We kicked off vacation in Asheville, North Carolina- a very cool mountain town. James, Dean, and I checked this one out together as a potential city to live in. In the end, we didn’t think it was the right spot but it has so many things we love! Good beer, plenty of vegetarian restaurants, and a commitment to supporting local business. I’m only sorry we didn’t have time for Moog– too rad that you can tour their factory! We’ll be back, Asheville.
We found this mustachioed fellow Downtown. Who can resist a man with hearts for eyes and pills for teeth?
Ugh! This goofball always has to fuck with me when I ask someone to take our photo.
Sheep at the Western North Carolina Nature Center. They were snacking on snow and it was super cute.
Hey James, are you having fun yet? (No really, he was!)
These signs are proudly displayed on just about every store front. Also, I’m totally into this Alice in Wonderland window display with the Barbie-headed flowers.
We spent ages perusing the ScreenDoor Antique Mall, so much fab furniture! Our Seattle pal, Summer, told us to check out Malaprop’s which is an A+ bookstore. I was tickled to get the Edward Gorey card for our bag check.
The Black Mountain College Museum was at the top of our list to visit. These are two of my favorite sketches in their Cynthia Homire exhibition. She and Jorge Fick would draw live models every Saturday morning for years. Thanks to Martin for telling me about Black Mountain College in the first place- he knows everything cool.
A wall of sketches at Early Girl Eatery. What a great spot! They veganized a sandwich for me and I got to try a nice, local stout. James and Dean were big fans of their non-vegetarian, southern fare as well. Heaven on earth!
Right before hitting the road, we grabbed breakfast at the Green Sage. I got the vegan biscuits and mushroom gravy along with a glass of carrot orange juice. Delicious! Speaking of sage, our AirBnb host gave us some sage as a token of luck for our trip. :)
The mountains out east are so different from Seattle’s snow-capped Cascades and Olympics. I think they’re equally beautiful but they look… quieter, don’t you think? This photo doesn’t illustrate it, but it’s like there’s a gentle blue gradient everywhere you look.
To tell you the truth, a lot of things went wrong at the start (our flight was rescheduled due to a monster snow storm; our rescheduled flight was turned around mid-air because the Asheville airport closed and didn’t tell anyone; one of the occupants at our AirBnB panicked and smashed a glass door!) but now that stuff seems like hilarious bad luck. Isn’t it interesting how when you have a minute to look back on a situation that caused you anxiety, it seems less horrible and more funny? We ended up laughing a lot on this trip.
hometown unicorn 
My family and I used to drive through Asheville on our trips from Florida to Ohio (and back) when I was a kid. It never occurred to us to stop there for anything other than gas. It looks like a pretty cool town now, though.
I like those animal carvings behind your friend.
Asheville kind of reminded me of Seattle… with a smaller population and appalachian flavoring. The animal carvings were at the Western North Carolina Wildlife center- a great habitat. Definitely stop over if you get a chance! I hear it’s especially beautiful in the fall.
Asheville is on my list of potential places to move (along with Ithaca… neither of which I have ever actually visited yet). In addition to the bummer luck you had trip-wise, was there anything that you didn’t like about it?
Awesome! I grew up not toooo far from Ithaca. When we saw Asheville, it’d just had its ass kicked by an unusually harsh snow storm and we still thought it was a cool spot. I got the impression it shares a similar mindset with Seattle. Looked like there was a decent music scene, reading enthusiasts, vegetarian friendly restaurants, local beers, etc. Downtown is walkable and focuses heavily on local business over chains. If anything, it’s a little more folksy which I’m not always into (drum circles) but that gives it an extra neighborly feel. Oh, I was bummed that public transportation isn’t a thing but that was every city we considered moving. We wanna visit again in the fall to drive Blue Ridge Parkway and see the color change!
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