Asheville is a wonderful blue spot in a sea of red. It is a lively center for the arts, music, and craft beers among other things. Kossacks randallt, davehouck, and Joieau organized our first Asheville kossack meetup. As promised, they cast a very wide net and we had kossacks in attendance from as far away as Roanoke, the greater Charlotte area, and Johnson City, Tenn. To say that this meetup was a great success is an understatement.
Friday had been a miserable rainy day all day, but Saturday was beautiful with blue skies and sunshine. The temperature was cold and there was a wind, but it was still a perfect day for a picnic and for meeting new friends and seeing a few old ones too.
First, I apologize to the later arrivals, some of whom I did not get individual pictures. I had put away my camera and was too busy talking. So I forgot to haul it back out until we got our group shot. However, everyone in attendance is in our group shot. Let's go to the photos. For each photo, the caption will appear above the picture.
Our view of the French Broad River. Canoeing and kayaking are very popular here. Many of the canoeists and kayakers come ashore at The Bywater, so it gets very busy and crowded there in the afternoon.
Joieau's sister, Joieau, and randallt.
TexDem and VeloVixen.
davehouck, Gordon20024, and Lamont Cranston. Gordon20024 and I met at the Florida kossacks meetup in February, so that was a nice surprise to see him again.
Mr. A, Audri, TexDem, and Joieau.
Yours truly gulfgal98 and eeff. In the background, davehouck, Mr. A, and Audri.
Fellow Gulf Watcher, DawnN.
Burns Lass, DawnN, and Otteray Scribe.
Captain Sham and TexDem with Gordon 20024 and Lamont Cranston in the background. Sorry for this photo being out of focus.
VeloVixen (with Daisy), Mr. A, Audri, and davehouck. The guy on the left is an employee of The Bywater.
eeff and Otteray Scribe.
Head grill man, Gordon20024. Gordon20024 brought much of the food that was cooked on the grill and shared it with everyone.
First, some of the many goodies that Gordon20024 brought.
randallt and Asheville city councilman GordonNC.
Gordon20024 working hard to feed us all with DawnN and Lamont Cranston in the background. Bravo Gordon20024!
More food porn!!!
randallt herding us all into a cohesive group for our group photo to be taken by randalt's brother in law.
Group shot from my camera.
It was a glorious meetup in the wonderful city of Asheville. I had a blast meeting everyone (as evidenced by the sunburn on my face) and am looking forward to doing it again in the future.