The French Broad River

It's true that Asheville is a good 5-6 hour drive from the coast, which makes it farther from the ocean than I'm comfortable with, but it does have a river–the French Broad river. We spent a few days in a cabin by the river and had our coffee on its bank each morning.

The river differs depending on where you encounter it. The French Broad by our cabin was a lazy swirl of a river, with a gentle flow, mucky bottom and curves. The river gets more broad, and more choppy in parts and it sometimes floods, badly. It has a history of being unpredictable which made the upper French Broad a poor choice for river traffic despite people really wanting to build river ports on it back in the day. It's a stubborn river.

There's places in the city to spend time by the river such as a walking/jogging/biking trail that runs along it. Asheville also has a dilapidated industrial corridor that has transformed into the "river arts district." It's comprised of faded old warehouses converted into artist spaces and galleries. The river has an overgrown swampy feel to it here with (still active) train tracks running alongside it.

The sun likes to twinkle on the French Broad river, and near sunset it becomes a hazy glow through the trees. Birds also love the river. Each morning a white crane would silently and slowly flap its wings flying right above the water from one bend of the river to the other. It was spectacularly graceful. As we sat outside with our coffee, we joked that we were witnessing his morning commute.