June 4: The Rehearsal Party

Brother and Sister.  I clean up good, don't I?

Self portrait with Simone

The photographer's photos can be viewed by clicking here: Rehearsal Party Pics

Lovely party hosted by mom and dad with nearly 100 guests held at the Crest Center.  Great band and fantastic sunset over the mountains.  My mom baked 400+ the desserts for the party.

June 3: Packrafting and family

I woke up early with the grand plan of packrafting the French Broad before it got too hot.  I made it as far as the kitchen before I was stopped dead in my tracks by a "oh no you don't" by mom.  Mom was calligraphying the names of every guest on the gift bags while dad was trying to arrange them by hotel.  My services were quickly commandeered.  The first thing I did was sort the Excel file of guests by hotel to make the piles easier to manage.  The 80+ gift bags were everywhere!  We checked and double checked names and places. 

Around 11:30, I finally managed to escape.  My dad helped me run a shuttle, but I couldn't find the take out so I deposited my car at a farmer's market.  There were 6 people around my age getting ready to shove off at the put in at Bent Creek and I quickly joined forces with them.  It was 12:00ish and it was hot.  My plan to stay cool backfired as the river was a little to murky for me to consider swimming.  I felt like I was burning and kept slathering on the sun screen.  By the end I was coated in thick white and looked ghastly, but still got too much color.  So much for Chilean sunscreen.  The water was slower than hoped and a head wind picked up slowing me down to a crawl.  I could not keep up with the kayaks in my inflatable.  My new friends were kind enough to wait for me near the take out and one of them offered me a tow for the last 300 yards which I unabashedly excepted.  I packed up my gear and prepared to walk the mile or so to my car, but was given a ride.

I returned to more mayhem in my brother's rental house as the bride's sister and her 2 young kids had arrived.  I quickly showered packed my things, and headed over to our hotel room for the weekend near the Biltmore.  I was not prepared for the amount of family that had arrived that day!  It was great to see everyone.  I had another calm dinner with my cousin Fred and his daughter Bella and was immediately thankful for the one on one time.

I dropped Fred and Bella off at the hotel and jumped in the car with my brother and other cousin to meet my parents at the Grove Park Inn piano bar.  The GPI is gorgeous and is set on a hillside overlooking the Smokey Mtns.however, we were in the basement in a dueling piano bar that was best described by my cousin Janah as "cruise shippy".  My brother's friends from Miami and from college along with an assortment of family and family friends were there, and I think all drank heavily to drown out the tacky music.

June 2: Asheville wedding prep

I spent most of the day running errands and helping out with wedding prep.  I won't bore you with the mundane.

At 3:00 p.m., my aunts, uncle, cousins, and parents convereged at Brett and Val's house to assemble gift bags.  Based on all my Reggae on the River experience as crew leader in charge of boxed breakfast- this was right up my alley.  However, the house was chaotic again and Brett and Val were overwhelmed by the amount of people in their kitchen (I was overwhelmed too)- I can't tell if it was pre-wedding stress or that organization is simply not one of their virtues, but it was hectic. 

Each gift bag contained an itinerary (very lovely), maps and lists of attractions, Cana de Flor rum, coke, mom's cookies, locally made jam, crackers, etc.  It was more complicated than one would think, but we got it done.  I managed to escape just in time to make it to dinner.

The whole family comes to help make gift bags.  What a team!

I drove over to Frank and Rachel's house- dear friends from California who have no relocated to Asheville.  Lucky me to have good friends here!  I was feeling quietly proud of pacing myself with family and taking time for myself.  Frank and Rachel treated me to a sushi dinner and we had a great visit.  It was especially nice to get to know their son Eli who is one of the coolest 6.75-year-olds I have ever met.

May 30- June 1: Saluda and Asheville

I shoved off for Asheville loaded with wedding crap on Monday afternoon.  I spent my first night outside the city with a dear old friend, Martin Anderson.  Martin is a friend from Univ of Oregon and years later, we were both living in Arcata, CA before he moved to Asheville, NC and I relocated to Portland and then Alaska.

It was great to reconnect and even better to have a break from family and wedding planning.  Martin lives in a cute little town called Saluda tucked in the Appalachian foothills.  We had an enjoyable dinner at the Purple Onion (if you ever find yourself in Saluda, I highly recommend it!) followed by an evening stroll.  It was so great!

The next morning, Martin fixed me the best cup of coffee I have had since I left the west coast.  I savored every last drop before driving the 35 miles into Asheville.  Martin does the morning radio show on WNCW public radio, and it was fun to hear his voice while driving down the road.  I stopped in REI to get a spare bolt casing for my yakima rack and quizzed the staff on things to do in the area.  I told them I was equipped with rock shoes, a packraft, and hiking stuff.  They said that it was too hot and too buggy to climb plus there was a ton of poison ivy.  But they did give me good tips on places to hike and boat.

I made my way over to the chaos of Brett and Val's rental house.  We had breakfast downtown with Val's mom and neice and Morgan the dog (my nephew).  It was insanely hot. 

I tried to follow the advice of the REI staff which was go to elevation or go be by water to escape the heat.  However, I got lost.  Asheville area roads are extremely confusing.  I normally fair okay on a cartesian plane, but they have highways that are 240W and 26E at the same time.  How can a highway be west and east at the same time?  I ended up in the Pisgah area of some national forest and stopped by a ranger station to get hiking suggestions.  I ended up doing a pore-cleanisng hike up Looking Glass peak (3.1 miles and 1500').  Thankfully it was short because I was questioning my judgement hiking in 90+ degree heat.  On the way back, I saw a bunch of cars parked and decided to investigate whether there was a suitable swimming hole.  There was and it was great.  I swam with the locals.  They asked where I was from and when I replied AK, they said that there is never anyone non-local there, but yesterday there was a guy from Anchorage.  Wonder if I know him?

Summit views from Looking Glass "mountain"

soaked in perspiration



pretty azalea like flowers


That evening we had dinner with Aunt Ilene and her family at Salsa, my fav restaurant thus far.  I cannot remember the last time I saw my cousins Erika and Janah, but it was great to catch up.

June 27: Packrafting with spider lilies

I had all these grandiose plans for my stay and mom and dad's.  I thought I would get a ton of exercise, rebuild my upper body strength which is sadly lacking after 5.5 months in South America, and explore the area.  What I didn't count on was a heat wave!  I am unused to heat and it makes me whiny and sluggish.  This is especially true of humid heat.  I found that if I was not out of the house by 8:00 a.m., it was hard to get exercise outdoors.  To go to the gym in this community (it is a gated active living retirement community with clubhouse), I have to be accompanied by one of my parents- like a small child.

Rat snake

At over 6 feet long, a healthy specimen

One afternoon, we took a break and went to Langford Canal State Park.  The Catawba River runs right through the park and hosts a rare and endangered spider lily.   The spider lily blooms for 3 weeks per year amongst rocky shoals in the middle of the river.  So, I decided to bring my packraft for better viewing.  I found a good put in a few 100 yards down the trail right after I crossed paths with an extremely healthy looking rat snake.

Trying to remember how to paddle a packraft

An unhappy face after mom made me back paddle a 3rd time so she could get a picture of me with spider lilies

It was so cool to be back in my boat as I wove my way through the rock gardens.  The spider lilies were lovely and I caught up with my parents at the viewing platform as my mom was busily snapping photos. 



Dad posing at the viewing platform

On the hike back, we saw a pair of eaglets chirping away in an aerie.  However, we spent too much time and got caught by a late afternoon soaker complete with thunder and lightening- the things I miss by living on the west coast.  I could barely see the road as I slowly navigated us back to the house.

May 21- May 30: Sun City, SC

After travelling for 5.5 motnhs in South America and not having so much as a sniffle, I managed to get the flu in Miami.  It's a family joke because every one of my colds seems to begin in Florida.  The last time I had a cold was 3 years ago- also in Florida.  On the brighter side, what better place to be sick than in your mother's house?

Indeed, it was great to be a MOMnivore again.  That's my word of the week that I coined for eating nothing but food made by mom (and dad).  I must say that the cuisine and the service here are great!!!!

While the house of the Brett and Valerie (bride and groom) was eerily calm, the house of the FOG (father of groom) and MOG was not.  I tried to be helpful and patient as my mother fretted over wedding details.  As most of you know, patience for me is a learned behavior that I am still working on: hence, I was not always successful at keeping my cool.  Nonetheless, it was nice to have the opportunity to spend quality time with my parents.  Living in AK doesn't usually afford such opportunities.

I commandeered the downstairs guest bedroom because it is quiet.  My parents now live in an obsenely large house and they never go downstairs.  As a result, I have 2700 sq feet to myself.  I even have my own gear room!  It was good fun to go through all the clothes I left here and actually wear something different.  By the same token, I found it overwhelming to have to choose which clothes to wear after having only 3 options in South America.
My parents reside in an active living community.  I spent my mornings playing pickle ball with my dad.  Mid afternoons were largely spent shopping for wedding shoes and other items and getting my strapless dress altered.  The wedding dress was a size 8: I don't think I have ever been a size 8 anything and it was at least a full size to big.  This is particularly problematic with a strapless dress and I certainly don't have the boobage to keep a dress like this in place.  The dress has a low cut back that compounds the problem keeping it up.  I was forced to shop for new things I didn't even know existed- "chicken cutlets" (paste on gel-silicon boobs) and spanks (hideously unsexy slimming undies).  I never wanted to know about these things, but evidently the time to shop for them is not right after prom when there are slim pickins.

I spent my afternoons either working on wedding details indoors, cleaning and sorting gear, or at the pool enduring the arduous task of erasing tan lines for my strapless wedding dress.  Such work!  I helped clean up the wedding itinerary, designed labels for the 400 cookies my mother baked for the welcome gift bags, helped with speeches, and other assorted tasks.

May 17- May 20: Miami, FLA

It's so hard to write a blog after too much time has passed.  The longer I wait, the more I seem to want to procrastinate.  But, I know that if I don't write soon, I will lose my entire readership.

May 17-20 Miami, Fla.

"Dani came to Miami, FLA: hitch hiked her way across the SA"

For my older or unhip readership, that's a bastardization of a Lou Reed tune.

I spent my first few days back in the country at my brother's house in South Beach Miami.  I was concerned about staying there right before his and Val's wedding, but as it turns out, it was a pretty chill visit.  They worked during the day and I loafed.  I was reeling from culture shock.  I found myself accidentally speaking Spanish, but the funny thing is that in Miami, more than half the population speaks Spanish, so it's not a bad place to make that mistake.

I had arranged for my mother to bring some of my clothes to Miami when she was down for the Valerie's bridal shower, because I knew that my limited suite of backpacking clothes was in no way, shape, or form appropriate for Miami.  I was so excited after wearing the same clothes every other day for 5.5 months to don something new.  Sadly, my mother grabbed the clothes that were sitting on top which happen to be discards I mailed home during my travels which included wool baselayers and other hiking clothes.

Trying on my bridesmaid's dress.  The dress was a size 8 and I'm a size 4.  How ever am I going to keep this dress on?

I rented a car and drove to Boca Raton one day to visit grandma who is now confined to bed and completely non-compos mente.  To my delight, Aunt Anita was there visiting too.  I spent the afternoon shopping for shoes to go with the yellow bridesmaid's dress and making other vanity-type appointments (subtext to be interpreted as waxing).  It is harder than one would think because stiletto type heels are in vogue and I cannot walk in anything more than an inch high. 

I was treated to dinner with my aunts and uncles.  It was so nice to sneak a visit in solo; i.e., before the wedding madness.  I had originally planned to spend the night in Boca, but Brett and Val were planning to do the official marital ceremony in the morning in Miami and asked me to be a witness.  My cousin Fred is officiating the actual wedding, but according to State of NC laws, he cannot legally marry them.  How often do I get to see my baby brother tie the knot.  I bought myself a decent pair of shoes to wear for the event and a nice tank top, since my post South America repetoire only included hiking boots and crocs.  Honestly, I don't want to accumulate anything new at this point since I am still essentially traveling.

Brett and Valerie didn't end up getting married the next day.  They forgot to fill in some application and therefore had to wait 3 days for bureaucratic processing.  So, i left the courthouse in my only decent clothes.  That afternoon, I went down fancy Lincoln Road to look for wedding shoes then dropped by to see my cousin Adam and his kids.  It was the first time I have had a one on one visit with Adam in a long time and it was really great.  We grew up together.  The kids are adorable, considerate, caring, and fun to be around.  I also got to be around at bath time.

On Friday afternoon, I took a flight to Charlotte where my parents were waiting.