last question about locations...I promise

[wallycat]

If there's anyone living near Hendersonville or Waynesville in North Carolina ...can you comment on the location?
Weather, grocery stores :D , etc.

Thanks.
I swear this will be the last time I ask .....:o :(

[Canice]

Oh, wallycat, I always enjoy these threads! And everyone here is so helpful (and think of it this way - you're asking different people with each inquiry ;) ).

My aunt lives near Hendersonville (Brevard). She spent most of her life in New York state and Florida and she just loves it there: Moderate climate, beautiful scenery, nice people, etc. I do recall that we have a BBer in Brevard (sorry, don't remember who) and she did say that finding ingredients was often an issue. I was only there once, over 10 years ago, so I look forward to hearing from folks with more experience with the place.:)

[Melman]

I'm not familiar with Waynesville, but Hendersonville is a really fun little town. The Main Street area is covered in wonderful shops of all types. There are antique shops everywhere (I'm not an "antiquer", but I love looking in these shops!) Mast General Store is on Main Street...that's a wonderfully fun store! You'll also find book shops, one or two kitchen shops, some wonderful restaurants, and a bakery that actually bakes their goodies from scratch. All it takes is to walk near the bakery and it's easy to tell these yummy things aren't from any mixes!!

Besides Main Street, I have to add they also have a Fresh Market AND a Harris Teeter! The HT is scrawny as far as HT's go, but it's still an HT regardless of the size.

Not far from Hendersonville is Asheville (maybe 10-15 miles north??) and about 5 miles south is Flat Rock. Flat Rock also has some cute little stores (like the Wrinkled Egg and a terrific nursery right next door.)

Weather...a little cooler than here. What's here? We're hot and muggy - sunshine, humidity, chance of showers every afternoon. Drop the temp a little bit for Hendersonville because it's in the mountains.

I hope this helps a bit.

[kwormann]

Wallycat, are you MOVING to the Asheville area??? If that is the case, you may have to adopt me....:D:D:D

[Abbey]

I took a quiz on www.findyourspot.com . Based on your answers, the results of the quiz tell you the best place for you to live. Mine came up Brevard, NC...Hendersonville was a 2nd or 3rd choice. We are planning a vacation there in the next year or two to check it out. :)

[wallycat]

Thank you!

DH wants to check this area out. We know we love the pacific northwest (but not sure we can afford anything nice to get ocean view) so we want to check this area out. We would be closer to DH's brothers...and if we can't get ocean view out west, his theory is we may find something beautiful out east/south without ocean.

We'll no doubt scope the area out in Sept. and see if we fall in love with it.

I just want to know what my kitchen will look like :eek: :p

Thank you!

[HUNGRY!]

I lived in Asheville for a summer and loved it (and I believe there may be a Trader Joes in Asheville? I know there's a pretty good Harris Teeter and Ingles was a pretty good chain I thought). I think Hendersonville is about 10-15 miles from there which means you wouldn't be too far from good ingredients- and the Western NC farmers market in Asheville is to die for. I know you don't like the heat, so the big plus of that area is no matter how hot it gets in the summer you can always head into the mountains, which are just lovely. You'll have the Blue Ridge Parkway and Great Smokey Mountains National Park close. There's lots of other things to do as well if you're not into outdoors and you'd be about three hours away from Charleston, NC which is also a fun place to go on vacation. Can you tell I'm biased?

[wallycat]

So it sounds like even though it gets hot in the summer, the mountain areas never get really bad? anyone know how mosquitos and mountain areas fare??

[kwormann]

I was in Boone 2 weeks ago. It was VERY pleasant. It was a bit more humid than normal, but was in the mid 70s and lovely!

Ok Wallycat and Abbey...which one of you is going to adopt me? It is my dream place to live and DH has no desire to move there....:(

[Abbey]

Originally posted by kwormann
Ok Wallycat and Abbey...which one of you is going to adopt me? It is my dream place to live and DH has no desire to move there....:(

I'll adopt you...I know you can cook! :)

[kwormann]

Originally posted by wallycat
So it sounds like even though it gets hot in the summer, the mountain areas never get really bad? anyone know how mosquitos and mountain areas fare??

ps, Asheville is in the mountains! Maybe she meant you could head into the woods areas. There are sooo many places to camp and hike, Boone and Blowing Rock are great places to go and arent far. You MUST eat on the patio of the Grove Park Inn. It is a great old hotel with LOTS of ghost stories:) The veiw is SPECTACULAR. If it is chilly when you go, they have little heaters out there so you can eat out there year round!

I could go on and on....*sigh*.....

[HUNGRY!]

When I was in Asheville in the summer it did get hot there even though it is in the mountains- but you can easily get to a higher elevation is what I meant. I don't remember there being any bugs- just racoons. All in all it was very pleasant in every way.

[Melman]

Asheville has two great festivals coming up in the very near future too. Bel Chere is billed as the "largest free street party" (or something like that on their web site). I hate to say that I've never gone to it. The following week (first weekend of August) is the All Saints Parish Art Show. I go to that event EVERY year. The participants have the most wonderful talent - painting, carving, glass works, pottery, etc.

By the way, there is NO Trader Joe's in Asheville. I think the closest one is in northern Virginia. And Charleston is in SC. :) The farmers market is incredible!!! There's also a small food co-op in Hendersonville that's pretty nice.

[wallycat]

You guys are great! Thanks. OK, I'm getting excited to go now :)

kwormann, if we move there, we'll adopt you :D

So it sounds to me like I'd be all set with the food...
hoping wine is a similar situation ;)

Sounds like the hardest part will be deciding which place to pick for our final destination :(

[HUNGRY!]

Hmm, yea I wasn't sure about the Trader Joe's. There is some good grocery store on a hill in West Asheville- I can picture it but I can't remember what it was- I was working in a resturaunt when I was there (the Bistro on the Biltmore Estate) and so I ate most of my meals there and didn't get to grocery shop much.

[Melman]

Cool! You worked on Biltmore Estate? I would think that would be a fun job. There's an HT not too far from Biltmore, but I don't think it's on a hill. Maybe there's another fun store that I don't know about!! I don't spend a great deal of time in the Asheville area, but I guess I manage 2 or 3 trips a year up there for some reason or another.

Wallycat...Biltmore has its own vineyard. :D :D

[HUNGRY!]

I'm not thinking of that Harris Teeter (they used to have a great Italian place right next to that HT but its gone now). It was someplace else I was thinking of. I had actually never been there but someone told me about it and I had driven by it. I guess I'll have to make another trip to find out!

Working at Biltmore was cool- it was where I learned to use a blow torch :D and the chefs were great to me and taught me a lot. They even let me come into the kitchen once (called it crossing the line) and slice bread. It was a very big deal to them. If only you all could see the walk in freezers with the big fresh fish and meats, every kind of fruit, mountains of whipped cream...

I worked part time in the winery too but I don't know much about the wines because I was underage.

[HUNGRY!]

Reporting back- the store I was thinking of was called Earthfare (www.earthfare.com).

[Melman]

OH! I should have guessed Earthfare. We have one of those here, and I knew there was one in Asheville.

Your Biltmore experience does sound fun!!!

[wallycat]

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I just checked out Earth Fare's website...HOLY COW!!!!!!!!

Do they sell wine?? :D
I think I'd be all set with a store like that in my back yard :) ;)

Thank you...
this will be so much more stress-free than I imagined :o :D ;)

Biltomre has a vineyard...cool beans!!

[Melman]

Earthfare also has a wine selection. I *THINK* they'd all be considered to be organic wine so it's not a HUGE collection, but it's pretty decent.