charlotte

Asheville, Southern Charm, and the Journey North

It’s 7am and we just pulled out of the Amtrak station in Charlotte. It was still pitch black when Stephie and I left the house at six but now the light is steadily growing and changing the sky from dark black-purple to orange, and now to neon pink. There are still puddles of fog nestled in fields and other open areas between houses. This is one of my favorite times of day but one I rarely see, also loving the mysterious potential of late night and my sleep. It has been a long time since I was on a train and I’m glad for the excuse to see the sunrise and to ride the rails again. It’s fourteen hours to Penn Station, plenty of time to catch up on stories and make new ones. Continue reading →

Something completely different

Charlotte is for slowing down. Since getting here a few days ago I’ve mostly been sleeping and eating, which seems perfectly in line with this place. Not only because I’m staying with John and Stephanie, my comfortably worn-in friends, but also because the day I arrived it turned rainy and fall-chilly, which sent the whole city into hibernation mode. They teased that I brought Portland weather with me, and it certainly has felt like a warmer and slightly muggier version of the Pacific Northwest. Charlotte also has one of the densest urban canopy covers in the U.S., something the city maintains scrupulously and takes pride in. The green adds to the city’s sleepy rural flavor, and it’s kinship with the Cascades, a delightful change after the concrete slabs of the North. I traded garbage trucks and rowdy neighbors for cicadas and song birds. Continue reading →