Appalachian Holiday

 “The old hunger for voyages fed at his heart….To go alone…into strange cities; to meet strange people and to pass again before they could know him; to wander, like his own legend, across the earth–it seemed to him there could be no better thing than that.” –Thomas Wolfe

As I prepare a ‘Year in Review’ type blog that covers a remarkable (to me, anyway) 2013, I’m going to stall a bit with these photos from a recent trip to Asheville, North Carolina and the surrounding mountains. Where each year my family makes several trips of varying lengths to the coast, it is usually only once a year that we venture westward towards the Appalachians. Traditionally, Hanna and I celebrate our anniversary here–sometimes near Blowing Rock, other times nearer to Asheville or Hot Springs. It is one of the most varied and beautiful parts of our beautiful state, and always refreshing scenery for someone raised in the relatively flat Piedmont.

Around the holidays, the grand Grove Park Inn hosts an annual gingerbread ‘house’ contest. It’s an amazing contest of nominally edible creativity, and the raison d’être for our trip this year. You see, all of our family will be far flung across the country this Christmas, and we needed something to get us into the holiday spirit. What better place than Asheville, a cozy mountain town full of beautiful Art Deco architecture, fabulous craft beer, and restaurants that can satisfy even the snobbiest foodie?

The highlight of the trip for me–aside from some truly fantastic grub at Mela, the Edison, The White Duck Taco Shop, The Sunny Point Cafe, and our perennial favorite 12 Bones Smokehouse–was our adventure into the Cataloochee valley to see the elk herd that was re-introduced there about a decade ago. Nestled in the mountains of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the Cataloochee valley is accessed via, in part, by a one-lane, two-way dirt track that winds its way along steep and curvy ridges, and induces white knuckles and turbulent tummies amongst even relatively seasoned alpine drivers. Fortunately, we encountered no ice nor oncoming traffic screaming around the blind hairpin turns (phew!). Had there been any shoulder on which to pull over, I might have tried to get a photo of this most rudimentary path to the beautiful valley beyond.

The reward at the end of this road less traveled is Nature touched by a gentler human hand–evidence of Man’s work is everywhere, but more subtle, a subtext in the main narrative of bracing clear mountain streams and sun-soaked highland grasslands bordered by bristly evergreens.

We also found time to visit the Western North Carolina Nature Center, where we were entertained by river otters before going on to see cougars, red and gray wolves, and other flora and fauna native to this region of the state.

Of course, no trip to Asheville is complete without doing a little exploring downtown.

Merry Christmas and happy holidays to everyone! I hope that I can spread some holiday cheer though these photos. We certainly found some!