Tinkerbell's Travels

The Hillmer Travel Blog

Rhapsody in Blue (Ridge Mountains)

It was a short hop, skip, and a jump over to our next stop on Tinkerbell’s Summer of ’25 Tour: Asheville, NC!

While Jay was driving, I designed a “tour shirt” to commemorate our trip.

I found some beautiful flowers along the way!

We arrived in Asheville and took a turn up a pothole-filled, narrow, twisty, one-lane road (thankfully we didn’t meet anyone coming down or one of us would have had to back up!) to our campground.

Look at that hairpin turn! I drove Leap the Jeep behind Jay and Tink and was happy I wasn’t in the front seat of the bus!

After a slightly-harrowing drive up to the campground, Tinkerbell landed in a beautiful camp site with amazing views of the Blue Ridge!

We were enamored with the lush, green grass and trees! And the views… oh those views!!!

Tink has a cute back end 🙂

Even the views of the Blue Ridge Mountains were beautiful!

Jay took multiple pictures of the morning clouds resting on the mountains:

Eventually, we got our heads out of the clouds and made our way to downtown Asheville. The city is still recovering from the hurricane that ravaged the town in October of last year. A few of the artists (something Asheville is known for) managed to save some of their work and have re-opened their shops on higher ground.

This is the Grove Arcade in downtown Asheville. It houses a number of artists and shops. Unfortunately, we didn’t take any pictures of the smaller shops downtown – we were too busy enjoying the art!
We drove outside of downtown to see the historic Grove Park Inn. It is a wonderful, upscale spa resort now run by Omni.
This is the artists’ studio in Grovewood Village.
Jay made quick friends with a woodworker Chris Abell who makes custom flutes made with African Blackwood and sterling silver and sells them at Grove Park. It takes Chris a month to make each flute!
Fortunately, this was the only black bear we saw on our trip in the mountains!
This is the gorgeous view from Grove Park Inn.
Jay kept seeing eye-popping cloud formations! This one highlighted the skyline of Asheville.

We returned to our majestic campsite and two boys were patiently waiting for a walk.

Ziggy has learned to pose like a fashion model.

After the walk, we returned to the bus to enjoy the mountain sunset.

Frankie kept a watchful eye on us from inside the bus.
Jay enjoyed a mini Old Fashioned while reading one of his many Stoic books.
Stoicism teaches balance.

And then, at last, the sun set on our Asheville Adventure:

Up next: Reconnecting with Longtime Friends!

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Ace Hillmer
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One response to “Rhapsody in Blue (Ridge Mountains)”

  1. Mary Bolin Lowder Avatar
    Mary Bolin Lowder

    Jay and Linda, the pictures are stunning. Also liked the sunset reflected in Jay’s balanced glass. After the dusty dryness of Tucson AZ , it is calming to see the greenery and lush mountains. What an adventure, with more to come. Thanks for sharing your journey.

    Liked by 1 person

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