Arrival in Asheville, NC

I took a red eye from PDX to O'Hare. The United app gave me directions to get to the gate for my flight to Asheville. I discovered that the concourse is quite empty at 5:30 am.

 

  

The hotel where I am staying is in the central downtown area. My room is lovely. My friend Martha who I taught with in Italy, and her husband Roger are great hosts. They picked me up at the airport, took me to lunch, and gave me a nice tour of Asheville. I will spend more time with them after the Road Scholar program ends on Friday.  

My first impressions of Asheville is it has lots of art, music, and restaurants. There are some un-housed individuals that congregate in the center of the downtown area. The population is estimated to be about 93,500. Two years ago Hurricane Helene devastated much of Asheville and surrounding towns. Some areas still recovering.