Thankful in Lexington

Thanksgiving in Lexington as a surrogate member of the Rymer family.

West Virginia’s a beautiful drive.

Lexington has a tall building!

Bourbon Trail’s a fun way to enjoy the bluegrass countryside.

Goin’ to Kansas City, Kansas City Here I Come

Wilbert Harrison might well be a liar, but Kansas City’s not a shabby place to reunion with Ashley and Gina for the latter’s late fall wedding.

All told, a weekend of firsts. Laser tag on Friday, although as a rookie I never cracked the top-half of performers in any of the four games. And the highlight Saturday, as much fun as a Pony Express stop wedding can be, was a BBQ-fueled afternoon with new friends tackling notable firsts.


All visitors are required to enjoy Oklahoma Joe’s Barbeque (ironic, no?), a tasty gas station/restaurant. So delicious, in fact, that the line stretches outside of the gas station/restaurant at all hours of the day. Over delicious BBQ, the three Kansans and I decided we should continue the theme of the day, and crossed the street to a largely latino grocery store and each picked out one new item. Between the four of us:

MANGO

PERSIMMON

PORK RINDS

BOONE’S FARM

There's only one of the bunch that I'd return to, time and time again, but I'm still holding out hope that mangoes taste much better in their land of origin... And regardless of other firsts, any time you wind up with the weddings keg in your hotel bathroom it was a success, no?

Bull Run Fun

Best part of mid-November camping in Northern Virginia? Not a briefcase of PBR, strangely enough, but rather the campground's commitment to take history seriously.

To lend an authentic experience to camping at Bull Run, the play reenactments of the Battle of Bull Run (first or second, your choice) while you camp.

Oh wait. Never mind. It's just that there's a shooting range right next to the campground...