Indians and Rolling Stones

1 June 2013.  Well, as promised, here's an update to our blog as we once again have started our travels in the LynDenHaus.  After leaving Carlisle, PA, on 29 May (and our granddaughter Skye's softball tourney in Chambersburg...congrats again, Skye!) we headed south on I-81 to connect with I-70 and I-68 west thru MD and WV, where we picked up I-79 north at Morgantown.  We reconnected with I-70 in PA (this route allowed us to avoid the dreaded PA Turnpike, which in addition to being a terrible roller coaster of an interstate, is also heavy with tolls.....especially for a 35-ft motorhome towing a car!) and headed west into Ohio.  We crossed the mighty Ohio River (very impressive) just south of Wheeling, WV, and within the hour we were set up at our campground for the next three days at Spring Valley Campground (SVC).  SVC sits conveniently just one exit west past the intersection of I-70 and I-77, which was great since we would become quite familiar with I-77 over the next few days.
 
Thursday, 30 May, saw us heading north on I-77 for Cleveland, the city of "Progress and Prosperity."  This day's sightseeing was two-fold: One we wanted to take in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (HOF), which sits right on the Lake Erie waterfront, a few blocks from downtown Cleveland.

View of the Rock and Roll HOF on the Lake Erie waterfront in Cleveland

And two, we had tickets to an evening ballgame at Progressive Field featuring the Cleveland Indians against their in-state rival, the Cincinnati Reds.  Now, neither of us had ever been to Cleveland before so we really didn't know what to expect.  Armed with a HUGE downtown map of Cleveland and a smaller diagram map showing where the Rock and Roll HOF was located -- and also some internet research of the various roads leading to the downtown area -- we set off on our two-hour drive north.  This took us thru the town of Canton, Ohio, which is where the Pro Football HOF is located, and which would be the object of our attention on the following day.  The Pro Football HOF is located right off of I-77 and very visible from the interstate, so we figured the next day's drive would be a snap.  Anyway, back to our trip into Cleveland.  We knew that I-77 basically comes to an end as it empties into the downtown area.  Unfortunately, this is similar to a river delta, with many branches, or in this case streets, flowing into the downtown area.  But we had done our homework and just like we knew what we were doing, we took 9th Street straight into the heart of the downtown area, and also right by the ballpark.  We knew we wanted to park close to the stadium, since we'd becoming out of the park well after dark.  We found a high-rise parking garage right across from the field and for only $7 we parked from about 1pm until 10pm.  We didn't think that was too bad at all, especially since we were used to downtown Baltimore parking lot prices. Almost 3x that price.

Diagram map of downtown Cleveland showing the location of the HOF on the waterfront.

After parking, we began to look for Cleveland's "free trolley" that ran throughout the downtown area, including the Rock and Roll HOF.  Unfortunately we found out that a film production crew was filming some car chase sequences for new "Captain America 2" movie.  Cleveland was being used as a substitute for New York City.  With film crews in various locations throughout the downtown area, various streets were closed or blocked off at various times throughout the day.  Nobody -- and I mean NOBODY, from cops to security people to taxi drivers -- nobody knew the reconfigured route, and stops, for the free trolley.  So, we ended up walking from the downtown area to the waterfront -- a walk of several blocks.  Good exercise for my knee following the operation, right?  NOT!  Knee got sore walking down to Lake Erie and the Rock and Roll HOF, so it was slow going.  But we made it and enjoyed a two-and-a-half hour visit to the HOF.  If you grew up in the late '50's, 60's, or even the early '70's, this is a definite MUST for a visit.  There is just so much to see and do.  I apologize in advance for the poor quality of the pics.  We were using Lynette's phone camera, and combined with trying to shoot displays that were behind glass, well, the pics aren't the greatest.

Part of the HOF's Aerosmith exhibit.  Believe this is Steven Tyler in costume. 

Part of the HOF's exhibit on the Beatles, featuring the "Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" costume that John Lennon wore along with the album cover.  Lynette actually still has the album.

After our visit to the HOF, we decided to grab a taxi instead of walking back to Progressive Field for the ballgame.  But once again, the film crew had several streets blocked off for shooting (we even saw several camera cars go zipping by on one side street), so our cabby became very frustrated at not being able to navigate where he wanted to go.  I think we could almost have walked back in the same amount time as it took our cab to make its way to the ballpark.

I had wanted to arrive as early as possible to watch batting practice, so we got to Progressive Field just before 5pm -- game time was 7:05pm -- and the gates didn't open till 5pm.  Once inside, we procured a couple ice cold beers, found the shady side of the field, and proceeded to enjoy batting practice.  If I had been slightly more energetic -- and had brought along a glove -- and was willing to fight the younger kids for a ball -- I might have caught a batting practice home run.  Alas, was not to be.

Progressive Field.  Our seats were behind the home team dugout (3rd base side), about a 20 rows up.  Excellent seats for the price -- good view of everything!

Progressive Field is one nice ballpark to watch a ball game.  I came away very impressed.  I've always thought the Orioles' Camden Yards was a nice ballpark -- and it certainly is -- but this field the Indians play on is one really nice ballpark.  Even Lynette came away impressed.  Very fan friendly.  So, we enjoyed the usual ballpark food: hotdogs, soft pretzels, peanuts, and cold drinks.  It was a beautiful evening for a ballgame and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.  And the Indians won!  Final score was 7-1, with all the Indians' scoring coming in the 4th inning.  And all but one run came with two outs.  I believe I read on the Jumbo Tron scoreboard that the Indians lead the majors in scoring runs after two were out.  They certainly did so on this night.  Wonderful to watch as consecutive Indian batters laced single after single -- with one double thrown in just to break the routine -- scoring run after run.  The home crowd loved it.  And there were so many Reds fans in attendance; guess its not that far of a trip for a game.

We left after the top of the 8th inning, made our way across the street to our parking lot, retrieved the Saturn, and headed home.  All in all, one great day.  Checked off a couple more things on my bucket list and will add another tomorrow after visiting the Pro Football HOF in Canton.  Can't wait!

P.S.  Oh, yes.  I did manage a couple souvenirs: an Indians ballcap and t-shirt.  And worn them at the game!

Before the game started.....me wearing my new ballcap and t-shirt.  Gotta root for the home team when you're in their ballpark!

Family Time in West Virginia and Maryland...plus, softball diamonds and soccer fields

Thursday, 23 May 2013.  Greetings once again from LynDenHaus.  We're currently staying in the Western Village RV Park in Carlisle, PA.  We arrived this past Tuesday and are staying until after the Memorial Day holiday weekend.  We stayed here last fall and found the campground to our liking, so we came back.  We’re up here because our oldest granddaughter, Skye, and her fast-pitch travel softball team, the West Virginia Wild, is playing in the Memorial Day Madness softball tournament in-and-around the greater Chambersburg, PA, area.  Once the tourney is over we plan on hitting the road again and head west into Ohio.

West Virginia Wild Under-12 Travel Team (Skye is #12, front row, second from right)

I notice by the last blog date that it’s been quite some time since I posted something – plus, I’ve also been spending much of my time on Facebook.  I’ve posted several photo albums on FB, so if you have access and want to catch up, check out my FB page. 

Since we left our “winter” campground in SC we’ve been staying close to our two sons, Kip and his family in WV, and Jamie and his family in MD.  We first stayed at the Lost River campground in Lost River, WV.  We’ve stayed there before and the campground hosts are super friendly (their granddaughter plays on the same Little League softball team as our granddaughter, Skye, does), and the campground, although on the smallish side, is more than adequate for our needs.  Plus, its only 15-20 minutes from our son’s place, and that makes it quite convenient for visiting.  We first arrived at the Lost River campground on 14 March and stayed until 17 March.  Quick visit, but it was over a weekend so we got in some good visits with our son, Kip, his wife, Tina, and our two granddaughters, Skye (13) and Rayne (10).  In fact, we were present to help Skye celebrate birthday #13 on 15 March.  We were also able to help Rayne celebrate birthday #10 when we returned to the Lost River campground later in May.

After leaving Lost River we headed north on I-81 to I-70 and into MD and the campground at Camp Meade RV Park.  We had previously stayed here last year in the late fall.  A very nice campground, large sites, concrete pads, clean restrooms/showers.  Plus, our youngest son, Jamie, is only about 30-40 minutes away in Pasadena, MD.  

Family cookout at our campsite at Camp Meade.  Starting at the left, going clockwise: grandson Ben; Susan (Lisa's mom); our son, Jamie, with grandson Luke on his lap; Tom (Susan's friend); our daughter-in-law, Lisa; and Lynette.

We were staying here at Camp Meade for a couple reasons.  One, it put us close to our youngest son, Jamie, and his family.  Second, I had scheduled some minor knee surgery for early April and would need a place close by to stay for a few weeks of rehab.  The surgery (just a scope job) was on 3 April and was quite successful, at least according to my surgeon.  A minor ACL tear and lots of arthritis on my left knee.  He did what he could and after 12 sessions of rehab I guess the knee is about as ready as it could be. We'll see as we begin our traveling again later this month.

During our stay at Camp Meade we were able to visit with Jamie, his wife, Lisa, and our two grandsons, Ben (8) and Luke (5).  Both boys are playing soccer these days and we were able to take in several games.  I’ll post a couple pics of the boys playing, but more photos are on my FB page in a couple albums. We were also able to spend some time with Lisa’s mom, Susan, and her friend, Tom --- an added bonus to our stay in MD.

Luke and Ben in their PJ's in the motorhome.  They stayed with us a couple days while we were at Camp Meade.  All the grandkids seem to love staying in the RV.

What is it about kids and a stick horse? Or in this case, our outdoor broom?  I persuaded Luke to sweep off the outdoor mat in front of the motorhome -- which he did quite nicely -- and then decided he needed to ride the broom as a "horsey."  What a kid!

Jamie explaining the finer points of playing goalie in soccer.  By Ben's smile I can just tell he is listening intently....NOT!  And yes, this was the third week in March and it was cold!

Luke about to kick the ball on that same cold Saturday morning.....

Grandma with Ben...same cold morning!

We left Camp Meade on 10 May and headed for Lost River again, where we stayed until 21 May.  We checked into Western Village in Carlisle, PA, later that day, and will be here till 28 May, when we head west into Ohio.

Most of our time in MD and WV – and now PA – has been spent visiting family and heading out to the soccer fields or softball diamonds.  We had loads of fun getting to see Rayne, Ben, and Luke continue to hone their soccer skills, and to also see how far Skye has progressed with her softball prowess – she is quite the player these days.  Again, I’ve placed on FB several photo albums of Skye’s softball games (to include a one-day tourney in Frostburg, MD); Rayne’s soccer games plus a one-day tourney in Philippi, WV; and several Ben and Luke soccer games.  I’ll put a couple of the better photos for each grandchild on this blog entry just to entice you to visit my FB page.  More later!

Softball tourney, Frostburg, MD.  Skye slapping the ball for a hit!

Softball tourney in Frostburg.  Skye, after scoring a run -- and hurting a finger on a hard slide into third base.  She was fine and went on to catch a great game.

Softball tourney, Frostburg.  Left to right: Tina (Kip's wife); Kip; Rayne in front of her dad; Skye; and Grandma.  Papa, as usual, is taking the photo!

Rayne's soccer tourney in Philippi, WV.  She's about to take this ball away from the yellow shirt.

Rayne has the ball and her Dad/Coach is pointing the way to the goal!

Rayne at the end of the day -- tuckered out after three games of soccer on a hot, humid WV day!

Skye catching in one of her Little League games at the East Hardy Sports Complex, Baker, WV.  About to throw out a runner trying to steal second.

Skye pitching, about to whip that ball toward home plate.  After catching her in a couple practice sessions, I can verify that she can certainly pop the mitt with her fast ball!

What a look of determination!  And check out the muscles on that right arm!  This photo -- and the one above-- were taken during a game in which Skye pitched all six innings (unheard of in LL ball) and had a no-hitter going through five innings.  She finished the game, throwing two-hit ball in a 3-0 win.  The last inning was very intense and Skye stuck out their last batter with the bases loaded.  No pressure in that situation!  Way to go, Skye!

Skye and her dad, Kip, going over her performance on the field.  Believe Kip is trying to give Skye some pitching pointers.  Daughter "looks" like she's listening -- is she?  ;o)

So there it is.  A new blog entry for everyone out there who's been wondering what we've been up to.  As I said previously, there are LOADS more pix on my FB page of the grandkids playing soccer and softball.  If you can get to FB, there are some really great pix there!

We did manage to get in some sightseeing today.  We wanted to check out the softball fields for this coming weekend Memorial Day Madness tourney, so we drove south down I-81 to Chambersburg, picked up State Route (SR) 30, then SR 75, that took us thru Mercersburg.  The softball fields are just outside the town in the middle of huge tracts of farmland.  Lynette said it reminded her of the Keven Costner movie "Field of Dreams" where, "if you build it, they will come."  Seemed appropriate at the time.

Anyway, on our way back we stayed on the back roads, mainly SR 11, as we journeyed back to our campground in Carlisle.  We traveled thru mostly small towns and lots of farmland and several dairies.  We soon found ourselves wanting for food and drink, and by chance came upon the John Allison Public House in Greencastle, PA.  Turned out to be a very nice English-style pub.  Lynette had some sort of turkey wrap and a glass of wine, while I washed down a bleu cheese/bacon burger with a Leinenkugel Summer Shandy (lemonade and beer).  All in all, a nice place to stop for a bite to eat in this part of PA.

Oh, one last tidbit of interesting trivia.  As we traveled north on SR 11 toward Carlisle, we passed thru the small township of St. Thomas.  I only mention this because St. Thomas turns out to be the birthplace of one of my baseball heroes, Nellie Fox.  Fox played second base for the Chicago White Sox and when paired with Luis Aparicio at shortstop, well, they made for one heck of a middle infield. And, when I played baseball at Naches Valley High School, I used a Nellie Fox bat!  We've discovered its a small world, in many respects, as we continue to travel this great country of ours.  

Photo of the Day

Saturday, 30 March 2013.  Took this snap of our oldest grandson, Ben (8 yrs old), posing with the newest addition to the LynDenHaus motorhome, Toby.  We figured our trusted gnome companion, Obidiah, the Traveling Lord of LynDenHaus, needed a buddy from his own species.  We found Toby loitering in a North Myrtle Beach grocery store, looking for temporary housing.  He gladly accepted our offer to travel with us -- and Obi -- but isn't too happy having to stay outside the motorhome guarding our sign while Obi is quite comfy inside the RV.  Gnomes!  Not too grateful, are they?  Go figure.

Tanks, APCs, and a Huey

Sunday, 31 March 2013.  Happy Easter to everyone!   Here’s hoping that each of our blog readers had a wonderful holiday and are enjoying a fine spring – wherever you are.  We’re currently staying at the Camp Meade RV campground (again) -- near Odenton, MD -- and enjoying the hospitality of the Ft. Meade Army community.  Staying here also puts us quite close to our youngest son, Jamie, his wife, Lisa, and our two grandsons, Ben and Luke, who live nearby in Pasadena, MD.  We’ll be staying at the Camp Meade campground till sometime in early May, depending on how my knee responds after some minor surgery.  That’s scheduled for this coming Wednesday, 3 April, followed by a few weeks of rehab.  Hopefully everything will turn out just fine and dandy, and we can continue our travels in LynDenHaus.

We recently were thrilled to have Ben and Luke come stay with us for a few days in our motorhome here at the campground.  The weather was only so-so for the first couple days so we took in a movie (“The Croods”), played some games inside, and did some shopping for Easter and Lisa’s birthday.  As the weather improved, I was able to take the boys outside for a couple walks around the small lake near the campground, feed some ducks that frequent the lake, and just let them “cut loose” on a couple nice playgrounds near some Ft. Meade Post housing.  Believe we all enjoyed getting outside and I’m sure Grandma thoroughly enjoyed some “quiet” time!

We also planned to take Ben and Luke to the Ft. George G. Meade Museum while they were staying with us, but were counting on some decent weather since several of the displays are located outside on the museum grounds.  This small, but well-maintained museum was established to “collect, preserve, study, and exhibit historical artifacts pertaining to the history of Ft. Meade,” and is dedicated to those US Army members who died in the defense of freedom.  Visitors to the museum will discover a wealth of historic artifacts, photographs, documents, and paintings inside the museum, while outside on the grounds visitors are treated to an array of historic military equipment including tanks and armored personnel carriers (APCs) from WWI and WWII, and a Huey helicopter from the Vietnam era. 

I took loads of pics of both Ben and Luke outside with every tank and APC on display, and of course the Huey.  The inside offered more photo-ops and I think we got some pretty good shots of the boys enjoying their time exploring the museum.   Their excitement as they ran from one tank or APC to another was contagious, let me tell you.  And they especially love the Huey!

One last note before posting the pics: Ben helped me with the nomenclature of the pieces various of military equipment, and while I can’t verify 100% each piece of gear or hardware, I think we got most of them right.  Hope you enjoy looking at the pics of the boys at Ft. Meade’s museum as much as we enjoyed the whole experience of our visit.    

Ben & Luke posing with the UH-1H "Huey" at the entrance to the museum grounds

Monument to American POWs

Boys posing with Grandma next to the Huey

Close-up of Luke and Ben next to Huey cockpit

The "obligatory" rear view shot of the Huey, with a M113 APC in the background

After a good 20 minutes, and after thoroughly checking out this Huey, we decided to go inside and see what we could find -- and to save our exploration of the tanks on display outside for later.

The boys in front of a French Renault FT-17, WWI era tank.  The French outfit that fought with these tanks was called the "Five of Hearts" -- hence the red heart.

The boys posing with a couple of WWI Doughboys

The boys in front of a WWII display, showing an infantry soldier/rifleman (left) and a tank commander on the right, with some sort of radio in the middle.  Should have heard me trying to explain "shortwave communications" to Ben.  Boy, that kid has loads of questions!

Luke astride a full-sized replica of a cavalry horse.  I'm sure you weren't supposed to get into the saddle, but Papa swooped Luke into the saddle while Grandma snapped a quick pic

The museum had several replicas of WWI Doughboy jackets for kids to try on, so we put a couple on the boys and had them pose with a WWI "Mountain Howitzer"

Ben solo with the howitzer

The boys in front of a Civil War display, flashing the WWII "V" for victory sign, which PaPa taught them during our museum experience.  Flash the "V", smile, and snap the pic!

Boys in front of a marble monument to the Battle of the Bulge

Luke atop a M113 APC

Both boys on the M113 APC (and no, I didn't mistake the letters; the "ACP" above is written in Army-ese; stands for "Armored Carrier Personnel")

Astride a M41 "Bulldog" tank

Close-up of the Bulldog, with Luke about to slip around the turret!

Atop a M4-A3 "Sherman" tank

Last tank on display, a M47 "Patton".  Notice the boys are no longer posing on the tank.  

When we got to the Patton tank we "discovered" this nice little sign.  So glad the Army placed the sign at the END of the line of tanks.  Oh well, I think the boys had more fun the way we did it!

Parting is such sweet sorrow...so long Willow Tree

Monday, 11 March 2013.  Willow Tree RV Resort will soon be a fading image in our motorhome's big sideview mirrors. Sadly we will be departing this absolutely wonderful country setting on Wednesday and head north into the icy, snowy worlds of WV and MD.  It might not be quite that drastic a change, but it sure  won't beat the wonderful weather we've had the last couple days here in Longs, SC.  Brilliant sunshine, mid-60's temps, and bright blue skies.  And this is supposed to continue through the weekend.

Our initial journey will be a two-day trip back to Lost River campground (WV), near our son, Kip and his family in Mathias, WV.  We'll stay there through the weekend and help our eldest granddaughter, Skye, celebrate her big 13th birthday.  Then we leave on Monday to head over to Maryland where we'll once again be staying at Camp Meade RV Park on Ft. Meade -- only a few minutes away from our youngest son, Jamie and his family in Pasadena.   We're hoping we'll be able to watch our two grandsons, Ben and Luke, play some soccer. This will be Luke's first year playing and we're anxious to see this sturdy 5-year old in action on the soccer field.

The primary reason we're leaving the wonderful weather here in Longs this early in the year is because I have some minor knee surgery scheduled in early April.  Just a scope job and to clean out some of the arthritis on my left knee.  I had  arthroscopic surgery performed on both knees previously and the surgeons told me I'd most likely have to readdress the whole thing again in 10-12 years -- and it's been 17 years for my left knee so I guess that's pretty good.  About 3-4 weeks of rehab will follow the surgery before we can "hit the road" again and continue our journey with LynDen Haus.

We tentatively plan on heading first to Michigan's Upper Peninsula (or UP, as the locals call it) and spend a couple week in the region; we've heard great things about the UP and are anxious to see it for ourselves.  After that we'll head pretty much due west, crossing Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana, the Panhandle of Idaho, and on into Washington State.  We'll stay in the Evergreen State for several weeks, visiting my Mom and sister, Carolyn, in Yakima, and also Lynette's folks and sister, Lori, in Wenatchee.  Lynette's parents are celebrating their 65th wedding anniversary this summer and we're gonna help them party in style!  But more on that in a future blog.

Before leaving Willow Tree, we wanted to leave our readers with a few more pictures of this very picturesque campground.  I took my camera with me on a couple walks and came away with a few photos that give a different perspective of the campground.  Hope you enjoy them.

View looking back across the lake toward the main part of the campground.

Taken from the other side of the lake, looking back toward the campground's cottages.

Looking down one of the side streets in the campground.

Main part of campground.  Lynette (blue coat) is walking back to our 

motorhome after picking up our mail at the office.  

The lake here at Willow Tree can turn to "glass" when there's no wind blowing. I'd seen it numerous times while we've been here, but never had a camera handy to catch the reflections of the trees on the far side of the lake.  While the foliage isn't that great this time of year, the reflections are almost perfect. Thought I'd share a couple of the better shots. 

That's a golf cart on the far right of this pic. No golf course here, but lots of people use the carts to go from one part of the campground to another.  Some, like this guy, seem to get a kick out of riding around the bike path the circles the lake.  For exercise?  Think I'd use my bike.

Our two resident geese.  They've been here since we arrived, and come and go from time to time.  We've seen other geese flying overhead but none ever landed on the lake.

   

As I mentioned earlier in this blog, we are sad to be leaving Willow Tree.  This has been the very best campground we've stayed at since we started our travels.  In fact, we've been so impressed that we've already signed up to come back next winter.  As of right now, we'll be staying here from December through end-March or early April.  We'll probably close up the motorhome for a couple weeks in December, hop in the car and head north to WV and MD to spend the holidays with our two sons and their families. But other than that, we'll be "wintering" once again in Longs, SC.

Will close this blog entry with a photo of our last campfire here at Willow Tree.  A huge "white man's" fire, just how Lynette like them!  Cheers to all -- catch up with everyone again soon!

Gemütlichkeit in Myrtle Beach --- Plus sehr gute schnitzel, spätzle and wurst!

Friday, 8 March 2013.  As a former Air Force German linguist, I can tell you that the proverbial German gemütlichkeit might be difficult to explain, but you won't be too far wrong if you think of good food, good company, a drink or two and plenty of time to enjoy it all.  English synonyms include friendliness/friendship, brotherhood, cordiality, goodwill, good-fellowship, kindliness, and neighborliness.  From our travels in Germany, we remember all too well of walking into the local Gasthaus in a little village and immediately feeling the gemütlichkeit that permeated throughout the entire inn.  Virtually guaranteed was a most wonderful evening!  This was the feeling we had when as we walked into the Horst Gasthaus in Myrtle Beach for dinner last night.  The place just looked and felt like we were back in Germany – or at the very least, in one of the fine German restaurants found in the small alpine town of Leavenworth,Washington.

Described as “a taste of Bavaria brought to Myrtle Beach,” Horst Gasthaus features a menu that offers a wide variety of German dishes including several schnitzels (a breaded cutlet, usually veal or pork), spätzle, and a good selection of German beers and wines.  We decided on a Bratwurst appetizer (absolutely delicious) and also ordered a bottle of Piesporter Michelsberg Qualitätswein wine from the Mosel River region for dinner.  Lynette ordered the Wiener Schnitzel with spätzle and mashed potatoes, while I opted for a Jäger-Schnitzel (literally translated as a "hunter's cutlet") smothered in brown gravy and mushrooms, accompanied by spätzle and warm red cabbage.  Lynette said hers was quite delicious.  I'd rate mine as very authentic and extremely mouthwatering.  The servings were quite substantial and we both brought some schnitzel home with us.  

We topped off the evening with a warmed up apple strudel for dessert, along with coffee.  As we ate our dessert, we were treated to some live entertainment -- a one-man band playing a variety of German folksongs on his accordian -- everything from "Edelweiss" to "Muss I Denn" to that infamous Bavarian drinking song, "In München steht ein Hofbräuhaus" (loosely translated as "In Munich there's a Royal pub house") with its stirring chorus of Eins, zwei, g'suffa (literally "One, two, drink" or in Bavaria to chug your drink).  We got caught up with the whole atmosphere and were soon chiming in with great gusto on the Eins, zwei, g'suffa...and perhaps just a wee bit too loud!  But we certainly had a great time.  

All in all we spent a wonderful evening at the Horst Gasthaus.  Good food at reasonable prices, good German wine, and fun music.  All in all a wonderful atmosphere of German gemütlichkeit.  If you're ever in this part of SC we'd highly recommend an evening out with Horst at his very authentic German restaurant.