Festival Season: A Love Story in Two Weekends: A sassy blog by a woman who will absolutely drive two hours for a pickle on a stick

Listen… summertime rolled up like, “Hey girl, you ready?” and I said, “Absolutely not, but let’s go anyway.” And just like that, festival season kicked open the door and dragged me outside with my sunglasses, my people, and my questionable snack choices.

Weekend One: The Great Asheville Pickle Extravaganza

Yes, I went to a pickle festival. No, I will not be taking questions at this time.

My daughter loves pickles with the kind of passion usually reserved for soulmates and tax refunds. I love festivals. And my fiancé — oh yes, we’re casually dropping that in like it’s not a whole life plot twist — loves a road trip. So naturally, we slapped on temporary pickle tattoos like the classy individuals we are and headed to Asheville.

Pickles on a stick? Ate them. Pickle‑flavored beer? Drank it. People dressed as giant gherkins? Befriended them. Friends joining us for music and chaos? Absolutely.

It was briny. It was bizarre. It was beautiful.

Weekend Two: Boonerang Festival, AKA “Mountain Magic with a Soundtrack”

Fast‑forward seven days and suddenly I’m cruising over the mountain with the bonus daughter and the fiancé, windows down, vibes up, headed to Boone, North Carolina.

Boonerang Festival was the kind of small‑town magic that makes you want to buy handmade earrings, eat something fried, and contemplate moving into a cabin with questionable Wi‑Fi. Music on both ends of the street, crafts in the middle, and weather so perfect it felt like Mother Nature finally got her life together.

We wandered. We listened. We ate festival food that absolutely did not fit into any nutritional plan. We soaked up the sunshine and the music and the simple joy of being out in the world with people we love.

The Real Joy

Here’s the thing: these little weekend adventures are tiny vacations disguised as day trips. A couple hours in the car, a new town, a quirky theme, and suddenly you’ve stepped out of your routine and into a memory.

Family. Friends. Music. Mountains. Pickles. Honestly, what more could a girl want.

And with summer just getting started, I fully intend to keep wandering, keep festival‑hopping, and keep saying yes to the small adventures that make life feel big.

Stay tuned — because if I can go from “significant other” to “fiancé” between festivals, imagine what July might bring.