Woodrow Hill

Understand—I spend time with the, for lack of a better term, vast anti-establishment (read: “hippies”) that have centered on Asheville in the last decade or so. It’s hard to go to downtown and not see them, in their long skirts and craggy beards (sometimes on the same person!), and the array of new-agey stores is amazing.

Perhaps best of all is the arts; my friends who dance in Baraka Mundi would, perhaps, not have fared as well in a bigger city, but Asheville’s commitment to artistic endeavors, along with it’s small-city cost, means they can survive, and that I can strongly recommend their shows (insert “no financial interest” disclaimer here).

And then you can eat. I get fat when I go to Asheville, and someone’s already made a Place for Tupelo Honey Cafe that I second. But the vast majority of restaurants in downtown are health-conscious, with a heady mix of organic foodstuffs and down-home flavor. It’s worth the drive just to eat!

Well worth the visit for a bite to eat!

...isn’t for everyone. It’s a small metro with a horrifically spread-out population. It’s one of the most conservative areas of the country. It’s a bit smoggy, and hot, and there’s not much in the way of the arts (although that’s improving—slowly).

Yet, it’s got lovely forests and nature, and it’s not yet overdeveloped. The people are, by and large, nice, and there’s hope that Greenville will, someday, figure out that being closed-minded sucks.