A Wilco Vacation

We just got back from an extended weekend at Deep Creek for the missus' birthday. We did some hiking, saw a waterfall, got lost driving along some winding, foggy roads, watched the sun set over misty mountain tops, and rented a speedboat to zip along the now-empty lake. It was the most time we'd spent together in awhile and definitely refreshing. The three-hour drive back through the dregs of the hurricane and the hills of Western Maryland, didn't even dampen our mood. However, within an hour of being back in Baltiore, we began bickering about our schedules. How did we manage to spend three whole days together and then, in an hour, suddenly have no time for each other the rest of the week?

Part of me wants a simple life in a shack on the mountain somewhere (but not in Deep Creek, where 1- and 2-million dollar homes butt up against religious fanatics and their trailers). Somewhere progressive but simple, the places that are always featured in Utne Reader. A place, however, without pretension. What I hate more than anything thing is that, although not fitting in with the mainstream, which I'm perfectly pleased about, I often feel I'd be denied access to the uber-progressive communities where the right clothes, the right music, and the right philosophy are just as superficial and celebrated as in the mainstream.

Kind of like the emo hipsters at the Wilco show last night. Someone actually had light sticks in the audience! Other than that (and the volume), the show was great, much better than their Yankee Hotel Foxtrot show at Constituion Hall. I kind of feel like a Wilco album--no explicit genre but accessible and awesome nonetheless. Now, if only I can find my Wilco city of the same values.