Its been kind of a mundane week. The day after the 4th, the legal holiday, I explored around downtown most of the afternoon. As I mentioned, its an odd mix of business establishments like banks, government buildings, offices, along with tourists spots. Restaurants, coffee shops, lots of vintage clothing stores. Food trucks. A few little art galleries. The usual assortment of jewelry and tchotchke shops selling stuff for about five times its going rate in just a non-tourist place. And on the edge of downtown, record shops, tattoo places, seedier bars. Its really nothing special; you’ve seen the same places in countless small to medium sized tourist towns all over America-Savannah, Galveston, Santa Fe, every ski town in America….Got in a great walk, saw the tourist hordes, spent a day not working.
I also said I’m staying just across the street from the Montford Historic District. Amazing trees and some small parks. A few creeks running through the area. Bed and breakfasts dotted all throughout the place. I’ve been running through the neighborhood most mornings. The one nice thing about being in the eastern time zone is I’m up and going about an hour before everyone I deal with at work. Anyway I love this neighborhood. Lots of Victorians and Craftsmen. More of those little tiny library boxes than I’ve ever seen. Big built up lots mixing with more modest but still artistic homes. Black Lives Matter signs nearly in every yard. This is not MAGAville. Even classic car spotting. So, like everywhere throughout the South and maybe the country, the cities are blue while the hinterlands are red. There’s a lot of self separation happening too, as people are moving for jobs and jobs are moving to suit the cultural fit for their businesses. All this high tech companies aren’t moving from Silicon Valley to Abilene or Longview you know. But again that’s for another day.
So I’ve mostly settled into routine. I get up and walk or run in the neighborhood, get cleaned up and find a place to eat. Then start working. Workouts at Underground Fitness are proceeding apace. Ive never particularly cared for the class format, but it takes less time, is more intense because you have to keep to the schedule, so you get in and get out. No checking your phone between sets. I try to walk everywhere I can. 84 degree highs are manageable in a way that 99 degree highs are not. Hence, I find myself here. People continue to be surprisingly friendly. Maybe it’s that Austin has become so overrun with Californians and their corrosiveness that I’m surprised at normal behavior throughout the South. I definitely think Houstonians are friendly than Austinites for example. Certainly Cajuns are. They never met a stranger. Asheville isn’t quite like that, but people smile and wave, and will generally have a nice thing to say. Not the usual grunt from Austinites. Maybe we’re just sick of the traffic and the homeless problems.
Speaking of which, Asheville does have a homeless problem. But of it’s a 12 in Austin or 15 in California (it is), it’s about a 5 here. You certainly don’t see tents anywhere, and really the homeless are almost entirely downtown. So this is one City problem Asheville seems to have addressed.
BTW, Hot Girl Summer hasn’t made it to Asheville. And frankly I think Hot Girl Fall and Winter are likely to take a pass too. So like the faculty at Cher’s high school in Clueless, there’s a major babe drought in this town. Not that it’s anyone’s business, but once you’re out of Texas (Dallas and south), South Louisiana (mostly Cajun country), the Hard Core Confederacy states (GA/MS/AL), South Florida (points off for the craziness factor), and NYC and LA, there’s generally a severe drop off. Or out another way, these places can boast a profound bounty. my own theory, like it matters, is people can spend more time active and outside in these places, and the humidity is good for your skin. NYC is the outlier but that’s b/c it draws so many people from elsewhere who want to act or be models, who don’t typically have Shrek-like visages. But it’s fine. I can get WAY more work done without distractions.
Yesterday I drove a little south of Asheville to the Pisgah National Forest and spent a half day hiking. This is known as the Bent Creek area, near where the Blue Ridge Parkway begins (or ends, take your pick). Lots of amazing trails through heavy oak forests, going up and down modest hills. I hiked around Lake Powhatan, a smallish lake for swimming and fishing. No douchebags driving power boats with names like Settlement Check or No Mo Alimony. Lots of flowers still blooming. I saw a deer, and late in the day a mama bear climbing a tree with her four Cubs. Having heard a lot of recent “bear mauls man” stories I treated them like a pit of rattlesnakes. I tried to get a photo using my telescopic lens. Right up until I saw the mama looking right at me. That’s when it was time to back away and keep my face from being eaten off. Because that’s the money maker you know. Anyway, thinking going back today. Pray for me!
Next-adventures further out of town
Summer In the Mountains 