The (Deep) South Carolina

I took the day off of work so that I could get down there Thursday afternoon when they got off of work. My flight went from Milwaukee to Detroit to Columbia, SC. In Milwaukee I bought some pop tarts and goldfish crackers for the ride. You need the essentials.

My brother James and his wife Melissa have been living in South Carolina since April 2009 and in November of 2009 I went to visit. I had such a good time that I just had to go back for seconds. So I said goodbye to Gordon Bombay in November 2010 and went back.

I've been to the Detroit airport a few times and I don't have anything bad to say about it. But today I was overjoyed because I was able to grab a beer. Even though Milwaukee is the home of beer, the airport bars weren't open today around 11am. But here after noon they were.

Apparently Hootie & The Blowfish are from Columbia, South Carolina. And the city is extremely proud of that. So much to the point that they renamed a boulevard after them (but not enough to make it official, just honorary as you can see) and erect a giant twisted metal sculpture on the corner of that street. Because nothing says "Hold My Hand" and "Let Her Cry" like tangled metal in a public thoroughfare. I would make fun of them but to be honest with you it's kind of tough to do so. Say what you want about their music or them personally but they are famous and have a lot of money and you don't. Plus they have achieved the greatest thing of all (at least in my eyes) - they are rock stars. Even if they only had one #1 hit they still have achieved more than I have. So I bow down to you Hootie but not to The Blowfish. Screw those guys. Darius Rucker is the real talent anyway. Without him they wouldn't have 5 studio albums or artwork dedicated to them. We should all be so lucky to know what that's like.

I got off the plane and James came to pick me up. Between my layover and the time change, it was now evening and time for normal people to have a drink, so we went to the bar. Melissa and her friend Whitney joined us and we did shots. Hooray for vacation!

Even though both James and Melissa had to work tomorrow morning at 7am or something, we still stopped at Schooner's, the local watering hole by their house. Last year when I came out here we went to this bar 2 or 3 times in the few days I was here, and it seemed like this year would be no different. When you find a place that has cool bartenders, cheap drinks, good food and Big Buck Safari you keep going back for more.