| Racing notes: Rookie Carpentier fast on track
The folks at Hertz may want to begin taking a security deposit from former open-wheel driver Patrick Carpentier.</p><p> After posting the fastest time in the second of two Daytona 500 practice sessions Saturday, Carpentier, who is a rookie in the Sprint Cup series, was asked if he had fun driving a stock car.</p><p> “It's like a rental car on steroids,” Carpentier said. “And I always loved a rental.”</p><p> The fastest lap of the combined sessions belonged to defending Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson. He turned a lap at 186.285 mph in the morning session.</p><p> Carpentier's top lap in session two was 186.150 mph. He was second-fastest in the morning session.</p><p> “It's wonderful,” Carpentier said.
ClayNation: The tao of Applebee's football
Watching a football game at the Applebee's bar is sort of like playing secondary for the Tennessee defense. You know you're going to get burned, you're just not sure how. Several people have written in wanting to know where I was during the second half of South Carolina-UT and why I haven't commented on that game. For the record, I was at Applebee's. The reason I haven't written anything about this was twofold: Because it was so painful to describe and because I'd already written 3k words on the Cocktail Party that same day. So I've decided to go back in time and tell you why you never, under any circumstances, want to watch a football game at Applebee's. Not that you needed to hear this from me but even still, a truer statement has never been made in this column. So here we go with my evening at Applebee's.
Redbuds on hillsides and in book
Every time I rested my back, which is more often these days, I cast my eyes on the hillside and enjoyed the bounty of millions of rich blossoms of redbuds. Redbuds are thick here in the valley and on into Craig County each April and May. Their dark pink to purple flowers cling to leafless limbs looking a good bit like pea blossoms. Indeed, the plant is a member of the pea family. When my fried Leonard Adkins wrote his wonderful “Wildflowers of the Appalachian Trail," published in 1999, it became an instant guidebook favorite of mine, but I mercilessly chastised him for leaving out redbuds. Adkins fought back, saying redbuds were a bush or tree, not a wildflower. Bush or tree -- call it what you wish -- Adkins newest wildflower guide embraces redbuds.
Escape to Orlando
Loch Haven Park, straddling East Princeton Street just a few blocks from Leu Gardens, is Orlando's cultural heart, home to, among other things, three general-interest museums and a theater.
- Mennello Museum of American Folk Art: Its signature collection is of the works by Earl Cunningham (1893-1977)--flat land- and seascapes interpreted in strong, straight-from-the-tube primary and secondary colors.
- Orlando Museum of Art: One of its restaged and ongoing exhibitions is a group of some 150 pre-Columbian works, 25 of which are being shown for the first time.
- Orlando Science Center: In addition to hands-on science exhibits, there's the Dr. Phillips CineDome--reputedly the biggest Iwerks theater anywhere, with a Digistar II planetarium packing a 28,000-watt sound system--and, rare among science museums, an observatory open to the public.
Monday wild card
Nice day for a ride. Or to take a swim. Me? I'm helping my wife's sister and her husband from Big Sur, Calif., move into their Post Falls home this afternoon. When they pull in around noon tomorrow, they'll make Nos. 16 & 17 members of my extended family who'll be in North Idaho. I'm excited. But enough of me. You can start your own threads with this Wild Card ... .
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