We Saw Snow!

...this past weekend.

Friday after work, we headed up to Mayberry, LSD, one of Izzy's favorite towns. On a whim, we apparently picked the best weekend of the year thusfar for riding.

We rode up on a pleasant afternoon, and managed to avoid the worst of the Harbison Traffic. After arriving and getting cleaned up, we rode through the tunnel and had dinner downtown at a non-smoking pub (!), where we got to hear live music. The musicians, who advertise themselves as "one banjo shy of a bluegrass band," were pretty good, but I think the grandfather of one of the musicians was pretty frustrated at the non-stop talking in the bar--plus the group of loud, loud people standing directly in front of them. I think Grandpa and I really prefer listening rooms...

We were too tired to do a late night ride under the stars, so we decided to take an AM ride up to Craggy Gardens. There were twisties and curves and SNOW! (Not falling, but plenty on the sides of the road, and more than I've seen all winter.)

We headed back to catch the ACC Semi-final tip-off--and got to see some amazing play by seniors JJ, Sheldon, Lee, Sean, frosh Greg, Josh, DeMarcus, and rest of the underclassman. Yay! another win!

Game over, back downtown to poke around Wall Street before Mass at the Basilica. Mayberry's a great place for people watching, strolling, shopping, riding, etc.

Mass was interesting--I think it's the first homily that I've heard that totally disregarded the Gospel reading. Fr. preached on Jews, Christians and Moslems being children of Abraham and expressed a wish for peace between these groups. Couldn't tell if this was a plea for interfaith dialogue, tolerance or a message against the war.

We sang "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross"--not as full a sound as would have been heard in a Protestant Church, but still satisfying to get to sing an older hymn. Also, at the beginning of Communion, the cantor intoned "Be Thou My Vision" before the congregation joined in on a communion hymn (which one, escapes me.) Izzy and I sang along to BTMV--wondering why OCP felt the need to alter the ancient lyrics...

After Mass, we strolled back to Wall Street for dinner at a place that had "Omelettes" and "Beignets" painted on the windows. Not so much on the dinner menu. They also couldn't do a veggie muffaletta. Probably a mistake to try for Nola food in NC. Still, Izzy enjoyed the gorgonzola shrimp and grits and I enjoyed the warm artichoke dip. We window shopped and watched the crowds in line for The Back Crows.

In the AM, we ate breakfast and re-packed. We headed back out onto the Parkway, taking the very long way back to Cayce. Somewhere around here, we pulled over so Izzy could yell (at my suggestion) "Top o'the world, Ma!" Lots more twisties and curvies as we headed down from a max height of ~5700 feet (and where are the guardrails??) More snow, once we turned away from the south sides of mountains. Snow! In March!!

Headed down the mountains towards Pickens County, SC, we were joined by every other bike owner in North and South Carolina (at least all the ones not heading back from Bike Week in Daytona.) Izzy, who loves mountain riding, did a great job keeping the pegs away from the pavement and I did my best to avoid panicking. We concluded our non-interstate ride on the Cherokee Foothills Scenic Highway, past Table Rock and Caesar's Head.

Through all the mountain riding, from Asheville through the Appalachians nearly to Newberry, we listened to Izzy's collection of Gillian Welch & David Rawlings on his iPod. That's a lot of music--all a great fit to the folkways of the mountains through which we were riding.

Home, nearly 90 degrees, and back to our lives. No AM radio on the Leanabago, so we had to wait until we walked in the door to discover that Duke had beaten BC for the ACC tournament Championship. After a weekend in the mountains, we'll take a foray into Bracketville.