The West Coast of North Carolina

There is always time to stop and smell em.

Asheville, the last stop on our 10-week tour of North Carolina, is about the closest you are likely to get to a West Coast vibe in this southern state; lots of craft beer breweries, tons of restaurants and a walkable, well-preserved downtown in a pretty, cool and dry mountain setting.

We loved it.

A little different than the view we had at the Motor Speedway in Charlotte!

And it didn’t hurt that our RV “park”, not too far north of the city, resembled an actual park, with spectacular views looking west into the French Broad River Valley.

On a positive note, the summit wasn't very crowded.

We chose the rainiest, foggiest day of our five-night stay to drive a section of the Blue Ridge Parkway and hike the short trail to the summit of Mt. Mitchell, the highest point in the U.S. east of the Mississippi River.

Other Asheville area stops included state historic sites at the homes of Zebulon Vance, the state’s governor during secession and a U.S. senator for many years afterward, and; the author Thomas Wolfe. We took a great, self-guided walking tour of downtown, visited the new, high-tech Sierra Nevada Brewery on the outskirts of town, toured the Vanderbilt Mansion and Gardens, checked out the vibrant arts district in the river bottoms and attended not one but two Asheville Tourists minor league games.

Blowing big bubbles in downtown Asheville.

Thomas Wolfe was, literally, a literary giant.

I suppose that, if you are going to brew a beer called Sierra Nevada in the Appalachian Mountains, Asheville is probably the place to do it.

The Biltmore Estate is really, really big and a surprisingly cool thing to see.

It's not for sale but we are thinking about making an offer.

In the movie Bull Durham Crash Davis was released from the Bulls but caught on with the Asheville Tourists, where he eventually set the record for minor league home runs by a catcher when he went yard into the trees beyond the left field fence here at McCormick Field in Asheville.

Asheville was mascot heaven for Betsy. First Mr. Moon...

...then Ted E. Tourist!

And finally, a bonus we never saw coming; Astros Hall-of-Famer Craig Biggio played for the Tourists!

North Carolina is now, officially, in the rear view mirror. We will arrive in Kentucky tomorrow. The wedding is less than a week away.