I lived in Athens, GA for almost a decade, and when my wife and decided to move to a bigger city, this was a major factor in us deciding not to move to Atlanta. We're really big on biking and public transportation, and at the time it didn't feel like Atlanta was an option because of this.
That said, I miss Georgia a lot. I don't think people who live in other states realize how cool Athens and Atlanta are.
When I lived in Seattle, I met a lot of people with very distorted views of Southern cities in general. A lot of people who have never spent much time (or any time) in the south get their whole concept of us from crazy politicians, awful hollywood movies, and jim crow. That said - I've met tons of southerners that stereotype all Californians unfairly negatively as well (they think it's all berkely antifa and LA gangs). This is one big reason I really wish we had a national program like the one Yang proposed, where high schoolers could spend time in different communities across the country. Travel is expensive, but there's really no substitute for it when it comes to dispelling regional prejudices.
What's funny is when we moved, we actually considered Asheville, too, but decided to go a little bigger. When we lived in Athens it was rare we'd visit Asheville and not run in to someone we knew, or saw that a friend's band from Athens was playing. There is (or was, at least) a lot of reciprocity between the two music scenes.