mountains

We're in Asheville, NC, smack dab in the middle of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Planning on driving the famous Blue Ridge Parkway tomorrow, doing all the touristy things, maybe a bit of hiking too and most definitely lots of picture snapping. It looks like Switzerland with a good dash of Dodge City here. Asheville itself has been gentrified and I am surprised at how clean and big city-like it looks.

I've given up on American cable news. Fox, CNN, CNBC, it's all the same crap. There is no such thing as "news". There is only the presidential election. Maybe if terrorists bombed Paris or London, American cable news would notice. Anything short of that - fuggedaboutdit. It's all Obama all the time and all Hillary all the time. Is Obama wearing his US flag pin on his lapel? Is he patriotic enough? Is Bill the driving engine behind Hillary's behind? Is Rudy too fruity-friendly? Is Mitt full of grit? Poor people down here, having to endure this trial by cable for a full two years!!!

On the whole, Canadian supermarkets are way better than what I've seen here in the south. The choice of bakery products alone puts the local marches to shame. Lots of cereal choices, though. Geez, if only we could import their energy, vavoom and weather.

fine day in the south

Well, finally a nice day down here in Charleston, y'all! Woke up to weak sunshine and though the clouds threatened, rain never mat erialized. We decided to do the touristy stuff today: drove downtown and walked through Market Street, which actually is a market. The wares are fairly skimpy - weaved baskets and trinkets. But it was nice to see old black ladies actually weaving. We plonked down $20 each for a horse/buggy ride which was fun in a hokey kind of way. Our guide was a very nice lady in her 50's, 12th generation Charlestonian. Some of the old houses downtown look amazing. The locals tell us that even as recently as 20 years ago, this place was so crime infested that any downtown activity was severly restricted. It took the black/Jewish police chief, Reuben Goldberg to clean the place up. The whole downtown area does look very pretty, though I still have doubts about its commercial vibrancy, despite what the natives claim. The feel of the city is really great...the humid southern air, the smiling, talkative people, the superb food! Yeah, we lunched at Hyman's again. Best fish ever!

Since the sun was shining, we took a dip in the ocean after returning to the hotel. It was amazing. The water was quite warm and the beach here is second to none. I realized that the last time I had swum in salt water was in Israel in 1989. I dipped my feet into the Pacific two years ago in Los Angeles but it was too cold to swim in. After the swim (and after my lunchtime beer at Hyman's), I drifted off for a two hour nap.

We're off to the Blue Ridge Mountains tomorrow. Overall, what strikes me more than anything else is the Americans' pride in their history and heritage and the colour of everyday life. People simply seem happier. I don't know if it's the weather....it's just national character. People in Toronto seem closed, certainly much less talkative and - I hate to say this - just more depressed. I wish we could be as proud as the Americans. It is high time form our school system to teach Canadian history and to instill the idea in our kids that there is more to Canadian identity than hockey. Or healthcare (what a joke!)

hyman's seafood

The more I travel in the U.S., the more I begin to understand the Americans' sense of exclusiveness. To many Canadians - and others - this often seems like arrogance. I don't think that's what it is. Americans live in this absoluetly vast country (and I don't just mean geographically, like Canada, but also population wise) that overlows with everyhing and anything life has to offer. They have the snow and the sea and the tropics and the desert, gambling and the fun life in Vegas, snorkeling in Hawaii, horse riding in Montana and word class theatre in New York. And that's just a fraction of it. Americans are uneducated about the rest of the world out of a sense of naivite, not because they look down on other people. In fact, I find that they're often embarassed about their "ignorance", prefacing statements with words like "Well, what do you want, I'm an American". They travel in a universe called America and do so with zest, energy and power. And like a powerful bear, they sometimes break things in their path - out of blissful ignorance or miscalculation, because they're simply not on top of what's happening elsewhere, outside of the good ship U.S.A.

Had lunch at Hyman's Seafood in downtown Charleston today. Without a doubt, the best fish I've ever eaten. Very affordable, too. We had a couple of glasses of fine California Pinot Grigio with it and paid a total of $35. Excellent value. Then went down to their gift store (yep, a resto with a gift shop!) and bought a couple of T-shirts at $4 each. Btw, presidents and famous entertainers have eaten at Hyman's. There are signed plates on their walls. One of them says: "Great chow! I feel GOOD!...signed James Brown"

Still pissing with rain, damnit. Why couldn't we bring some fine Ontario fall weather down here?

charleston real estate

Went to see some properties with the help of a friendly local agent. Wow! A beautiful 1 bed condo can be had for around 100K. This is when the cdn and the us dollar are at par! The market here is sluggish and they offer all sors of incentives. One of the properties we saw was 5 minutes from the beach and all had gorgeous landscaping, palm trees and the rest of it. Similar properties in T.O. sans the palm trees would go for 350K. We are now very seriously contemplating a purchase down here.

Downtown Charleston is quaint, old and charming. Whether it actually has any dynamism and life has yet to be seen....we had a disappointing, expensive lunch at a place called Cafe Cafe. The service sucked and the food blew (or is it "blowed"?)

charleston

Made it down to Charleston. The last stretch of about 100 km on highway 26 seemed endless. The highway runs through what looks like an alley of cypres trees and the view never changes. When we finally emerged into Charleston rush hour traffic, it was almost a relief.



Got settled in our hotel on Isle of Palms, which simply gorgeous. We have a view of the Atlantic from our window and the beach is 30 meters away. So far, it's been raining and thundering all the time, so not exactly beach walk weather but we're keeping our fingers crossed!



Had a very fine (and expensive) meal here at the hotel last night. Americans seem mile ahead of Canadians when it comes to accomodating diners with special needs. My low sodium request was received with smiles and completely honoured

on the road

Driven 880 clicks today from T.O. to Fayetteville, WV. There was about a 25 minute delay at the border in Buffalo but the customs chap was pleasant and quite civilized and waved us through. The drive down has been spectacular. Both Pennsylvania and West Virgina are blessed with gorgeous mountains, dense woods and breathtaking vistas. Makes the drive easier. We are ensconsed in a nice hotel here but the locals at Wendy's (I only dared buy the baked potato) were right out of central casting, dead ringers for Cletus Delroy Spuckler one and all!

Tomorrow we'll have a quick look at the white water river here and more of the truly magnificent scenery before heading down to Charleston, SC. I will be blogging about the trip frequently but only adding pics when I get home. Toodles!