Gone Mountaineer Hunting

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picture-84.thumbnail.pngI’m not really going to Boone, NC, to avenge the embarrassing loss the Appalachian State Mountaineers inflicted on my Wolverines several years back (I’m hoping the coach we stole from some other ‘Neers, plus a good recruiting class, might actually bring us back to Div 1A caliber). But I’ll be close–in Asheville, NC. And I expect to be tromping around some mountains myself, rather than playing gridiron.

In any case, I’ll be pretty AWOL for the next week, particularly tomorrow, when I’ll be driving. 

I’ve asked folks in DC to have a low-key week this week. So there won’t be too much to talk about–aside from the latest insanity from IL. I’ve got some posts loaded ahead for you and I’ll poke my head in whenever I get bored of the gorgeous out-of-doors. And bmaz has promised a bit of fun (hey! bmaz! you’re not supposed to raid the liquor cabinet until after I leave).

Otherwise, have a great week!!

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49 replies
  1. Peterr says:

    I’ve asked folks in DC to have a low-key week this week.

    Like they’ve ever listened to you before when you go on vacation.

    Personally, I expect huge breaking stories on the Rove/Miers/Bolten subpoenas, warrantless wiretaps court cases, Gitmo torture procedings, and the DOJ firings. And then on Wednesday . . .

  3. emptywheel says:

    Oh, I’m going to try to make that in any case (and the weather doesn’t look all that nice).

    Any other suggestions? I’ve been before, but I was a kid.

    • JimWhite says:

      There is, of course, also the obligatory visit to Biltmore. (Peterr would be glad to know there’s a winery on site.) It’s actually a fairly interesting tour.

    • bobschacht says:

      I suggest the Davis, W.Va. area (Population 574 and counting– downward). Serious coal-mining country, but they also have a ski resort for winter fun, and the now-defunct Blackwater 100 for good old motorcycle cross-country ecology-be-dammed fun. It was once heralded as America’s Toughest Race. I was actually there for one of the early years of it. Check out the Blackwater Brewing Company right there on the main drag. And they have entertainment, too! Maybe you’ll get lucky and the Chicken Pickers will be there.

      Well, tell the truth, I haven’t been there for more than 20 years, and my old watering hole, the Seasons Four, where I played my first professional bluegrass gig, is gone, maybe morphing into the nearby Four Seasons ski resort. The Blackwater 100 has disappeared into the underbrush due to problems with “E. Coli” contamination. The Bikers racing through mud across country, and their unruly fans, weren’t clean? Who knew?

      Ah, well, sic transit gloria mundi.

      Bob in HI

    • Waccamaw says:

      Booyah! Yer gonna be less than an hour from my western stompin’ grounds.

      In Aville, some neat stuff (other than the ones already mentioned):

      French Broad Food Coop – fantastic selection of herbs/spices (many organic) – downtown
      New Morning Gallery – in Biltmore Village – assorted artwork to die for
      Tomato Jam – neat DFH eatery near the hospital
      Biltmore House – unfortunately you’re probably a little early for the beauty of the grounds
      Black Mountain – short drive from Aville – an interesting small town to wander around
      Green Life Grocery – Merrimon Ave near downtown – has good deli for organic takeout

      Wish I’d known your plans earlier and could have pulled together more resources. Here’s hoping you good weather if you’re gonna be spending a lot of time wandering the hills.

    • pdaly says:

      Ooh, Loo Hoo. Looks good.

      We’re talking emptywheel’s liquor cabinet. So I expect we’ll find more of this again than anything else.

      Have a nice vacation, ew.

      I’m still working backwards through the threads from this weekend.

  5. watercarrier4diogenes says:

    Lessee, Marcy leaves on a Monday, WH aide discovers closet full of email backup tapes on Tuesday…

    Marcy makes it to DC in record time from WV.

  6. readerOfTeaLeaves says:

    Oh dammit.
    It’s my sense that some kind of political sh*t related to Rove, missing emails, or assorted other malfeasance hits the proverbial fan when EW goes on holiday.

    And bmaz is prolly out at some titty bar w/ Jim Beam and Jack Daniels.

    Looks like I outta go find out where Johnny Walker’s toddled off to and batten down for wild headlines and legal analysis in coming days.

  7. freepatriot says:

    forget the booze, try to get the credit card this time

    the pizza delivery guy said he wasn’t coming back till we had some REAL money

    I’m gettin tired of eating all this stale fruit …

  8. DWBartoo says:

    Have a great vacation, Marcy.

    Don’t give us a thought (seriously, you give us plenty of exceptional thoughts, absolutely priceless, at times) bmaz will mind the store really well, and we’ll all help out. We won’t even break anything. We’ll be good, I promise.

    But I agree with Peterr, all heck’s gonna bust loose while you’re away.

    But don’t worry, bmaz will keep us all in line (Ha!)

    Just call before you come back, so we can clean up a bit …

    ;~DW

  9. ezdidit says:

    Oh! Marcy! Asheville is among my favorite places in the world! Be sure to drive the Blue Ridge Parkway, even if you’ve been there – the views are different every time I go!

    A very close friend of mine there is hosting a benefit – on March 8th at The Grey Eagle – for Loving Food Resources (a local food pantry that supports in-home AIDS hospice efforts and the poor).

    He celebrated his 50th birthday with a benefit in this way last year, so this will be his 51st – same deal! One person definitely does make a difference!! This guy was on welfare ten years ago – giving back, one day at a time! He didn’t need Obama to draft him into service.

  13. Loo Hoo. says:

    Obama is replacing the car czar idea with a panel.

    Mr. Obama is designating the Treasury secretary, Timothy F. Geithner, and the chairman of the National Economic Council, Lawrence H. Summers, to oversee a presidential panel on the auto industry. Mr. Geithner will also supervise the $17.4 billion in loan agreements already in place with G.M. and Chrysler, said the official, who insisted on anonymity.

  14. freepatriot says:

    The Bikers racing through mud across country, and their unruly fans, weren’t clean? Who knew?

    that’s okay. the boss is gone, an I think pdaly locked bmaz in the liquor cabinet after we cleaned it out

    so your friends can stay for a few day

    just make sure they got beer

    • readerOfTeaLeaves says:

      We only thought we cleaned it out; bmaz’ll prolly find a hidden wall in there that leads to a whole other cabinet.

      At least we won’t have to look at Jabba the Rove for a week, although who knows what kinda YouTubes he’s got stashed away instead.

      bobschacht – you play bluegrass??
      Oddly, the best bluegrass band I’ve probably heard was the US Navy Bluegrass Band, the Country Current: http://www.navyband.navy.mil/countrycurrent.shtml
      I happened to see them with someone I know who plays banjo and mandolin really well (he attends -and plays – in national bluegrass festivals).

      (I’m probably more interested in the history of bluegrass than in a lot of that music, but my musician friend just shook his head in admiration at the Navy’s Bluegrass Band, and we agreed it was the best use of taxpayer money we’ve ever seen. Those guys are really remarkable — I hope you get a chance to see them if you haven’t already.)

      Okay, back to looting the liquor cabinet and munching on… chips and pretzels.
      Twigs and nuts can wait for the weekdays…

      • bobschacht says:

        bobschacht – you play bluegrass??

        Yeah, when I can.

        Oddly, the best bluegrass band I’ve probably heard was the US Navy Bluegrass Band, the Country Current: http://www.navyband.navy.mil/countrycurrent.shtml
        I happened to see them with someone I know who plays banjo and mandolin really well (he attends -and plays – in national bluegrass festivals).

        Yes; Country Current is excellent. Here in Hawaii, apart from Paul Sato, it seems like the only good banjo players are soldiers. We keep finding them– and then losing them, when duty calls elsewhere. There’s a shortage of good banjo players here.

        Hey, are there any chips and pretzels left?

        Bob in HI

  18. freepatriot says:

    grover norquist might wanna WAKE THE FUCK UP

    karma is calling, ya stupid mutherfucker

    from the comments on Frank Rich’s solumn:

    Steele is to Obama as Justice Thomas is to Thurgood Marshall, as Sarah Palin is to Hillary Clinton. The Republicans keep proving themselves incapable of seeing anything beneath the superficial. That’s why they won’t be with us much longer. Before long, we’ll have the Republican Party down to a size where we can drown it in a bathtub, to borrow from Mr. Norquist.

    chickens

    home

    roost

    or is it “As yea Reap”, I forget …

  19. bmaz says:

    Jeebus, mom isn’t gone for more than a few hours and you guys are already going all Ned Beatty Deliverance on me. Pretty cool discussion!

      • readerOfTeaLeaves says:

        Oh. My. God.
        A new nadir of GOP Stupidity: keep the Internet and broadband away from the rural folks who grow your food, take care of your national forests, provide tourist amenities, and need better communication with medical resources.

        That is a stunner.

        JohnLopresti — good luck with that flaky router! (Better you than me — I’d have it screwed up in under 50 seconds.)

  23. JohnLopresti says:

    I almost did the Appalachian trail, but have family in the Great x mts in NC and Tryon County, still writing the history of them with my sister the genealogy expert in the tribe. Fortunately, most of Asheville seems outside of the zone in the news this week wherein the 4th appeals circut reversed a stay on EIR fictions Bushco liked for abetting mountaintop obliteration coaling. Those places may be outside your course of outdoor experience this journey. I already planned to see what Selise’s ngo might be doing this week, that plus reprogramming the flaky broadband wireless router, which always provides apotheosis. To be ready for map downloads, as there are Republican aftermath changes in local government here. I can type, but find fretboarding a bit on the stretch side. Forget this ancient history of the internet, for a week.

  24. pseudonymousinnc says:

    Rain and snow forecast for tomorrow, alas. (Ray’s Weather is the motherlode.)

    Any chance of an audience with EW this week? Drinking Liberally is on Thursday night at the Asheville Brewing Company on Coxe Ave. Breakfast? Go out west to Sunny Point. And no matter what, sample the Belgian beer and US craft brewing at the Thirsty Monk downtown. Tell them the Thursday night crowd sent you.

  25. freepatriot says:

    keep the Internet and broadband away from the rural folks who grow your food, take care of your national forests, provide tourist amenities, and need better communication with medical resources.

    can’t have their “Base” accidentally finding the truth somewhere out in the innertubes

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