Sunday, April 22, 2012

Bluegrass and Beef

Many of you know that I'm not much of a  meat eater.  I usually consider myself a vegetarian.  Unfortunately (or fortunately in Charlie's mind), I am becoming someone who salivates at the idea of eating a good piece of meat.  For example, I consumed ground beef, ribs, pulled pork, grilled chicken and bacon all in one weekend.  What is happening!? 

It all began on Friday night at Syd's Place.  A hole in the wall local bar that happens to serve dynamite tacos every Wednesday & Friday.  If you don't get there before 5pm you'll likely be standing for quite some time.  From what we hear people don't give up their seats for anything, even to someone who is 9 months pregnant!  Luckily we got there by 5, had a seat, and enjoyed some very delicious tacos as we gathered tips from locals who could tell we were new to Syd's. 

The next meat encounter occurred on Saturday, accompanied by good music "in the 'Burgh." This Blues and Bluegrass Festival was a 2 day event (Fri-Sat) in Indiana. We had tickets for Saturday and decided we would take advantage of free camping on Saturday night. It wasn't the nicest day - cloudy, windy and cold; however, we stuck it out and really enjoyed the day.  I was loving the musical variety and creativity this genre of music lends to.  They were playing the banjo, ukulele, Weissenborn (a lap slide guitar), string bass, violin, harmonica, various percussion instruments, etc.  But the best was, by far, the upright bass made out of a gas tank from a truck.  See the video & picture below for evidence of this homemade bass, as well as the incredible talent of the band Split Lip Rayfield.



Anyway, back to eating...
In the afternoon they had an amateur backyard BBQ competition where the audience did the tasting and the voting.  Charlie was all about it and how could I turn down that opportunity?  Next thing I know I've eaten 2 ribs and quite a bit of pulled pork!  Luckily my stomach cooperated, I think I tricked it with the grilled chicken I ate earlier in the day. 

We had a chilly night in the our tent, but were back to Olney drinking hot coffee and eating a hearty breakfast (including bacon for me, sausage for Charlie) by 9:30 am.  

Overall we are getting a kick out of the Midwest and enjoying our short time here.


Until next time...


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