Relaxing in the mountains..er, foothills

Ahh, North Carolina. Why does it feel 20 degrees cooler here than in Lexington? Must be the close proximity of the mountains and the rivers that feed down from them. Or maybe it's the massive abundance of green, leafy trees that overshadow the deck that I'm sitting on as I type. Who cares....I'm just glad it's cooler!

We're in Tryon, NC for the weekend right now. One of my wife's co-workers owns a small house here in the foothills of NC. We jumped in the van yesterday (because it's 5, yes 5! miles inside of NC, and I can't drive the Blue Streak outside of SC unless I'm on business) and drove up. My wife drove and I read a book. Reading is the only way I can avoid "helping out" with the driving duties. I didn't even have to read a map, due to the awesomeness that is GPS. My wife just listened to the voice coming out of the box and we found our way here with no problems...except for the slight detour that I caused by not paying attention to the map on the GPS. But that was easily solved by turning around and getting back on the right road. Once again, GPS rules.

The house is pretty small...any more of us and we'd be tripping over each other as we walk around. The back deck is good sized, extending out about 8 feet from the back of the house, and going the whole length of the back of the house. If you lean over the side, you look down into a stream that runs along behind the house. It's very soothing. Much better than listening to airplanes landing at Columbia International Airport. The next door neighbor even has wireless internet! Ask me how I know. The house is fully furnished; stove, fridge, washer/dryer and all that stuff. The bathroom is just big enough for one person to in and TCB. No sharing the mirror in the morning here! The water's hot, and there's plenty of it. There's one bedroom, and the living room has a pull-out futon.

When we got in yesterday (Friday) and got unloaded, I sat down with my four-year-old and watched The Golden Compass. I've got to be honest...I cheated and read the book when the movie first came out in theaters, so I knew basically what was going to happen. I didn't really like the book, and I didn't really like the movie. They were both just ok. Kinda like The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe...just ok. At least the kids in TGC didn't whine like the babies in TCN. Man, what a bunch of sissies! The thing that got me in TGC was the accents. Normally I can get past most English accents, but this was difficult! I know my kid didn't understand a word they were saying, but she remembered the polar bears! That was the coolest part of the movie. Armored bears stomping around squashing evil doers like bugs. Awesome! After that was over, I perused the selection of movies that was already at the house. From that, I picked out Casino Royale. What a great flick! I'd seen it before, but man, I could watch that movie again and again. And I'll probably watch it tonight. Oh, I forgot to mention...there's no TV. By that, I mean we don't have cable/rabbit ears/satellite. So no local news, weather or anything like that.

After the movies we went to Sidestreet Pizza in Tryon. Excellent pizza. In fact, I've got about half of the one we ordered last night in the fridge. Guess what I'm eating for dinner tonight? In addition to pizza, they do subs and general Italian food, i.e. lasagna, pasta etc. By the time we left, about 7-7:30, the place was packed and people were waiting for tables. Since we parked about a quarter mile away, we walked the downtown area and checked out all the shops that were closed. And then we had to find a place that sold shorts, cuz I forgot mine at home. We found a Dollar General in Landrum (SC), and I bought a pair of sleep pants from a very inquisitive clerk. Since I'm outta state, and because I try not to panic the locals, I was wearing my black biker shirt over my shoulder holster. Well, the shirt is black with two flaming choppers on the front, and I get a lot of looks when I wear it. This guy just had to know where I got it, how much and all that other stuff. In reality, my wife won it at some bar we were at when we used to ride a lot. It was way too big for her, so I just took it. I don't think the guy believed us.

We all slept like logs last night, and when we got up this morning it was nice and cool. Oh yeah, there's no A/C in the house. Didn't matter cuz it was 60 degrees. I fixed bacon and egg tacos for breakfast, and we decided to go to Pearson's Falls. Since everything's so close, we were there right after they opened at 10am. After parking the van, and ignoring the No Concealed Weapons signs, we headed up the trail. It was a quarter mile, uphill to the falls. The four year old almost ran the whole way, exclaiming "I see the water!" everytime she saw the river. Which was every turn. The trail up was very easy...it's a trail, maintained by volunteers. It's even got handrails and steps. Easy. When we got to the top, my daughter said, "We came all that way for a big water fountain?". But at least the butterflies were cool.

Coming down was as easy as going up, and we decided to go see the horse show that was going on this weekend. My daughter was all excited about riding horses, until we explained that we were going to watch the horses, not ride them. Letdown number 2. She was pleased with the butterflies, though. Oh yeah, they had a park she could play in, and another river to watch. I think it was the same river, different location. She didn't care. After the park, we decided to get some Bar-b-que for lunch. Off we go to Landrum again, to Southside Smokehouse and Grille. The picture in the magazine made it look really good, and when we got out of the van, it smelled really good. Maybe I was just really hungry. The meat was dry. The pork, the chicken and the sausage...all dry. There were less than a dozen folks in there at NOON. Four of those people were waitstaff. To make it short, I was not impressed. The butterflies were nice, though.

McCrone, Day 1.5-Observations on Chicago

I took some pictures of my hotel room, just to give an idea of how....compact it is. Here's the desk/tv/computer/office space.



Here's the view from the window beside the bed


Here's the view from the entrance. I'll get some pictures of the city up tomorrow. But first, some observations on Chicago:

I had dinner tonight at Ditka's. For as much as I spent, which was basically all my per diem for the day, I would have expected MUCH better food. It was just good. I had the NY strip, looked like it was about 12-14oz. At the restaurant, you buy the food items separately. So the fries were extra. $7 extra. Good thing that I've almost stopped drinking soda at restaurants! I have no idea how much they were, but I'd guess that they would be about $2.50. The water was free. I checked. The steak was cooked correctly, medium, but didn't have any...flavor. You know how steakhouses always season their steak with something? Not here. Don't get me wrong, it tasted really good, especially after I walked almost 2 miles to get there. But it wasn't $38 good. While I was there, I think Johnny Damon came in. Sat down at the table next to my booth. For about 2 minutes. Then they (there were 3 in his party, and I didn't recognize the chick and the other dude) got moved into the banquet section of the restaurant. I'm 90% sure it was him. So there's my brush with fame for the day. Maybe I'll see O-prah or O-bama tomorrow. Well, probably not Obama...he's fighting with Hitlery over Pennsylvania tomorrow. Too bad it's not gladiator style.

As I walked down the street, I noticed that probably 4 in 10 of the people I saw walking alone had i-Pod headphones in their ears. No i-Pods visible, but definitely the white ear buds that go with the iPod. Probably 8 in 10 men had some type of messenger bag or backpack. I tried to talk my wife into letting me get a Maxpedition jumbo Versipak, but noooooo. "It looks like a man-purse!" Bah.

Lots of women who listened to their fashionista friends when they told'em that, "That outfit looks great on you!". Oh, honey they lied! Those oversized sunglasses make you look like you got in a fight with your meth-cooking-trailer-trash-boyfriend-of-the-moment, and you had to cover the black eye he gave you when you told him to get a haircut and get a real job. Never mind the short skirt and mid-calf boots. You're not Mariah Carey. More like Harry Carey. Enough of the fashion report.

Lots and lots of cabs. Mostly old Crown Vics, several mini-vans and some Lincolns. I guess the limos come out at night, cuz I didn't see them earlier. There sure were a bunch of them out tonight. Lots of public transportation. In between the El, the subway and the busses, I may have to give one of them a try. I can ride a bus in SC, so the train it is!

The magnificent mile is interesting. All the shops you could want in a mall, out on the street. Saks 5th Avenue, Nordstrom, Crate and Barrel, Nike, Disney, blah, blah, blah. No gun stores. No Bass Pro Shops (there's one on the way home). So Chicago's not all great. Panhandlers on every corner. None of them were actively begging for money, but danged if they didn't all have cups out with some loose change in'em. I saw three guys playing saxaphone, a duo with flute and bongos (hippies!), and a blind guy with a harmonica. He was asleep, though. Enough for one day...