Winter Lights Asheville
The Winter Lights at the North Carolina arboretum in Asheville, has been an annual tradition for me for quite some time now.
Since this years event was a covid friendly drive through festival - I decided take Meatloaf.
Winter Lights 2020 is a modest $25 for your *entire* car! Which is great because otherwise it would have been like $25 for my ticket *and* $25 for Meatloaf's ticket.
Anyway, Step 1; Purchase your tickets on their website, tell the dog (or children, cat, strange neighbor, whatevs - that you’re going).
If you are bringing the puppers - try not to tell them they’re *not* going to the vet. Meatloaf was excited about the light show all day until he selectively heard the word “vet”- which was when disaster struck.
Step 2; check your email the afternoon that you’re going for tips on attending.
*Even though your ticket says 5:30 you can arrive anytime between 5:30 - 10pm.
Tip; Make sure to *actually* read the email with tips. Example, they suggest bringing snacks - I disregarded their suggestion and was famished by the time we were done driving through the show.
Believe it or not; bright lights and ambiance make people hungry. No I’m not making this up.
Step 3; Carry 62lb. (terrified) dog to car, because he still thinks he’s going to the vet.
Step 4; turn on obligatory Burl Ives Christmas music playlist.
*note - reception is spotty at the Arboretum- so I suggest downloading your Holiday playlist at home first.
The Arboretum is right off of 191 (near the Asheville outlets) & that’s the entrance that you’ll use.
Once you get to the gate - they’ll check you in (so have your virtual ticket ready, or paper one if you like to waste trees & ruin the environment).
The super nice lady at check in gave Meaty three biscuits, so it made up for the fact that he was horrified the entire ride there because I said the word “vet".
His thousand yard stare quickly turned into super cute dog smiles.
Okay - so you’re going turn you lights off to drive through the show (well on medium setting, not all the way off - sorry car behind me). This was *enthralling* because I’ve never drove with my lights off without getting pulled over.
So OMG the lights are beautiful, totally avatar-esque. Make sure you roll down your windows in the first part so you can listen to the rushing river!
Disclaimer; there’s no stopping or pulling over, so I had Meatloaf take all the photos - I have too many points on my license and would never do such a thing as taking a picture while driving.
While Meaty wasn’t snapping pics of all the pretty lights, he was definitely leaning out the window in awe!
On the way home I stopped by this guys house because I thought it was part of the light festival:
It was *not* and he politely asked me to leave, which was (slightly) awkward.
Winter Lights at the NC Arboretum goes through January 10th and is a must do for the holidays!
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