Happy 15th Anniversary!

Peirce and I celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary in April. We went to Asheville, NC for a couple nights. Unfortunately, the weather was very rainy, but we managed to get a lot of fun things in during our stay. What a great town!

 We walked around the town in between raindrops. This old Woolworth was converted into an art gallery with a counter ice cream shop. 

 You could walk around to different artists' works. It was really cool and I could wander there for a long time. I had to take this picture of all these dogs for Ben.

 After that, we walked around town and saw things like this. I mean, really. How adorable! This little guy was so mellow. I guess you have to be when your owner puts a hat on you.

 We discovered very quickly how much dogs are adored in this town. They had a dog welcome center!! It was complete with toys, water bowls and place for owners to sit. I have seen it all.

 We didn't get to go here, but this would be another place I could spend hours. I love me some pinball!

Look Ma! An iron! (Actually, the iron was one of my favorite Monopoly pieces. I loved the flat surface on the game board. Do they still have it? I thought they were getting rid of it.)

 The next day, we went to Fat Tire brewery for a tour. We got to see the room where the beer is officially brewed complete with these big machines. They were all shiny and looked like this and did different things. Unfortunately, I have no clue what was what because our tour guide talked so fast. Pretty wild company though and I think they treat their employees very well. The moment you are hired at Fat Tire, you are given a key to each and every room. You also get a 12 pack of beer once a week per the honor system. And after one year of employment you get a bike! They want you to have a healthy way of getting to work. Cool stuff.

 Our tour guide was quick at pouring beer though and we got a few samples along the way.

But, there was one interesting thing about being an employee at Fat Tire. There is a slide for employees to go down instead of stairs! Yes, you can take the stairs, but one of their company visions is to "Have Fun" and it looks like they sure do. Everyone in our tour managed to go down the slide. I was impressed with myself because I was not looking forward to going in that tube since I'm pretty claustrophobic, but I hustled and accomplished it. Yeah!

I was craving some live music, so we found some for free at a different brewery....Highland Brewing Company. Yes, Asheville is Beer City, USA also. Lots of small and not so small breweries. I thought this outside area looked so fun with the tables and area for outside gatherings.

For dinner one night, we went to a great barbecue place. And just for the record, that is Peirce's pink drink sitting there, not mine. And hush puppies. Yum. Happy 15 years!