I wonder what Thomas Wolfe really thought of Asheville, North Carolina. A man who would never live down penning the line, “You can’t go home again,” did have a home in Asheville and his remains are still here. George Vanderbilt would disagree about this mountain town, ideally located in Blue Ridge and Great Smoky Mountain territory. Not only could he make a home in Asheville, but he could envision what would become the largest home in America, one he would go home to again and again. Something tells me, the two probably wouldn’t see eye to eye, or home to home. Arriving in Asheville Continue Reading
The Outer Banks Wish You Were Here
Flashes of lightening send the sky into an identity crisis between blinding light and extreme darkness. Rain lends a natural carwash, sounding more like sprinkles meeting the ground after falling from the kitchen cabinet. The mad dash indoors begins. One. Two. Three. Go. This night seems fitting for my first on North Carolina’s Outer Banks. The Outer Banks of North Carolina stretch from the Virginia state line to Cape Lookout in the south, joined by bridges and ferries. A storm far greater than the one I am in tonight decided to rip through this vulnerable stretch just weeks before my Continue Reading
They Taught Us To Fly
“I hate flying,” the man seated next to me said. I instantly started to consider the little boy on a previous flight, who proudly told the pilot the flight was fun. Flyers become jaded at a certain point. There are so many factors working against enjoying flying, I suppose. I sat back as the plane took a bumpy landing, just before rejoining the ground in Tulsa. I began my trip out to North Carolina, where I am now, with a plane ride. It has become so routine. We board a flight. We hope it travels safely. And then, we land. What I don’t always consider is just how impressive it is, how Continue Reading
Moonlight Over Greece in Tennessee
Long days spent in the car have forced my sightseeing to take to the night. Tonight my moonlight moseying brings me to Greece. The blaring neon lights of Broadway along with those stumbling to see the light from bar after bar seem far from any Greece I have envisioned. And then, lit up like a Christmas tree, a lone monument imitating one in Greece stands in Nashville, Tennessee, of all places. The Parthenon was built to look just like its original in Athens, the one with traces back to 438 B.C. However, this testament to construction and Athena was built for Tennessee’s 1897 Centennial Continue Reading
Mount Evans, Colorado Wishes You Were Here
In the harshest of environments, a gentle mountain goat poses for the clicks of a few cameras. He doesn’t care I am invading his mountain, a mountain of 14,130 feet. No, he will ham it up for someone who enjoys the camera just the same. I am on top of Mount Evans in Colorado where the Continental Divide is almost in full view. You can see storms up ahead signaling to me it’s time to head down the highest paved road in America. Opened in 1931, the road was originally intended to connect with Highway 285, an infeasible feat, as time would tell. Despite the impossibility, they kept this Continue Reading
Arches National Park, Utah Wishes You Were Here
Three women gossip on top of red rocks. They watch each car pass by as the cameras click, whispering in each others' ears in comment. At Arches National Park just outside of Moab, Utah, these women never seem to leave. However they might one day if erosion has anything to do with it. From the La Sal Mountains Viewpoint you can see these Three Gossips on the left, the Tower of Babel on the right and the Organ just in front on the right. The landscape appears not of this world, but another, so red, so creative in formation and so empty at the same time. Feelings of emptiness are short Continue Reading
Ely, Nevada Wishes You Were Here
Driving America’s Loneliest Road, Ely is bittersweet coming from west to east. It is the end of this road, the end of the loneliness and the start of something different. Coming into Ely on the eastern end of U.S. Highway 50, you wouldn’t expect to see a working museum in its streets. Ely wants to keep its history close and accessible to those who just pass on through the town. It does so through a series of giant murals. Along the sides of buildings and around unsuspecting corners, you will find giant works of art depicting Ely throughout the ages. A town that grew up quickly with the Continue Reading