Today’s session at the Hangover Cafe is probably the “hardest” entry to date. Gary Clark Jr.’s “This Land” is a blues rock song with tempered anger and a “take that” attitude. Apparently, the song was inspired by the casual racism Clark faced from neighbors. Some of them couldn’t believe that HE could own 50 acres…
I’ve got a great friend who challenged me to get in three hikes in one week. This hike at Sweetwater Creek State Park concludes the challenge and now she owes me dinner in Vancouver, Washington in August. The building standing in ruins is the New Manchester Manufacturing Company (originally the Sweetwater Manufacturing Company) and the…
I very nearly shared the video of Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit playing “If We Were Vampires” live on Austin City Limits, but I changed my mind. The studio recording just can’t be beaten. Maybe if I had been in the audience during the ACL recording I’d feel differently. Or seeing them perform the…
Recommended to me by my sister-in-law (and then vouched for by my father-in-law), 𝘞𝘪𝘭𝘥: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail is one of the most captivating memoirs I’ve read. Strayed’s prose is honest, vivid, and raw. Recounting her 1,100-mile solo hike along the Pacific Crest Trail, she brings the reader along the…
Smithgall Woods State Park is an interesting mix of hemlocks, mountain laurels, pines, hardwoods, bogs, trout streams, and Caution Bees. Sadly I saw no live bears despite the promise given all the warning signs. What a tease. Nevertheless, it’s a beautiful place and you should definitely visit at least once. The Caution Bees reminded me…
City and Colour is the stage name of Dallas Green (get it?) and he is one of those happy discoveries. “Two Coins” was on a shared playlist I created a long time ago with my wife and I thought she added the song. She thought I did. Eventually, I proved it was me. I just…
According to one source, this park is so named because a Cherokee family was being pursued by a war party, and after hiding his family, the father led the pursuers away. After being surrounded by the party the father threw himself from a cliff and onto the granite rocks below. The war party then went…
Yesterday I drove to Dockery Lake to hike the long way to Preachers Rock. 11.5 miles to the top and back by my GPS, though I’m starting to wonder if it’s miscalibrated. It’s strange to me that this has a Cleveland address as I feel like it should be Dahlonega or Suches instead. But I…
These pictures are from my sunrise hike on Currahee Mountain. The rest are just in the order in which I took them. This is the famous trail from the training episodes of the Band of Brothers miniseries that followed Easy Company in World War II. Currahee was the training camp for the 506th Parachute Infantry…