Veganstock, Part Two

Last night, I posted pictures of the delicious food we ate at the PPK Veganstock campsite in Asheville, North Carolina this past weekend. Tonight, I've got more Asheville shots from the times my boyfriend Paul and I ventured out on our own to explore this awesome vegan hippie mecca in the Smokey Mountains.

On Saturday, most of the PPK-ers went to a waterfall and natural waterslide, but Paul and I had plans to meet up with my vegan buddy Leslie in downtown Asheville. Leslie used to live in Memphis, but moved to Asheville last year to go to herb school and to study to be a doula. She's actually pregnant right now and getting a hands-on approach in her mid-wifery studies. Here's Leslie outside City Bakery:

Leslie, her man Arthur, Paul, and I stopped into Rosetta's Kitchen, the best little vegan soul food joint on the planet, for lunch. I had the Family Favorite Plate:

It's peanut butter tofu, steamed kale, and smashed potatoes with deserves-to-be-eaten-straight-off-a-spoon noochy gravy. I also ordered a cup of their Mac & Cheeze:

It was a little dry, but still tasty. I'd order it again.

After lunch, we shopped around at the Belle Chere Arts and Crafts Festival downtown. There were hundreds and hundreds of vendors selling art, jewelry, and crafts. Paul stopped into a Port-a-Potty and found this little guy trapped inside:

We found safe not-so-icky new home for the praying mantis on a plant outside an office building.

On Sunday, Paul and I decided to play catch-up and check out the Looking Glass Waterfall in Pisgah National Forest that everyone else had gone to on Saturday. Isn't it lovely?

The water was super-duper cold though and we didn't go in past our knees. We also checked out Sliding Rock, a natural waterslide that involves brave folks sliding down a slippery wet mountain into a lake of ice-cold water. Here's some lady plunging into icy misery:

There was a huge line for the slide, and the water was too cold for us, so we just watched other people slide down.

Sunday night, most of the PPK gang ate at Laughing Seed Cafe, a fancy vegan restaurant that I'd like to have tried ... but it was really too expensive. So we joined Mr. and Mrs. Poopie Bitch at Green Sage, an eco- and vegan-friendly coffeehouse. I had the Tempeh Reuben with Sweet Potato Fries:

Yum, yum! Now that I'm back in Memphis, I really miss the mountains and all those vegan dining options. Check out this mountain behind Paul:

We come from very, very flat land, so the mountains were crazy amazing to us! And I've never visited a city with so many restaurants that cater to vegans. Then again, I've never been to Portland. Hmmmm....maybe we should hold the next Veganstock there!