I mentioned a while back how much I enjoyed reading Frank Stitt’s cookbook. I actually lugged the giant tome to and from the beach over a few days. For my recent birthday, the wife bought me Soby’s New South Cuisine Cookbook so I could keep learning. Who could blame her? She eats the food.
The wife and I stumbled upon a Shriner Parade early on Saturday morning. In case you didn’t know, the Shriners are officially called the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. They’re an offshoot of the Freemasons and sponsor a 50-bed pediatric orthopaedic hospital here in Greenville. I don’t know why they didn’t hold the parade around lunchtime when downtown is bustling, but they got lucky with a surprisingly cool breeze. I was hoping for more fezzes and tiny cars, but it was fun nonetheless.
When the wife and I moved to Greenville, SC from Washington DC, we didn’t really know anyone. I set a meeting with mayor to talk about the city, the local economy, and get a sense of what’s in store for the metro area. We spoke for almost an hour and I enjoyed the conversation very much. I didn’t think my meeting request was weird at the time, but everybody now laughs at the mere mention of it. Anyway, I told the mayor that the main reason we chose Greenville over other cities across the southeast was the city council’s commitment to urban redevelopment and the relatively low cost of living. He suggested I write a guest column for the local paper about our decision-making process, so I did.
I was in the process of deleting old pictures from my phone when I ran across some pictures of Greenville after a brief snowstorm a few months ago. I think all the snow had melted by mid-afternoon, but it was pretty while it lasted.
I already posted some pictures of Greenville after a recent ice storm, but I thought I’d share these as well.
I recently wrote another guest editorial for The Greenville News. This time, instead of printing it just as I wrote it, they butchered it down and ran it as a letter to to the editor. As is all too common, their selective editing removed the larger context of the piece.
Here’s their version: Letter: Downtown wants you for 120 minutes
The full piece is here:
We had an ice storm this past weekend. It was very mild and by Sunday morning the streets were navigable enough to do some sightseeing. Here’s the Reedy River from the South Main Street bridge:
Last week, the wife and I decided to leave the house get some vitamin D. The foothills of North and South Carolina have many waterfalls, so we decided to visit the one closest to home. Falls Creek Falls is in the Mountain Bridge Wilderness Area in northern Greenville County.
In a suburb of Greenville, there’s a family that gets decked out in light suits and waves to passers by. We’ve heard about this bizarre spectacle for a few years and decided to drive by last night:
I guess Louie the Lightning Bug didn’t visit the schools in Pelzer?
Ever since I bought a used bike and my wife restored her old one, she’s been bugging me to get out and ride the new Swamp Rabbit Trail extension in Traveler’s Rest, SC. The Swamp Rabbit Trail is named for the defunct railroad line that used to pass through the area until 1993. Eventually, it will connect to the larger Rails to Trails network that spans the East Coast. I’ve been reluctant to ride the trail because it’s still a work in progress. All of the rails and ties have been removed, but the path isn’t completely paved. Our bikes are old and without shocks, and I like my teeth the way they are. Still, we headed out to Travelers Rest and started riding toward Greenville. We didn’t know how much of the trail was finished, but we’d heard that portion was in good condition.
This benchmark is full of information.
Greenville native George Hincapie won the 2009 USA Cycling Professional Road Race Championship on Sunday. It was an amazing race and we got really lucky with the weather. It was overcast and in the mid-80s all day, and the only rain was a light drizzle. My wife and I watched the first couple of mountain circuits froma sidewalk in the North Main neighborhood. Next, we saw the leaders in a break-away from the peloton as they maneuvered a curve on South Main Street. Finally, we worked our way to the finish line for the final city-circuits. The race cam down to the wire. Among a screaming crowd of thousands of hometown fans, Hincapie overtook Jeff Louder and outsprinted Andrew Bajadali in the final hundred meters.
This was the fourth year that Greenville has hosted the championship, and it by far the best-attended of the events. I’ve posted a gallery of pictures below the fold:
