Asheville Adventure: Summertime Teeth

Day four dawned cool and found us departing early once again for calm water rafting on the French Broad river with the appropriately named French Broad Rafting. The minimum age for white water rafting ranges from eight to sixteen, depending on the class of rapids. Jerome has done a fair amount of white water rafting and I have done a little, and we both loved it. But since Katie was too young for any true white water, and we didn't know if either child would like being on the river, we decided to ease them in with some Class I-II rapids on this trip. 

We had an easy drive up into the mountains, and met our French Broad Rafting support staff member, Shane. Shane had waist-length blond hair and was friendly, even though our kids were wound up with excitement and running circles around everyone. He and our guide were on-time, organized, and professional, the equipment was well-maintained, and we got right in the water. It was almost chilly that morning, which was nice. Our guide, Dwayne, was a student at UNC-Wilmington (marine biology major, natch), although he was home in Asheville for the summer. Dwayne was a pale face like Ethan and me. (I don't tan, I beige; actually the whole cycle is white, red, beige, then white again.) Dwayne put sunscreen on his face and hands and then covered himself from head to toe. He wore a bandanna tied and placed around his ears and hooked over the bill of his cap, a long-sleeved shirt, pants over his shorts and socks with his Tevas. I think this is the "abstinence only" version of sun prevention.

Katie and Ethan (who can always
find a stick or a rock) getting ready for the trip.

In addition to doing a lot of the paddling, Dwayne also educated us. He told us about the area fauna, some real -- such as blue herons and trout -- and some imaginary -- like the swimming river bears that live in the rock caves on the river and North Carolina sipping trees that tip over to get a drink from the river and rise back up at night. (These were actually trees that had fallen over into the river). The kids were amazed at the tall tales and it added to the trip. Dwayne also taught the kids basic safety, such as not standing up in the river if you fall out of the raft, lest you get your foot wedged in rocks. (Broken ankles can be a bit of a bummer.) They also had lessons in how to row properly, specifically how to always keep your hand on the T grip at the top of the paddle to avoid hitting others. Dwayne told them this was to avoid giving others "summertime teeth" -- "summer" time they are in your mouth and "summer" time they are in the river if someone doesn't control their paddle well.

We were the only people in this raft and we didn't see another person on the river the whole time, which was wonderful. Well, we did see one person "sleeping" -- "sleeping it off" would probably be more accurate -- on a beachy area near a camp ground but otherwise it was our group and the river the whole way. Despite the lack of fellow rafters, we had an animal friend who accompanied us. A blue heron tracked us down the river; flying, landing and looking for food, then taking off around the time we passed her.

Despite the cool temperatures, we stopped a couple of times for swimming. The water was cold and the kids and Dwayne were the only ones who got in. No one stayed in long. On one of the stops, we had a little early lunch. We had packed PB&J for all and, I must say, as an adult you forget how good that combo is, especially when eaten while immersed in beautiful scenery.

The river was a little low in spots and we got stuck a few times. Ethan and Katie loved this, for some reason. Dwayne, who had to get out and drag us off the rocks, didn't love it as much but he had a good attitude about it. I'm pretty sure he did it intentionally once after he figured out the kids liked it so much. The kids also loved the "rapids" we went over in deeper sections -- wheeeee!! -- so a future trip to the Ocoee in Georgia is on the agenda for when Katie turns eight.

Isaac, Hef wants another scotch.

We came back to the cottage for a second lunch and nap time. Post nap was more hot tub time, surprising given that it was forecast to be over 100 that day. The tub was on a shaded deck and was still lovely despite the warm temperatures. For some reason, hot tubs always make me feel like I should be sipping a fruity cocktail and chatting with Hugh Hefner on the Love Boat, but alas, Hef and Isaac bearing refreshments were nowhere to be found.


After drying off, we journeyed back into Asheville to eat at another highly touted restaurant, the Early Girl Eatery. It's another place that makes a big deal about its fresh, local, farm-to-table approach and it's another place where none of that showed in the food, at least at our table. Ethan and I ate about half of our choices and Jerome and Katie each ate about 1/3. The service was OK, with no comment from the server about the amount of food remaining on our plates. If they care about your experience, most restaurant staff will inquire if they notice large amounts of uneaten food, so this was surprising. Oh well.



After our disappointing dinner, we were still hungry and decided to seek out some dessert to fill up on. The Early Girl is near the Grove Arcade, a lovely old precursor to the shopping mall that has many shops and is enclosed but with skylights all along the top.  We strolled in, admiring the marble wall panels and looking for a treat.  Ethan was a bit disappointed, because he thought we were going to play video games.  The Grove has many unique, locally-owned shops, bars, and restaurants, but the shops were all closed, so it was back out to continue our search.

Building detail we saw on our stroll

Earlier in the week, we had passed a candy shop on the trolley tour. The trolley stopped and rang their bell, and the Kilwin's Chocolates staff brought out samples. The samples ran out before they got to us in the back of the trolley but we thought that was a nice (and savvy) gesture, so we went in search of that shop. When we found it, the kids had ice cream -- Ethan had "Superman" flavor that was very brightly multi-colored with a flavor that I couldn't identify, but he loved it -- and we had candy, all of which was delicious. We had hoped to get into the Woolworth's building that still had a working soda fountain but it, like almost all the other stores in this section of downtown, were closed. That seemed odd for 6.15 pm on a Thursday in the high tourist season but we got what we came for and we got to stroll around a section of Asheville that was interesting, with unique shops and beautiful old buildings. The kids got to pet about 50 dogs along the way, as it is a very dog-friendly community with people-friendly locals who were happy to share some canine love with us.

Soon, it was time to go home and it had become clear that a theme for our days had emerged: a fun trip into the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains, an adventure provider that provided excellent service and fun, all topped with a sweet ending.