Asheville has always had an independent spirit. With its roots growing deep in the heart of Appalachia, the city has a strong, determined identity that works alongside a certain joi de vivre which hums through so many facets of life in this mountain town - including its Modern Appalachian food scene, recently ranked by Yelp as the No. 1 food-destination city in the United States.

The first time I went to New York, it was 1979. I was a freshman on summer break from Bard College. I was exhilarated - and overwhelmed.

Last summer, Livability.com ranked Chattanooga No. 3 on its list of the 10 Best Home Base Cities for Road Trippers nationwide.

For more than a century, Brushy Mountain kept the state of Tennessee's most dangerous criminals behind bars. The likes of Martin Luther King Jr.'s convicted assassin, James Earl Ray, were sent to the fortress in the forest.

I wrote something the other day listing Jfest, Moon River, Riverbend and Bonnaroo as the four largest music festivals in our area, and I was suddenly struck with the idea that we have four good-sized music festivals in our area.

What's the strangest thing you've seen a passenger do on a plane?

You can really go to town in the Cadillac XT4. Literally.

A round-trip flight from Chattanooga to Paris, France, emits 2.14 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, according to the nonprofit Carbon Footprint.

The Scenic City has plenty to offer those who are planning a staycation - particularly since coronavirus fears have caused some travelers to cancel their plans.

I started planning the moment I booked my trip to Disney World.

Former Disney Imagineer Eric Baker is hush-hush about the top-secret projects he's working on.

It's a rare day that Joe Kyte doesn't find strangers in his yard taking pictures.

When Amy Covington Farlett took up gardening with a group of kids from Chattanooga's Westside back in her early 20s, she knew as little as they did about growing plants, she says.

If you've ever dreamed of frolicking through fields of flowers, you're in luck.

Punctuated with flowers that bloom at night, the magical glow of a moon garden is optimal for night owls or those who prefer understated elegance.

When Drew Holcomb and Paul Steele conceived the Moon River Festival in 2014 as a way to play music with some friends and show off their hometown of Memphis, they couldn't have guessed that it would outgrow the 3,500-capacity Levitt Shell.

Per the Lookout Farmers Market's tagline, "Local food tastes better!" And it's better for you.

When it comes to family haulers, three-row SUVs such as the 2020 Mazda CX-9 define the sweet spot. And the CX-9, shown here in Soul Red Crystal Metallic, is definitely one candy-coated confection.

In the aftermath of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant meltdown in 2011, the nearby Buddhist Joenji temple took note of recovery efforts in Chernobyl, where fields of sunflowers were planted throughout the affected area. In Japan, they began planting sunflowers, field mustard, amaranthus and cockscomb.

Need a use for a piece or two of fruit from the market before it goes bad? Try making shrubs, flavored syrups made with fruit, vinegar and sugar.

As a young girl from Marietta, Georgia, Peggy Holbrook wasn't sure what to expect from her first camp experience in 1959.

Smart homes decked out with the latest technology to turn up the thermostat and lock the doors while you're away are becoming commonplace.

On multiple occasions, while awarding the Medal of Honor, President Harry S. Truman remarked, "I would rather have the blue band of the Medal of Honor around my neck than to be president of the United States."