ARE WE MOVING TO ASHEVILLE, NC?

Now that our time has come and gone in Asheville, the question remains….are we moving to Asheville, NC?

Yes! No! Wait…we don’t know yet. We’ve only just begun our yearlong journey of full-time travel to find out where we want to live. While I’d love to have a definitive answer, in the back of our minds we know that there’s still so much we’re going to see in the year ahead. How could we know yet?

We’ve talked a lot about what it is we want in the place we ultimately want to call home. You know how people make a list about what they want in their ideal partner? Yeah, we have that list, but instead, it’s for our dream town. Our soul mate in the version of a city. Here’s what our dreamy pin it up on an inspirational vision board alongside pictures of cheesy but nonetheless motivataional quotes would have:

1. Natural Beauty – As former residents of a concrete jungle, we both yearn for a space that overflows with natural beauty. Ideally, it would be close to hiking trails and different bodies of water like rivers, lakes, creeks, or oceans.
2. Human Made Beauty – While natural beauty is vital, it’s also essential that the city is created with aesthetics in mind. Is there thought put into the architecture of the buildings? Does the city have a look that makes it entirely it’s own? Does the town put money into planting flowers and trees? Does it have too many billboards that eventually become an eyesore day in and day out?
3. Affordability – Affordability is, of course, a subjective thing and will be different for everyone. For us, it means an area where you can buy a beautiful 3 bedroom home for around $300,000. We no longer wish to work so hard that there’s no space for enjoying life.
4. Dynamic Food Scene – This is pretty high on the list. We’re a family that likes excellent food. One of the best things about living in LA was having a fantastic food scene and accessible fresh food all year. A place that offers a variety of unique contemporary style restaurants, farmer’s markets, and grocery stores that offer local produce.
   
5. Creativity – We’re both artists and need a city that puts a value on elevating the arts. That’s typically done by having art galleries, places to see live music, education centered around the arts, and shops within the city that are locally owned by area artists selling their work.
6. Diversity – We both agree this is really important to us as parents, that our son is exposed to the diversity of life around him. That’s variety in age, race, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic status.
7. Access to Urban Amenities- A nearby airport, shopping, high-quality medical care, good schools.
8. Mid Size City – This is our goldilocks moment. We don’t want a big city that begins to feel like a machine, and we don’t want a small town where you’re wondering where all the people are. We want it jussssst right. Enough people so that it feels vibrant but not too much that we feel overwhelmed and begin to hate all of humanity.
9. Low Traffic – As former Los Angelenos, where one of us had a one hour commute every day because of traffic, this is important to us. Anyone who has ever had a long commute knows the stress and toll it takes on your mind and body. No more traffic for us.
10. Community – We’re looking for a place where the people feel warm and inviting. After living in big cities for so long, we’re both over the standoffish self-absorbed feel that city living can have. Obviously, there’s going to be selfish, rude people everywhere you go. We are, after all, in the social media driven age of narcissism and disconnection. And yet, I have faith that there are places in the US where the more pervasive feeling is one of kindness and connection.
11. Chemistry – Lastly, this is the unspeakable thing that can’t be so explicitly pinpointed. It’s a feeling. A hunch. An indescribable excitement that happens when you’re there. Just like that “chemistry” you’re looking to have on a first date, we’re looking for that chemical stir that makes us go… “okay, I want to spend more time here.” Chemistry is the kind of thing that could make us kick off half of the items on this list and say, “screw it, you’re a tiny podunk town, and you have crappy food, but I’m crazy about you, so I’m going for it!”

Now that you know what we are looking for in a city, does Asheville rank high on our list of desires for our soul mate city? Does it hold up to Livability ranking it as one of the top places to live in the US? I’m going to break it down for you in a completely subjective unscientific scale of 1-5 stars.