Relaxing in the kava bar.

Today was fun.  You may remember, my daughter’s birthday was last Tuesday and we were supposed to meet, but she was sick and the day was a total bust.    Last weekend she was working, so we made her “birthday” today.   I had planned to drive up the Blue Ridge Parkway and take her for lunch at a restaurant I know up there, but the weather looked iffy, so I took her to the same little inexpensive eatery I went to with my son early this month (appropriately named The Lucky Otter–yes, this blog is named after it) and we sat outside and enjoyed watching the people walking along Haywood Road.

We were stuffed, so we decided to walk to a nearby kava bar.  My daughter goes there a lot; I have never been to one before, or had kava before.    For those of you who aren’t familiar with kava, it’s a very bad tasting herbal drink that has a relaxing effect (it doesn’t make you high though and it’s perfectly legal).   Their information sheet called it “the anti-coffee.”   Here is more information about it:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kava

The kava, which is gray-green and viscous-looking, was ladled out of a somewhat unsanitary looking punch bowl into a plastic cup.   It was served with another plastic cup of orange juice as a chaser, to cleanse the palate because it tastes nasty.   I was a little afraid to try it because it looked so gross and was supposed to taste terrible, but it actually wasn’t too bad.  It’s definitely strange tasting, but not really gross.   I can’t quite explain the taste but if dirt came as a liquid, that’s what it would come close to.   It leaves your mouth feeling slightly numb, but soon you feel relaxed.

Kava on the right; orange juice chaser on the left. 

The kava bar was interesting too.  Very rustic, lots of hippies and hipsters sat around on laptops, writing, or playing on their phones.   Rock music played at a low volume in the background.  Local art hung on the walls and sofas and recliners lined the room.   We sat for awhile, drinking our kavas and just watching the sights.    Afterwards, we just walked around and stopped by a small yard sale, where they were trying to give away stuff because they were closing up shop for the day.  I got a new purse and pullover sweater–for free!

Inside the kava bar.

I got this for nothing!

My daughter had to get to work, so we walked back to the car and called it a day.   I’m glad we got to spend some time together.