On Saturday, I walked my two faithful hounds (Tucker and Gracie) in downtown Aiken…or, did they walk me? We’ll get back to that in a minute. I have been to Aiken County a few times in my life. I have been to a couple of high school football games, eaten barbecue and watched two horrible movies at a fantastic drive-in theater in Aiken. To my knowledge, though, I had never even seen the City of Aiken’s downtown. I have to say, I’ve been missing out. The downtown appears to have a nice mix of newer, more modern buildings alongside repurposed (a trendy word I hate and should not be using) old brick structures. I don’t know why, but old brick, the kind that were fashioned in a fiery kiln and used to build mills and warehouses back in the day, is very appealing to me. The mix of bars, shops and restaurants had drawn quite a crowd for an early Saturday morning, so it actually took a little while to find a parking spot. That problem was exaserbated by Aiken’s one-way streets, the only mild complaint I’ll offer up about the experience. Seriously, I have a hard enough of time finding my way from one place to another even with the benefit of GPS. I don’t need a sign saying “NOPE, CAN’T TURN HERE. ONE WAY STREET” to complicate matters. Eventually we did park and I got the dogs out. We hadn’t walked 50 feet when we encountered our first crosswalk. As we waited to cross the street, a lady saw Tucker and Gracie, with all their pent-up energy from a two-hour ride and the excitement that comes with new sights and smells. “Oh my goodness!” she exclaimed. She asked me about what kind of dogs they were, if they were always that hyper (as they excitedly turned and tried to walk in every direction,) then dropped the line I hear about once per walk. “Are you walking them or are they walking you?” I get it. That’s a stock line people drop whenever they see big dogs jerking their hapless owners around. I should come up with a stock answer to reply with, but for some reason I try to say something different and creative to say each time that query is posed to me. “Actually they are dragging me,” I replied. The lady wanted to pet them and both are normally all to happy to oblige anyone wanting to shower them with attention. Tucker, though, has to scout out his territory first. He likes to know where he is and what’s going on. Gracie sat still long enough for a quick head pat, then veered off in another direction. We waited quite a while for the “walk” sign to light up, so I had the chance to tell the lady about my wonderful and awful plan to walk them both in all 46 counties. She thought it was sweet that I wanted to take my little friends on so many adventures…or that’s what she said anyway. She was probably thinking something along the lines of “are you insane?” Anyway, I finally got the “walk” sign and went on my way. I turned down a side street, hoping to walk a little energy out of the dogs. In doing so, I was walking alongside one of those classic brick facades I mentioned. I passed what looked like a cool little eatery called Betsy’s Round the Corner. They had a big awning over the front door with some outside tables set up. A couple of people were eating what I guess by that time qualified as brunch (they did have chicken and waffles on the menu). I would, later in the day, receive Betsy’s as a recommendation for somewhere to eat. I didn’t get by there (I had other lunch plans) but I’ll put that on my to do list. I often joke that walking Tucker and Gracie is like walking a couple of horses, but Aiken actually is home to a lot of real horses. That became apparent as I saw equine stores in downtown along with horse statues and horse murals. I thought it would make a cool picture to get Tucker and Gracie alongside one of those murals. It’s never a problem getting Tucker to pose for photos. I don’t know if he knows exactly what a picture is, but he somehow senses you want him to do “cute”” so like a model he’ll flip his hair back and pose. Gracie lacks those photogenic sensibilities and I could not get her to hold still or even get in the frame. Oddly, the hair on top of her head was a little messed up. Maybe she just didn’t want anyone seeing her like that. You know how women can be. Anyway, after I got a picture of Tucker next to the large horse mural, three ladies approached us. They oohed and ahhed over my dogs for a minute. One of them actually had a Goldendoodle at home, just not nearly as big as Tucker. They asked if we’d had Gracie’s tail bobbed and seemed legit surprised to hear that she was just born with no tail at all. As the walk recommenced, one of them just couldn’t help themselves. “Are you walking them or are they walking you?” “I’m training them for the Iditarod,” I said. We got up to the main drag and I found it to be remarkably dog friendly. Lots of the merchants had big water bowls out front of their shops, for which my thirsty dogs were very thankful. We passed one pet store and then a dog bakery (Bone-i-Fide Bakery). Somehow, Tucker and Gracie seemed to realize those places catered to them because, honest to goodness, both turned into those two places. I’m guessing that a lot of animals actually do walk into those places, my dogs detect that scent and just sort of follow it. Maybe there is something about those places that makes them feel welcome or MAYBE my dogs can read. “Dog bakery? We gotta check this place out.” As we walked, we encountered a lot of friendly people. A group of four men and women stopped us and asked if it was OK to pet my dogs. They were settled into their surroundings by this time, so I told them sure. They told me they’d seen us coming and, wait for it… “Were you walking them or were they walking you?” “I normally attach them to a wagon and let them pull me,” I said. Shortly thereafter, a younger family saw us coming from a little ways off and waited to talk to us. The mother was out-of-her-mind in love with Tucker and Gracie. She like a lot of people, I think, is not accustomed to seeing dogs that cute that are that big. Often, people associate big dogs with being scary, not with looking like they should be riding shotgun with Big Bird. The husband asked…well, you know what he asked by now. I got the “are they walking you” line four full times. Sadly, I was out of comical rejoinders by then and just said “haha, I’m not sure” before going on my way. We would explore the city more fully later in the day. Ashley was along for this trip and wasn’t going to let the occasion of a visit to a horse capital pass by without getting to see some horses. She is an animal lover in general,(as long as those animals aren’t scary or gross) but has a real soft spot for dogs and horses. She’d done some advance research and found a horse rescue farm outside of town (Equine Rescue of Aiken), that closed at 1 p.m., so we headed that way. We got there and were invited by the rescue manager (Caroline) to walk around and visit with as many of the horses (and mules, ponies and donkeys) as we liked while she got some shoes off another horse. I’ve ridden horses a few times, but I’ve never spent much time around them, really. Horses present some interesting contrasts. They are massive, powerful, imposing creatures, but just like our dogs it seemed like all any of them actually wanted was some attention and someone to love them. All of them we approached were friendly and gentle and trust me, Ashley approached every horse in every fence she could get to. They were drawn to her and other than stomping their hooves (a way to ward off flies), they sat mostly quiet, heads extended over the top fence rails, to be stroked and petted. Semi-domesticated animals seem to have an innate sense of good hearts and sweet souls, so it wasn’t surprising they flocked to her. Caroline eventually came over and offered to take us on a tour of the facility via a souped-up golf cart. The farm was bought and established by an older couple who wanted a home for rescued horses to be their legacy. As legacies go, taking care of people or animals that can’t take care of themselves is a pretty good one, I think. The farm is expansive and beautiful, with an arena of sorts and vast horse pastures. The horses there are a mix of retired racehorses (who, for lack of a better explanation, need a place to transition to being a regular horse), abandoned horses and abused horses. Some are brought to the rescue in such a state of neglect it brings tears to her eyes, Caroline said. Some owners are so dumb or irresponsible they can’t look at an emaciated horse with its skin sunken down to its ribs and realize it needs food. The largest horse we saw, a strong-looking black beauty, was formerly an Amish plow horse that quite literally had been ridden hard her entire life. Still, the story of the rescue is a happy one as they are on schedule to place their 1,000th horse later this year. Some horses won’t ever leave, living out their lives at the rescue and that’s not a bad thing. They aren’t the kind of folks to toy with your emotions…they don’t put “we have to raise $1,000 by Friday or we’ll have to put ol’ Trigger here down” on Facebook. They do subsist primarily on donations, though, so if you’re interested in learning about what they do and making a contribution, VISIT THEIR WEBSITE HERE. Lunch was next on the itinerary and in the same way Ashley isn’t passing up happy horsey time, I’m not missing a chance to eat good barbecue. My cousin Kevin, who knows of what he speaks where smoked pig is concerned, has long cited Carolina BBQ in New Ellenton as his favorite place to swine dine. He told me that there isn’t one thing in particular on the menu that is the best in the state, but that everything is very good. We got takeout (because, dogs) and I went with a big plate that included pulled pork, hash and rice, hushpuppies and two sides. There was a lot to choose from and I often feel the need to balance all the meat and bread and things seared in hot oil with something green that grows in a garden. They had collards and green beans, but for some reason I decided to completely indulge myself, so my two side choices were mac and cheese and something called spicy corn nuggets. We found a little picnic shelter to eat in near the restaurant. Once you leave Aiken proper and go into New Ellenton, the big ranch houses and horse farms give way to a bit more humble rural setting Still, never having visited New Ellenton, I thought it would fall under the heading “Census designated place” but it’s actually a small town with a police department, a community center and town hall. As we set up under the picnic shelter, we saw a younger guy sitting a few tables over. He had earbuds in and had a backpack that was slung up on the table and he never even looked in our direction, even when I got the dogs out for a bathroom break. At one point he actually put his head down and appeared to rest, or maybe sleep a little something off. Who is to say? Kevin’s assessment of Carolina BBQ was ALMOST dead on. The pulled pork represented a minimalist approach. There wasn’t a ton of seasoning, you tasted perfectly cooked pork, smoke and I think I detected a very faint bite of either vinegar or maybe some kind pickling salt. It was very good on its own and was enhanced by the mustard-based sauce I then applied (which had some tang and a little zip courtesy of chili powder). The hushpuppies were big fat things, with a very thin, crunchy veneer and warm, sweet insides. As for the hash…I am a savory hash disciple (marking the first time those six words have likely ever been strung together in print). I was raised on hash that is meat, onion, butter, salt and pepper. A sweet tomato base was present here, but it was good. One of the better sweet hashes I’ve eaten. The spicy corn nuggets…LAW LAW THE SPICY CORN NUGGETS. They vaulted near the top of my favorite side items list. Basically it was sweet, whole corn kernals and what I think was spicy (bordering on hot) pimento cheese, battered and deep friend. The sweet corn and hot pimento cheese played so nicely together and the deep-fry treatment added a satisfying crunch. It was top-notch. I say Kevin was almost dead on because the mac and cheese was a little dry and didn’t pop with flavor like everything else. Maybe I got a last scoop that had been sitting in a warm pan for a bit, causing it to dehydrate a little. Whatever, it was well worth a trip to New Ellenton. Right behind the picnic shelter was what looked like an abandoned sports field. A large bare spot that was undoubtedly a baseball infield at one point stood out starkly from the green grass that stood everywhere else, there were some half constructed (or deconstructed) soccer nets and old wooden bleachers whose paint job and structural integrity were giving way to time and elements. Maybe it’s because I’ve covered sports for a living most of my life, but when I see a fallow field of play, one where kids should be enjoying themselves, it makes me a little sad. Maybe there is a newer, better one somewhere else in town. I sure hope so. We went back to Aiken so Ashley could hit up a few shops that caught her eye. We decided to get the pups a few treats from Bone-i-Fide Bakery. It’s a neat little place and a guy who works there (or maybe owns it) builds those cat tower things, but they aren’t just a series of little platforms. The detail was incredible and there was even an Indiana Jones-style rope bridge on one of them. I’m sure it would support the weight of any cat but, you know, not big old dogs. Ashley and I made a quick visit to the Aiken Brewing Company (her mom was along for the trip and stayed with the dogs in the car) where I did a flight of the beers they make themselves. All were good but the oatmeal porter stood as my favorite. We’d never visited Aiken before, but there were plenty of things that will bring us back. It was time to go, though. I planned to walk Tucker and Gracie in one more county on the way home…or maybe they were going to walk me.
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November 2021
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