Blogs from North Carolina, United States, North America - page 8

Our new home: Hendersonville, North Carolina, 22 miles south of Asheville-the gateway to the Appalachian mountains, the Blueridge Parkway, Land of waterfalls (swimming holes and Slide Rock), the French Broad River (tubing, rafting and kayaking), the Biltmore and so much more. I love it here-small historic town, parades, Music on Main concerts every Friday night - where you can dance in the street with your granddaughters and not feel ridiculous, Apple festivals and Christmas tree lighting at the courthouse and a ride down Main on a horse drawn carriage. Small town vibe but big enough to please my foodie tendencies- fabulous farm to table restaurants and lots of vineyards. Population approximately 16,000, elevation 2150 (although our land is 3000). This is our first time living in a small town and feel so at home. I also ... read more

Poet, novelist and travel writer William Graham holds a BA and MA in English and a MS in Communication from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. He lives in Stowe, Vermont. His most recent book is Border Crossings: Travel Essays and Poems. Have you ever wished that your house had 35 bedrooms, 43 bathrooms and 65 fireplaces among 250 rooms in total? If you did, my guess is that you wouldn't be living there alone and sweeping your own floors. You would have dozens of servants and groundskeepers. Your name would likely be Vanderbilt--George Vanderbilt to be precise. And you would be in the grandiose architectural marvel known as the Biltmore, which is nestled in the mountains outside of Asheville, North Carolina. This past Thanksgiving week, my family and I visited this stunning home, reputed to be ... read more

It seems like we were not home for long until we got the call out to go to work the Hurricane, Hurricane Florence that is. I had photos spread over the dining room table and Dale had wheels off the Ferrari. We had to put everything back together, pack, clean the RV and get out. This time we had a few more days to get ready so we didn’t have to throw everything together. Driving to Atlanta, the site of the induction, took longer than we’d wanted to take. It didn’t help that we bought some bad fuel along the way and limped into the next repair shop. But as it turned out, they knew exactly the problem and we were on our way within an hour. Inductions are always fun, we get to see everyone ... read more

When my husband and I were first married, one of our first major purchases was a renovated and restored Volkswagen Vanagon Bus. When he was younger, my husband’s family had a similar bus, though theirs was an older model. We found this one at a specialty VW shop in nearby Greensboro, NC and we bought it on the spot. Since then, we have had many adventures in this vehicle, chief among them camping with our family. We took the van onto some family property in the country as newlyweds and hiked and camped there. Then, when we had our first child, we took her to a nearby camping site at Hagan Stone Park in Pleasant Garden, NC. However, we had yet to attend the High Country Bus Festival in West Jefferson, NC. We heard about the ... read more

In our little corner of North Carolina, there are many local farms that love to host seasonal events. From chicken stews in the autumn air to strawberry pickings during the late spring, you don’t have to drive too far to find plenty of things to do outside with the family. That is one of the main reasons why we decided to come back to our rural hometown after graduating from college in our state’s capital city. We love the small-town roots that this community has, many of which were planted and cultivated by our local farmers. About 45 minutes away from our home there is a community known as Belews Creek, North Carolina. I had heard about a local farm, Dogwood Farms, in the area that had a great big field of sunflowers in the very ... read more