Ah, the circle of life continues. Poor fish.

This was the last hole we played that day and this ended up being my best drive of the day. It was a par 5 and I actually got to within 15 feet of the green in 2 shots (fairly unheard of for me). Of course I botched the short game and ended up with a 7 on the hole, but I was pleased the great drive was captured on film.

Tennessee

I went up to my Uncle's house in Crossville, TN this past weekend. It was sort of a family reunion, but was mainly my mom's siblings getting together. But I got to see my parents and lots of Aunts and Uncles who I haven't seen in a while. My Uncle's house is in a retirement community on a lake, so my activities that weekend consisted of boating, fishing, golfing, and playing tennis. Not a bad weekend considering I didn't really see anyone under 50 there.

Also that weekend I attained my short-term summer goal of catching, cleaning, cooking, and eating a fish. I had never done anything past just catching the fish before, and it was quite fun. It turned out to only be a small bluegill, but so be it, I paid $16 for a 3-day TN fishing license, and I was going to get something out of it! So I guess it was basically a $16 fish the size of a chicken nugget. Oh well.

Also that weekend I discovered that good golf clubs make a HUGE difference in my golf game. Instead of my hodgepodge set, I used my Uncle's set of Pings (which I guess are really good). I was actually hitting the driver well, it was a miracle. I'll post pics as per usual. Enjoy.

One of the many great views. Not at the top but this was the first great view we came across on Saturday. Beautiful.

Group shot at the top of the mountain. It's only about 4,500 ft in case you were wondering.

Checking out the shelter at the top of Blood Mountain. There's me in my "king-of-the-mountain" pose.

More Hiking

As usual it's been a long while since I updated. Sorry. Sometimes I don't update because I have little to say, other times I don't because I have too much to say or too much going on and I don't feel like it. This would be the latter.

I guess when I last left off I had just done the Music Midtown scene. The next weekend I went out hiking again with the outdoor rec center people. This time it was a "real" backpacking trip up to the North Georgia Mountains (Blood Mountain to be specific). We backpacked about 11 miles over 2 days (not too much because it was technically a "beginner" trip). The trip highlight was probably the soaking we got during the first day. The sky opened up for about 2 hours, completely soaking us (even through our rain gear). I call it a trip highlight cause it was memorable, not necessarily the best thing about the trip. I'll post pics as per usual.

Kid Rock on banjo?!?

Kid Rock ballin' out of control as usual. Notice the girls dancing on the poles on both sides of the stage: A Kid Rock trademark. Classy!

Def Leppard. They were ok. Didn't know any songs except sugar though. Too young I guess.

DEVO, the guys who do the old song "whip it". I got the lead singer in mid-whip. They actually put on a really good show.

Music Midtown. Music festival in the middle of a city? Crazy, but convenient.

Ruins of a mill at Sweetwater Creek. I guess it was destroyed during the North's "march to the sea" during the Civil War. This picture is currently my background.

Sweetwater Creek, GA. Went on day hike there last Saturday.

Music Midtown

It's been forever since I posted and a lot has happened, but instead of doing each story justice, I'm just going to blow over what I've done in the past week or so.

The main thing sticking out in my mind is Music Midtown. It is a 3 day music festival akin to the HFStival, only smaller and with more variety. For example, they not only had rock, they had a hip-hop stage, and even a country stage. There were tons of bands playing, but I only saw about 9 bands in 3 days: Tom Petty, White Stripes, Kid Rock, Doug E. Fresh, Common, Joe De Messina (not much), Interpol (not much), DEVO, Lemonheads, Def Leppard, and Counting Crows. My favorites were Tom Petty, Common, Kid Rock, DEVO, and the White Stripes... probably in that order.

The best thing about the Common show was that they played Nag Champa, and also KANYE WEST just showed up out of nowhere (he wasn't scheduled) and did 3 of his songs, including "Get em High", one of my favorites. I got some pictures, I'll try to post if I find any decent ones.

99 pounder

Leftovers

Me posing with the pig

Memorial Day

Had a good memorial day (yeah its a late post). Jack had a pig roast and it was fantastic. Ripping meat straight off a freshly roasted pig was great fun and delicious. I had my camoflauge hat on for that extra redneck flavor. Also, I ate the pig's brains, tongue, and kidney. Mmmm that's good brains.
Later that night some of us went to the Pink Pony, which was my first strip club experience. It was a lot of fun and I spent way too much money but it was all worth it. The funny thing is that the following thursday I went to the Cheetah. So I went from never being to a strip club to being to 2 in 4 days. I hope this doesn't become too much of a trend, the old wallet can't afford that pace.