Living in Asheville – A Peak Experience

A jug of wine, a loaf of bread, and a table for two (apologies to Omar Khayyam). They’re baaaaack!! Our cold snap at Easter did not freeze the berry crop as it did last year, so we are hoping the black bears will be more agreeable this season.

Can anybody tell me what a “blackberry winter” is? I was told it has something to do with a last snap of cold either just before or just after the branches burst out in lime-green bole.

I nearly shared a picnic table with this yearling up on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Except for some work being done around Mt. Mitchell, the Parkway and it’s new Destination Center are open and beckoning summer travelers. http://www.blueridgeheritage.com/AboutUs/parkwaydestinationcenter.html 

If  you can take only one road-trip this summer with gas prices so high, it should be along the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina from Cherokee to Blowing Rock or beyond. You’ll get a bit of everything … farmland scenery, majestic mountains, quaint towns, flocks of wild turkeys, small herds of deer, and – if you’re fortunate – a bear. (Be safe: do NOT feed or attempt to touch.)

While much of the Parkway closes in winter, the “commuter zones” are often open. So purchasing land or a home backing up to the Parkway will still provide 4 seasons of beautiful driving, hiking or walking along the Mountains to Sea or other trails, and plenty of privacy for your perfect mountain hideaway.

More later day about a wonderful property in Marion with stocked trout ponds . . .

julie