Despite the meticulous planning of the South Carolina trip, Marie and I are totally capable of making an agenda and then allowing it to just fall apart on us as the day goes on. I had thought about doing a detailed barbecue tour of northwest Georgia, sampling about four different places, one Saturday in October. We decided to schedule the trip on the weekend that promised the best fall colors and spend a good chunk of our day at Cloudland Canyon. This is a quite toddler-unfriendly destination, so Marie started the morning by dropping the baby with my mother and then, a little after ten, the girlchild sufficiently roused from a late morning’s sleep, the three of us got on the road to Calhoun. Continue reading “Walking Around Cloudland Canyon”
Tag: barbecue
Circumnavigating South Carolina – part seven
So, at last, we come to the close to the story about my South Carolina trip. About 800 miles in two days, but there were still a few stops to make. The first two were in the town of Greenwood, home of Lander University. Only the second stop was planned; the first was irresistible. Continue reading “Circumnavigating South Carolina – part seven”
Circumnavigating South Carolina – part six
In today’s chapter, the tragic story of a traveler not eating what he intended to eat.
I made terrific time from Manning to Orangeburg, because I-95 connects the two towns. Once upon a time, US-301 had crossed over Lake Marion as a high two-lane bridge, but when the interstate was built, they rerouted 301’s traffic between the cities onto it, and the pair of new bridges, two lanes north and two lanes south that were newly built. The old bridge is now a pedestrian fishing pier, and Lake Marion is itself quite beautiful. Continue reading “Circumnavigating South Carolina – part six”
Circumnavigating South Carolina – part five
This chapter is the shortest of the seven, as I did not enjoy one of the next two experiences, and I didn’t give the other the fair shake that it demanded. Such is life. Continue reading “Circumnavigating South Carolina – part five”
Circumnavigating South Carolina – part four
So, here’s the situation: the sun had gone down, I was in very unfamiliar territory, my last four stops had been okay, and I was missing my family a bit. Nevertheless, I pressed on. I would be driving through the small city of Florence after dark, bound for one last meal in the town of Scranton before stopping for the night in Lake City. Continue reading “Circumnavigating South Carolina – part four”
Circumnavigating South Carolina – part three
So, I’d enjoyed some pretty good barbecue at the last two places, and made my way north for my next stop. My friends at Roadfood.com had suggested that the next place that I needed to visit as I made my way east across the state was 521 BBQ & Grill, just south of the state line in the suburbs of Charlotte, and the best way to get there from Clover was to actually drive across Lake Wylie and get on Charlotte’s perimeter highway, I-485. After I made my way north across the lake, I spotted a strip mall with a Best Buy and gave myself a half-hour break to walk around, get at least a little bit of exercise, and shake my head at the quite ridiculous prices they charge for a USB cord to replace the one that I left at home. I figured it could wait until I got back to Atlanta. Continue reading “Circumnavigating South Carolina – part three”
Circumnavigating South Carolina – part two
When I plotted my circle around South Carolina, it was natural that I’d use I-85 as my entry point, just for the sake of convenience. Continuing northeast up that interstate, my next stop was in Gaffney, the town that has attracted many a tourist’s eye with its gigantic water tower made to look like a peach. I thought about stopping to take some pictures, but it’s not going anywhere, and I had a lot of road to cover. I made my way over to Willard’s Hash, a popular destination in the area since the late 1960s, and was very surprised to see a familiar sign there. Earlier this year, the last time that Marie and I were in the Palmetto State together, we had a terrific meal at the amazing Midway BBQ in Buffalo, thirty-one miles south down SC-18. Here, on the side of the building, was the familiar red pig with the words “Midway at Willard’s.” Oh, man, was I ever ready for this. Continue reading “Circumnavigating South Carolina – part two”
Marie, Let's Eat! 