Hi! My name is Ashleigh and I am a 26-year-old writer from Virginia, United States. I live with my husband Nicholas in an area known as Appalachia which is very rural and mountainous. Being in the mountains, we love to hike and camp, and we are also very close to many rivers and streams, so we love to kayak and swim as well. I enjoy gardening and homesteading, playing folk music on banjo and guitar, photography, and writing fiction and poetry. I also love horror movies, drinks with friends at my favorite local bars, Thai food, and exploring abandoned buildings. Nicholas is an arborist (tree climber) and in his free time, he likes to woodwork, go off-roading in our Jeep, and watch movies. We live in a house that was built in 1900, so we have a lot of fun updating and renovating it as well. We have a dog (coon hound) named Atlas, and a Nanday Conure named Aldo.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I am on Couchsurfing for 2 reasons:

1) I am excited about the idea of showing people the beautiful state of Virginia and the area where I live. I love it very much, and I want others to come to love it too! I have extra space, and I love meeting new people.

2) I am going on my first European adventure this year (2018) with my husband and best friend. This trip has been a life-long dream of ours and we want to experience more than tourist stops and landmarks. We want to get to know the people and the culture of every place we visit, and make friends along the way.

Interests

• writing
• kayaking
• camping
• snorkeling
• history
• playing guitar
• whiskey
• thai food
• banjo
• creative writing
• writing music
• drinking beer
• free camping

Music, Movies, and Books

Music:
I love folk music like the Secret Sisters, Rising Appalachia, Emmylou Harris, John Denver, etc. But I am also obsessed with Billy Joel (always have been) and cover bands that make crappy pop music so much better.
Movies:
Joy, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Inglorious Bastards, Fried Green Tomatoes, Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Prestige
Books:
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Paper Towns, The Hunger Games, Out of Africa, Mrs. Peregrines Home for Peculiar Children, anything by Virginia Woolf. I also read a lot of poetry.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Before we were married, my husband and I went on this crazy long, cross-country road trip. We drove my junky little Plymouth Breeze from our home in Virginia, to Savannah, Ga, to Port St Joe, Fl, to Biloxi, Mississippi, to New Orleans, La, to Morgan City, La, to St Louis, Mo, to Chicago, Il, to Lafayette, In, to Charleston, Wv, and home again. We had like no money and camped out the entire way. Somewhere around New Orleans, my car started to automatically honk every time we turned right. This got us a lot of foul looks and hand gestures from other drivers on the road... By the time we got to Missouri, it was honking every time we turned any direction at all, so we disconnected the spark plug for the horn, which also disabled our headlights. :P But we had an incredible time trying new food, meeting people, learning about the history and cultures of the places we went. And we became even closer than we already were to each other on that trip, sleeping on the ground, cooking food over a fire, running from bad weather and evading highway patrol. :PI especially loved Louisiana, though Nicholas said he missed our mountains (Louisiana is FLAT!). We've not stopped talking about this trip since, and it was six years ago!

Teach, Learn, Share

I love to learn about local history of the places I visit, and I love to teach about MY local history! I also think I'm good at teaching creative writing, and English. I also love to cook, and share good food with friends, new and old. I would love to learn to speak Greek, and cook Greek and Thai food.

What I Can Share with Hosts

Cooking! I love to cook, and especially like island and asian food. There's nothing I won't try to make, and so far my guests have been pretty satisfied. :)

I would love to help someone improve their English speaking/writing skills, or learn to play guitar. Nicholas loves to share his climbing skills, and enjoys helping people learn to take great care of plants and trees. He is also happy to help prune and trim trees.

Countries I’ve Visited

Bahamas, Canada, Puerto Rico, Saint Martin (French part)

Countries I’ve Lived In

United States