Thursday morning, our last full day here with this group. We started out the day but visiting the folk art center which is a beautiful building on the Blue Ridge Parkway. The artisans who show in this museum and gift shop have to be members of the guild, which is the oldest artisan guild in the United States after Paul Revere. This is a statement made by our guide. I'm not entirely sure there is a guild called Paul Revere, but she could be referring to a silversmith's guild.
Following that we did a flying visit to the river arts District which is a lot of old commercial buildings that have been repurposed by artists, actually over about the last 30 years, I think. 
Asheville's Renaissance from its economic troubles starting with the Great Depression and going into the 50s is largely a result of its becoming an art destination. We didn't see a great deal of the artists' studios and showrooms today, because we only had an hour and a half, and they are very spread out, and different people wanted to go different places, which is quite inconvenient with the tour bus. We will come back here after the tour ends.
Quilt garden. The black flowers are actually purple.
Dinner tonight was at the Grove Park Inn. 
I have wanted to see this inn since I first heard about it in about 1996. It didn't disappoint. The food was delicious, (I had scallops)
the service was excellent - though I've had better dessert -- 
and our table companions were pleasant. Our tour guide has figured out how to game the system. If you have a tour group of, say, 25 people, they put you in the banquet room and feed you rubber chicken
She found out that if you make a bunch of reservations for six, you get to order off the menu and sit on the terrace. And they'll give you up to three separate checks per table.
Things are on a very large scale in the Grove Park Inn. I'm standing in a fireplace. 
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