I didn't actually take any pictures in Columbia. We drove from Rocheport on Friday
morning and took the first exit to see the outskirts. Looked pretty normal.
We found the University of Columbia campus and wandered around looking
for the administration buildings, book stores, etc. Picked up a graduate and
an undergraduate catalog. Nice campus. Nice people.
Decided to check out the motel. AAA Travel guide gave it three diamonds.
We disagreed. Fortunately we were able to cancel and find another hotel
with rooms. The Wingate Motel was much nicer than the Columbia Dome.
In between the Columbia Dome and the Wingate we stopped at the Flat Branch Pub
and Brewing Company. They have good beers. Their food was fairly good too.
The staff, well, the waitress wasn't totally there, I don't think. But, hey,
she was a university student and I have a feeling she had other things on
her mind. Still . . .
In the afternoon we talked with a real estate agent just to try to figure
out what might be reasonable areas to look. Retirement could be a long way
off but it probably doesn't hurt to see what areas we do or don't like,
what expenses are like, etc. Anyway, we did look and found some really
nice houses within a mile or two of the university. They were older houses
on large lots. Some were around a park. There were a lot of older trees.
It was nice. Prices ranged from $150,000 to $300,000, at least relative
to the few we actually asked about. We looked in other areas and the
houses were nice and probably ranged from $130,000 up. However they
were more modern and a bit less interesting.
Friday night we went to Mojo's, a local club. We saw Doug MacLeod
and then Shemekia Copeland. I'd seen Doug MacLeod before at a Stereophile
show in San Francisco. He's very good and very interesting to listen to.
Unfortunately the crowd was a bit noisy. It's just him and there's not
a lot of amplification. The radio dj that has a local blues show tried to
get the crowd to quiet down. Many did. Some just keep, um forgetting.
I bought Doug MacLeod's new CD, also enjoyable.
Then Shemekia Copeland and her band came on. They were pretty good and
more than sufficiently loud to overcome the crowd noise. I think the
crowd liked Shemekia a bit more. She was good. She won two or three
W.C. Handy awards this year. Other people must like her too.
Saturday we briefly stopped at the Arts and Crafts fair at Stephens College.
It was interesting but we did not stay long. Ate lunch at a Chinese restaurant
downtown. It was okay but not fantastic. Also visited a couple of stores.
Peace Nook is an interesting alternatives store. It has a lot of books
about all kinds of stuff, plus some alternative food stuff, candles and other
strange things. There was another store next door that had ice cream, minerals,
other candles, incense, etc. These two seemed to fit into the college town
ambiance. Right around the corner was Acorn books, also very nice, quite
full of books, with narrow aisles and a nice manager with whom we talked.
So, what do you think? It's nice but a little conservative. We're still
thinking.
We did spend a nice afternoon driving around Boone County.
Here's a look around Boone County