Just returned from my Appalachian adventure yesterday evening. The dogs greeted me with a mixture of joy and rage. (We’re so happy to see you! Also, where the fuck were you?!?)
This wasn’t a planned vacation; a friend and I glommed onto my sister and sister-in-law’s holiday (at their invitation). It was fun to (mostly) unplug, hang out with some of my favorite people and explore an area we’re all unfamiliar with. To me, that’s the perfect recipe for adventure, and we had a few.
We went on long hikes to find waterfalls and other stuff in the woods, though I stopped going after a couple of days because my knees were killing me. (I am old.) We did lots of dog-friendly things because we were accompanied by a dog who’s nervous when left on her own and doesn’t get along with other dogs.
Fortunately, dogs are welcome in many outdoor venues in the Southern Appalachians, including vineyards, and the weather was fine, so she got to accompany us almost everywhere. We developed a routine when approaching a dog-friendly venue: Two of us would reconnoiter, noting the location of other dogs so we could keep ours as far away as possible. (The rationale is that this was necessary because the dog is reactive, but in reality, it’s mostly that her moms are paranoid about their dog making a scene, which she didn’t, even when other dogs were present.)
We also visited no-dogs-allowed venues in twos, such as the fabulous Sasquatch museum in Blue Ridge, GA. (Highly recommended!) Y’all wouldn’t believe the wonders assembled there, which are touted as artifacts that can convert skeptics into believers. For example, there was this alleged Bigfoot turd:
I remain skeptical. Wouldn’t a Sasquatch loaf be a treasure-trove of DNA evidence of the creatures’ existence? And yet there it is in a display case, even though there’s a DNA lab in the facility.
Anyhoo, it’s an impressive turd regardless. It would have made a better GOP Speaker of the House than the dude who got the job, and it would probably outpoll DeSantis and Nikki Haley in the Repub presidential primary, though the even larger turd Trump would likely retain the lead.
This trip confirmed a notion that I stray from frequently but ultimately return to again and again: I actually do belong in Florida. The topography and weather suit me.
Mountain roads make me queasy. As a passenger, I just have to shut my eyes and make peace with impending death, like an occupant of a No Exit rollercoaster car that will inevitably plunge to its doom. As a driver, I have to resist the urge to stomp on the brakes as the vehicle hurtles downhill. It’s scary!
Also, when we entered the higher altitudes, my sinuses bricked. I don’t normally have allergies, and I don’t know that that’s what it was. All I know is I could not breathe properly and had several nosebleeds — the alarming kind that necessitate frequent laundering. I think the lack of humidity may have been a factor.
There’s much to deplore about Florida, not least its awful politics and suffocating heat and alarming reptiles. But as much as I enjoyed my ramble, my heart soared when we crossed the state line. Home!
Open thread.
Cameron
Maybe the Sasquatch Scat could be drafted to run for governor here in FL?
Jackie
Welcome home! Other than scary roads and nose bleeds, glad you had a great few days of escape!
Old School
Bigfoot Turd! 20XX!
TriassicSands
@Cameron:
Too qualified to have a chance of winning.
Jackie
In other news, to probably no one here’s surprised, Ken Buck will not run for re-election. He’s totally fed up with his co-workers.
OzarkHillbilly
Once upon a time I visited NW Georgia frequently. It is very beautiful. I never tired of it. The drive there and back? Sacrifices must be made.
BellyCat
So the curvy roads didn’t speak to your inner motorcyclist?
T’is unfortunate as Deals Gap, likely not far from you (with 318 hilly curves in 11 miles), is quite the moto scene — so don’t get sucked into accidentally going there for a trout sandwich!
Manyakitty
Welcome home! Sounds like the best kind of trip.
martha
Welcome home! Yes, the humidity levels can drop precipitously as you move to higher altitudes. When we moved to Colorado, we had a whole house humidifier installed…the service guy said his business was booming…from out of staters!
I love the Appalachians, but haven’t been there in eons. We missed you!
Raven
We are headed home from our annual loop through the mountains. We stopped in Bryson, Nc. and Sasquatch is big there as well. In Brevard it’s White Squirrels !
Dorothy A. Winsor
Trump Jr has taken the stand in the fraud trial. Kos is following it by tracking online stuff from several reporters there.
satby
Welcome home, sounds like a great time was had by all. You were greatly missed and not just by your critters.
FelonyGovt
Welcome home! I definitely understand regarding the high altitudes. Early in the 1990’s we bought a second home in the mountains, about 1-1/2 miles from us. (Really stupid move, especially since it snows there and WE HATE SNOW having grown up in NY and having had our fill of it. What were we thinking?) We didn’t realize that we would have lots of trouble breathing at high altitudes. I don’t think I got a decent night’s sleep up there ever, and I was living on decongestants. Needless to say, we sold the place after a few years…
JCJ
The dogs greeted me with a mixture of joy and rage. (We’re so happy to see you! Also, where the fuck were you?!?)
This made me laugh. We come home to our kitties after being gone for two weeks and they are of course indifferent to our arrival, but then at night they yowl for a couple of days which they otherwise never do. We apologize profusely for our absence, but to no avail.
Raven
Artie pondering the Howl-oween poster in Bryson City
https://flic.kr/p/2pdeDiE
Hoppie
Well, the minority leader in the Senate is none other than Addison Mitchell McConnell III, of the famous Southern Turd family, so that would be fitting.
mrmoshpotato
LMAO!
RepubAnon
@Old School: Has anyone seen the Bigfoot Turd and Ted Cruz in the same room?
CaseyL
Welcome home! I’m glad you had fun, and sorry about your bricked up sinuses. How long were you at those altitudes? I think generally one can acclimate, but it takes a few days – possibly longer if you’re (ahem) an older person.
Jeffro
Annnnnnnnnnd she’s BACK, ladies and gentlemen!! lol
TaMara
So…I guess that rules out visiting me anytime in the near future, eh?
trollhattan
Happy travels, and hilarious finds. When did the Appalachians appropriate sasquatch? Missed the memo.
You need to connect with Amy Sedaris and pair up for a travel vlog. I’m serious!
Suzanne
That turd doesn’t look much different from a human dude’s. I CALL (shit) SHENANIGANS.
Dangerman
I don’t care if it’s a Bigfoot Turd; got a big enough bag and a match, I think it needs a special delivery.
I think it would have been more interesting to have “evidence” of Sasquatch’s, um, package; for example, an average human male produces 10cc (that’s where the band got the name). Given the size of the turd, the other evidence would be interesting.
bjacques
A turd like that, all I can think is “Usul has called a big one! Shai-Hulud!”
mrmoshpotato
@RepubAnon:
Well, Shithead Ted takes different forms at times…
Jeffro
@Dorothy A. Winsor: amazing (in a good way!) that they were able to quantify what trumpov’s accounting shenanigans cost lenders in terms of lost interest.
he is such a goner. too bad, so sad!
Another Scott
Dolly Sods, WV is nice. Kinda high, but very wet. A compromise?
;-)
Welcome back! We missed you too.
Cheers,
Scott.
Suzanne
@mrmoshpotato:
It’s because of his Horcruxes.
cope
The purpose of a vacation is to appreciate being home. Sounds like your little vacation was a success.
TinRoofRusted
Second the recommendation on the Sasquatch museum in Blue Ridge. I was dragged there by a relative and ended up enjoying it more than them. And I have to say I love driving the mountain roads. But I do get that not everyone enjoys them. 😀
Raven
@TinRoofRusted: If you go from Helen it can be a real bitch!
Jeffro
Here’s a thought for all of us: in a second trump term, trump’s goons want him to receive even less legal legal advice
Is that even possible?
I probably should have included a trigger warning…just the thought that this deranged lunatic could reach the White House again after his first term, and J6, and everything since, makes my chest tighten up hard.
Jeffro
@Jeffro:
Whew.
CaseyL
@Jeffro:
I want to know on what basis they’re that confident. I rather desperately want to know. They have to be planning election sabotage, and there are too damn many states that will go along with them. Just enough to throw the election to the House, which is a nightmare I do not want to have to contemplate.
TinRoofRusted
@Raven: I made the mistake of driving from BR to Charleston, SC on a nice June weekend. The roads were not as bad as some in TN but my god the traffic. The only bright side was since it took us over an hour and a half my daughter said she never had to visit again.
Raven
@TinRoofRusted: It’s insane how long North Carolina is! We just went to the outer banks and it took 2days!!!
WaterGirl
Betty, happy that you had a good time, but so glad you are back! You were definitely missed!
edit: no idea what autocorrect did there – I really can speak english – but at least it’s fixed now.
Mark von Wisco
@Betty Cracker I spent two weeks visiting friends in Santa Fe, NM 10 years ago this month. (Yikes! Time does fly) The altitude where I in Central Wisconsin is about 1100 feet above sea level, vs. 7,000 feet in Santa Fe. I had a pretty tough time adjusting to the altitude, in spite of having a high level of aerobic fitness.
I’ve never had a problem with nosebleeds, but I had 2 or 3 in that 1st week in Santa Fe. I think that it was a combination of the altitude and the much lower humidity. I also had sinus issues and a sore throat the whole time I was there. I know that I’m only a second data point, but my experience certainly tracks with yours.
I still had a great experience in Santa Fe. It was chili roasting season when I was there. The smell of roasting chilis at the Farmers’ Market was amazing. I’m almost drooling now when I think about the amazing food I had there!
prostratedragon
Welcome back. Spontaneous larks are fun. As to the unspeakable, I’ve been thinking of him as Congressman Gray because of that ludicrously bland exterior. I think you’ve discovered the stuff with which the painting was done.
@Raven: Love those ears!
Geminid
@Raven: The Outer Banks are very far East. I can drive to Huntington Beach State Park, which is 20 miles south of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, in the time it takes to get to Hatteras village.
It takes about the same time to get to Asheville from here, about 7 hours. A long state indeed.
Geminid
@Jeffro: Trump thinks he can win next year because he has to win. For him, the only way out is through.
Mr. Bemused Senior
@Jeffro:
J. Cheever Loophole? Hugh Lewis Dewey? They’re probably hard to find.
Delk
There had to be at least one piece of corn in a turd that size.
alex j.
Wow ! I wonder about the fiber content of Bigfoot’s diet. Even after you account for the scale up in Sasquatch size, that is one amazing turd !
Jeffro
@Geminid: right. But why would “they” (the other ‘allies’ and ‘associates’ of trump) think that it’s likely he will win?
I mean they’re mean and dumb…they’d almost have to be, right? But are they that dumb?
UncleEbeneezer
Somebody just won the internet:
Yutsano
@Mr. Bemused Senior: Dewey, Cheatham, and Howe.
Almost Retired
Long road trips are awesome, aren’t they? Just returned from a four week driving trip with my wife. Despite the length of the time we spent together, she never ran out of interesting conversation topics:
Why are you tailgating?
Why are you leaving so much space between us and the next car?
You’re going to fast. Too slow. Why do you always park so close to the curb?
Can we listen to something else?
No, I can’t stop making that sucking noise with my teeth when you drive too quickly around the curves.
And, the classic, “are we there yet?”
I’d let her drive, but I’m both prone to motion sickness and easily terrified by being a passenger.
eclare
I live at 400 feet above sea level, I love oxygen you can scoop with your hand.
Old Dan and Little Ann
Speaking of Sasquatch.
Everyone always asks, “Where is Bigfoot?”
Nobody ever asks, “How is Bigfoot?”
Yeti never complains.
Geminid
@Jeffro: Trump’s a trash magnet, and the second-and third-raters he’s attracted may think their only way up is through a Trump win. Plus they are sycophants, and spinning these projects for their addled boss could be the equivalent of playing music from Cats.
I wonder how campaign manager Susan Wiles looks at this stuff. I think Wiles is a realist, and I’m glad Trump did not hire her last time.
JCJ
@Old Dan and Little Ann:
Very nice!
Sab
BJ is not letting me comment. Says my ten year old email is not valid. Oh well. Another time sink gone.
ETA Apparently now I have to capitalize Sab ( not sab) Who changed that? Not me!
Glidwrith
@Jeffro: ShitForBrains aside, who the hell are “they”? Who is looking for lawless lawyers? Worse, if “they” find them, do they even need SFB, or will this just be personnel to follow the fascist blueprint of the 2025 project?
lowtechcyclist
Sounds like you had a great time, Betty, despite the nosebleeds!
Definitely don’t do the Rockies. If you’re driving west from Kansas towards the Front Range, the altitude is over 5000 feet while you’re still in the Great Plains, practically before you can see the mountains.
I went skiing at Snowbird in Utah many years ago. The lodge is at the foot of the mountain, at 7900 feet. The top of the mountain is at 11,000 feet. (By comparison, the highest point in the Appalachians is Mt. Mitchell at 6684 feet above sea level.) I didn’t notice any difference in terms of breathing (or nosebleeds) from where I was living at the time, literally a short walk from the banks of the tidal Potomac.
Ben Cisco
@UncleEbeneezer: Ain’t no burn like an IT burn!
lowtechcyclist
@UncleEbeneezer: Awesome!!!
Ben Cisco
@Old Dan and Little Ann: “WHY is Bigfoot?”
trollhattan
@Almost Retired:
Mine occasionally allows me to drive but generally has the wheel, because reasons. She’s becoming aggressively A-type and finds, or should I say creates opportunities for drivers to offend her, at which time she practices her newly found Navy vocabulary.
The miles just fly past and the elevated pulse rate is just like actual exercise.
Dog had an extended play date away while we were gone last weekend. stand-in mom was doing a Zoom meeting for when Rocco decided to hunt the fly in the room, his head popping into the frame with each jump. Sure wish I had a video of that.
sab
Test. Sab should be sab
ETA : Okay, that has been fixed
Forgot my comments but who cares. Henceforth very very wary. WTF happened there?
UncleEbeneezer
@lowtechcyclist: Especially since I’ve been in the midst of flame-wars in a kink forum over just that sort of alpha/beta bullshit. It’s crazy how even in supposedly sex+ spaces, that nonsense is still very pervasive.
trollhattan
Cooler heads prevailed?
Will let myself out.
frosty fred
https://centerforinquiry.org/blog/the-return-of-melba-ketchum/“>Bigfoot scat DNA?
(I actually know–well, met years ago, before this stage of her career–Dr Ketchum.)
ETA ETA: I give up, that link stays like it is.
sab
Test
Almost Retired
@trollhattan: To be fair to my wife, I am the worst passenger ever. If she had been driving on this road trip, she would’ve dumped me on the side of the road before we hit the Grapevine.
WaterGirl
@Almost Retired: At least you know that you guys have still “got it!” :-)
sab
@sab: Weird there. For a while I wasn’t even allowed to spell my own nym.
Good excuse to pick a new one and be a bit more creative.
WaterGirl
@Sab: That looks like your usual email address to me.
I see comments from you as sab and as Sab.
What’s not working?
WaterGirl
@Sab: Are you by any chance using a different device than usual?
RandomMonster
That line made me LOL. Also, seems worthy of being a rotating header tag.
mrmoshpotato
@RandomMonster: Oh that should totally be a rotating tag. Even better with no context. LOL!
mrmoshpotato
@Almost Retired: LMAO! On another topic, are you retired yet?
rikyrah
Swing Left (@swingleft) posted at 11:06 AM on Wed, Nov 01, 2023:
If the VA GOP gains total control of the General Assembly, they’re going to pass Glenn Youngkin’s abortion ban. Together, we have the power to stop them. https://t.co/HlfBW8nLUq
(https://x.com/swingleft/status/1719747657294393765?t=O6VJzJ9B7ztbjm3_7JJuLA&s=03)
mrmoshpotato
OT – Happy Whopper Wednesday to all who celebrate!
Jeffro
I see that Biden-Harris HQ is tweeting clips of all of mush-brain trump’s recent verbal stumbles.
I’m Jeffro and I approve this message.
trollhattan
@mrmoshpotato: By chance is Whopper Wednesday the nickname of Betty’s coprolite find?
Almost Retired
@mrmoshpotato: I keep saying I’m not taking on any new cases, and then I do. You probably don’t want to subscribe to my early retirement tips newsletter.
mrmoshpotato
@trollhattan: No. On Wednesdays, Burger King sells their single-patty Whopper for $3 (normally $7.09 around these parts). 😋
mrmoshpotato
@Almost Retired: Hahaha!
sab
@WaterGirl: sab didn’t work for quite a while today. I didn’t know I had ever used Sab. I have my own theory for my nym and Sab doesn’t fit. Maybe I should get a whole new nym.
I was on earlier my state’s stupid employer website. Workers comp and also unemployment. Murky as hell and no help at all. We used to be able to file easily on paper, but Christmastime a couple of years ago they made us opt out late December. I missed the deadline. Then Covid. Then Microsoft decided to anachronize and obsolete and not support my software and computer in March of the first Covid year. I will never forgive them for that or support a Microsoft product.
State of Ohio we play games a lot about how I log in. I am furiuos within 15 minutes. I document everything on line, with a pencil in a tiny notebook. I record dates and people (seriously, i talked to.) I don’t trust computers.
This is getting long and very testy. I could go on. Meanwhile I am touchy about websites that fuck with my (admittedly stupid) nym. In other sides of my life this stuff is serious, complicated, wrong and otherwise a timewaster and a pain in the ass.
Not what I want at BJ. Today BJ felt like Ohio Department of Whichever Department You Are Angry At, and there are a lot of those, all dishonest.
ETA I didn’t have anything important to say. Just some jokes.Those are dead as can be dead
ETA Look back through your archives. I have always been sab, not Sab.
sab
@WaterGirl: Nope. Always on my Nook.
FelonyGovt
@Almost Retired: I know the feeling. :(
WaterGirl
@sab: My memory says that sometimes you are sab and sometimes Sab, just like Raven is sometimes Raven and sometimes raven, depending on which device he’s commenting from.
Either way, WordPress is not case sensitive, so I am not sure what the issue was for you earlier.
sab
@sab: I know you do a good job for free. I am blaming you because the day before I was trying to find my way through the morass of changing programs and bad advice that is Ohio government. Cutting taxes, planning to live on penalties from confused Ohio taxpayers (their people aren’t chumps. They don’t pay taxes.) It was tough and I was angry for hours.
Then to relax I went to BJ.
So when a so simple thing as my nym changed and blocked me I got angry. Why did my nym change?
Citizen Alan
The whole thing is just so depressing to me. Shitgibbon is all but saying “If I am reelected president, I will be an utterly lawless vengeful lunatic.” And he is going to cruise to the GOP nomination, and, through voter suppression and the Electoral College, has a good chance of winning. Because that message of “I’m going to burn America to the ground. For the Lulz!” resonates with at least 40% of the electorate. How can any nation survive when that big a percentage of the population is so utterly depraved that they might as well be serial killers.
sab
@WaterGirl:
So a computer glitch. I can live with that. Sorry I vented at you.
piratedan
@sab: from my understanding, this is the internet and apparently you’ve engaged in too much nekkid mopping and triggered an account reset, but since it’s wordpress related, it just recycled you and left you disabled and then re-enabled you….
or it could just be one of those things….
Miki
@lowtechcyclist: “I went skiing at Snowbird in Utah many years ago. The lodge is at the foot of the mountain, at 7900 feet. The top of the mountain is at 11,000 feet.”
I grew up in a suburb of Minneapolis (elevation 839′). Right after graduating high school I got a job at Lake Lodge in Yellowstone Nat’l Park (elevation 7,779′). I was healthy, strong, active, never-smoked but it was really hard for me to breathe. It took a good while to be able to hike on days off with co-workers.
Wildlife was also a wake-up call for me that summer. We have black bear in Minnesota, and moose, not grizzlies or wild bison. I never feared for my life when walking in the woods until that summer in Yellowstone (except during the moose rut on a fall hiking trip a year later on Isle Royale (elevation 680′) with a gf when we both started our periods – that was kind of scary, too).
Really hoping my upcoming TKR will let me go back outside and walk around and get scared by the flora and fauna and literal Sasquatch turds.
Pauline
@martha: Ha! And as someone who grew up in the southern AZ desert and moved up here in 1986, I think the Denver area has been getting progressively too humid in the summer. And hotter.
sab
@sab: Typing so fast Watergirl # 85 I forgot a “not”. So I intended to say… I am not blaming you, and instead it came out I am blaming you, which is the exact opposite of what I intended.
ETA All this hassle, and I had just wanted to crack a stupid probably not funny joke. Instead I upset Watergirl, who was just minding her own business at home.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
I’m in New York, about to hear some obscure guy called Neil Gaiman. Anybody ever hear of him?
My wife has an event here, and we checked to see if a program we like called Selected Shorts (actors read short stories) was active. And found out it’s Neil Gaiman hosting an evening of Ray Bradbury. Hell yes!!
Ruckus
@sab:
I’d bet she knows you better than that…
Hey, we all have bad days/weeks/months/etc. When I do I try to stay by myself and discuss my attitude with anyone who will listen – which of course is me when I feel like actually listening.
Geminid
@sab: Things will get better once you have a battery powered leaf blower. I’ve even used mine to clean my floors!
Ohio Mom
I just saw the cutest little mouse by the basement stairs.
I thought we had a long-standing agreement, the mice stay in the basement and I pretend they aren’t there. Okay, sometimes I see evidence of mice. Haven’t seen any poop lately but that acorn shell the other day was a give-away.
Now I will have to put out traps and poison. A homeowner’s work is never done.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Ohio Mom: They come inside when it gets cold. My feeling always was if they wanted to live, they shouldn’t have come into my house.
sab
@Ruckus: We bang on her so much I don’t always trust she believes in us.
mrmoshpotato
@Ohio Mom: Sounds like you need a basement snake. 😁
sab
@Dorothy A. Winsor: They scampered through my parents’ big house with one old cat. My house is small with five bored cats of various ages. No mice here.
We do have ants in early Spring, umtil I get the cinnamon down.
mrmoshpotato
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: That sounds great. Enjoy.
WaterGirl
@sab: I wasn’t upset. Just trying to get a feel for what was happening.
Hoppie
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: Truly envious. I met Bradbury briefly in Pasadena when he attended a performance of a short-lived dramatization of Dandelion Wine in (checks notes) 1980, and later when he attended a friend’s wedding. Very self-effacing gentleman.
Geminid
Two veteran Republican Representatives announced today that they will retire after this term. Kay Granger of Texas, current Appropriations Committee Chair, was one.
The other, Ken Buck of Colorado, had this to say:
Jackie
@Geminid: Ken Buck had been pretty vocal about his fellow GQP House members who supported Gym Jordan for speaker and said he was disgusted with those who refused to say Biden was elected fairly and honestly. I saw the writing on the wall that he had no Fs left to give and wouldn’t run again.
prostratedragon
George Santos has survived his toughest ordeal since he led the Foy family out of the Iroquois Theater fire.
Betty Cracker
@Geminid: Buck isn’t wrong, but he built that! (I try to maintain a charitable attitude toward those who step back from the brink, but it isn’t always easy…)
Another Scott
DeLong write good. You read.
ChatGPT as Clever Hans once again:
It did not go well, as we should expect by now…
Cheers,
Scott.
Jackie
23 republicans joined Democrats in refusing to censure Rashida Tlaib for criticizing Israel in the wake of Hamas’s deadly attacks last month.
MTG isn’t happy – which makes me VERY HAPPY 😂
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4288542-house-kills-rashida-tlaib-censure-vote/
Geminid
@Betty Cracker: I forgot to add the standard disclaimer, “But not one cookie shall I give him!”
Manyakitty
@Hoppie: I met Bradbury at an event at JPL. It was called ‘Mad about Mars’ and we got to see raw feed of a Mars lander successfully land and deploy. The general vibe, and especially the control room, blew my mind.