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Asheville's always attracted the bohemian, artsy, freak types. It's an absolutely beautiful place, one of the prettiest settings you'll ever find, but unfortunately, much like another beautiful city (San Cramcrisco) it's packed with granola--fruits, nuts, and flakes. I don't know of any other Southern town (except maybe Chapel Hill) that even comes close...and Asheville does it without having a major university in town.

The funny thing is, it's in a very conservative area in general--that's very close to where our own Congressman Billybob is thinking about becoming a Congresscritter for real. Asheville's just this one little pocket of liberal whackjobbery in the midst of lots of good, God-fearing, hard-working North Carolinians.

Hendersonville, about 15-20 miles south along I-26, is booming as a retiree mecca, as are some of the other towns in the area and Asheville itself. And with the natural beauty of the area, it's not hard to see why.

}:-)4

Asheville is a haven for the loonies. For example:

Teacher invites student to get naked in class"

First Annual Naked Bike Ride in Asheville

Unfortunately, although the area has great natural beauty, downtown Asheville has a thriving hippie/druggie community and is a really seamy place. Hope it can be cleaned up but, it's going down.