Rader Road Trip-Day 1

We got a late start this morning because we had to run a few errands.  We arrived at the NC Arboretum at about 3pm ( we had a 3 hour drive).  The Arboretum is a beautiful place, and it is FREE and open to the public.  The only cost is $8 for parking.  Who knew this awesome place is only a few hours from Greensboro?  The first thing we did was go to the “Wicked Plants” exhibit where we learned more than a few things about our botanical friends.  We even got to see a Venus Fly trap plant open and close.

Some of the more interesting tidbits were:

·         Eating too much corn can lead to kidney and liver failure because it leads to a Vitamin B3 deficiency.

·         Enjoy your Rhubarb pie, but don’t eat the leaves, they are TOXIC !

·         Be sure to thoroughly cook that Chili !  raw or not fully cooked kidney beans will cause nausea and vomiting !

·         The color of Philodendrons is determined by the Ph of the soil.  If the flower is white, the Ph is balanced, purple? Highly acidic soil…

·         Yellow Jasmine is toxic, don’t even touch the flower.

After that exhibit we made our way to the Bonsai Garden where we saw such beautiful, artful creations.  One part of the exhibit told how to create our own Bonsai plants and Rachael and I decided that we would create our own Bonsai plant to be passed down in our family… We learned that the word Bonsai is not a certain type of plant, but an art form that can be practiced on almost any type of tree or plant.  I always thought Bonsai was a type of plant, I couldn’t have been more wrong !

Once the Bonsai Garden closed at 5, we wandered through the many other themed gardens till our tummies rumbled and we headed out and went to a small restaurant called the Moose Café.  The country cooking was good, fairly priced, but a bit salty.  I was very thirsty after dinner.

Following dinner we went to explore downtown Asheville, it is AWESOME !  Historic shops, street performers, Art Museum, parks, etc.  And we found a perfect place to park, right on the street between the fire and police stations !  How’s that for safety ?  We were walking around at around 8pm and there were literally hundreds of people walking the streets.  There were police on bicycles and in cars, but nothing seemed dangerous or sketchy.  We met some 20-somthings in the center park carrying backpacks who were part of the occupy Wall Street movement and had a nice chat with them. Time for bed now, hiking tomorrow !

Today's pictures found at: https://plus.google.com/photos/104423898538711271791/albums/5755916044348500817?authkey=CMKVw5rd0b7VsQE