something good happens to you today and I think this is it”, Sterling smiled. We headed back with this butt hole blessing in tow.

Once back at the camper, we unloaded the groceries and packed up a road lunch. We set out to hike and find some waterfalls and that’s exactly what we did. We saw Looking Glass Falls which is less of a hike and more of a roadside attraction, but you can take a bunch of stairs to the bottom, which we did. I love being in natural places of power. The waterfall was misting and the sunlight was illuminating every drop of water in the air and it made rainbows in the edges of my glasses. There were yellow swallowtail butterflies flying around and moss covering rocky surfaces. It was a pleasure to witness.

We came upon the Blue Ridge Parkway and drove some miles. We stopped to hike toward an overlook off on the side of the parkway. There were 2 cars parked in the lot, and we didn’t think anything about it. The trail didn’t say how long it was or where the overlook was, it just had an arrow that we followed. A ways into the trail, Hubble and Sterling went off trail, only to find an active campfire smoldering but abandoned. They said there was also a coffee cup, a toothbrush and a knife sheath…without the knife. Anyway, we kept hiking because I’m such a sucker for a wow destination. A trail to an overlook?! Sign me up. I wasn’t about to give up because someone was camping off the side of the trail. I didn’t see anyone else around. We walked until the trail was cutoff by a downed tree and there was no obvious continuation. We turned around and walked back toward the trailhead. The toothbrush and the knife-less sheath had me checking over my shoulder. The closer we got to the car, the louder the yelling became. Wtf is going on? The same two cars that were there when we set off on the trail were still there. A man with dirty clothes was yelling about shooting someone and letting shots fly to someone on the phone? Uhhh- I don’t know but we left as quickly as I could manage. Big yikes. No thanks. Who is waiting to become a true crime podcast episode. Not me, babes.

We stopped many miles up the road for another overlook. We ate our sandwiches and enjoyed the view. Alone. Without the sound of white men screaming about shooting someone with a gun. It was here that I realized that Sterling and I both packed our sza shirts. We wore them on the same day without coordinating this. Besties in love. We did share some of our lunch with Hubble. He’s such a good travel friend. He listens really well on trails and will sit or lay down and wait for other hikers with dogs to pass. He doesn’t act a fool and jump on people or other dogs. I’m so proud of him.

We found Hooker Falls after another hike and it was clearly a favorite local swimming hole. Neither of us were dressed or prepared to get in, but I wish I was. The falls stretched out wide and the river glistened in the sunshine. There were lots of people with dogs and kids and it was an absolutely gorgeous day. I consider myself lucky to have visited two beautiful waterfalls in one day.

We grilled veggie burgers for dinner and ate them from our double camping chair near the fire. After we ate, we watched Sinners from my phone and it was actually kind of scary to watch that movie outside near a campfire but I can definitely recommend it. I had no idea it was going to be a vampire movie.

I made banana oat blender pancakes for breakfast and Sterling made the pour over. We hit the road when it started to rain. Until the next adventure-