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!
Blowing Rock, NC
Linville Gorge and Falls
Linville Falls
Grandfather Mountain’s Mile-High Swinging Bridge
Myself and Mr. Ramz relaxing after crossing the swinging bridge.
As an Appalachain grad, this place is near and dear to my heart too. Glad y’all had a good time.
No way! The campus is so beautiful. I ran around it one morning. Looks like a perfect place to go to college. Did you see a lot of writers and writing groups when you were there?
Summers are wonderful, winters…not so much. I’m sure that there are many writing groups, however I can’t recommend one. While I have always had an interest in writing, this particular time was woefully lacking. I only wrote when I had to then. 😉
Awwww beautiful pictures and sounds like a wonderful vacation. PS: your dog is adorable!