----from last year, perhaps eli’s first pic
this trip took us as far south as asheville, nc and back in a quite scenic, circuitous route, stopping to visit friends and family along the way………
first stop was unfortunately very brief. the drive from chicago took us through the indiana heartland straight to bloomington, home of our friends yuri, jarrod and juni (yuri and ash roomed together during undergrad-- she and jarrod will be getting hitched next month-- juni’s their dog). the drive felt as though john cougar mellencamp was sitting next to the bean in the backseat, playing his guitar and singing proudly. pretty pink houses, white picket fences, etc. very quaint. in bloomington we spent a very pleasant evening consisting of drinks and thai food throughout the smallish college town with yuri and jarrod, who were generous enough to offer the three of us their spare bedroom that night. 
jarrod and bean
yuri and bean
juni and bean
the actual overnight is a very funny (to us anyway) long story that involved africa-style heat, crashing venician blinds and a streetlight that might have actually been the sun’s brightest adult nephew. our hosts kindly cooked up a hearty breakfast the next morning and it was off to north carolina after a brief windshield survey of the town and the indiana university campus (by no means unattractive, but we do love our own college towns…). we look forward to yuri and jarrod’s big day in st louis in a few short weeks………..
google maps subsequently took us through kentucky (and along with that my first bob evans experience— i’d say the cheeseburger was not bad),
where every other exit was a race track or a retired thoroughbred stable of some sort; then through eastern tennessee, where football is clearly a way of life as evidenced by the fact that virtually every single AM radio station was a talk-show discussing a different local small college’s chances of taking the D3 title this year, etc; and finally into north carolina. driving into asheville from the east takes you smack through the great smoky mountains. we got dumped on with sheets of heavy rain throughout this portion of the drive but were totally blessed once we arrived with perfect sunny, dry weather for our visit with two solids: katie and mark whom we both know through the nutrition program at michigan.
katie and mark at the best wedding ever.
we knew that they lived at a boarding high school (katie works there), but we were not quite prepared for what we actually stumbled across—Asheville School (cost is $40K/yr) is on a gorgeous and huge complex with beautiful lawns, brick buildings, wooden cabins, forest/shade everywhere, and spectacular views of the surrounding national park mountains. i dunno why but after seeing it for the first time i felt like everyone on staff there (except katie of course) would look and dress like sherlock holmes and smoke a pipe. that turned out not to be the case.
asheville school
bean for a stroll on the sprawling campus
also, bean's first michigan game day
asheville is a town i’ve heard about for years as one that can be mentioned in the same breath with places like austin, berkeley, madison and ann arbor, except that it’s not a college town despite the presence of UNC asheville. clearly ash and i are both partial to these types of cities for their culture, food, community atmosphere, etc. our first visit downtown confirmed the prevailing diversity: rednecks, intellectuals, hippies, and several honest nutjobs sat next to each other all over the place. there’s quite a bit of… charm everywhere you look. one appropriate shirt read ‘if you’re too weird for asheville, you’re too weird.’ agreed, but we loved it. our last day there included an arts fest that i think pulled the weirdest of asheville from their dungeons—particularly that one thing we saw at the very end. here’s a shot of the bean’s first exposure to chicks on stilts:
during our stay there, stinkpot put on her little baby crampons, strapped her chinstrap under her 2nd or 3rd chin and summited her first peak, mt mitchell. happens to be the tallest peak east of the mississippi river, thank you very much, and she did so without the benefit of an oxygen tank. you may notice that she now rides in ash’s carrier face-forward (big girl), which is also how she now likes to be carried in general. i think she enjoys surveying her environment first hand.
on the climb
the summit
--------------------and the next day at the nc arboretum
asheville’s food is one of its main draws. with so many solid options, we’d’ve been hard pressed to imagine a situation in which we’d eat at the same place each of our three days, not to mention a situation in which we’d order the same dish each time. that was until we had the huevos rancheros at sunny point cafe. ashley: “it’s how Christ would make them.” well said. also pictured, the bacon wrapped scallop eggs benedict...
next stop: pinch, west virginia to spend some time at asif (ash’s uncle) and roshanna (aunt)’s beautiful home/property just outside of charleston. we were introduced to the state as we drove in by coalmines that were a bigtime eyesore against the backdrop of pretty stunning forest and rolling hills, although according to the numerous billboards in the area, they’re critical to the economy of the region. i just wonder why they can’t mine from the other side of the same hill so that we won’t hafta see it from the highway. prior to our pinch arrival we stopped for gas and to feed the stink. imagine our reaction when we saw a longhair, sleeveless T-shirt dude (who may have been 25, or just as likely may have been 55) putting a crippled elderly female into the bed of his pickup. just as casually as if he were loading a cooler or stack of 2x4s, he sat her up on the tailgate, scooted her backwards, laid her flat on her back, and closed the tailgate so that her feet draped over the edge. not sure how else to comment on the situation. we later discussed this with roshanna to get her take: “maybe that’s just how she travels.” remarkable. 
pulling up into the private road heading towards the house we were greeted but stinkbean’s first deer sighting which i did my best to capture:
before we even got out of the car we were given a most gracious and warm welcome by perhaps the two worst guard dogs on the planet, daisy (labrador retriever) and arlo (great pyrenees), who were quite effusive in welcoming us into their home.
before we actually got to the door, however, i swear that some monstrosity of a sunuvab*tch mosquito managed somehow to land on my back, stick its proboscis through my shirt, penetrate my shoulder blade, and exit through my chest. it had to have been that big. itchier.
on the night we arrived, mr potato head and i watched our first football game together from start to finish as boise st took on virginia tech in an opening weekend classic. she seemed to be a natural-born fan as she sat there shirtless, gut hanging out over her diaper, and dropping the occasional farts here and there just for laughs. the only thing missing was the beer in each hand. she opened her eyes wide for her first ever blocked punt and squirmed in appreciation of the significance of a missed extra point to go up by only 5 instead of 6 midway through the 3rd quarter.
for some reason i can’t explain, she fell sound asleep at the beginning of bsu’s game-winning drive at the end of the fourth quarter. actually, now that I think about it, perhaps arlo’s toxic fumes knocked stinkbottom completely out. the big white beast prevented anyone within a two-block radius from fully appreciating this drive’s significance with at least one silent-but-violent that will absolutely live in infamy. very impressive arlo—good boy.
our next two days in pinch were as relaxed as i’ve personally had in quite some time—can’t remember the last time i sat out in the sun for the sheer sake of sitting out in the sun. their property is forested and beautiful, and includes a swimming pool that allowed the bean her first taste of chlorinated water. couldn’t have come at a better time. during our last evening, asif and roshanna put together a meal we won’t soon forget: gazpacho appetizer followed by indian cuisine and general deliciousness. great stuff. we were sorry to leave.
bean with asif and roshanna
as the terrain out of WV became far flatter, the churches became far more frequent, and the land became far cornier, we knew we were quickly approaching central ohio. at this point ash brought up a bumper sticker she’d like to design: ‘honk if you like my driving.’ brilliant. we were fortunate enough to see our very good friend joanna at her work place for lunch—jo is a graphic designer at the headquarters of abercrombie and fitch, just outside of columbus. *that* place is sweet. the three of us got a tour of the place where next year’s status standards are in the process of being created—it apparently takes quite a bit of effort to go from concept to the showroom floor. lunch at their cafeteria was awesome; the company even better.
-------------------the music was loud in that place.
last stop was west bloomfield to allow beantini to spend some quality time with her nani and zeda-upcha, who are obviously at least as infatuated with the big girl as anyone else in the family—makes me smile watching samina gawk on the floor cuz she can’t wait for the bean to get taken out of her carseat: 
we returned home and delivered the bean, approx 7% older than when she left, to grandma back here in chicago. grandma was thrilled to have stinkpot back in her arms, among other reasons so that she could continue with her daily spanish lessons. coincidentally, joanna’s parents jim and deena had been visiting my mom in chicago, so we got to say hello for a couple of days before they went back to pennsylvania.
bean with grandma
bean with deena
the four of us already miss them and are looking forward to a state college reunion on some penn st gameday in the near future……
on a bit of a tangent, eli most definitely been developing physically and cognitively over the past several weeks. i ran through a practice medicine test recently-- one of the questions asked what the normal length of time is for an infant to double their birth weight. i was off from the correct answer by a full two months cuz my guess was based on my first-hand experience with chubby checker (correct answer is 20-22 weeks). big girl. ash is definitely getting things done boobwise. actually, the bean now has a dietary complement to her milk: 1mL of vitamins daily. while clearly she is still trying to figure out what the f*kk is going on when that sh*t gets squirted into her mouth, she has lately been doing a much better job of actually swallowing. stink.
also, over the past couple of weeks she has definitely been paying close attention to her hands and appreciating that they are not only attached to her body, but also seem to have some functions that may end up coming in pretty handy at some point. she started with the hand clasp, then appeared to truly contemplate the fact that she could grab on to one finger with the other hand, and just last night for the first time (that i’ve seen) seemed to make a significant effort to deliberately grab her toy dragon and bring it to her mouth. beantini.
she makes us so happy every minute she’s awake. she has a whole-body smile where she opens her mouth wide, cocks her head to the side, flexes her hips, and gives a double fist pump that will make anyone forget about any negativity they may have experienced during any stressful day. her smile is constant and totally infectious. we are so in love with her. even just watching her as she’s falling asleep—as she looks into your eyes and slowly loses the battle to longer and longer blinks… she’s the best. ash has very understandably said that the stink is so cute it makes you just wanna kill her, but not so that she’ll, like, actually be dead.
unfortunately, because of my schedule, i’m not able to spend nearly as much time at home as i’d like. clearly, among the best things about this break is that it’s given me a real chance to spend a lot of quality time with the bean, which is wonderful. what is at least equally as wonderful though is the mother/daughter interaction i’ve been able to fully appreciate for the first time at length… ash is exactly the kind of mother that all who know her would think she’d be. it’s so easy to watch how effortlessly she is able to realize exactly what the little stinkpot needs at every moment, and to see how loved she is in return by our little girl. it’s so reassuring to know that eli will be in such genuinely good, loving and capable hands for such a long time… it makes me happy.
