Asheville, NC

One of my favorite US places of all time is Asheville, NC. I'm sure there will be others as I venture more, but this is one of those places that makes you pick up a paper and look though the rental listings after half a day of being there. It has a very eclectic downtown with plenty of cafes, art galleries, record shops, etc. There seems to be a street performer on every corner. And it's nestled close enough to the mountains that you can have the option of hiking and enjoying the city life both at your front door.

I stayed in one of my favorite hostels so far while I was in Asheville. It is called Bon Paul and Sharky's,
( bonpaulandsharkys.com )named after the owner's 2 fish. It was a great place to stay with great people, and a few buildings down there is a bar & grille called The Universal Joint ( www.ujasheville.com ) that was made from an old auto garage that was very cool and always busy.

Between the mountain views on the outskirts of town and the vintage buidlings, art, grafitti and street performers in town, there are always great opportunities for photographs. There were a few abandoned factories with lots of grafitti that I got some great urban style shots out of. There's an old double decker bus turned into a diner in the city, a great mix of upscale restaurants, dive bars, local music, I can go on and on......... GO THERE!!