Posted October 19, 201014 yr Finally got to scenic, artsy Asheville, N.C., to see my wife's cousin and hang around & explore: View from my wife's cousin's deck Wife and cousin at 12 Bones, celebrated rib joint Slaw, corn pudding, cornbread, a half slab of nekkid salt & pepper rub ribs, sweet tea and a local ale at 12 Bones ... ... home of tender butts & sweet racks View from outside our downtown hotel room Arcade and Battery park tower Skyline view from hotel Downtown Woolworth's converted to galleries ... ... with the soda fountain intact and still operating! View of buildings across the street from the basement of the Woolworth building Wife amid some of Asheville's many street sculptures Diagon Alley? Interior of the beautiful, three-story, glass-roofed Grove Arcade Neighboring former hotel through the glass roof Interior detail of the arcade, completed in 1929, probably the last of the great arcades -- forerunners of modern shopping malls -- that were build over the previous 100 years (including three in Cleveland and one in Dayton). View from the "intersection" of the corridors that cross in the center of the building Arcade entrance on the O Henry Street side Wife, getting ready to flip me off Sky Bar Sky Bar in context -- balconies on the 6th, 7th and 8th floors of the flatiron building The lower-level back patio of Mayfels restaurant, looking up at Wall Street and the flatiron Activity around the regular Friday night drum circle on the triangle square Street scene across from the square Street musician and crowd Bustling Pack Square City Hall and nearly full moon Street magician and crowd Flatiron building peeking out like Kilroy Drum-circle triangle square by day Buildings curving at College Street and Patton Ave. Old building reflected in new Pack Square by day, with Buncomb County Courthouse and Asheville City Hall Old & new skyscrapers from Pack Square Park in front of the civic center Neglected old building Less-neglected London bus-turned-coffee-shop Flatiron in the distance Another neat alley, apparently with artist studios Buy local!! Outdoor dining space Angles & architecture Flatiron, etc. Basilica St. Lawrence New residential tower amid old Patton Ave. storefronts Pack Square again The Black Mountains along the Blue Ridge Parkway outside Asheville A whole range of ranges More Clouds rolling in Alas! Mt. Mitchell (at 6,684 feet, the highest peak east of the Missississipppi) was shrouded in clouds ... ... that brought the rain that yielded this rainbow Grove Arcade from the Sky Bar Another bird's-eye view Me and the wife at Sky Bar
October 19, 201014 yr Great photos of a great town. FYI Buncombe county is the origin of the word "bunk" and therefore "debunk"
October 19, 201014 yr What a wonderful city! "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers
October 19, 201014 yr Great shots. Looks like you had a nice time in an exceptionally lovely setting.
October 22, 201014 yr Did you not make it over to the Biltmore? For those who don't know, I believe it was the Vanderbilt children who set out to build grand estates in various parts of the country. The Biltmore took the cake on that contest. One of my buddies had his wedding there. It truly is something to see. Downtown Asheville is more active than one would assume. It also may surprise you. In the middle of this, for all intents and purposes, 'mountain town' I somehow stumbled into a hip-hop club. Of course, I had to walk through the country line-dancing club to enter. It came with its very own crowd of country thugs. NC is kind of like that, though. The smaller towns, where we Ohioans are used to seeing white-picket fences, can be quite grimey. Grimey is not a word I would use for Asheville. Asheboro, on the other hand..... my GOD. And some of the areas around where Jordan grew up, in the eastern part of the state between Raleigh and Wilmington are just as odd.
November 6, 201014 yr In the middle of this, for all intents and purposes, 'mountain town' I somehow stumbled into a hip-hop club. Of course, I had to walk through the country line-dancing club to enter. It came with its very own crowd of country thugs. NC is kind of like that, though. The smaller towns, where we Ohioans are used to seeing white-picket fences, can be quite grimey. Grimey is not a word I would use for Asheville. Asheboro, on the other hand..... my GOD. And some of the areas around where Jordan grew up, in the eastern part of the state between Raleigh and Wilmington are just as odd. In other words, the South has sizable Black rural populations.
November 6, 201014 yr Really nice-looking town in a beautiful area. Although parts of rural North Carolina are on hard times, the state has focused on long-term priorities to maintain quality of life with major capital investment in infrastructure items like passenger rail, and doing it successfully.
November 8, 201014 yr Great pics... I lived in Asheville for a couple years as a kid, but at that time it was still fairly dumpy and hadn't yet been revitalized. If I ever get chased out of Cincinnati, though, Asheville would be on my short list of places I'd consider moving to.
November 21, 201014 yr Was there for the first time last year. Really lively and interesting city for its size. I definetely want to head back there again.
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