January 2011 – Random Connections

Tupelo Honey Cafe

January 31, 2011 Tom 1 Comment

Restaurants

Karen B had said that we absolutely had to try Tupelo Honey Cafe for breakfast while we were in Asheville. She also warned that it was very popular, and that we needed to get there by 9:00 if we hoped to get seated. We arrived in time to get a couple of seats at the … Read More “Tupelo Honey Cafe” »

Hanging Out in Asheville

January 31, 2011 Tom No Comments

Travel

After our tour of Biltmore on Saturday, the plan was to hang out in Asheville and do some window-shopping Saturday evening and Sunday morning. Karen and Herman had given us a list of their favorite places in Asheville, and we wanted to check out a few of them.

Asheville always strikes me as a city of opposites, but not necessarily bad ones. You have the opulence of Biltmore and Grove Park, combined with a funky hippy vibe and alternative lifestyle mecca. That’s born out by the businesses downtown, where eclectic music venues and interesting restaurants sit side-by-side with lawyers’ offices and high-end retail shops and art galleries.

This particular Saturday evening lots of people were out enjoying the milder weather. We walked through several blocks of downtown, and most of the restaurants were busy. On one street there was a long line of young adults waiting to get into some club – I’m guessing a favorite band was playing there. Other places were just about as crowded.

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Mela Indian

January 31, 2011 Tom No Comments

Restaurants

After a day touring Biltmore we were hungry, and specifically we were in the mood for something ethnic. A quick check of Google Maps showed an Indian restaurant within walking distance of our hotel in Asheville, so we decided to give it a shot. Our walk took us onto Lexington Avenue and into a very … Read More “Mela Indian” »

Touring Biltmore

January 30, 2011 Tom 3 Comments

Travel

Laura and I needed a weekend away together. We’ve done a good bit of traveling lately, but it’s either been for business or to see family. However, we didn’t want to drive too far. We decided to head up to Asheville for the weekend and visit the Biltmore Estate.

I’ve only been to Biltmore twice, and the last time was well over ten years ago, so I was stoked. After work Friday we drove on up and spent the night downtown. That means that we were in town early, so we were able to head over to the Estate as soon as it opened.

Laura had talked to Karen B and had gotten some good tips about what we needed to see. She said that we really needed to do the Roof Tour. When we got there we didn’t see that as one of the tours. However, we did find out that the Architect’s Tour had replaced the roof tour, and we got the last two slots available that day. We also paid for the general audio tour. The whole deal was quite pricey, but we really wanted to see as much as we could.

Prosperity, Pomaria, Peak

January 24, 2011 Tom 1 Comment

Family, Local

…and other towns that don’t start with “P”

Saturday morning my sister Glynda and I headed down to Prosperity to visit the parents. Mom and dad were in the mood to get out and explore. We decided to hit some of our favorite places – the communities just to the east of Prosperity. Even though I had visited these places with the parents, Glynda had never been out this way.

First stop, Pomaria. The central business district of this little place is pretty much a ghost town, although there is still a lively community surrounding it. We stopped on Main Street to take some shots.

Interestingly enough, most of the businesses had the name “Wilson.”

From Pomaria we headed south to Peak. This has always been an intersting, somewhat isolated little community on the banks of the Broad River. I had always thought that the town got its name because of the hilly terrain, sort of like the nearby Little Mountain. However, it was named for the railroad superintendent of the time, Mr. H. T. Peake.

The main draw for Peak (apart from its quaintness) is access to the Palmetto Trail and the spectacular bridge that spans the Broad River. The town’s people initially rejected the plan, fearing strangers wandering through their town. I can only see this as a good thing for the community, as more people come to visit to see the bridge and the other railroad trestles that they are converting into footbridges.

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The Green Room

January 17, 2011 Tom No Comments

Restaurants

This weekend is Restaurant Week in South Carolina. In towns around the state participating restaurants are offering special deals on limited menu items so that people will be enticed to try a new place. Having been cooped up with snow all week, we decided to take advantage of this, so Sunday evening we met our … Read More “The Green Room” »

Snow Days

January 12, 2011 Tom No Comments

Local, Miscellaneous

All the weather forecasters were predicting it – a whole bunch of snow late Sunday night into Monday with significant accumulations. It was certainly cold enough. Laura and I did our regular trek to the grocery store on Sunday, and, of course, certain sections were seriously depleted in anticipation of the storm.

It stayed sunny for most of Sunday. I was a bit surprised when our district called off school so early, but I guess they were taking the forecasts seriously. They turned out to be correct. Monday morning we awoke to a blanket of snow covering everything.

Rescuing Rose

January 10, 2011 Tom 2 Comments

Family, Local

We had quite the neighborhood adventure Sunday afternoon. Our lake levels have been lowered so that we can do some annual maintenance, and Laura had spotted a new, very elaborate beaverdam just upstream from us. I had walked down to take a couple of photos when I spotted some blonde fur in the mud in … Read More “Rescuing Rose” »

2011 Lowcountry Unfiltered Congaree Swamp Stomp

January 10, 2011 Tom 2 Comments

Travel

It was the first second Saturday of 2011, and my friends from Lowcountry Unfiltered decided to brave another swamp stomp in the Congaree Swamp National Park. We did this once before in January a couple of years ago. At that time it had been raining all week, and we had one of the coldest, wettest hikes we’ve ever experience. This time around it was cold, but fortunately much dryer.

Last time we wandered around with a vague notion of where we wanted to go. This time we had a target, or, more appropriately, targets. We were looking for champion trees, and we wanted to see how many we could find before we wore ourselves out.

RIP Percy

January 4, 2011 Tom 3 Comments

Family

A late night phone call or knock on the door is never a good thing. That was definitely the case this evening. Our neighbor from across the street said that he thought he had found our cat, Percy. I stepped across the road with him to find that Percy had apparently been hit by a … Read More “RIP Percy” »

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