...And An Old Spirit, Still Alive

8/15/2016

...Continued From Yesterday:
Tom and I started Tuesday morning with a breakfast rendez-vous with some of our friends at the restaurant of the Four Points Hotel, which I had re-named the Three Points Hotel (see post from 8/9/2016 for the reasons), where some of our group were staying while in Asheville for the University of Dayton Appalachia Club reunion.

In view of our overall experience at this hotel, I suppose it should not have come as a surprise that the breakfast buffet, which at 99% of hotels is included in the price of the room, cost $12 here.

Tom and I found it to be a run-of the mill breakfast buffet except for the fact that the hot food was cold and from where I and a few others were sitting there was a distinctly unpleasant smell redolent of burning plastic.

Thus we further demoted the name of the place to the Two Points Hotel.

In truth, though, our enjoyment of the day was in no way lessened by the sub-par breakfast and the water being shut off in the hotel that day from
11 am - 4 pm.

After our morning-long re-visit to the ghost sites of the Montford area of Asheville (see yesterday's post), Tom spotted what turned out to be a great lunch venue,

...The City Bakery Cafe, which made the best sandwiches.

Tom had the delicious Turkey Day Turkey sandwich with turkey, swiss, cranberry relish, mayo, lettuce, and red onion on French bread,

...while I had the indescribably yummy Avo Melt made with
avocado, goat cheese, tomato, spinach, and fresh basil on multigrain bread.

The desserts looked absolutely ethereal,

...yet we somehow manged to resist,

...wanting to save plenty of room for the Appalachia Club Reunion picnic that evening,

...along beautiful Lake Julien,

..also arranged by our super local hostess and Appalachia Club alum Sharon.

The food from a local caterer was great:

Super moist and, tender barbecued ribs,

...yummy greens and savory corn pudding,

...lots of tasty sides cleverly served up in an ice-filled baby pool,

...as were the drinks,

...burgers and dogs on the grill,

...and the most luscious desserts.

Upon the cake was super-imposed a photo of the house that Tom bought back in 1971 for $2400 in Salyersville, Kenutcky, where the group did its volunteer work, as a place for the UD students to stay while they were volunteering (see post from 3/10/2016).

Here's a photo of the house in winter time.

Before Tom and I were married as a gift to Tom I had an artist paint a picture, which still hangs in our family room, from the above photo.

But anyway, the best part of the evening was getting together with old friends and meeting other groups of fellow volunteers who'd worked in withe the UD Appalachia program in the early 1970's.