Grunts in Appalachia

16/10/2023

If anyone is following the grunts in Appalachia group please unfollow now. It is a fake page and has nothing to do with the grunts in Appalachia podcast!!!

Thanks

14/10/2023

Buddy the elf in NYC!!!

28/07/2023

New Episode, Pool Party with Jennifer Cabe is out for your listening pleasure.

Link will be in the comments.

03/07/2023

Ye ye!

02/07/2023

We will be recording here in about an hour. New episide dropping this Tuesday!

30/05/2023

23/05/2023

Episode 99 is live!!
Brandon and Gorgeous George sit down and talk war movies, motorcycles and the weekend. It was a good ole time just sitting down to naturally talk about stuff. We will not be recording for Memorial Day weekend but will be back the next week with a special 100th episode!
https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/IZLbSCwf2zb

18/05/2023

Fun Story for today. Gross!

04/05/2023

One of John's friends from back home and also a Recon Marine is in the running to be featured in Muscle and Fitness Magazine. Please click the link and give him a vote. Hes a true badass that gave a lot so let's give him some back.

Who will take home twenty grand and join other fitness icons? You decide!

01/05/2023

Washington, D.C. Trip April 22nd ­- 25th 2023

The trip that culminated a lifelong love of American History. Blessed to walk on the very spots that men of fortitude did as they formed the nation that I love and call home. Our nations capitol, Washington, D. C. Is a wonderful experience for anyone that wants their history books, favorite movies, television shows and political figures to come to life before their very eyes.

Being an early riser and wanting to explore I was out on the road with my rental scooter. Taking in all the memorials and everything else that needed seen prior to the opening of the museums at 10 AM everyday. That list includes; The WWII Memorial, Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, Korean War Memorial, The Washington Monument and I rode by The Daughters of the Revolution, The Roosevelt Building with its amazing architecture, The White House while the Marine Corps Band was out front doing rehersals and The beautiful Union Station that is still a major hub for travel. In the evenings I had reservations that my wife had made for fancy resturants and rooftop bars. Maybea second Washington D. C. Write-up solely about the food and drink.

So the first day I had to explore was a busy one. My mother and I started off at the National Museum of Natural History. This was my decision, I've always enjoyed Natural History museums in other cities, so why not. It's a good one as well. As you enter the rotunda you're greeted by a massive elephant and decisions on where to begin your journey. So like any good tourist I grabbed a $1.00 map (great price) and we scurried off in some direction. Since I did so much I'm only going to hit the highlights. The T-Rex skeleton on display was pretty intense. The massive dead squid was just one more reason to stay out of the ocean if the 5 foot tall shark mouth full of teeth hadn't already convinced you 30 seconds earlier. From the African plains to the jungles then into the depths of the sea. It's all there to see with no cover charge! I do remember this being the first museum that I went to but from there you just get to hear about the other locations because I don't remember the order.

Museum of the Bible is the only one that we went to that you had to pay to enter. This relatively new and innovative experience was very rewarding to witness and worth the price of admission. If you love the Bible it's a must do on the list. The massive collection of extremely rare and ancient manuscripts that you get to see are amazing. There's a lot of things on display that are replicas but they're done in a way that it appears you're looking at the real thing, so much so that I thought I was for the majority of the time before my mother pointed out that they were replicas as I was geeking out over some Dead Sea Scroll fragments that I presummed were the real thing. I will say that not knowing added to my awesome experience so if you read this don't tell your friends if you go, see if they figure it our for themselves.

The United States Botanical Gardens were in my opinion a little lackluster. But here me out on this. As you walk the streets near the Capitol mall area the horticulture is incredible. So much in fact that a lot things that are planted are labeled because they are so unique, even at a casual glance. The Botanical Gardens are basically a condensed version of the diverse plant species of Washington D.C. Inside the actual gardens though, there are some different geographical atmospheric conditions that you probably don't want to miss. Plus some rare and endangered species that you can walk right up to and take a very close look at if you so choose. I do enjoy some awe inspiring walks through majestic gardens, I mean who doesn't. But, I would choose walking though the Capitols garden like areas in the brood daylight over being indoors.

The most surprisingly interesting, and the museum I almost skipped was the National Gallery of Art. Before you start with the shaming let me say that I do enjoy art just never enjoyed paintings or thought anything of them. Well that all changed as soon as I stepped right into my child hood art, history and social studies classes. The artwork and the artists that you hear about all throughout your basic education and into college, all right there, in Washington D.C! Free of charge and stay open to close to look around if you like. Artists like Vincent Van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, Claude Monet, Raphael di Giovanni Santi and the one that was mind blowing to see in person Leonardo Davinci. As I'm writing this I look back at the pictures that I took and I look at the paintings online and they don't do them any justice. I believe that's the reason I never really cared for that particular artform before, because I had never experienced it at its highest level. Now that I have it's become far more interesting to me and I will have a little knowledge for the next oportunity to check out an art museum.

There are some things out there that no one wants to talk about or have to witness second hand. That being said I believe everyone should be forced at some point in their education to visit a Holocaust Museum. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is a mixtue of emotions and the atmosphere that they have created is to give the attendees a first hand account of the rise of the regime that can't be named on social media, the beginings of the de humanizing of the Jews during this period in Germany, the creation of the ghettos for the Jews and the the Final Solution that the "political party that can't be named" brought to fruition during WWII. I wouldn't call myself a student of WWII but I feel like I've watched every documentary that you can about it and read quite a few books for personal reasons and forced education reasons as well. The amount of video footage that I've never seen, which was basically everthing they had there, was so vast that I would have to go through a couple more times to wrap my head around the depravity of man. Depravity that I thought I had already known until I witnessed barbaric actions on film in this museum. You also get to see the resiliancy of the Jewish people and the pride that they carry from their bloody history of survival. I know that I'm making this seem a little drastic but I promise you that I'm not. For anyone that thinks their children are to young to see some of those videos, you're correct and the museum believes that as well. For your convience they have the television screens behind thick concrete walls, tall enough that you have to walk right up to them and look all the way over the short wall at the tv facing the ceiling. A must see if you make the journey, be prepared to be in a long line of slow moving people. It's set up to have the feeling of moving towards a concentration camp from the loading up of the train car to the walk to the crematoriums.

If you're a history buff or just love all things America then go check out the National Museum of American History. Its pretty self explanitory. There's tons of displays, artifacts, signed letters of historys leading characters and sports things for those of you that are into the sports ball games. The history of the slave trade, suffrage and multiple other stories are highlighted currently.

The most patriotic thing that I was able to see with my very own eyes was the National Treasures, I mean the National Archives. All the Founding documents, The Declaration of Independance, The U. S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights and one of the original copies of the Magna Carta. Due to the possibility of light damage no photograpghy is allowed inside the buiding and as you can imagine security is pretty tight so I didn't push the envelope on that one. Probably the only documents that I would ever be this happy to see in person.
There's plenty of places that I missed completly and are on the list for round two whenever that happens. Washington D.C. is a place with something for everyone. From great food trucks to 5 star dining, museums to outdoor parks with outdoor recreation happening constantly in the forms of bicycle riding, jogging and back packing. I personally walked over 40 miles in the 2 and a half days of exploration. The food is top notch from any discipline in the world so make sure to step off the beaten path and try some things that you've never heard of before and enjoy.

28/04/2023

Hopefully I'll have the write up and all my thoughts on Washington D.C. put to paper by next week. To put it short, it was an epic trip with a lot of learning and so many things were seen. Pictured here is John checking out an original Leonardo DaVinci portrait of Ginevra Benci. National Gallery of Art

27/04/2023

Don't miss out on this week's episode with Gorgeous George and John talking about everything you could ever imagine. Maybe it helped that the episode was recorded on 420 or maybe it just made making it a little easier. Either way it's a banger! Here's a picture of a happy little trail for you to think about as your listening to the episode. Link will be in the comments.

21/04/2023

Everyone that's listened to the podcast has heard Brandons awesome dog Snacks in the background. John also has a lab that stays by his side anywhere on the farm.

This pup came to me (John) a few years ago as a 6 month old. Everyone knows that labs are tough the first couple of years with all their energy and chewing up anything that fits in their mouth. Knowing all this prior made me reluctant to want to take this dog on in the first place. She was everything a Labrador is, to a T. Between her chewing up shoes and every dog bowl we purchased for her, we found items all over the yard. To this day if I leave shoes anywhere within her reach, she will have them in her bed on the front porch sleeping with her like teddy bears for a small child.

Fast forward to the present and this dog gas become a legitimate best friend. I have three dogs that hike on the farm and my road with me daily. Sammy the lab here is the only one that no matter how long I stay out she is always within sight of me and alerts me to any other animals presence. She will lay 50 feet away while I weedeat, stays directly outside the fence to the Garden space while I'm in the garden and runs around the barn as I'm doing chores. She sticks closer then glue.

Sometimes the things you never knew you needed are the very things that become part of your everyday life adventure.

18/04/2023

Everything's good with all of us but we did have to cancel the episode this evening due to a family emergency. But we shall return next week!

13/04/2023

Seeing that Budweiser spelled backwards is an acronym in the military (Remembering Every Soldier in Every War Depended Upon Budweiser) what are your thoughts on theor new ad campaign? And, are you still drinking it or boycotting the brand?

04/04/2023

Here it is! After a two week Spring break hiatus we are back! Click the link.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/into-the-classified-files/id1561662973?i=1000607310020

03/04/2023

Allright we're back! We took a nice two week Spring break and we are now back in the saddle. We have some fun guests scheduled for the upcoming episodes in the near future. This week we had Scott Daniel's. Scott is a retired Army 1st Sgt that served over 25 years. He ended his career as a counter intelligence special agent. Working with the Governments 3 letter organizations interviewing the bad guys. He started his career in the 82nd Airborne and served from 1985 until 2011. He saw many changes in the military during the course of those years and he talks about it with us on this episode. Along with some stories of course. This episode will drop tomorrow morning 4/4/23 . The link will be posted in the morning!

24/03/2023

This is a serious thing. It's one of the most self competitive things that all men most likely participate in as well.

21/03/2023

Just to let everyone know there won't be a show tomorrow morning. We will be trying for an episode later this week. Stay Tuned.

20/03/2023

The Stegasaurus MRE Cracker. Break the Cracker in half, spread a nice squiggly line of peanut butter the length of the cracker, the squirter a line of jelly on top of the peanut butter, individually place each jalapeño flavored cashew in the upright position along the entire line of peanut butter and Jelly. Boom! You got a really nice dessert. Check out our latest episode, link will be in the comments.

13/03/2023

Or tax return season. Tons of redneck millionaires out there currently.