The Greenbrier Gun Club

On Saturday morning during our Greenbrier Birthday Weekend, Katie and I headed to the mountains and shot some guns. Girls Gun Club went on the road while the guys went on a history tour of the hotel. How cute is that? 

Katie and I chose to shoot on the sporting clay course vs. skeet shooting. Sporting clays, as you may remember from the 2016 original GGC, are basically like golf with guns. You walk to each trap, get 25 shots total for the whole course, and go to five traps. We were the ONLY TWO PEOPLE ON THE WHOLE COURSE. It was amazing and we love, love, loved our instructor Jimmy Fraley. I can't even begin to explain the difference between the Greenbrier Gun Club and the Point at Pintail, but you know I'm going to try. Bear with me. You know by now that you need a passport to get through these posts. 

Jimmy set us up, reviewing the safety rules and going over the basics with us. Katie and I were both outfitted with our own guns, to carry, and practice gun safety from the get go. Truly, it changed everything. We loaded our own guns, emptied our own guns, and opened the guns when we walked to each trap, practicing gun safety at each step. It made me so much more confident around the guns to be honest. In 2016 our instructor had one gun for five women, loaded the gun each time which felt vastly different than this noble time in West Virginia. 

Katie hadn't shot since she was in camp. I hadn't been since 2016. 

Jimmy was really proud of Katie's stance and wanted me to make sure I got a video of her shots. 

He was a patient coach.

He also was hilarious, in his Jimmy'isms. I can't remember ever laughing so much in a two hour period. Re-watching some of these videos has me cracking up. He warned if the clay was a bear, we'd have problems...because we missed. He poked fun in the most delightful way. But he did not in any way baby us, because we were women. Even more than my first experience, he really trusted us. It was awesome.

Jimmy and I bonded over our arthritic matching fingers!

And it was colder than you know what. He was also proud that we didn't complain how chilly it was. We were also taught how to catch the shells against our torso. One day I'll get good at catching them mid-air, like Olympians.

photo credit

We used a 20 gauge Beretta, over under, which I think is called a Silver Pigeon. Katie made a great point that there really should be a candle made to smell like gun powder. 

I got 16 out of 25. And this time I shot two double traps. I was so proud I texted my uncle and cousins to brag. And had to tell my Girls Gun Club travel buddies on a group text.

This is a video of one of my double traps. 

Jimmy was our biggest cheerleader.

Back at the lodge, the fire was blazing and our favorite Garden & Gun magazine with the southern women feature, was on the table. Alcohol is not allowed before shooting, for obvious reasons, but I really should have brought my flask to warm up afterwards. We were wind burned for an hour after, and it was the kind of cold that keeps your legs red for a few hours too. Snuggling up by the fire was such a treat after the chilly morning. 

If this is your jam, follow my Girls Gun Club board on Pinterest. One of my dreams is to start a destination travel company for women who like to shoot, love art, cooking, artisan flours, local flowers and studing history. Can you imagine touring Ireland or Scotland, then settling in for the night in a black tie gown for dinner, a la Monarch of the Glen? Getting an artist to speak about working with the First Lady? Arranging flowers in the morning, and using house milled flours in the afternoon to bake bread? A girl can dream right? 

For those who want more inspiring stories about women, go to Second Life. I just found this podcast and have been binge listening to it on my way to work. I started with Kerry Diamond, Ellen Bennett, and Nancy Silverton. 

Thank you so much Greenbrier Gun Club for taking such good care of us. Seriously, it was such a good time. Being with friends and feeling empowered by something you enjoy is such a simple pleasure. I called the Greenbrier to get the names to thank the great staff. The precious woman Kim, who answered the phone was delightful. She said, "Oh Jimmy Fraley? He and I were in the same home room." Jim Thomas was the manager of the gun club and was also quick to respond to my questions about what kind of guns and bullets we were shooting. Jimmy, we can't thank you enough for treating us like competitive Olympic champions. Can't wait to come back again.

Cheers to the Freakin' Weekend: Cincinnati

Okay Cincinnati, we get it. You're adorable. Many of us hadn't been back in 24 years. I visited Mary and Shannon in college...in maybe 1993 or 94.  Our girls from girls gun club all went to Xavier. We started a tradition in 2011 of getting the gang back together in Maine. 2014, Maine again, and in 2016 in Baltimore, as seen in the last post. In early November of this year we were with Bridget in Cincinnati. 

I landed first and told the girls to meet me at the Ice Age dinosaur bones, not realizing there were tons of bones dotting the airport halls. It took a minute for them to find me. Bridget picked us up and we were frankly a little disappointed there were no balloons and a guy holding a sign with each of our names on it. 

Holly passed out her clever gift our first morning together. Sleepy eye's and pure hearts. Rhianna's Cheer's I'll Drink to That, is our theme song. 

Yes, it's super cheesy to have a "theme song" but alas, we do and Holly had these wine chiller cups custom made for us. Thanks Holl! Bridget was walking the start of the weekend, Murray. Mary gave us the coolest woolly soap bars. I didn't take a photo for some reason. I snagged the one with the Maine lobster and I love it the most. It's a wool sock over a handmade bar of soap for extra exfoliation. 

Murray

We dressed for the weather and got ready to "burn and learn" on the Pedal Wagon in Cincinnati with our great guide, Dave. Bridget signed us up for a Mural Tour of Cincy. As it turns out Cincy looked to Philadelphia's murals as inspiration. ArtWorks is the organizer of 132 murals in 44 of Cincinnati's neighborhoods. All of these neighborhoods made me think of Baltimore. It has a very similar vibe with lots of love put into old warehouses and factory buildings. Dave made us sign our life away before heading out. We all chose not to wear bike helmets and were off to see the sites.

It was basically like taking a spin class, while drinking beer, and learning about art. These are a few of my favorite things.

The girls surprised me with my very own beer. We stopped by the Taft's Brewing Company mid-tour for a quick tasting. 

Y'all, they call it a Brewpourium.

The logo is of Big Bill Taft, our 27th President of the United States of America who was born in Cincinnati. Rumor has it that President Taft got stuck in the White House bathtub, but turns out that may not even be true. This is a cool article that digs deeper. Did you know that Cincinnati was named for Cincinnatus? He was some super famous Roman military leader who was known for his manliness. Okay. Read this Badass of the Week story. It's hilariously written and pretty interesting military history. Yes, I'm the daughter of a history professor and love this stuff. The Society of Cincinnatus is in DC, otherwise known as the Anderson House, across from the Cosmo's Club on Mass Ave. Years ago my cousin took me there to share some cool history about how our family, and the name stuck with me. I guessed the city was for the same dude, and yes, Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus is the namesake of the Queen City. 

Nellie's Tap Room, and her beer, is named for Taft's lovely wife Helen, nicknamed Nellie. Sadly the tap room wasn't opened.

We went to the Ale House up the stairs instead.

The building was gorgeous and the wallpaper game was lit, as the kids say.

We found a charming corner overlooking the golden delicious leaves outside. The architecture in this city is very cool. Great historic Italianate buildings dotted every corner downtown. We didn't see it but it also boasts a building by one of the most amazing female architects of our time. The Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art was completely by the late, great Zaha Hadid.

Pedal Wagon Cincinnati.

We learned so much on the two hour tour. I learned that Rosemary Clooney is George Clooney's nephew. I don't pay attention to this stuff and I was this many old when I learned this fun fact. The fun part of the Cheer Wagon was that it had a bluetooth speaker so I pulled up Spotify and pumped Sisters on the speaker.

It's almost time to watch this movie. Such a classic.

The people were super friendly and must have been a little jealous of our lunchtime ride through the city, on a work day, drinking beers and singing songs in four part harmony.

The Fiona mural was so sweet. 

Do you remember the press around this adorable thing? She was premature. People were obsessed with this heartfelt story and the whole town came out to paint the mural basically.

I also love that Cincinnati has a streetcar. 

The toy mural was 8,000 square feet. By far the largest on the tour. The toy company, Kenner was founded in 1946 in Cincinnati. My nerdiest friend pointed it out immediately after I posted this photo on-line. Miss you Tom and Kate.

We celebrated Mary's birthday a week early. Bridget had these adorable cookies made up for all of us. Guess who the bourbon represented? Ha! So sweet Bridget.

We went to a whiskey tasting at Todd and Bridget's friend's distillery. How nice to know people who own their own whiskey joint! Shumrick and & Leys Distillery was our first stop that night. A dear friend of Bridget's picked us all up in a mini-van so we could have a designated driver. 

Pretty good Manhattan. :)

That night we had a great meal at Sartre. 

We crafternooned with gusto. 

Ate Skyline chili dogs and hung out with the coolest kids. Todd went to college with the girls so it was like old home week for him too. 

Video Archive was by far the most unique place I've ever been for a cocktail.

It's like Fight Club, you can't really talk about it. You just have to go. 

I don't know how to transfer these vids but that's probably a good thing. 

We had no fun at all.

Meanwhile as we were in Ohio, E was in North Carolina with some of our very best, besties at the Carolina game.

They have season tickets. What great seats!

We went to Rhinegeist to enjoy the roof deck on our final day.

It's wonderful being with people who know your whole story and still love you. I love these women. When your friends can just look at you and know there is something on your mind that you have to get off of your chest you know you are with your people. These are those people for me. I appreciate you all so much. 

Thanks Bridget and family for making us all feel so welcome. It was a great balance of busy and rest.