Data Drop (Program Fill Error)

We are doing nothing BUT incrementing, I''ll have you know.

Today was in many ways an archetypal Byways day. We:

• went to a military-themed museum
• drank beer at lunch
• saw some quasi-visionary art
• witnessed a folly
• drank more beer at a hip taproom in a small postindustrial city
• ate some funktastic humble Cambodian food in another small postindustrial city
• watched the exciting end of one seven-inning short-season ballgame and 93% of another
• socialized at the second game with longtime friends of the blog, talking of Icelandic sagas, gruits, and T-ball
• and then drank some more beer.

Sometimes this doesn't feel like a good way to vacation—there's a lot of driving, and we can wind up more tired at the end than at the beginning—but sometimes I can't think of anything better. Maybe that's a failure of my imagination, but I doubt it.

-30-

Smoke on the Water

On the plus side, it was harder to see how few people were here.

The trip we've been calling Canadian Fourth is upon us, beginning this evening with the Connecticut Tigers (masquerading for tonight's '90s Throwback Night as the long-gone Norwich Navigators) facing the Staten Island Yankees. Or at least nominally facing—a thick fog obscured much of the action, causing outfielders to literally throw up their hands (not throw up in their hands, mind you) when considering the prospect of catching a fly ball. The start of the game was delayed about an hour and half because of wet conditions on the field, and this gave Rob and me plenty of time to discuss things like patriotism. More after the jump.

"Memorial Crawdads," memorialized

As Melvin has written, we saw some baseball over the Memorial Day weekend, starting with the Hickory Crawdads. We flew into CLT and drove to Hickory, North Carolina, where we started our trip with supper at the Blowing Rock Brewery. Tasty sandwiches, recipe book beer.

Noah Bremer throwing the first of 56 pitches, 10 of which would result in hits.

The 'dads, wearing uniforms depicting Washington crossing the Delaware, would lose to the Charleston RiverDogs 8-7. While we were at the ballpark, we sampled more local beer, this time from Catawba Brewing Company. More underwhelmingness.

When using the term, "craft beer," the modifier needs to signify more than the brewery has a small output; there needs to be some craft involved.

We finished the evening at the Crescent Moon Café, which restored our faith in malt beverages. I will finish recapping the holiday weekend after the jump (as folks used to say).