Asheville

After a lovely one-hour ride on horseback, we got back on the road and head through the Smokies. On the southern end we discovered the town of Cherokee. It was after 6 pm, so many of the shops and sites were closing down for the evening. I'm sure that once the season is in full swing, it is quite busy. Here is a link worth checking out: http://www.cherokeeoflawrencecountytn.org/
We drove on winding roads headed east and finally arrived in Asheville, NC after 8:30pm. Downtown is full of shops, local art, museums and restaurants. We headed to Zambra, a great Iberian restaurant - known for it's tapas. I had an amazing pumpkin soup and a spinach salad. The atmosphere was great! Highly recommend!
The next morning, we walked around downtown - enjoying the art and local talent. Stopped in to visit the Black Mountain College Museum. http://www.blackmountaincollege.org/
Then we stopped in the infamous Malaprop's Bookstore and Cafe, where we enjoyed wonderful coffee and browsed the shelves - of course. http://malaprops.booksense.com/NASApp/store/IndexJsp
Shortly after 1 pm we headed out of town towards the Chattahoochee National Forest.