Heading south again! | FindPenguins

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Trip start
April 7, 2026
Heading south again!ciasgardenshed.com
Hurricane Helene Aftermath
April 7 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 61 °F
No pictures, but we just drove for miles on North Carolina Route 40 along the Pigeon River. It's one lane now because so much of the road is gone. What looked like a trickle of water today was strong enough to take out stretches of highway during Helene. Sobering. We decided to stop in Asheville for a few days on our way to see Vicky and Mike in South Carolina. Glad to be spending some of our vacation money here.Read more
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Heading south again!ciasgardenshed.com
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Asheville, NC
April 7 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 64 °F
Our hotel here is in a series of buildings that housed the Asheville Supply & Foundry Company. Built in 1915, the foundry provided steel to build much of early Asheville, including the expansion of the Biltmore Estate. Our room is in one of the original buildings.

Dinner at a Dim Sum Restaurant, Red Ginger. Delicious chicken, beef, bok choy and pork buns.

Picked up some chips at a general store. Blast from my past when we had Charlie's delivered to our house!

Downtown Asheville seemed nice, many old buildings saved and preserved.Read more
TravelerI think they were Charles chips and they are still making them! Yum!
4/7/26Reply
Traveler Sorry I didn’t see the chip photos before my comment!!
4/7/26Reply
TravelerGlad to see you are traveling! Think of you often. How did we get disconnected? Have a wonderful trip!
4/8/26Reply
ciasgardenshed.comI think about you all of the time too! We will re-connect!!!!!!
4/8/26Reply
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Heading south again!ciasgardenshed.com
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River Arts District, Asheville
April 8 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 54 °F
We explored the River Arts District today. While about 70% of the artists are back after the 2024 flood, signs of the devastation were still evident.

We loved the experience of seeing artists working. They were all gracious in sharing their processes. We didn't take photos in studios but enjoyed glass blowing, Ukrainian egg painting, several paint styles, and of course fiber arts.

Dinner tonight was Spanish. Amazing tapas sharing plates. Tried octopus for the first time. Yum.Read more
Traveler Mmmm batatas brava
4/8/26ReplyTranslate
ciasgardenshed.comThey were delicious.
4/8/26Reply
TravelerSounds so interesting.
4/8/26Reply
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Asheville
April 9 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 50 °F
I was curious about a building we could see from our hotel window. It's the Jackson Building and was built in 1924 as a 15 story skyscraper. The lot was only 27 by 60 feet and believed to be too small for a building that tall. It now holds the record for tallest building on the smallest lot. There are wacky large gargoyles on each corner.

We spent most of our day at the North Carolina Arboretum. It was a beautiful day to see spring flowers and plants. First, we saw the indoor bonsai garden, with mostly deciduous trees. The coleus plant was colorful and unusual.

Another highlight was a garden dedicated to native North Carolina Azaleas. While their buds haven't bloomed yet, we still enjoyed the color and the many butterflies collecting nectar.

Dinner was our most adventurous to date. We ate at Ukiah Japanese Smokehouse. We tried raw salmon on a crispy rice cake, hamachi (raw fish), and raw wagyu beef. All were delicious! After a salad, we ate the cooked items; pork gyoza, mushroom bao bun, brisket, scallops and broccolini. Sake and coconut cake made the meal complete. It was quite an experience.Read more
Traveler Mmmm what is in the bao bun?
4/9/26Reply
ciasgardenshed.comTempura mushroom, pickles, aioli.
4/10/26Reply
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Heading south again!ciasgardenshed.com
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Beaufort, South Carolina
April 11 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 72 °F
We arrived in Beaufort yesterday. We're with our friends, vicky and Mike who retired here six years ago.
We started today at a farmer's market, then off to see some wildlife at Cypress Wetlands in Port Royal.Read more
🥺 [Vic]
4/11/26Reply
Traveler GUSSY!
4/11/26Reply
Traveler Looking good!!
4/11/26Reply
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Heading south again!ciasgardenshed.com
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Majongg and Boating
April 12 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 75 °F
We've been having amazing homemade cinnamon rolls and delicious coffee for breakfast. Today after breakfast, our hosts patiently taught us Majongg basics. We really enjoyed it! It's something we'd like to look into playing at home.

Vicky and Mike spoiled us again with a delightful afternoon body ride. We saw dolphins!

More Majongg this evening!Read more
Traveler Nice dolphins! 🐬
4/13/26Reply
ciasgardenshed.comYes, they were so great!
4/13/26Reply
Traveler Beautiful
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Beach, then Starting for Home
April 13 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 70 °F
It was a beautiful day for a walk on the beach. We were at Hunting Island at low tide, so the beach looked huge. It's an interesting place. Hurricane Matthew took out an entire row of cabins, the road in front of them and thousands of trees. There are still large hunks of blacktop on the beach and remnants of the cabins like PVC pipe. They call the remaining tree trunks the boneyard.

Next stop Hampton Inn in Hillsville, VA.Read more
That group again! [Vic]
4/14/26Reply
ciasgardenshed.comIt's a particularly great picture of me!
4/14/26Reply
You are photogenic, Cecilia. Also photogenic is that darling Teddy. Even with hurricane damage the beach looks wonderful. [janet kerekes]
4/14/26Reply
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Heading south again!ciasgardenshed.com
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Home!
April 14 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 77 °F
We are finally home. Love to travel, but it's great to be here with the kitties!

That was the last road trip in the old CRV. It had almost 250,000 miles on it, and had taken us on so many family adventures. We drove South for many spring breaks and drove to Yellowstone and back. That was a trip to remember. Much of the mileage came from trips East. Besides visiting my sister outside of Boston, we made yearly trips through high school to drop Emma at her Great Books summer camp at Amherst College. Then the CRV made 26 trips to New England, mostly to Bates in Maine, but also to other colleges for swim meets and championships.Read more
Traveler Nice
4/14/26Reply
Traveler I'm sure they're both happy to see you.
4/14/26Reply
ciasgardenshed.comYes, they are!
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Trip end
April 14, 2026