Our Asheville, North Carolina Weekend

Boy, did we have fun two weekends ago, when we spent our three day weekend up in Asheville.   Asheville is a popular "mountain" town about two hours west of Charlotte.  And since neither of us have been there (other than passing by it on the interstate)  we decided that we needed to go.  Be sure to click on the WeB Album on the side bar.

We have heard from family and friends about how "cool" Asheville was and you all were right.  Asheville is a medium sized town nestled in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains (think Sierra Nevada Gold Country) and are heavily wooded.  The hardwood forests of the east are INCREDIBLE, let me tell you.  Those rolling mountains go on for as long as the eye can see, just choked with thick forests of ash, oak, sycamore, walnut and the like.  And now that fall is here they are beginning to turn and the hills are coming alive!  It is truly a sight to behold.

Friday night we packed up Big Bertha, and started out west.   We got into Asheville about 9:30 pm after getting lost trying to find the RV Park.  Okay, it was pitch black and the GPS was off about a thousand feet (going the wrong way on the street), but after a quick reconnaissance in the van, made a quick 180 and we were there.   I plugged us in, we put out the Welcome mat and were in for the night.

Saturday (as do most weekends) started with going out for breakfast at Tupelo Honey,  then it was off to The Biltmore.

The Biltmore Estate is some 8000 acres of property with a four-acre, 250 room mansion.  It was the home of George W. Vanderbilt and has been kept in the family.  It has been on display since the 1930's and was breathtaking.  We ended up spending a day and a half wandering the gardens, touring the rooms and dreaming that someday we could be in a house like that.   Wow!

Dinner was at the Asheville Pizza and Brewing Co.  Great atmosphere, good beer and scrumptious pizza.  Then it was off for a downtown stroll where we found Chocolate Fetish.  You know who was drooling in anticipation of that sweet, chocolate and we both enjoyed some nice deserts.

Monday morning was another great breakfast and then it was off for the antique warehouses.   Asheville has a ton of places to seek out the vintage or unique.  Not bad prices either...just couldn't find out a way to drag a nice Victorian sofa across country.  Oh well, maybe next time.

So our verdict?   Asheville has it, baby.  You have the mountains and streams, the cool downtown with all it's hip stores, lot's of individual characters to mix up the population and plenty of Subaru's sportin'  kayaks and "Keep Asheville Weird"  stickers.   Sound like another mountain town we live in???

Dear Charlotte

My dear Charlotte,

Even though I've only known you for a few weeks,  I am enamored with your soft, southern accent and with your gentile persona.  I love how the morning sun shines on your face and the warmth I feel in my heart when I see you.  Oh dear Charlotte, I think I'm in love...

 Now this is what I imagined the "South" to be.   We made our escape from the I-95 corridor on September 11th for what we hoped was going to be a better experience.   Roanoke Rapids was difficult to say the least...and I'll just leave it at that.

So we gladly exchanged the coronary artery disease, diabetes and stroke capital of North Carolina for the "New South"  as Charlotte is known by.   It is the financial and cultural center of the south, and along with Atlanta, is one of the two cities that people come to when they are moving forward with their careers.  Charlotte has more than a half a million folks, but isn't crazy big like L.A. or even San Fransisco.   It instantly reminded me of Seattle,  a place we called home for about 4 years, a lifetime ago.   And maybe it has taken a lifetime to feel like we feel now, alive.   Maybe we had forgotten what the pulse of a big city feels like or how much there is to see and do in the city.  Whatever it is, we have been bitten and are truly in love with this place.

I am working at a fabulous facility in Mt Holly, a bedroom community, about 15 miles west of the city.   The facility is an inpatient rehab center that is a part of the Carolinas Health System.   CHS is the third largest healthcare system in the nation and employs over 28K people in the Charlotte metropolitan area.  I feel very blessed to be a part of such a great medical community and I am enjoying this rehab setting immensely.

But more on Charlotte.   We go out downtown, which is called Uptown, all the time.   There are restaurants, wine bars, pizza joints, breakfasts spots and more to satisfy one's appetite.   There are cool neighborhoods (again, much like Seattle) that all have their own vibe.   There is every kind of convenience that one could possibly need and there are two Trader Joe's grocery stores!   Ahh, civilization.

Can you tell we've been gone for a while?

But don't get us wrong now,  the big city is nice, but we DO live in Montana, and we know the value (and necessity) of open space.   I guess that is the beauty of where we are staying.   We are outside of the city, but only by twenty minutes, and are near some nice open space.  No, it's nothing in comparison to Montana, but it allows us to run the dogs, and we are only two hours from Asheville, NC.   In fact, we took a three-day weekend there just last week and hope to post pics and a story about that trip soon.   But in the meantime, when you think of us,  just think of the sweet smell of honeysuckle and how we may come back with just a hint of a southern accent.

You all take care now.