Growing up in Asheville, North Carolina was a blessing I took for granted for most of my life, until one day I realized that actually, the place I live is one of the coolest places. When I was younger, I thought everyone had something like the Biltmore Estate to visit on any given Saturday, or the Parkway to drive to school or to a friend's house on. Now that I'm in college and living in another city, I can fully appreciate all of the perks and beauties of Asheville, and I can safely say that in my humble opinion, it's the BEST city... just saying...

1. The Food

This is the first on the list because it's the most important because food is always number one of course. But seriously, did you know there's around 130 restaurants in downtown Asheville alone? All over the city there's like five million gems to choose from, from Corner Kitchen (a favorite of Obama, #casual) in Biltmore Village, to places like Laughing Seed downtown, you can find any kind of food at any time or place, which I personally think is what makes a city truly great, but that's just me...

2. The Mountains

Ok confession, I don't really like to hike all that much, which I know makes me probably not a true North Carolinian or whatever, BUT that doesn't mean I can't love and appreciate the mountains ok y'all? But seriously, there's nothing that makes me happier than the first time I see the mountains on my drive home from college, and there's nothing that makes me feel more at home than always being able to see the beautiful mountains surrounding me all the time.

3. The Biltmore Estate

Even though I've been to the Biltmore Estate more times than I can count, there's never a time that I go and I'm not completely blown away all over again. I mean, seriously George Vanderbilt really killed it, also it kind of makes me feel weird that it was just his summer home, but I guess that's how they did it back then...

4. The Parkway

I know this kind of fits in with the mountains, but I feel like it needs it's own special place because I think it's just that amazing. I mean, growing up I got to drive on the parkway multiple times a week to go to school or to someone's house or just because, and that was such an amazing thing that I miss SO much now that I have to resort to regular streets to get around, such a struggle honestly.

5. Downtown and Basically Everywhere Else in Asheville

Downtown Asheville is a place where I genuinely believe you could never be bored. I mean, besides all of the shops and restaurants and cool statues, sometimes you see someone walking their goat on a leash down the street (this is a real thing that I saw, it changed my life honestly) and sometimes you see the man who dresses up as a nun, although he's really part of the background at this point.

Then you can go to Biltmore Village, the River Arts District, and any other place in Asheville and see and do so many fun things, I mean what's not to love? Y'all, there's a store in Biltmore Village that is dedicated to Christmas all year long, isn't that magical? Also there's a J.Crew warehouse store in South Asheville so...

I know I grew up in Asheville, so maybe I am a little biased, but honestly, to me it's one of the best cities, and one I think everyone should visit anytime they can, if not just to see the traffic the day the Biltmore puts up the Christmas tree...