Day 28 from Palmetto Prideway to Billy Graham Fwy

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  Asheville, North Carolina
Tuesday, September 21, 2010

So we drove the 250 odd miles down I-26, the Palmetto Prideway, leaving behind Charleston and the Low Country for Billy Graham's hometown of Asheville, North Carolina.

It was sad to leave the polite coastal paradise of Charleston, but it is becoming a little like the Gold Coast. Very large sprawl into new suburbs, taking up the tidal reed beds, and a downtown dominated by tourism. The signs of pre-civil rights segregation are still around, and the wealth gap is large. But still a beautiful place to visit. Even if the only place we could buy bread was at the local Piggly Wiggly supermarket.

Asheville is a major contrast. After getting major wraps from Stephen Fry and Stefan Linquist, and with monikers such as Paris of the South and San Francisci of the east, it had much to live up to.

We're not sure about the Paris tag, but it is definitely hilly, and in a great mountainous setting (but certainly no Jasper or Banff). The alternative stores have taken over downtown, which is a nice change. But not ideal for us this time, as we need to buy Toby a birthday present. I know he might grow up as a greenie, but we don't need to ram it down his throat by buying him a toy garbage recycling truck or an overpriced organic train set. Oh well, off to watch the hula hoop party, eat a tofu burger, washed down by some dandelion tea.

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Asheville City Building

Asheville city square

Pig riding

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