Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Our Trip

This past weekend in Asheville was amazing.  It had been about 15 years since we had been and our children were very young so we didn't get the full experience.  We stayed at the Renaissance Hotel - very appropriate for this blogger! - which turned out to be next door to Thomas Wolfe's house and very convenient to the rest of the downtown area.  


One of the best things about Asheville is the abundance of great restaurants that serve vegetarian fare.  In fact, one restaurant made it a point to describe dishes as "non-veg."  It's nirvana to a vegetarian.  And there's such a variety, from casual to formal, from Southern-style to Indian.  Asheville is very conscious of organics and eating local as well.  Almost all the restaurants have signs indicating they purchase meat and produce from local farms.  In addition to the amazing restaurants, the downtown area has two food co-ops and the small health food chain Earth Fare is headquartered there.  We also visited the downtown farmers market where everything sold there was authentic - locally grown and produced.  Not a resaler in sight as we've seen at other farmers markets.


The people of Asheville are very committed to living lightly on the earth.  Everywhere we went, we saw signs touting green living and recycling.  I saw several women with compact reusable bags attached to their handbags.  One of the shops we visited sold reusable shopping bags made from recycled material that said, "Recycle or Die."


There's so much more to share so I'll have to do another post - and get a few photos up as well.


4 comments:

Wanda Barrett said...

What a coincidence! We were there at almost the same time (we went the last full week of May). It is a pretty unique place...reminded me of the pacific northwest with the local/green movement and all. We stayed north of Asheville in a small cabin that was very close to a goat & lavender farm. It was such a neat operation and sure made me think of you guys. They had a full grown Joey and a baby Joey! So cute.

Cherie said...

Wow - I guess great minds think alike. ;) Asheville is definitely the east coast equivalent of the pacific northwest. I can't wait to go back - my kind of place!

Deanna said...

Sounds lovely. Perhaps I will get to visit there someday.

Cherie said...

Deanna - I hope you do get a chance to visit Asheville; I know you would love it.