Today’s topic gave me a pause…advanced planning or cat skinning. Not literal cat skinning-although we are in the Appalachian/Blue Ridge Mountains, after all…and several of the local produce stands boast the availability of “Possum Seasoning Hot or Mild”. Curiosity killing the cat and all, I had to ask if eating possums (seasoned or unseasoned) was a thing here in these parts…it is actually named for Pastor Possum, a Baptist Preacher in these parts. Apparently, it is his side hustle. Reading the label it is a blend of the usual suspects-with hot having red pepper. So, while it might be good on possums, cat and road kill my bet is that it would be dandy on trout, duck, chicken, beef, pork or tofu.
Everyone who is invited to read this blog knows that I am a proud member of the OCD/ Advanced Planners Union. Probably a charter member, if truth be known. I am nothing if not an advance planner when it comes to just about anything. Christmas shopping in July-of course! COVID has really thrown a monkey wrench into my usual well oiled machine. There are several moving parts to Pickle Travel. Spontaneous casual travel takes about the same time as an elephant gestational period-Asian variety to plan and execute. (Go ahead and look it up, I will be here when you get back) I start with a concept and work on the details from there. This trip had lots of COVID related snafus, but as we all have figured out by now, the return to normalcy is not a straight line. About 6-7 years BC (before Covid), we determined that we wanted to be gone from Houston in the hottest part of the summer. Eddie’s dream sequence has us owning a second house in the lower than Rockies Appalachian Mountain area of western North Carolina. After Harvey and the February freeze, I regard this as a nightmare scenario…so, our negotiated settlement is that we spend every other summer here-and the off summer exploring the Northern parts of ‘Murica. Glad this was not a “other” year as the heat wave and forest fires in Washington and Oregon were not on our “must see” list.
As this is our third extended stay here, we no longer feel the need to explore. We are content with long walks in the woods and streams, sitting on the deck watching the world go by, and going out to eat a couple of times a week. George and Lauren are both scheduled to come-on American Airlines-gasp! Hope they (American Airlines) get their personnel issues sorted out in the coming week. L, D & G are still in the explore phase of life…and a Pickle “all inclusive” would just not be the same without some new adventures. The grands are still of an age that the magic bar is pretty low-s’mores by the river, River rock collecting and a trip to Tweetsie (a total throw back 1955 amusement park). Drew is easy-fish, fish, fish. Lauren can be bought with a massage and a couple of extra sets of hands to help with the kids. George-hmmm, that is a little more complicated. During Covid he has upped his cooking skills, so that foodie bar is high. There are three areas within in a 20 mile range that have worthy venues. Blowing Rock-charming mostly tourists of a certain age (read over 55) with disposal income. Restaurants get 4.5-5 stars on the Eddie scale. Boone, home of Appalachian State University, much younger vibe with food options heavy of fried, kale, tempeh and tofu-but there a few diamonds in the dust. 4.0 on the Eddie scale. Finally, there is Banner Elk-much more kid friendly as there is mountain activities, lots of disposal income and traffic that looks like Kingwood Drive when the high school lets out, a train is on the tracks up front, with a side order of lane closures due to road work. There are more than a few Yelp 4.5-5 star rated places in the Banner Elk area which is 10 miles away. This brings me to my OCD chart. Covid has made restaurants review their business models-days open, shorter hours, take out or no take out which has left a certain “toilet paper hoarding” feel when it comes to getting restaurants reservations. I had to make a chart to determine which days-some are only open 4 days, some 5, some 7, closing days vary- hours start early-all Luby like at 4:30 and end 8:00 early, some you have to call and leave a message, some through Resy, some Open Table, some are no reservations taken. My personal favorite reservation hassle is Eddie’s favorite place when we are here-you must call (good luck with that in the mountains if you have Verizon, as this is AT&T country) at 12:00 exactly two weeks before your requested day…after 3 weeks of daily noon phone calls, we have yet to even talk to a live person…the food just ain’t that good in my book. You can pretty much forget that “Hey, let’s pop out for dinner, tonight”…we are eating a lot of BLT’s…or pimento cheese sandwiches (it is a big thing here) when spontaneous meets no tables available.
To further entice George to join us, I planned a trip back home via the Kentucky Bourbon Trail and New Orleans. They don’t call NOLA the Big Easy for nothing. 15 minutes start to finish, all reservations and activities booked, paid for and calendared…with flexible cancellations policies. PBoom. After all, who goes to NOLA in early September-heat, humidity and the possibility of weather related drama. I understand we will again be wearing our fashionable masks…unless we aren’t. The Bourbon Trail is another story all together. When we first came to NC, Bourbon had not been discovered by the 30 somethings. At House Pickle, we never undiscovered it. While we have matured from our early bourbon drinking-think bourbon and coke in the football stadium in college. The smell of bourbon wafting through the stands just says “are you ready for some SEC football”. Apparently, OU and UT want to be part of the true football experience..2025. And to think they laughed at A&M for leaving the Big 12, or whatever it was named before. Liquor in NC is State run stores-ABC stores and they are few and far between. On our first trip, I stumbled (physically) into the display cases (yes, cases) of this Bourbon with the little horse figure on top. Thought that was a stupid marketing gimmick and picked up my regular Bottle of Crown and left. Fast forward, Blanton and the little horsey top is now the Unicorn among Bourbon snobs. Yeah, went back this year-same store only gets 6 bottles every two months. Well played Sazerac Company. When Bourbon fell out of favor in the 1990-2000, lots of old standards were gobbled up by large corporations….marketing, supply and demand, and scarcity has made Buffalo Trace (owned by the Sazerac Corporation) home to what amounts to the hottest brands out there. So, of course, no Bourbon Trail tour would be complete without a Tour of Buffalo Trace-the Old Taylor Tour, if you please. Remember, I started this 650 days ago (Asian elephant gestation). Markers Mark, Woodford, Willett, Four Roses check, check, check…not all in one day, but I am the designated driver, so, all is good. Buffalo Trace-holy Buffalo, if I thought NC restaurants were tough-this is one for the ages. There are numerous tours at different facilities and multiple times of day and night (pre covid). There is a maximum 20 people per tour due to Covid protocols, but only 17 slots publicly available. The gift shop and visitor center is open to people who do not have a booked confirmed reservation, but you might have to wait up to one hour outside to come in and no tasting will be permitted. Good grief, it is easier to get an audience with Pope Francis and I understand he serves wine. Early on (like February) when the country started to emerge from the covid caves, I attempted to book. Nope, dates had not opened, when I checked back, dates seemed to come up,only two months out, but when? I started a light hearted email communication with the front office of BF. Vera and I become email pals. She explained that the slots come open on the first Tuesday of the month for the upcoming month (August for September) at 9:00 in the morning. Well, on Tuesday, August 3rd, at 8:30, I logged in to attempt to get one of the coveted September 1st, 11:30 Old Taylor Tour slots. My number in line was #412, then it was #762, and by 9:00 it was #3623-say what? My understanding from my Vera notes was that there were no ticket brokers, tour guides, etc allowed to obtained tickets or slots or bots. So, why was I losing ground? At 10:30, my unfreshed browser said I was #1512 and would have 5 minutes to complete my transaction. Seriously. I decided to “reach out” to my email pen pal, Vera, and ask her if I was just stupid or was there a technical reason…I will spare you the flowery sugary language. BOOM, within in the 5 minutes it took to receive an response from Vera, I was at #1790, but had secured the 3 tickets on September 1st-Covid Karen style. Like I said, more than one way to skin a cat….with or without Possum Seasoning.
Weather report from somewhere in the Blue Ridge Mountains - clear blue skies, slight breeze, low humidity and temps in low 70’s.
On your southern watch list of things to be on look out for (as all good things originate in the South)—-BOGG bags - think Croc bags for the beach-and like Crocs, accept no substitutes, Enewton jewelry for your teen-young adults that aren’t into the size of Kendra Scott, and Ingram’s Bourbon 94 rated, only available in Kentucky and Tennessee and a limited number of mail order states…not Texas.
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