Beat the Summer HEAT!

Back in the Raleigh, Durham Chapel Hill area (this includes Cary as well), the temperatures are rising above 100 DEGREES! They have been lucky to have escaped the brutal summers of heat and humidity until now! So now is the time to head to the mountains. Thomas Wolf said it best in Homeward Angel: Those in the East should always go West. How relevant it is today...
Come with or without kids, take in the cool crisp mountain air or enjoy the air conditioned Biltmore Estate and the Thomas Wolfe Memorial. The refreshing cool waters of rafting on the French Broad River or sit a spell and cruise along Lake Lure all can be a wonderful escape from the dwellings in the cities to the east.

Asheville, Thomas Wolfe and Orson Scott Card

Photo from www.wolfememorial.com

Lately we've been talking about the Thomas Wolfe House and Memorial at Carolina Mornings. We love packages, and guests love packages, so we're trying to come with something related to the Memorial house (suggestions are welcome). Anyway, one thing we thought of is a book sold in the gift shop: Asheville, and Thomas Wolfe. It gives you an idea of some of the places in Asheville that Wolfe featured in his writing.

When Googling the book, I discovered that Orson Scott Card, a somewhat known author (hah! by "somewhat known," what I really meant was Very Well-Known Among Sci-Fi Readers Across the Nation), actually reviewed the book, the memorial, and Asheville itself - back in 2004 in a Greensboro, NC publication called the Rhinoceros Times. The review is an entertaining read (it is Card, after all) and says some spot-on things about the Memorial and Asheville in general.

So, other than sharing the Orson Scott Card article about visiting Asheville, I'd also like to recommend you take a trip to the Thomas Wolfe Memorial. It's just $1 for adult admission, and only $0.50 for students. Where else can you look inside a historic place for $1? Plus they do some pretty cool events in the Thomas Wolfe house, usually for about $6 (still unbelievably cheap for cool events).

While you're in Asheville or Western North Carolina for summer vacation, Bele Chere weekend, to see Biltmore, or even if you live in the area and have never been before - go check out Thomas Wolfe's old house located right in downtown Asheville.