hiking – Perspectives on the Road

We have been in Asheville, North Carolina for a couple of days. I have to say, Ithaca has nothing on Asheville as a hippy haven! We have been enjoying walking around town seeing the sites.

Every Friday night they even have a drum circle in a downtown park.

These pictures are of the historic Grove Arcade, a huge indoor mall built in 1929. The first floor of the building (which is a whole block) is stores, the second floor is offices and the top floors are luxury apartments. In 1976, it became the first indoor mall to be added to the National Register of Historic Places.

YMI Culture Center in Asheville houses art galleries, classes and performances in African-American cultural art and history. It was founded in 1893 in the Black business district as the Young mens Institute to give Black people a safe place to gather. Here is an interesting article about The Block and efforts to bring back a once thriving Black business district.

And of course there are the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains with Mt. Mitchell, (elevation 6,684 feet) the highest mountain east of the Mississipi, which we can see from our hotel room.

I can understand why many Ithacans choose Asheville as their escape from winter instead of Florida.