On this weekend two years ago I flew to Baltimore, Maryland with no suitcase, no backpack—only my purse. My friend from high school was driving down from Long Island, picking me up, and driving down to my home in Raleigh. (We had not seen each other in 9 years!) No details here, but it was a very romantic weekend and my love decided to move to North Carolina and spend our lives here. Now that he has moved here and we bought a house and are settled in, we decided to celebrate our anniversary in Western North Carolina.

No Asheville visit this time. Instead we stayed in Boone and visited Blowing Rock and Grandfather Mountain. This part of WNC has a different feel to it, and as my love describes it: “More rugged.” It reminded him of Northern California.

I did not ask around since this was not a working weekend, but I did not find much of a writing community in the area. There is a large college population, but I still had a difficult time finding a decent coffee shop – which is where I was planning to look for open mic info and event flyers. This region may make for a better writing retreat area. Since it is only two-and-a-half hours from our front door and there are many affordable places to stay–I may plan one this year!