Work Travels: Madison County and Unexpected Surprises!
Today was absolutely phenomenal but filled with unexpected surprises! Dinner last night was in Asheville at The Early Girl Cafe.
I had the Turkey Reuben (with local sauerkrat) and the Potato Soup ( which I ended up exchanging for Beets because the soup didn’t taste quite right). My sister makes fabulous potato soup so it can be hard to beat. After getting back to the hotel, my super awesome co-worker shared part of her brownie with me (made locally my one of our Agent’s!)
It was fantastic. My co-worker (continuing her super awesomeness) and I were able to get up early for a long training run. I found a great 8.45 mile route on Map My Run .com (thank goodness for that!) and thank goodness my co-worker was just as pumped as I was! We got a little lost, took on a serious, unexpected hill, got stuck behind a train, got a little lost, took on another serious, unexpected hill but managed to get back to the hotel feeling amazing! I started my watch when we started jogging, which said I burned 660 calories and ran for 1 hour and 18 minutes.
She has a super awesome Garmin watch ( anyone else have this one?). We actually ran a bit further than 6.27 mils because the satellite had trouble picking up our run at first but it beats the treadmil any day!
Post run I threw a banana, strawberries and peanut butter on my oatmeal for breakfast before we were off to Madison County.
My site visit today was at Laurel Elementary in Laurel… My name is Laural. 
It was too cute and the 2nd graders thought it was hilarious!
The drive from Marshall up to Laurel was amazing, especially because I was able to chat the entire drive with our Madison County Agent, Eve. She is amazing! In terms of sustainability, local and organic farming, Madison County sets the ideal example. It is one of the most sustainable counties in NC and sets the bar for Cooperative Extension offices because it serves as the distribution point for farmers in the area to separate, repackage, process and sell their products. I would definitely not mind having this view from the Madison County office (/farmer distribution site)
This county is absolutely gorgeous and hides part of The Appalachian Trail!
Some students here even have parts of it in their backyard!?! On our way to the school, we passed by the turn for Hot Springs. Hot Springs is a favorite station for hikers on the Appalachian Trail to pull off the trail, rejuvenate in the naturally 104*F degree mineral springs and grab a bite to eat. In the 1880′s it boasted one of the largest hotels in the South, with a dining room seating over 600 people!
Eve informed unfortunately that the hotel burned down in the 80′s but the town still attracts rafters from The French Broad river and plenty of visitors from all over. She also joked that the atmosphere of the springs is not upscale spa as you might think but more so fun, wood-shack style or scale. I still would love to come visit, fly fish on the Laurel river, hike the AT (as Eve called it) and enjoy the outdoors of Madison County. Eve agreed and just loves working for her county and she was amazing at her job! She let me teach a little bit from the program (an unexpected surprise!) about heart healthy activities and meat/beans group foods! The kids loved pretending to shoot bball, ice skate, play baseball and other activities that get our hearts pumping.
Since our heart is a muscle, we need to keep it strong and one way to do that is to eat enough protein like foods from the meat and beans group: beef, chicken, fish, nuts, seeds and kidney beans, black-eyed peas, and garbanzo beans- which we all know can be made into hummus!
Every student tried the hummus, even the “picky” ones (like this boy on the right) and also the garbanzo beans Eve brought in to show them how hummus is made. More of the students actually liked the garbanzo beans than hummus, none of them had ever had either before!
After school it was amazing getting to know Eve better and spend time chatting with her and her co-workers. They recommended we go into town for lunch at Zuma’s. I had the cobb salad and potato soup, which I was craving after the dissapointment in Asheville at Early Girl.
Onto more travels back through Asheville, into the Great Smokey Mountains and into the Nantahala State Park
We made a quick stop to see The Nantahala River at the Outdoor Center
Mini Sliders with locally raised, grass fed cows ( trust me, we saw gazillions grazing on the drive out to the restaurant!)
Oh and I forgot to mention dessert… Chocolate Madness ( oreo crust, chocolate ganache, chocolate cake, chocolate mouse, chocolate chips and chocolate buttercream on top)
We split that and we are ready to get some rest! I was really in awe of the menu at this restaurant, their website, and their chef’s ability. My expectations were low due to the warnings that their was nothing to do out here, nothing around. It was nice that Doyle’s exceeded my expectations!
Have you ever set your expectations high and been let down?
Do you prefer to set your expectations lower in hopes of them being exceeded?
Have you ever traveled the Appalachian Trail?
I haven’t but today definitely makes me want to!!!!
