I arrived in Asheville about 2 weeks ago and I have 2 more weeks to spend here. My AirBnB is the best place I have stayed yet. It is the cutest coziest little studio above the garage of my host, Aimee, who lives in the main house on the property. I arrived to fresh flowers in the kitchen and living room, a welcome card, and fresh made shortbread cookies. It turns out my host is a badass ultra runner who owns Sweetheart Bakery (@sweetheart.bakery on instagram and check out her “Bakers Against Racism post below) and sells her creations in bakeries all over Asheville. I have made friends and fallen in love with the stray cat on her property, Henry, and I am doing my best to get him and Benny to also be friends.
Asheville is an eclectic town with beautiful mountain views, tons to do outdoors, breweries, wineries, coffee lovers, hippies, and social justice warriors. There are people with colorful hair, tattoos, and piercings everywhere and as my friend Natalie told me “there’s no dress code in Asheville” which is exactly my kind of place; I feel welcome as I am everywhere I go. I have seen more people wearing masks and talking about getting vaccinated as soon as they’re able than any of the other places I have visited. As I have walked and driven around I have seen more social justice signs on front lawns and businesses than in Boston- Black Lives Matter, John Lewis Quotes, Love is Love, and “Wherever you’re from we’re glad you’re our neighbor” in multiple languages. I’ve also appreciated seeing churches with BLM and Silence is Violence signs.
On my second day here I was able to receive the first dose of the COVID vaccine. I had put my name in when I was still in Charleston and someone called me within an hour to say they could book me for an appointment in 2 days because they need to administer 1000 vaccines a week and weren’t meeting their quota. I am extremely grateful, as a healthcare worker, to have made it work to receive a vaccine while on my road trip and have it fit perfectly into the time I am here in Asheville. My appointment was at UNC Asheville and the experience was phenomenal; every human supporting this effort from the workers in the parking lot, to the people checking me in, to the person giving me my shot, and so on were the kindest people which helped my anxiety a lot. I had a lot of anxiety about having an allergic reaction – my throat closing, a stroke… all of the extreme catastrophic reactions were running through my head. I brought a book to distract myself and stayed for 30 minutes instead of the recommended 15. I did feel a rush of panic through my body at about 5 minutes in and had to work really hard to redirect my thoughts because panic feels like the allergic reaction I was fearing but I ended up doing great.
As you know, I started a running program at the end of my time in Charleston and have been running 3 times a week for the past 4 weeks. Running in Asheville is BRUTAL; holy freaking hills. Luckily, my host being a runner, she recommended some straightaways and trails to check out near my AirBnB. There is a beautiful greenway alongside a stream that I have loved running on. The more I run the easier the hills get but I have never run anywhere like this. Just to give you an idea- I ran 4 miles this morning and my watch calculated the hills as going up 15 flights of stairs and down 30 over the course of my run!
The best part of Asheville is my amazing friend Natalie who I met in undergrad at Coastal. She lives here with her husband and their daughter, Aria. Natalie and Jonathan were dating while we were in school so I have known both of them for about 15 years. My first weekend we went to brunch at Country Kitchen and then went to explore the Biltmore Estate which is the famous Vanderbilt country home aka mansion in Asheville. We explored Biltmore village and played on the playground and farm with Aria then headed over to tour the home. I highly recommend getting the audio tour guide as we were able to listen as we walked through; it tells stories about each room, points out the secret doors, explains the decor, and shares the history of the Vanderbilts and the estate. It absolutely poured all afternoon but we still had a great time. We wrapped up the day with a wine tasting at the estate winery.
Several fun facts about the Biltmore: the 90’s movie, Richie Rich, was filmed there and there are a lot of sites that claim it is one of the most haunted places in America. The audio tour didn’t mention anything about this which I am assuming is because they don’t want to scare the children listening along …or maybe not to annoy the ghosts. Regardless, when we were in the basement and entered the old pool room I had an awful feeling and didn’t want to linger; at the time I attributed it to my anxiety about being in the basement of a mansion with no clear way out but once I started researching I found that many people get a bad feeling in the pool room due to assumed spirits in that area of the house.
Yesterday/Saturday I spent the day with Natalie and her family again. We got an early start and went hiking at Gorges State Park; we hiked up to Rainbow Falls which was breathtaking. We had a picnic lunch overlooking Turtleback Falls before heading back. One of the many things Asheville is known for are black bears. As a new hiker, it was pretty creepy to be aware of making lots of noise because the bears are coming out of hibernation and have a significant presence throughout the area. Little Aria, my new bestie, is only 4 years old and absolutely crushed the hike with us!
Hiking is another anxiety producing activity for me for the same theme of reasons- feeling far from help and like I can’t really escape. A lot of people feel like nature is the escape and can’t imagine it ever feeling suffocating or inescapable. It takes a lot of concentration for me to stay in the moment, especially on the way back not to pick up the pace to get back to the perceived safety of the car. Luckily, Natalie (and her husband) are very understanding of my anxiety and I felt really comfortable throughout the hike.
After our hike we went to Stone Ashe winery; we sat in adirondack chairs with a beautiful view and shared a bottle of chardonnay. As we sipped our wine we talked about everything from parenthood to business ownership to travel to mental health. Natalie is one of my friends who has seen me at the very worst of my anxiety and remained a true and supportive friend. We also went to graduate school together which was during the worst of my anxiety. I could barely sit in our classes as I was in a constant state of panic; sometimes I couldn’t even hold a conversation with her because all of my energy was being focused on not running out of the room. I stopped being able to hang out with her outside of our classes because I was only leaving my house for work and school. I’ve lost friends along the way for not being able to hang out or for having panic attacks in front of them, not Natalie. Not only was I not able to be in Natalie and Jonathan’s wedding in 2011, I couldn’t even attend it. I’ve always regretted this and while we were at the vineyard I was finally able to tell her this in person and Natalie being Natalie told me she had always understood why I couldn’t do it at the time.
Sunday morning I woke up and headed to grab a coffee and go drive the Blue Ridge Parkway which is a beautiful stretch of highway that stretches 469 miles from North Carolina through Virginia. The views were breathtaking and I was able to stop at a few lookout points to take pictures; this also checks off another National Park on my trip.
To close out my weekend I went and got a late lunch on the patio at Universal Joint and spent time working on my blog. It has been interesting as I have talked to several people about my blog and my anxiety that so many have said the idea of going to a bar, restaurant, or exploring on their own is anxiety producing while I experience my anxiety very differently. I have appreciated people sharing their struggles with anxiety as it is a way to connect, validate, and be grateful for the things I can do.
Where My Feet Are 
Asheville is on my bucket list. Looks beautiful. And how wonderful to reconnect with a sympathetic friend.
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