It Effing Snowed Again.
 

Okay, first off, if you see my name as that of the thread originator that means there's an excellent chance the thread is about...

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...20Day/Snow.jpg

...and so we will now pause while everyone clicks the back button in order to go find a thread about some place they've heard of and care about. To the four of you who remain, and especially to the one person who is thinking of commenting but who ultimately won't, thank you very, very much for staying and looking around.

And now, let me set the stage. We've gotten an awful lot of snow this year in Western North Carolina. Twice we've received over a foot of snow, in storms that effectively shut the city down and sealed people in their homes. I wanted to head downtown to get some pictures of these snows, but it just wasn't doable. I'm a North Carolinian, you see, and although we get snow every year here, I'm just not as adept at driving in the mess as you Northerners would be. Thus during the past two snows, I sat at home and cursed the dying of the light, so to speak.

Enter our last snow. Compared to two foot-deep snowfalls, it was minor. Only about four inches or so. The roads were still messy, but I was not going to be denied a third time! I had to find a solution, and I searched my apartment for a way to get downtown that would not involve me personally driving there.

Fortunately, I found a Korean-American in the basement. Originally from New York, he's well versed in navigating through slush. He agreed to drive all three of us apartment-dwellers -- himself, his girlfriend (originally from New Jersey), and myself to downtown Asheville so we could bring you these cold photographs.

A round of applause for the Korean.

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...Day/Snow00.jpg

New York and New Jersey, together again.

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...y/Snow01-2.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...y/Snow02-2.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...y/Snow03-1.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...ay/Snow115.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...y/Snow04-1.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...y/Snow05-1.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...Day/Snow06.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...Day/Snow07.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...Day/Snow08.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...Day/Snow09.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...Day/Snow10.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...Day/Snow11.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...Day/Snow12.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...Day/Snow13.jpg

Note the two-wheeled conveyance. There will be others, variations on a theme, featured later in this thread.

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...Day/Snow14.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...Day/Snow15.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...Day/Snow16.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...Day/Snow17.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...Day/Snow18.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...Day/Snow19.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...Day/Snow20.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...Day/Snow21.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...Day/Snow22.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...Day/Snow23.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...Day/Snow24.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...Day/Snow25.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...Day/Snow26.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...Day/Snow27.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...Day/Snow28.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...Day/Snow29.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...Day/Snow30.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...Day/Snow31.jpg

Yes, that is exactly what it looks like.

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...Day/Snow32.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...Day/Snow33.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...Day/Snow34.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...Day/Snow35.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...Day/Snow36.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...Day/Snow37.jpg

This is also exactly what it looks like.

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...Day/Snow38.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...Day/Snow39.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...Day/Snow40.jpg

I'm sure she thought I was a tourist. Tourists love photos of the locals going about their daily business, even when one's daily business involves shoveling snow in front of the art museum.

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...Day/Snow41.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...Day/Snow42.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...Day/Snow43.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...Day/Snow44.jpg

They're adorable.

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...Day/Snow45.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...Day/Snow46.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...Day/Snow47.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...Day/Snow48.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...Day/Snow49.jpg

Note the two-wheeled conveyance. More remains.

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...Day/Snow50.jpg

A forlorn glove lay forgotten in Pack Square Park.

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...Day/Snow51.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...Day/Snow52.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...Day/Snow53.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...Day/Snow54.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...Day/Snow55.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...Day/Snow56.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...Day/Snow57.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...Day/Snow58.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...Day/Snow59.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...Day/Snow60.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...Day/Snow61.jpg

A medical helicopter passed overhead.

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...Day/Snow62.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...Day/Snow63.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...Day/Snow64.jpg

Your photographer in a frivolous pose.

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...Day/Snow65.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...Day/Snow66.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...Day/Snow67.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...Day/Snow68.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...Day/Snow69.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...Day/Snow70.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...Day/Snow71.jpg

A beady-eyed topiary menace lurked outside the entrance to L.O.F.T., where we took shelter to warm up. Among the many fascinating things sold here you will find old-fashioned candies, soaps, antiques of all description, and wooden penises.

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...Day/Snow72.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...Day/Snow73.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...Day/Snow74.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...Day/Snow75.jpg

Koreans on ice!

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...Day/Snow76.jpg

Just plain ice...

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...Day/Snow77.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...Day/Snow78.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...Day/Snow79.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...Day/Snow80.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...Day/Snow81.jpg

A New Jerseyan surveys a water heater.

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...Day/Snow82.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...Day/Snow83.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...Day/Snow84.jpg

Note that this is the last representative of the two-wheeled conveyance to be featured in this thread. There is no need to search for more.

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...Day/Snow85.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...Day/Snow86.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...Day/Snow87.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...Day/Snow88.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...Day/Snow89.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...Day/Snow91.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...Day/Snow92.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...Day/Snow93.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...Day/Snow94.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...Day/Snow95.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...Day/Snow96.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...Day/Snow97.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...Day/Snow98.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...Day/Snow99.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...ay/Snow100.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...ay/Snow101.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...ay/Snow102.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...ay/Snow103.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...ay/Snow104.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...ay/Snow105.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...ay/Snow106.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...ay/Snow107.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...ay/Snow108.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...ay/Snow109.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...ay/Snow110.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...ay/Snow111.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...ay/Snow112.jpg

At this point we had to get warm again, and so we headed inside the Battery Park Book Exchange, a combination used bookstore and champagne bar. At the bar, a couple were eating cheese that smelled like dead fish, but only after first smearing it daintily on crackers.

I pose, looking thoughtful.

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...ay/Snow113.jpg

The Korean poses, also looking thoughtful.

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...ay/Snow114.jpg

The New Jerseyan poses, not looking thoughtful, next to a portrait of what appears to be a man in a dress. Seriously. The person in the portrait has man hands. That's why the New Jerseyan appears to be slightly freaked out.

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...ay/Snow117.jpg

Inspired by the people eating the dead fish cheese, we decided that life would just not be complete without a couple pounds of exotic cheese to call our very own. Thus, we headed back over to the Grove Arcade to buy some. A violinist surveyed the scene.

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...ay/Snow116.jpg

The end.

I like Asheville. Seems quite urban, too..especially when compared to it's peers.

Asheville is such a treat.

Thanks for taking a look, guys!

The second I saw the title of this thread, I just knew it was a thread that I had to click on.

Maybe North Carolinians can't drive in the snow, but you sure can drive in the hills.

Thanks, Double L!

To a point. When those hills become covered with snow, one has no choice but to recruit the services of a New Yorker. As mentioned in the thread, I store mine in the basement.

:previous:

Nice pics. I've never been in the Carolinas but I plan to do the whole east coast down to Key West someday!

I spent the winter once in Washington DC (1988) and was always amused how two inches of snow there constituted a national emergency. I laughed every time I heard on the radio that "the federal government is closed today" :haha:

The weather is topsy turvey this year. They have to truck snow into Vancouver BC for the Olympics. Here in the Moncton (Canadian Maritimes), we have only had two good snowstorms all winter. You guys are getting it all instead.

Global warming.......you gotta love it!! :tup:

I never tire of seeing Asheville here and this is the first time I've seen it in the snow. Great set of pictures! It definitely looks like a cool funky city that I'd like to check out. Thanks for sharing.

nice pictorial. asheville blanketed in snow, she wears it well.

Thanks very much for your comments. I really do appreciate you all taking the time to look and leave your thoughts.

I was in a little German sports sedan in the hills west of Murphy coming from the direction of Cleveland, TN.
This big hunk of Detroit iron with fenders out to here caught up to me and stayed glued to my bumper. A station wagon no less.
I couldn't out run him on the uphill.

But there wasn't any snow at the time.

If there's no snow, you'll find that quite a few residents of WNC, including myself, can and will pass you on curves. It's a skill you have to learn when your region is invaded each and every year by elderly Floridians. They come up to spend the summer in a cooler place than their winter home, and unless you want to set out for work or wherever a good 45 minutes earlier than normal you learn a car with Florida plates and a little white head behind the wheel is a car to be passed. It doesn't matter when or how, but it is to be passed. And so you do. Even on curves.

Rude, yes, but it carries over and makes us into aggressive drivers. This is why WNC drivers drive like bats out of hell and refuse to use their turn signals, as though the direction they intend to turn is a vital state secret.

your photos are pretty decent. my only suggestion is to not make comments at the very beginning that would discourage others from even wanting to view them.

also some night shots and possible aerial views would be nice to showcase the town.

nifty, thanks for posting

Great shots! I especially liked the one of the green tile roof of the S & W Building and the bird tracks photo.
I hope to get back there this summer for another Bele Chere Festival.
http://www.belecherefestival.com

Thanks for commenting, everyone!

Yeah, that's my point. You guys can sure handle the hills, and I say that as a compliment. And I've been on private logging roads out west too where the one rule is to stay the hell away from descending logging trucks.

I didn't think it was rude at all, and felt slightly embarassed that I was holding him up.

Thanks for looking at the pictures. For a quick and dirty run around downtown before the snow melted, I think they came out alright. Not great, but not abominable. Meh... Regarding the comments, it's just a fact of life here on SSP that the smaller the city (Asheville's population currently stands at approximately 80,000 people) the less interest there will be in it, even if it's an urban gem. For example, I had planned to do a photo thread showcasing a different neighborhood of this city every month last year, but panned that idea after six threads in six months with maybe three or four responses apiece. I figured the longer I went on with that, I would just be annoying people.

I'm not bitter or anything. I accept that the big dogs get more fleas. As it were.

If you were interested in night views, you might want to take a look at a Halloween thread I did a couple of years ago.

Honestly, it is kinda rude, I have to admit. I always feel bad when I'm tootling along behind someone from out of state as we're headed down a mountain and suddenly they pull over to let me pass. I wonder if they thought I was tailgating.

I stuck around, I like seeing pics of Asheville.
I can get pretty tired of snow towards the end of winter but it always looks nice in photos!
Yep, I used to post Quad City threads quite often but, like you, didn't get much responses. My last photo thread was in 2007. Maybe again someday.