Well, faithful readers (all three of you), I’m sure you’ve noticed by now that the blog posts have been non-existent for nearly two weeks.  Why, you ask?  Well, there was this small hurdle of a bar exam I had to deal with.  And without me to enrich his life, Phillip just didn’t have anything to write about.  I kid about Phillip needing me to enrich his life, but I’m completely serious about the bar exam.  For those of you out there who have ever taken a bar exam or for those of you that have lovingly supported some insane person taking a bar exam, I’m sure you can appreciate the low priority blogging takes once you realize you have no idea what the seven defenses to divorce are or how many days you have to answer a complaint once it has been removed to federal court on appropriate diversity grounds.  So I attempted to cram all of that stuff into my head (back into my head in some cases) until I finally dumped it all out on the South Carolina bar exam last week.  There’s no real way to know how I did and it’s not a lot of fun to think about, so that’s all I have to say about the bar exam.  Except I will say that my wonderful mother went with me and did her best to keep me glued together during the whole ordeal.  And in the midst of all that, we did take some time for some local eats.

On our way to Columbia, we stopped for lunch in Atlanta at The Varsity.  Such a simple menu, but a winner on atmosphere with the pushy cashiers demanding “What’ll ya have?!?”  Also, I’m a fan of the “orange drink” they make in house.  Since we were doing some food traveling, we took along our mascot, Argnome (ar-nome-ay).  Argnome became our mascot during the Great Midwest Food Trip of 2010 in which my mom, my Uncle Richard, and I took a road trip through four states dining at various fancy and not-so-fancy establishments (and taking a hover ferry across Lake Michigan, visiting Lincoln’s tomb, and generally avoiding interstates to get a flavor of backroad America).  Anyway, back to The Varsity – here are some scenes:

Argnome at The Varsity

In Columbia, our hotel was surprisingly walking-distance convenient to several local dining options (unlike the very bar examinee-unfriendly Montgomery).  We had a yummy dinner from Nonnah’s and indulged (or consoled, in my case) ourselves with award winning desserts.

Layer cake taller than Argnome!

We enjoyed the very nice, though dimly-lit, Blue Marlin restaurant on Tuesday:

To celebrate the end of the exam, we went to the highly recommended Mr. Friendly’s in Five Points.  The fried oysters I had were excellent and Mom loved her pork special.

A local favorite.

Great fried oysters.

The next day, we headed to Charleston to get a feel for the place and to meet with a realtor.  And, of course, to grab a great meal.  We chose The Hominy Grill and were not disappointed.  Wow.  The best shrimp and grits I’ve had!  Mom chose a dish called the Big Nasty Biscuit, which was a chicken biscuit with cheese and a sausage gravy (we think it was andouille).  It was delicious too. 

Argnome at The Hominy Grill

The Big Nasty Biscuit

Great shrimp and grits - light cheese in the grits and just the right combo of fresh lemon juice and Tabasco on the shrimp.

And to top it off, we had an amazing chocolate pudding and a slice of buttermilk pie.  Mom would have preferred a milk chocolate instead of a dark chocolate and was a little turned off by the nutmeg in the pie, but I thoroughly enjoyed both – so much that I bought their cookbook so I can make it all myself!

Buttermilk Pie - it's very similar to chess pie, a favorite of the church bake sale.

Extra creamy dark chocolate pudding.

Finally, we got around to actually doing some exploring in some areas that would be convenient for us to live (relative to the hospital so Phillip can take call at home sometimes).  We didn’t take any pictures of this process, but we did turn around and go back to get this one:

Now, I'm from Alabama so seeing a trailer on cement blocks is no big thing, but a trailer on a stack of like 8 cement blocks was a new one.

Thanks to Mom, Phillip, and the rest of my friends and family who never cease to amaze me with their support, I survived the bar.  Mom and I got some quality time together, I began to get oriented to Charleston, and we experienced some great local food.  All in all, a successful week!  But keep your fingers crossed for me on that whole passing the bar exam thing.

I just got back from a week in Montana, but unfortunately, Jennifer had to work. She had insisted that I go without her, with the caveat that I had to take a lot of pictures and write about it on the blog. I’ve already taken the pictures, now for the writing…

I got up at 3:15 AM last Saturday to catch my flight (connecting through both Atlanta and Minneapolis). I finally arrived in Bozeman after noon and had lunch at the airport restaurant with Audra (my friend Gabe’s sister) to await everybody’s arrival. Gabe and Josh arrived next, but we quickly discovered that Frontier Airlines had lost Josh’s snowboard. We also learned that they don’t track checked bags in real-time, so they weren’t even sure where his snowboard was. Awesome. We had been planning to go grocery shopping before Ben arrived, but after the long discussion with Frontier, it was already time for Ben’s flight.

Gabe's excited about lost bags. And his beard.

We picked up our car (turned out to be a Nissan Armada), headed to the grocery store, and drove to Big Sky.

Our condo…

And the view outside…

Fortunately, they delivered Josh’s snowboard the next morning, and we hit the slopes.

Well, the bunny slopes for Ben and me…

The Ski School wasn’t free, but it was definitely worth it. It lasted a half day and was tailored to our skill levels. It was also decidedly uncrowded. There was only one other person in my group!

Brannon and Dana arrived that night, so Gabe and I picked them up at the airport. We basically spent the next 3 days doing nothing but skiing / snowboarding. And eating lunch out of the back of the Armada…

Gabe, Me, Ben, Audra, Brannon, and Dana

Gabe and Josh journeyed to the top of Lone Peak.

After 4 straight days of skiing, I was exhausted. Fortunately, I had noticed that Big Sky is really close to Yellowstone. It’s closed to cars in the winter…but not to tracked vehicles. We discovered that you can rent snowmobiles and tour the park!

Josh, Audra, and I all bundled up.

This bison headed straight for us.

These elk were hanging out on an island in the Madison River.

We finally made it to Old Faithful.

Ben had a hard time not standing in front of the geyser.

It did not disappoint, and we were able to watch it twice. In general, it erupts every 90 minutes for about 4 minutes and reaches 130 feet high.

We stopped at more of the thermal areas on our way back to West Yellowstone.

In the Fountain Paint Pots sulfuric acid dissolves the rock and turns the water to mud.

Clepsydra Geyser erupts for 20 hours out of every day.

After wrestling in 4 foot drifts, an impromptu snowball fight broke out.

Yellowstone was my favorite part of the trip. If we’d had more time, I would’ve liked to visit the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone as well. If you’re ever nearby (or even if you’re not), I would strongly recommend a visit. The snowmobiles were a lot of fun too. I was afraid they would be uncomfortable, but it was actually quite the opposite. They even came with heated seats and handlebar warmers!

The next day, it snowed heavily, and Josh and Gabe tell me that the fresh powder was excellent for snowboarding…

But after a busy 5 days, Ben and I took the last day off to rest by a warm fire…

We flew home yesterday. Or rather, Brannon, Dana, Audra, Ben, and I flew home. Frontier Airlines struck again for Josh and Gabe. We arrived at the airport to find out that their flight had been canceled (NOT due to weather). They were supposed to have been switched to a similar United flight, but the change had been voided for some unknown reason and the flight was full. After at least 2 hours on the phone, they finally accepted that they would have to wait until today to fly home. So needless to say, don’t fly Frontier.

All in all, it was a great trip. It’s the longest I’ve been able to see my brother (or any of my friends) in quite some time. I missed Jennifer though, so I’m glad to be home. I’m looking forward to the next trip with her!