Gooood afternoon!

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It's the day after Thanksgiving again, and you know what that means! Right! It's time to get downtown and get shopping! For those of you ignorant of such things, in the US, the day after Thanksgiving is called Black Friday and it's by far the busiest shopping day of the holiday season.

I knew that trying to find a parking space downtown would be futile when I passed two parking decks and the electronic signs for both said they were full. This was why. Ignore the bird shit on the window. Do not ignore the fact that as one crowd passes alongside the hauntedmobile, another crowd is passing behind it, as evidenced by their reflections in the side mirror.

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Eventually, I ended up having to park north of downtown, in the Victorian neighborhood of Montford and walk in. Along the way, I couldn't resist photographing some birds.

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When attempting to capture Black Friday madness the first stop, naturally, is the Grove Arcade Public Market. The first stop is not the Asheville Mall or any other major suburban shopping center, because while I may be crazy, I'm not that crazy. According to a knowledgeable source, there were already lines of shoppers snaked around the Best Buy in South Asheville by the time four o'clock rolled around this morning.

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These people are buying rocks. They have good taste, obviously.

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Madness at the Stall Market!

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The Flat Iron sculpture, which commemorates the Flat Iron Building nearby, has always attracted buskers. Today it had also attracted a nice young lady knitting things to sell.

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After this much exposure to crowds, I was feeling a bit like this cat here myself.

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Art Deco and Christmas wreaths are always a winning combination.

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For a little peace and quiet, Pack Square Park is a good respite.

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Two bratty teenagers were doing tricks on their skateboards on the new park stage. They told me this would make a good photo. I agreed, then left them to their own devices.

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Have you ever seen a statue looking wistful before? Until the unveiling of the Western North Carolina Veterans Memorial, I hadn't.

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By "Men to Match Our Mountains," I assume they mean stony, silent, and apathetic to the concerns of mere humans. Or possibly batshit insane. This at least has been my experience trying to date local men. It's one of the reasons, aside from crippling social awkwardness, that I tend to meet boyfriends online and then import them. Currently, I have a promising relationship developing with just such a man in Florida, so all of you wish me luck in that.

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Rawr!

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That's the church I attend there in the background.

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I have to disagree with this statement. I find men in uniform to be rather sexy, in fact. If the aforementioned man from Florida is reading this, that goes double for nurses' scrubs. Hel-LO male nurse!

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The reputation of the Mellow Mushroom pizza place would allow nothing less.

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While this shirt is my favorite, the one on the left says Asheville: Where Girls Kiss and we're thinking of getting it for my roommate's friend when he visits from San Francisco next month.

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Muhammad Ali as St. Sebastian. It kind of works.

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Considering our litigious society, I was surprised that pointy fences like this are still allowed. Particularly considering that this one is the perfect height to take out a kidney if you were to fall on it.

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The monument to aborted children behind the Basilica of St. Lawrence.

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After all that walking, I ducked back into the Grove Arcade on my way back to Montford, and now, as a reward for looking at these pictures, here are some of the entries in the National Gingerbread House Competition. The competition is held every year at the Grove Park Inn. What doesn't get displayed at the hotel is brought here to the Grove Arcade and put out for all to see.

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This one was amazing. The other side was set up like a dollhouse, complete with furniture in all the little rooms.

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I'd told myself I was done with all the picture taking inside the arcade, but as I walked past the Battery Park Apartments, I couldn't resist just one more.

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And with that, I bid you good evening.

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Cool photo tour. Thanks for sharing. Hope you got some bargains. :)

Not great quality but for sure fun to see all those people shopping on black friday :)

Pretty nice! I like small American cities, so their pics are always welcomed!

Thanks for your comments.

Really great photos, thanks for sharing them

Beautiful Asheville! Thanks for posting your photos! :okay:

Thanks for taking a look!

Thanks for the pics! I had never heard of Black Friday before, but it sounds like our Boxing Day sales, the day after Christmas. What is the origin of the term "Black Friday"?

Thanks for the pics! I had never heard of Black Friday before, but it sounds like our Boxing Day sales, the day after Christmas. What is the origin of the term "Black Friday"?

With the Friday after Thanksgiving being the busiest (by far) shopping day of the year, it's traditionally the day that retail stores show a profit, going from being in the red (in debt) to being in the black.

It's kind of like Boxing Day in reverse, from what I know of Boxing Day.

Good pictures and very nice commentary to go along with them. :)