Wild and Scenic Film Festival

From Upstate Forever:

Greenville and Spartanburg

We're proud to bring the SYRCL Wild and Scenic Film Festival back to the Upstate for the second year in a row. On September 25 the festival will be at the Chapman Cultural Center in Spartanburg and on September 27 in Greenville at the Children's Museum of the Upstate. Doors will open at 6:00 p.m. for you to meet sponsors and register for door prizes and drawings throughout the evening. Movies will start at 6:30 p.m. and will have a running time of two hours. More information about ticketing will be available on our website soon and movie trailers will be posted on our Facebook page so be sure to "Like" us and check in often.

When	Thu Sep 25 6pm – 8:30 pm Eastern Time
Where	Chapman cultural Center View Larger Map

When	Thu Sep 27 6pm – 9pm Eastern Time
Where	Greenville Children's Museum View Larger Map

Greenville Triathlon and Paris Mountain 7k

Well the Paris Mountain Tri was cancelled at the last minute last weekend due to weather, but two other events of a similar nature are occurring this weekend. 

Saturday the Paris Mountain 7K takes place at 7 AM.

Sunday, the last tri event of the season in the Greenville area takes place at the Westside Aquatic Center with the Greenville Triathlon. 

Grandfather Mountain Trails

One of the best hikes I've ever experienced occurred recently at Grandfather Mountain in Linville, NC.

I started on a trail called the Profile Trail. The image to the left demonstrates why it's called that. Near the top there is this view that looks like the profile of an old man.

The Profile Trail is beautifully constructed with lots of large boulders, moss covered stones, a couple of creek crossings, and some great views.

This trail goes up hill to the Grandfather Trail which is where it really gets great.

The Grandfather Trail is a ridge trail that requires the use of several ladders, some cables and in some spots crawling on hands and knees.

 There's a short spur trail that leads to a large cave. 

This is not a view from the trail. This is the actual trail.

This is the same section of trail looking the other direction. 

The trail goes all the way to the swinging bridge, so you either have to turn around or catch a ride back down the mountain. If you want to do this same hike, travel through Linville toward Boon on HWY 105 and park at the area labelled "Profile Trail Parking."

Distance from downtown Greenville: 125 Miles



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Paris Mountain Triathlons (Sprint and International)

This Saturday there will be an International Triathon at Paris Mountain that starts at 7:00 AM. It involves a 500 meter swim, a 20 mile bike ride over Paris Mountain followed by a 5 mile run.

At 7:15, we novices will be competing in a sprint triathlon that involves a 500 meter swim, a 13 mile bike race, and 5 k run. Come cheer us on - and perform CPR if needed.

http://www.setupevents.com/?fuseaction=event_detail&eventID=2041


Distance from downtown Greenville: 10 miles

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Rick Erwin's Nantucket Seafood Grill

I've been dying to try Nantucket Seafood ever since it opened.  My wife and I finally had a chance to try it out recently. It was amazing. And by amazing, I don't mean amazing the way some say people use amazing about everything they find slightly better than average, I mean it really was actually amazing.  (I generally despise hyperbole and exaggeration so much I want to tear my hair out, so rest assured that every part of the following review is meant quite literally.)


Our waiter, David, wasn't amazing but he was very good. If he had serenaded us and comped our meal, then I would elevate him to the level of amazing as well, but since he did not I'll simply say he was awesome.  


I entered the restaurant definitely in the mood for seafood, but David mentioned how good the pork loin was. He was right. It was outstanding. Moist, succulent...amazing. A few days later I replicated the dish at home complete with bourbon reduction. Mine was so-so. My wife was complimentary and mentioned that it was a good effort. 


My wife ordered the Mahi Mahi special. She also reported that it was amazing. Actually I think she said it was fantastic. Even the salad that was topped with some sort of bacon vinaigrette was amazing. Epic even. 


In all seriousness, one thing I really enjoyed about the experience, is that the restaurant is very quiet even when all the tables were full. That isn't true with several other of our local upscale restaurants (and no I'm not talking about Sobys, The Lazy Goat or Nose Dive - yes I am). 


Distance from downtown Greenville: 0 miles.

Owings, SC

Recently my friend Tim and I stopped in at the tiny town of Owings, SC looking for interesting things to photograph. It's been at least 15 years since I've driven through the town.  It's as close to a ghost town as one might find nearby. And by ghost town, I don't mean dead town. It's actually being restored by a group called the Gray Court-Owings Historical Society. 

After perusing their website, I realized we missed some other interesting sites such as those found here.

Distance from downtown Greenville: 25 miles

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Halfway to Habana Cigar and Martini Bar (The Cigar Boxx)

UPDATE #2 (1/8/2012):  Good news! H2H has re-opened although under a different name, The Cigar Boxx. Currently the establishment is primarily a cigar shop and lounge with a small beer and wine menu, but the owner tells me that they are expanding to the space next door to open a full bar with an extensive scotch and bourbon menu. He says this new section will be open in the next month or so.


The new location is 23 College St. in downtown Greenville.



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UPDATE: (2/13/11) While walking the dog last night I came across a disturbing discovery. Halfway to Habana is closed down! A note on the door said that "due to restrictive smoking policies [or something like that] that we had to close our doors," although the note does say they will be opening elsewhere in the downtown area.  A couple times when I was there, the bartenders told me that the business upstairs from them often complained of the smoke. 

Original Post from  2/13/10

A few months ago one of Greenville's finest cigar shops moved a few blocks down Main street to fill the space previously occupied by Latitude Restaurant. Their new space is much larger, contains a full bar and restaurant, and of course a smoking lounge.  Cigarettes are not allowed in the establishment due to the city's anti-smoking ban, but cigars and pipes are welcome in this one bar as the result of a state proviso. The bar has a small, although excellent, beer list, an excellent wine list, 70 different brands of scotch, and of course a number of martini specials. A beer and a stogie is not a bad way to kill an hour or two on a snowy afternoon. 

Paris Mountain Trail Service

Want to give back? Here's a chance.
Greenville REI — Winter Trails Day Service Project

• Date: 1/7/2012
• Event Location: Paris Mountain State Park
• Event Fee: Free

• Time: 9:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. (EST)
• Partner Organization: FPMSP and Upstate SORBA

Description: Join REI and our partners at Upstate SORBA and Friends of Paris Mountain State Park for this Winter Trails Day Servcie Project. We will meet in the main parking area, across the street from the park office and make our way to the trail. Food and a giveaway will be provided to volunteers. Please bring water, sturdy shoes, long pants, work gloves and a warm jacket. Tools will be provided by the park. PLEASE PRE-REGISTER so we can make sure to have enough food for everyone.

Distance from downtown Greenville: 11 miles

Searching for the Palmetto Trail

The Palmetto Trail (not to be confused with the Foothills Trail) is the South Carolina equivalent of North Carolina's Mountains to Sea Trail. When it's completed it will stretch from the Northwest portion of the state to the Low Country.  Currently only a few sections are completed.

Today I decided to check out one section called the Blue Wall Passage. The entire section is 14 miles so my plan was to hike half of it as an in-and-out today and then hit the other section in a couple weeks.  So I drove to the quaint town of Landrum, where, according to the Palmetto Trail website, there is a large kiosk in the center of town where one can park. Turns out, there is not. Nor are their any signs showing where the trail is.  Fortunately I had printed out the map they have on their website (there isn't one for purchase yet) but I quickly discovered that most of the trail in this section isn't really a trail yet. It's just a walk down the road. 

So from there I decided to drive to another trailhead that is located at the Foothills Equestrian Nature Center (F.E.N.C.E) which is a really cool place if you're into horses.  Although not well marked I was able to find the trailhead located here.

From there I followed the trail until it came to what they call a pond. (Most of it was dried up but there are several boardwalks that stretch out through what is currently dry land that are kind of interesting looking.) Unfortunately the Palmetto Trail is no longer marked, so I wandered about the property a bit which has a lot of interesting things to see other than the dried up pond.

Eventually I figured out that the trail actually exits through the F.EN.C.E entrance and turns left down the road.  100 yards or so later it cuts left back up through the woods. So I took that trail about a half mile or so until it came back out to another road. From that point forward it follows a couple of roads back to Landrum but from what I can tell never enters the woods again for several miles.

On one of the roads someone had painted the image to the right, several times. I'm not sure what it was supposed to mean but it made me really hungry for fish and chips. Fortuantely, the Palmetto Trail runs right past an English style pub called The Hare and the Hound, located in the center of downtown Landrum. 

After leaving Landrum I decided to see what else I could find so I headed toward Tryon and then on to Saluda where I stumbled upon a campground at Vaughn's Gap. Vaughn's gap is the western terminus of the Blue Wall Passage of the Palmetto trail. So next time I plan to go from there. In addition the eastern terminus of the Poinsett section of the trail can also be accessed from there. This parking area is located somewhere close to here. (Look for a small RV campground.)

Distance from downtown Greenville: 45 miles.

Old Time Fiddlin' Convention @ Hagood Mill Today

Today from 11:00 - 4:00. See you there. 

"Hagood Mill, on the National Register of Historic Places, is a functioning 19th-century water powered gristmill. Benjamin Hagood, an early settler of the Carolina Upcountry, built the original mill c. 1825. His son, James Hagood, built the mill at its present location in 1845 and it continued operations until the 1960s. Under the watch of the Pickens County Museum, the mill continues to develop. Visitors are welcome during daylight hours to picnic and hike on the 13-acre tract. The mill is open for tours and corn-grinding demonstrations on the 3rd Saturday of every month and by appointment for large groups." from Discover South Carolina













Distance from downtown Greenville: 23 miles



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