Blogs from Asheville, North Carolina, United States, North America - page 7

Asheville, NC---Most American cities are struggling to regain a "certain cache" and economic base. Asheville, NC is another such town on the cusp of becoming very special. Among the highlights for us was a visit to some great galleries. One, A Boy and His Dog Fine Art Gallery, landed us a sneak preview of the upcoming Steve Tracy show. Steve himself was there and we had quite a visit. Steve's recent fall scenes of the Asheville area are wonderful; as are his New York series. The gallery, located on Patton Ave., is “not to be missed” if art is your thing. Gallery manager Gary Muzechuk, our informative and gracious host, used rheostats in a darkened room to give us a wonderful "light play" demonstration of a colorful local fall scene painted (single and diptych) by Steve. ... read more

The ride from DC to Lake Norman (near Mooresville, NC) was shrouded in mist; but the beaurtufl fall foliage managed to peek through. Virginia was beautiful; but no stopping for us. Sometime we should plan to stop at Old Town Alexandria; but not this trip. The dam that created Lake Norman was built in the early 60s and the homes are newish and stylish. We went with Cindy to pick up Ray at the Charlotte Airport (about a half hour drive). We've been in the Charlotte Airport many times on layovers; so, it was interesting to see it from the "non-secure side." The four of us went to Davidson, NC to the Brick House for a great dinner prededed by a drive trhough of this nice, "traditional looking" small town. The town reminded me of the ... read more

We drove the last few miles to the end of the Blue Ridge Parkway and ended up at the gates of the Smokey Mountain National park. Just outside the park is Cherokee, home to the legendary tribe. (The Chief’s grandfather sends his regards Dad and said hope your scalp has healed). We parked up for the night in a National Park and went for a short walk, no electric, water, internet nothing but mountains, trees and rivers. Trust this night to be the coldest yet. Multiple layers of clothing do not make up for central heating. But it was lovely. (All the other RV’ers seemed to be cooking over open fires, seemed funny when we all had perfectly good gas cookers and microwaves, or maybe we missed the point). The next day we had to slightly ... read more

This morning, Marce woke up to locally-roasted, freshly-ground organic coffee beans in the super cool grinder provided to us by our Firestone hosts. After Allen lazily rolled out of bed, we went for breakfast at the Sunny Point Cafe in West Asheville. Despite the half-hour wait, the orange corn-bread pancakes, chicken sandwich special and chipotle omelette croissant exceeded expectations and sealed the deal for a return trip. We left with full happy tummies to explore the Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Center. At the door, we were greeted by happy trolley tour people and a vast collection of brochures ranging from sporting and healing to events and relocation guides. Leaving our car safely parked with a breath-taking view of the mountains, we set off on foot towards Downtown. Our first stop was the Basilica St. Lawrence, ... read more

Frueh geht es los. Die Stadt schlaeft noch nach dem Festival und liegt im Nebel als wir starten. 5 Stunden Autofahrt liegen vor uns. Erst mal zu Starbucks und dann auf die Interstate 40, immer nach Westen. Heute geht es nach Tennessee, den "Volunteer State". Warum der so heisst? Keine Ahung. Weiss auch keiner warum North Carolina der "Tar Heel State" ist. Hatte ich noch nie gehoert. Dachte immer wir sind "First in Flight". Und das macht ja auch Sinn, wegen den Wright Bruedern. Auf dem Weg faellt uns auf, dass die Amis wirklich im Tunnel hupen. John & Ann hatten uns zum Glueck schon vorgewarnt. Sie finden halt das Echo so toll. Unser Highlight wird heute die Jack Daniels Distillerie in Lynchburg, TN sein. Bis dorthin ist es nicht so weit, aber bei 65 mph ... read more