that was cool-- a trip back to Asheville

So I've got a week's break from schooling, and we took a 2-day trip up to Asheville, where I grew up.  It turns out, I like Asheville!  It was a very cool trip.

We took a Segway tour for a couple hours, which was very cool!  The only time any of the three of us had ever been near a Segway was on the last vacation in Hotlanta.  There was a Segway dealer, and we only went as far as trying them out in the store.  But this time, we were zooming along streets & sidewalks.  And the coolest part for me was something else-- so our tour guide was in front, then me, then dad, then mom.  So when I wanted to say something to dad, I would turn my head until I was looking over my left shoulder.  One time, I did that, and that caused my to accidentally veer left some... until I hit a curb.  BAM!  Everything came to a sudden stop, throwing me off.  Now here's the cool bit-- my reflexes actually kicked in.  I fell sideways, but the important thing is that I threw out my hand & prevented (another) head injury.  3 years ago, I didn't have that reflex, I'd just fall like a timber tree.  But I was able to react correctly, and get up laughing after a minute.  Whew!  Sweet...

Then we drove by the house I'd grown up in, 42 Springwood Dr.  We'd visited once before in the last few years, but only to look at the driveway.  But I wanted to see the inside, so we did a reverse lookup to get the phone number, and it was disconnected.  Phooey.  "Well guys, why don't we just knock on the door and ask?  The worst they can do is say no."  So we drove up and knocked, and the guy was the one who bought the house from my folks 6 years ago.  Surprisingly, he immediately knew who we were and invited us in.  It was just cool to say "... and I think there was a table here..." and be right!  Slick!  I'm realizing more and more that although 3 years ago, I'd say I'd lost all my memories from pre-May of '07, I didn't lose them, they were just submerged to slowly resurface over time.

And we had dinner at The Fiddlin' Pig, a really cool new restaurant that features live bluegrass while you eat barbecue.  Cool!  And they had a dance floor, which only the kids were using.  It was a good chuckle to watch one girl do only ballet moves to bluegrass, and one 2-year-old who thought that "dancing" meant "run very fast in large circles."  Heh.

And it was very cool to see that right of the heart of downtown, they've made into a nice park with a stage for concerts, and water fountains shooting water straight up for the kids to run through... called Splashville!