falcongrrl

Well, it's 11am and we're still getting ready. We really need to get out of here and enjoy what's left of this vacation while we can.

A couple of days (Monday and Thursday) were incredibly foggy and rainy here, to the point that we were nervous to be driving on top of a mountain. So we mostly stayed inside my mom's condo, which is luxurious (to the point of having a jacuzzi with gold plated faucets, heh) but unfortunately SMALL, at least for a family of four. Tuesday and Wednesday were spent in Asheville with my in-laws, in a place slightly bigger than this but still arguably much too small for six people. They were stressy and doomy, which wasn't a good influence on top of my already fairly wonky nervous system, but we all managed to survive the visit. (I swear, I was channeling

bard_bloom when I wrote that last sentence.)

Anyway, Dave and I both loved Asheville, at least the older downtown part. Bumper stickers that said, "Keep Asheville Weird," resonated, and if we move up here I'll probably have to get one. We're in the talking/planning stages at this point--both of us would love (at least in theory) to live in a place with four seasons, and it'd be good for the kids to be in a place where they can roam and play and be the little wild uncivilized things that they long to be, at least when they're not in school and stores and restaurants and things like that. We have visions of living on top of a mountain, if we can afford it, if Dave can either keep his job or get a new one while relocating, if we can address the drawbacks. If if if. We'll keep you posted.

Asheville is probably similar to Austin--not in terms of geography, as it's surrounded by mountains--but in terms of being an oasis of blue in a sea of red. It felt like a good place. It wouldn't be that much closer to many of you, but it wouldn't be any further away either, so that's something.

Dave's ready, so I should get the kids ready so we can get out of here. More later.

edit: Oops! It would be further away from local friends, and that is a consideration as well.