Thoughts, ideas, about where one chooses to live and why …

[Zooropa]

Great post carolyn! in my case I'm still pretty young at 29 and I've been here for 8 years and I just feel like this is the place I was meant to live, though in a few years I will likely be priced out of Asheville and the closeby areas barring any significant changes in the local economy.

[dog dude]

I guess it should only be appropriate for this subject to be my first post. And it's been the same thing I've been asking myself for the last few years. I'm at a time in my life where the kids are almost all grown up and can make their own choices on where and what to do just like we did when we were their ages.
I live in New Jersey now, born and raised except for some schooling in california. When I first got married I wanted to escape from here just to see something different. But the wife wanted to stay to be close to family. Well, she persuaded me not to move. But you can probally tell where this is leading, but the smokies is the area I was interested in. But the reasons I had to move there back then have only quadrupled over the last ten years. Thanks to forums such as this gr8 one, I have been able to learn so much more about the area. And now that I'm a little older, I can apprecite the history and the folklore alot more. Not to mention the antique shopping. Yeah, my tastes might have changed, but it's even more reason to want to move there.
I have taken two vacations to the area so far. One in the beautiful Wears valley just outside Gatlinburg, and the other in charming Bryson City. Since the park was the big draw for us at first, we figured to set up "camp" on opposite ends and see the advantages of both states. And for me the choice was clearly the north carolina side for me. But I"ll be close enough to take advantage of all their gr8 state has to offer too.
Another reason I'm choosing the smokies is for the relative safety of natural disasters. The northeast is the only area in the country that doesn't get hit by devasting consequeces. The mountains protect you from the worst of mother nature. But that's just one of my many reasons. THE BEAUTY, is what drives most people to the area.

[Mozart271]

Originally Posted by clgrimes

...and I can't describe the feeling I get when I'm by myself just driving the Parkway and I look out over those majestic mountains. I'm sometimes so overcome with emotion that I just bawl! Now you can't tell me that is not something that's divine in nature...

THAT is the reason I plan to get out of Florida and up to the Asheville area within a few years (sooner if I could). I grew up in Tampa, which I don't hate...But when I think back about places I keep being drawn to, where do I land? The two years I spent in Charlottesville, VA. Why? The surroundings.

I have a vivid memory of one experience (in 1980) that I had while driving from Lexington to Charlottesville, which took me over the Blue Ridge right at Skyline drive. It was early morning, and as I emerged from the pass at Afton Mountain, suddenly the sunrise was before me, red-orange-gold, lighting up the valley. This may sound corny, but I felt this surge of--just love for life! I suddenly realized how grateful I was to have eyes to see this, and I felt connected to the land, the sky and every creature. I simply can't put it into words.

I feel truly alive (Awake, as the Buddha would say) in these mountains. There is not only beauty that takes your breath away, but a unique spiritual quality. Your being overcome by emotion while in the midst of the Blue Ridge is not a surprise to me because I have the same response.

I know patience is a virtue, but I can't wait to live where I can walk out of my door, or go down to the grocery, and just take it all in every day.

Teresa

[baqarkashmiri]

ver nice good work