I've been vacationing in western North Carolina and northern Georgia since I was a kid. I arrive, marvel at the mountains, and put on an unconvincing Southern drawl.
If I come to Aspen for one or two nights, I stay at the St. Regis.
My dad would load me into the car under a pile of blankets in the middle of the night so I could sleep the whole way and be on the mountain when it opened.
I had 13 weeks off and I would pack up the family and drive to some mountain retreat where we could be together and fish all day. I loved it. I needed it.
I like to head upstate to the Catskills, to Woodstock.
My father didn't want to ski alone, so he took me up to the mountains in order to basically bribe my mom to come with him.
It sounds pretentious to say I 'divide' my time, but when I am home, that usually means my house in Atlanta or my cabin in the North Georgia Mountains. The latter is where I do the majority of my writing.
For me, a holiday is about taking a book and going to a mountain and reading.
I would love to do skiing and go with my mates and have a chalet, have a drink, have a good time, and just switch off. Or maybe a marathon or something crazy like that.
Telluride has an incredible history and reputation, and I've long known of it as a unique entity that makes a place for writers - one more aspect of this exceptional film festival in the Colorado Alps.
Skiing with friends in Reberty, France, after the Winter Olympics in 2010, was an amazing trip. I was at my happiest surrounded by all those mountains.
