Thursday

Drove the Blue Ridge Parkway from Cherokee to Ashville. It was very beautiful, and I'll do some pics on Flickr once I get time to edit them.

Got very confused by Ashville's one-way system, and the habit of not telling you you need to change lane until it's too late to do so. Lunch at "Three Brothers", very close to the Ashville visitor centre and the Interstate, then, after studying flyers, skipped Ashville itself and headed for Black Mountain, advertised as a quaint little mountain town. There we met yet more dulcimers, though still no books for telynor, and just about refrained from getting a dulcimer kit. Did buy a CD, though. The CD-box in the car is getting quite full...
The plan for the rest of the day was to make up some miles up the Interstate and stop when we felt tired and found a motel and eatery. So we did that. Ended up with BBQ pork in a place that should have had a buffet, but was closing it as we arrived.

Friday - Galax

A little town that's supposed to be the centre of the music around here, so that's where we headed, via a farmers' market.
and this is getting a bit long, so here's a cut
( shopping, bears, music, all under here )

Saturday - Galax, dancing

Breakfast at the B&B as wonderful as I expected. I now know what red-eye gravy is, and have an interesting new way of doing eggs that I'll never use.

Then the Jeff Matthews Memorial Museum, where we met lots of stuffed animals including a HUGE bear and an armadillo, a dulcimer that claims to be 200 years old, and saw a sewing machine from 1859.

Lunch at the BBQ place, then back to the Rex for the "Scottish Invasion". Not very well attended, and the locals didn't seem to know what to make of very traditional Scottish ballads. Personally I was fascinated by the variations on ballads I've been reading about thanks to telynor: an American version of Gypsy Davey/RaggleTagle Gypsy, and something very odd done to Barbara Allen.

Back to the B&B to chill on the porch. Crocheted sock has the cuff complete, and I'll be on to the foot tomorrow.

And back into town again to the StringBean. High Tea around 7:30 (memo to self, white tea is very nice, American "scones" are more like shortbread), then a band in for dancing. Again, surprisingly badly attended. Only one person dancing in the first half. We got talking to people, Dave and Derek (the owner, chef, local radio announcer, town councillor, and general Nice Person) got chatting about Civil War stuff, and after a bit I got taught to "flat-foot" aka "clog". Well, sort of. I know one basic step, done at half speed. But it was fun. And for the last dance, Derek and his wife and their two sons (one not yet walking) had finished their duties for the evening and came on to the floor: I think there were 7 of us out there, at varying levels of ability (I was better than the non-walking baby, but not by much). A good evening. We'd like to come back again.