[Yardstick]

I like Knoxville a lot — just a nice medium-small city with a big university to pull in the cultural stuff. I’ve never been to Austin. In what ways does it remind you of Knoxville? Asheville is hilarious because it’s so totally out of sync with the rest of the region. It’s like someone choppered it in from northern California. And I actually kind of like the quirky hippie vibe.

[leilani]

Austin's bigger and more economically diverse, but it's got a lot of the same amenities since it's also a university town (the REAL UT,lol) with a river running through it, lakes nearby etc. Knoxville's greener of course, it's hills are higher and IMO just a very pleasant, beautiful place to live. (But sssshhhh! We don't want word to get out how nice it is lest it really become like Austin- overrun with permanent transplants!)

I too enjoy Asheville's funky mountain town vibe. Only to visit, though. Just not sure I'd want to live next door to smug, sanctimonious lefty wackos who have wrecked their home states and are now trying to do to NC politically the very same things which led to the unliveable conditions which forced them to escape from whence they came! ;-)