What does a squirrel, OP Taylor, and an outhouse have in common?

Welcome Kittens & Dawgs! Did I grab your attention with my post or what? So, what does a squirrel, OP Taylor, and an outhouse have in common? These are all things I spied in our recent trip to Brevard, North Carolina.

In the past, I’ve shared my photo captures from Brevard, but if you’re new to Curious as a Cathy or just need a little refresher, then look here.

We leisurely strolled the streets. I took several shots of Rocky’s Soda Shop. I can’t resist not doing that and I hope the next time we visit Brevard we can get a hamburger from this place. It looks so fun!

While we walked around town, I noticed signs for the White Squirrel festival (May 27-29) and most shops had white squirrel stuffed toys in their windows. At first, it seemed like some sort of novelty thing and it didn’t register as anything more than quirky fun. I finally asked DH, “What’s with the white squirrel stuff around here?” He said, “Brevard is known to have white squirrels.”  My eyes widened, “There’s really a such thing as a white squirrel? You’re kidding, right?”  Well, seeing is believing. Not that I doubted DH, but a white squirrel is a rare breed and only a handful of states have them. Brevard is the only community to honor the white squirrel with a festival. In fact, they are nuts about these little critters so much so that they passed a city ordinance protecting this species. Who can blame them? Look for yourself just how cute they are!

Brevard isn’t very big, but it’s versatility surprises me. This toy store has that small town charm and I love the bicycle in front with the flowers in the basket. The toy soldiers standing guard at the other entrance are really cool.

DH was on a mission. Doughnuts? Well, he wouldn’t turn them down, if he found them, but he wanted cinnamon rolls. Like I said, this town surprises me considering its modest size and yet they have two bakeries. Bracken Mountain Bakery on Broad (from the toy store you go left) and then  Blue Ridge Bakery (to the right of the toy store).

On one of our previous visits to Brevard we got stuff from Bracken’s and decided to try Blue Ridge this time located about 2-blocks pass the toy store on the opposite side of the street. From the sidewalk, we spotted cinnamon rolls in their display case through the large glass front. That’s all it took to pull us inside for a closer examination. We talked several minutes to a super friendly woman behind counter before telling her what we wanted. That’s when the boom fell. Their credit card reader wasn’t working. sigh We left empty-handed wearing frowns. Next time we’re in town, we’ll definitely try again.

Okay, we didn’t get any pastries so we decided to try Downtown Chocolates on our way toward the toy store. Their chocolates looked good. DH picked out an assorted selection for us to try later. Unfortunately, when later came the chocolates melted together into a blob and we couldn’t tell hide nor hair of anything. I guess we’ll have to go back for more, right?

Next shop we wanted to go to was Kiwi Gelato. The owners of the shop, we didn’t meet them, are from New Zealand. Now you know why Kiwi is part of their business name. We normally are not gelato fans, but we are huge ice cream eater. We love, Love, LOVE ice cream! Over the years, we’ve tried gelato at various places always to disappointed with the lack of flavor. We just thought that was the way gelato was until we got this latest stuff from Kiwi Gelato. We had four varieties: Biscotti (cookie flavor), Sea Salt Caramel, Blackberry, and Blueberry. There was nothing wimpy about their robust flavor that delighted our taste buds of this gelato. The Blueberry and Seas Salt Caramel were a top picks. It’s highly possible that Kiwi Gelato will get a repeat visit from us in the future. 😉

Still reeling from the Blue Ridge Bakery upset, we didn’t want to leave Brevard without a cinnamon roll. DH really is a pastry fanatic! On the way back to the car, we hit Bracken Mountain Bakery (BMB).  Three years ago we felt the scones weren’t sweet enough, the cinnamon rolls didn’t have enough cinnamon, and both tasted stale despite claims everything was made fresh that morning. This time DH got a cinnamon roll (YAY for him), a blueberry scone, a cherry scone, and Mexican Hot Chocolate Cookie. Our order was nearly identical to our first time purchase except for cookie. We decided to nibble on the pastries en-route to Cedar Mountain, North Carolina about 25-minutes from Brevard.

You can always tell the ones who have and have not in a community.

That’s right, a satellite equipped outhouse. Just when you thought you saw every thing, something else comes along to make you smile. I mean really smile!

Oh, you want to know how Bracken’s stacked up this time?  Everything tasted freshly made with no stale taste. The cinnamon roll and scones still had the other two strikes against them ~ not enough cinnamon in cinnamon roll and the scones needed more sugar. There’s so much potential with these two pastries and yet they are wasting it! On a good note, the cookie was quite good, but that item isn’t enough to get us back in the shop on our next visit.

That’s a wrap this time. Now, I invite you to link your WW post below (My yearly LinkyTools subscription expired and with DH out of work I’m opting to try a free link up service by InLinkz. Hopefully, it will do what I need.)

I want to invite you to vote in June 1st #BoTB showdown (posted a little earlier today). Also I’d like for you to come back for another peek through the lens with my Skywatch Friday edition, as well as get in on the Friday social media action. Have a fototastic day!