I had booked a ziplining adventure for the afternoon, figuring it would be nice for the day to warm up a bit if the weather was cool. One of the nice things about this vacation was that there was plenty to do, but we never felt rushed.
The boys and I went to the pool in the morning so James could work on some homework.
We stopped in at the Folk Art Center and Blue Ridge Visitor Center. There were two artists from the craft guild working on site and lots of locally made products on display and for sale.
We made a quick stop for a fast food lunch before heading to Navitat for ziplining. The weather was looking iffy, so we wore our shells just in case. (By wearing them, we probably increased the odds that it wouldn't rain...)
Anxiously awaiting our tour...
Getting geared up:
We took a very bumpy ride to the top of the mountain. The 15-passenger van was bumping and hopping as much as any roller coaster. Then it was a short walk to the first line.
The view from the top:
Our tour was the "Blue Ridge Experience," which consisted of three separate ziplines: 1100, 3600, and 2300 feet long with speeds up to 65 mph! It was really hard to get pictures at those speeds while ziplining, so we mostly have pictures from the platforms.
James and Brady coming in:
We tried a few movies...it's not the same, but gives you some idea of the ride. This was an expensive adventure, but certainly not one we're likely to forget!
The next big adventure was the Asheville Pinball Museum. I'd read about this when we first started talking about Asheville as a destination and the kids were anxious to go all week. We couldn't go earlier, because they changed locations and Friday was the first day they were open. I'm not sure who had more fun here, the kids or the adults! There were dozens of pinball machines, spanning many decades of pop culture.
The big one in the back that Rudy is playing on is "Hercules," the biggest pinball machine ever and "18 square feet of excitement for 1 to 4 players." It uses an 8 ball rather than a standard pinball.
I love Pinball, but the real draw for Rudy and me was the classic 1980's arcade games. Even better was finding BurgerTime!! Growing up, my family had an Intellivision and I remember spending hours playing BurgerTime with my brother. I even have very specific memories of my mom playing, determined to beat the next level before she'd quit.
Friday night dinner was around the corner at Chai Pani. We ordered a few things to share. I'm no expert on Indian food, but this butter chicken was excellent. And, crazy enough, my favorite part of the meal was the okra fries. Okra, cut into shoe string slivers, seasoned with Indian spices, and flash fried. YUM! Of course, poor Rudy had jasmine rice for dinner because he was starting to feel poorly again. :( We let the kids pick out some fudge for a small bite of dessert and to save for the road trip home tomorrow.
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