I've Always Wanted to Hike the Appalachian Trail (But Not That Way!)

How many of us, upon hearing initially of South Carolina Governor Sanford's disappearance over Father's Day weekend thought, "He's got a mistress," particularly as the story became more and more bizarre?

First no one knew where he was, then aides suggested he'd gone hiking on the Appalachian trail, then reports began surfacing that he'd been at the airport. And then it turned out he'd been in Argentina (driving along the coast, yeah, riiiiight-o) on the spur of the moment, shortly before the inevitable revelation by yet another Republican golden child that he'd in fact broken the sanctity of marriage? (A sanctity that according to many of those same conservatives that only heterosexual couples can properly practice--note to the OED: consider the lumbering elephant as an icon accompanying the definition of "irony," will you?)

Is the new euphemism for a extramarital tryst going to become "hiking the Appalachian Trail?"

Mind you, I do enjoy the Appalachian Trail, or at least the small portion of it I've enjoyed near Dragon's Tooth in southwest Virginia. And no, it's not "that kind" of Appalachian Trail hiking, either.

(And my sincere apologies for the quality of this photo; I took it when I first became interested in digital photography. I have a few better prints around, but haven't scanned them in yet.)