Slow Europe

Fast Travel: Asheville, 4 nights; Charlottesville, 3 nights; Chapel Hill, 2 nights.

This is the last night of the trip; we fly home tomorrow. I am tired of living out of a suitcase and want to see my cat Buddy, but it has been a great trip. We wanted to explore this area with the thought of maybe living here some day and we wanted a break from the Santa Fe spring. Both goals accomplished!

Conclusions: All three of these towns would be good for us. If I were picking from my heart, I would choose Charlottesville. Beautiful countryside – gentle rolling hills, lots of trees. Good hiking nearby, nice walks in town. Small town. Two hours from Washington-Dulles airport with a short flight to Europe!!

If I were picking from my head (logic), I would choose Asheville. A good “alternative” population, vegetarian restaurants, natural foods stores, nice downtown, lovely historic houses, weather is probably cooler in summer because it is in the hills. Lots of hiking nearby.

And if I were picking a place where there is lots to do, I would choose Chapel Hill. We went out tonight to get takeout Indian food and drove around the University area. People are out on the streets and it felt like a hot summer evening in July.

We are enjoying the heat (daytime temps in the 70s) and the warm evenings. In Santa Fe it is almost always cold at night (which I like too). We had a few rain showers today and half of the days it was overcast, but the other days were bright and warm. I don’t know how I would be here in the summer with the humidity, but I tell myself I must be okay with humidity because I grew up in Toronto and we lived in Pennsylvania for a summer 20 years ago. I like the geography here, all the trees, the very friendly people, these exciting college towns.

But all this research is for the future. We are still working on the “year in England” maybe starting this fall. And we need to revisit Boulder because it is on the shortlist too. We might do that next month.

Monticello near Charlottesville, home of Thomas Jefferson

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“Dark and silent late last night,
I think I might have heard the highway calling.
Geese in flight and dogs that bite.
And signs that might be omens say I’m going, going,
going to Carolina in my mind.”
“Carolina in My Mind”, James Taylor, 1968

Okay, I have a thing for North Carolina which is probably a result of playing that first James Taylor album repeatedly when I was a teenager. I hear the words “North Carolina” and I feel the sunshine, smell the green, see the rolling hills.

We flew from Albuquerque to Atlanta on Thursday for a 10 day trip to North Carolina and Virginia. The three and a half hour flight went quickly because we both plugged into my iPod and watched the first three episodes of season two of Weeds.

When I planned our flights I thought the Atlanta airport was north of the city - arrive at 4pm, get a rental car, be on the road by 5pm and not dealing with rush hour. However, the airport is south of the city, so we hit rush hour. We took a highway that loops around Atlanta, so we did not have to drive through the center of town, but the traffic was thick. It was a four hour drive to Asheville. They had a big storm this week and we got the tail end of it on the drive.

We were booked at the Inn at Biltmore, on the Biltmore Estate on the south side of town. We got to Asheville at 9pm and went straight to a Chinese restaurant that I had found online in listings for vegetarian friendly restaurants. Picked up some takeout food and drove onto the estate (China Palace South on Hendersonville Road – good quality food, good vegetarian options). We do not have good Chinese restaurants in Santa Fe, so when we are somewhere else we head straight for the Chinese restaurants.

Walking along a strip mall, while waiting for our food to be made, I thought that maybe what I like about traveling is the emotional upheaval. The excitement – isn’t this great?; look at the moon rising; look at those mountains. The unknown – will we find restaurants we like?; will the hotel be nice?; will I have fun here? The fear – why am I taking a trip and leaving my house that I love where I have all my support systems and my cat?

The Biltmore Estate is huge; 8,000 acres I think (but I heard other numbers). We drove in the pitch black on narrow winding roads to the hotel. It is a big hotel with rooms that are nice but not worth the price (over $300/night). What is worth the price is the service (for example, the valet gets you bottles of water for the car when you set out for the day!) and being on the Biltmore Estate. My only complaint is that you hear every door on your floor opening and closing, but even I forgave that because of the location. (Don’t book rooms 273 or 275 – they are right across from the administrative offices and that door opens and closes nonstop.)

On Friday morning we had breakfast at the hotel, then took their shuttle bus to the Biltmore House. You get a good tour of the estate on the shuttle bus and it seems like the house is 10 miles from the hotel, but on Saturday we walked and it is only a 1 ½ hour walk (as the crow walks). Friday was sunny but a bit cool. The big storm that hit the area earlier in the week had finally moved off.

Detail from the Biltmore House

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On April 12, I did a live interview for Around the World, a travel show out of Santa Barbara. This was my second time on the radio (the first time was on Tuesday) and my first time live. Around the World is a great travel show and the host made me feel at ease immediately, so it was fun. You can listen to it here (10 minutes).

The topic was traveling in England and I spent a day putting together notes for the interview - I was ready for everything (more or less). Since 10 minutes really isn’t that long, we did not cover everything, so here are my England notes.

Traveling in the Cotswolds

The Cotswolds is a popular vacation destination for North Americans. The area is not large – you can drive through it from north to south in an hour, and from east to west in an hour – but it is filled with beautiful villages, historic houses and gardens, endless walking trails, good pubs and tea rooms. The area has been designated an Area of National Beauty and is protected from over development.

The area is popular weekend and holiday destination for Londoners and other tourists. The main villages can fill up with visitors on summer holiday weekends, but mid-week off-season the area feels like locals-only. The walking trails in the Cotswolds are among the best in England and there are many trails to choose from. You can do a short two hour circular walk, or spend ten days walking from village to village on a long distance footpath.

Vacation rentals are good quality and well priced

Because the British travel a lot within their own country, there is an excellent network of quality vacation rentals at good prices. People have been staying in vacation rentals in England for decades, centuries even. When Jane Austen’s characters wintered in Bath, they stayed in furnished houses - vacation rentals. We rented our first English vacation rental in 1988, almost 20 years ago.

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