Does Coca-Cola count as culture?

So our last night in Asheville was CRAZY. Turned out there was this mini-street festival on, just hippies ad jazz EVERYWHERE. It was lovely!





Hippies have no insecurities whatsoever! There was some craaazy dancing on the street...Calum and I felt very 'British' (pale and static...)









We went for dinner at 'The Southerner'. To be perfectly honest was a LITTLE disappointing. I was really looking forward to my classic Southern dish of Chicken and Waffles but it was all a bit soggy really:

We discovered a whole other area of Asheville that night, so happy we did. Tons of cool little vintage shops, quirky book shops and your standard hippy 'smoking' shops...don't ask!

Strolling along the street one particular street band caught out eye. ''Blind Boy Chocolate and the Milk Sheiks' consisted of one singer who played a saw with a violin bow; one double bassist  whose double base was constructed using a large stick, a metal wash basin and a string connecting them both, and an electric guitarist.

Look what else we saw! Those Crazy Southerners...

They were AWESOME. We bought their Cd! Kind of blue-grass meets country, we are quite enthralled with deep south music now! Some might say experts...some might not. Infact, most would probably not.

On the way home we bumped into this:

If you are wondering what it was, imagine how scared we were!! It was a 'drumming circle': cue the collective 'ahhhhhhhh'...

OR NOT

bloody hippies...

basically people collect here and beat their drums together and everyone dances like maniacs. It sounds so random but it was actually hysterical. Calum and I started making random animal noises and howling at the moon...and other people joined in! It was absolutely hysterical but also REALLY tiring!

We had a great night drinking good beer, listening to live music and eating GREAT ice-cream before it was home to bed!

Leaving North Carolina was really sad, it's such a beautiful state! Even more ominous was the welcome sign to Georgia, it was a bit rubbish and we nearly missed it:

The road we had to take was the US 23. I'd like to point out at this moment something I've forgotten to until now. Calum insists on pronouncing every Interstate road we venture upon like this US two three. So instead of us hitting the Interstate Eighty-Five we went on the I Eight Five. He's so special...so cute...

Aaaaanywaaayy

The US23 was not your usual interstate; it curved through many little towns and villages. There were too many things to comment on to even START taking pictures! A lot of life-size fake bears were for sale beside the road dressed in various costumes...don't really know why!

We eventually found Rachel's place in Atlanta! Rachel is Miranda's friend who has very kindly offered to put us up in Atlanta - thank goodness. After a small nap her and her little baby Jonah introduced us to a beautiful game....

BASEBALL! We went to see the Atlanta Braves!

We had an absolutely BRILLIANT night there! Calum really like baseball because it's relaxed and you can drink there haha. Rachel introduced us to a lovely blueberry wheat beer. Calum asked the lady behind the beer stall if we could keep our bottle tops because we are collecting them and she literally opened my bag and dumped in about fifty different bottle tops! I was jingling about like some gypo all night...

It was really great having Rachel and Jonah there explaining the rules to us. We decided it's basically just like rounders. My favourite player was called 'Chipper Jones'...what a guy! Calum preferred Jose Constanza (who everyone calls George apparently. Something to do with Seinfield. Don't understand the joke but going to use it anyway so that we look cool and informed).

 The Braves ended up winning their game against the Arizona Diamond-Backs (of course) and got themselves two new fans in the process! We also caught a glimpse of the really pretty Atlanta sky-line at sunset.

 Bay bay reporting: Today we had a wee lie in then hit the town. We visited the Atlanta Aquarium and the World of Coca-Cola. So it was an awesome day, and I found it extremely hard to contain my excitement of seeing some awesome 'fishies' and being able to try over 60 kinds of beverage produced by Coke.

So first up was the world's largest Aquarium where you can book a sleep over apparently! Jen really really really wants to sleep over. Rachel and Jonah also came along, which was great because Rachel used to volunteer at the Aquarium and knew all kinds of fun facts!

I was also found it cool that there was Dolphins all over Atlanta which had either an artistic touch or was decorated in some fashion to represent this fine city. I remember some time ago that there was the same thing in Edinburgh with cows! (Mike Baynham may be able to add to my limited knowledge on the cows). The second picture below is Jenni with Conan O'Brian who is apparently a late night super star!

So this Aquarium was unreal, and makes Scotland's finest Deep Sea World look extremely small and RUBBISH! It was Split into 5 sections of madness. We first ventured into the Cold water quest where we saw Beluga Whales, giant Pacific octopus, Japanese Spider Crabs and weedy Sea Dragon's. We both loved the Beluga Whales, which we believe were extremely wise and rare! 

We then went to the Ocean Voyager section which was built by Home Depot. This section was by far my favourite as it included the Whale Shark which was massive. It also had a gigantic acrylic viewing window which will make anyone stop and say WOW!

We then went to see the Tropical Diver section where there were living corals and thousands of of colourful reef fish and Squirt the Turtle  wooooooooo!

In the final two section we saw animals of the river and the Dolphins! It drew a close to a funfilled morning, during which at times I'm sure it was difficult to distinguish the difference between the kids and Jenni and I- especially me! We grabbed lunch with Rachel in the Centinial Olympic Park before Jenni and I headed for the World of Coke.

The World of Coke was AMAZING. We got to do evvverything and try 64 different Coke products - all for $16!

It was so cool, we got to see the Coke bottles being filled; meet some Coke characters; have a 4D Coke experience; go to the museum of Pop Culture AND watch all the old Coke adverts being screened! Holidays are coming, holidays are coming...

We left feeling VERY emotional about Coke and all its global powers! Teaching peace, happiness and how to make the world sing! 

They also gave us a cheeky wee free bottle of Coke as we left, which we didn't really fancy at the time given that we'd just tried all the different versions of Coke from all over the world. Our tummies were FAR too bubbly.

Sorry for the long blog guys, we'll either need to blog more frequently or stop doing so much in the first place!!

So go on guys, have a coke on us!

We might have even seen it being made!

Love you all,

Cal & Jen xxxxxx

Asheville - The land of Dreadlocks and Priuses

So we're still alive!!!!! An early rise on Thursday-much to Jen's delight- gave us enough time to explore Duke University Campus and briskly walk through the 'Sarah P Duke Gardens' before departing for Ashville.

A 'quick and uneventful' trip to the gas station went smoothly despite my best efforts to up the drama after asking for a beggars assistance. In my defense, I had seen him helping out another lady who had a car problem, but I probably did still deserve my (severe) telling off! Lesson learnt- don't ask African American men with string belts and brown bags for ANY assistance (slight interjection, Calum saw this man slip the brown bag into his pants BEFORE he asked him for help...)

However we embarked safe and sound onto the second stretch of the American Dream. After stopping in Statesville for a bite, we continued upwards and upwards into the hills, surrounded by stunning views which was accompanied by Jen's fine fine singing, video may follow! We arrived at Arthaus Hostel, which is very pretty, clean and conveniently beside a micro-brewery!

After checking in, Jen booked activities for the following day and we hit the town! Ashville is truly a hippy town and its laid back nature and musical culture led to a very entertaining evening. We watched a live band play in the square, and then strolled through the downtown area. We stopped in a court yard restaurant for a burger and biscuit! Although Jen disputes this, I am convinced a biscuit is actually just a scone. Although having it with the main meals, if cream and jam had been brought out it would have made a lovely dessert - second interjection, a biscuit and a scone are VERY different things.

Talking of dessert! Check this out:

Chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting...... yum!

But we were sooooo full we had to ask for a doggy bag!

Following dinner we ventured to a bar called 'Jack of the Wood' where we drank fine beer and listened to bluegrass mountain music. With are stomachs full with food and beverage we strolled back to the Hostel to get an early night before todays activities.

So today we had the option to visit a large historic house or go white water rafting. Guess which option won! This morning we truly were living the dream as we ventured down the French Broad River, with fine company, stunning views, and lots of laughs. We both took up the first challenge of jumping off a 30ft cliff into a deep pool. Although Jen was initially nervous, with the backing of the cheering crowd below, she went for it and following a small splash arose victorious, with a large smile on her face. My trunks had been annoying me for the most part of the journey, as there was a safety pin jabbing into my behind! The group leader came to my rescue as Jen couldn't get it out using her teeth to remove it from the netting followed by 'thats the closest I have been to a mans butt in years'- we think she batted for the other team.

We were also able to swim down some rapids, enjoy a cooked bbq in the forest and see three bald eagles on this adventure. Its been a great day so far! This evening we plan on going to see some old book stores, watching a circle of drummers in the park (some hippy thing) and then watch live music in the park!

Hey, guess what the most popular car is in Hippyville?

Genuinely couldn't take any more photos...they were EVERYWHERE. Obviously not just popular among celebs hey Grant? ; )


Ashville is an exciting and fun town to be in and it will be sad to drive away! But onwards we must go in search of more fun and adventure!

Peace out!

Calum and Jen xxx

Thank God for Chaz!

Hi all,

So Calum and I left for our road trip this morning. Was really easy leaving, didn't look back once. NAAAAAT! The boys didn't make it easy for us at all! Barricades were built at the door, legs were clutched; the whole thing was quite emotionally traumatising!

Once we were finally one the road it was a pleasant drive. We stopped in Richmond for our lunch. This is were perhaps we should have spotted Problem Number One with our student guidebook. The cafe where we were instructed to dine in Richmond had closed down. It didn't really matter as we found another lovely eatery with a real Southern feel where the food was spectacular!

Guess whose was whose??






We also found that Richmond has VERY positive graffiti:

AND motivational speeches:

AND superior (note: NOT inferior) buildings:

Once we were on the road again the drive was LOVELY. Really straight roads lined with trees...

The further South we got the more nervous Calum and I began to feel as the strings of Deliverance ran in our minds (thank you Dave and Jean!). This was not aided by a hand-crafted shack at the side of the road with the crudely painted letters spelling "TAXIDERMY' sprawling across it. Creepy.

We were eagerly awaiting the sign welcoming us to North Carolina. However this did not arrive, it was in a MUCH more creative format which required fairly crafty camera work:

Neither of us realised how much North Carolina loved God. I had changed the radio station several times and thought all of them were just playing LOTS of adverts until Calum asked me to select a station that didn't preach AT him for half an hour...woops.

We arrived safe and sound at our shady motel in Durham. As we sit and write this there are a lot of people gathered around cars outside with loud music, one man spat. Infront of a lady! Imagine!

Warning Number Two of the book was soon to arise! We headed to the 'famous' Ninth Street of Durham. This turned out to be a small straggle of shops along one little street! Not the hustling bustling University atmosphere that we both expected. I managed to get a discount DUKE t-shirt because it had makeup on it though - RESULT.

We have renamed Durham Stoner Town due to the overly laid back feel of the place and the dodgy-looking front of shops! Our new friend Crystal informs us that this is to keep the sun out. We feel it can't be good for custom or business.

We did see some cool frogs though!

Our book had directed us towards dining in an eatery called 'George's Garage' - an eclectic mix of beer and sushi. This was nowhere to be found!

LUCKILY we strolled into a record shop called 'Chaz's Record Shop'. Thank goodness for Chaz! He informed us that George's Garage had shut down a few years previous to this and pointed us in the direction of a much cooler downtown area of Durham, specifically to a place called 'Fullsteam'.

Fullsteam was AWESOME.

It's this big warehouse that has a bar in it AND a brewery! It's also kind of a restaurant because all these trucks gather outside it like this pizza truck:

Ice-cream truck:

Funny story - I saw this box of keys and list asking you if this was your 'First Time':

What did I presume....?

Calum later pointed out that this was a RUNNING club. NOT a Swingers' club hahahahahahaaha

Inside was so cool and different. The bar taps came out the walls like this:

And you could draw on the bar like this:

We met our first HOLIDAY FRIENDS! Yeyyyy! Crystal, Lucas and Rodney who were FULL of information about our trip and also keen for a cheeky wee photo:

Crystal and Lucas told us about how they were driving around the South one time and they followed a sign of the highway that said 'Gas'. Having followed this for about 2 miles they were starting to wonder what was going on when they approached said 'Gas Station'. This turned out to be a standalone trailer from while a man wearing overalls (and nothing else) emerged carrying a gas can and a shotgun. OH WOW.

STICK TO THE HIGHWAY.


They also promised to become followers of our blog since you guys suck and no-one probably even reads this or comments or ANYTHING.

PEACE OUT - will write tomorrow if we survive the night at the Shady Inn.

Next stop - Asheville!

lu xxxxx