Sunday was our first full day alone on the mountain, and the house was eerily quiet without the pitter patter of little feet and the music of children’s voices! We spent a restful morning just sitting around doing nothing in particular. While perusing the internet, Kim found some interesting fitness equipment called Kangaroo shoes. She got so excited about them that we spent quite some time watching Kangoo shoes videos and reading reviews. I was not as thrilled with the idea and kept reminding her that it’s about 45 minutes to the nearest hospital from here, but she was undeterred. I will post a link to the funniest video about these shoes in the comments. More to come on this subject!
We ate our lunch outside and enjoyed the hummingbirds and the cool sunny day, then decided we’d take a walk down our street. Sadly, since we are at the top of the hill, that means the toughest part of the walk is the climb home! But we walked all the way to the end and saw 6 of the 8 homes (including ours) that have been built here. We ran into our opposite end of the street neighbors as they were heading back to Charlotte for the work week. We stopped to photograph butterflies, bees, wildflowers, trees, and mushrooms (always the mushrooms!). We had worked up a sweat by the time we made it back up the hill, but Crockett could have kept going, I’m sure.
We decided to have pizza night on Sunday this week, but since it was too hot for the Tulikivi, we just used the regular oven. But, I did make homemade crust (easy and VERY tasty recipe, which I’ll post later). Kim’s half had sausage, onions, and spinach and mine was sausage, onions, and red peppers. So good. We could have eaten the whole thing, but we each saved a piece for tomorrow’s lunch.
My Durham friend Mary Pickard has been posting delicious sounding and beautiful looking cocktail recipes during the pandemic, and she had posted a really good sounding peach and mint concoction recently. Hers had rum, but since Kim doesn’t do rum (long story involving an evening of too much rum long ago), I made them with some Deep Eddy Peach vodka and some Titos. I’m thinking the recipe might have been for a crowd, but we enjoyed it!
Since it was Sunday, we treated ourselves to chocolate sundaes later in the evening. Mmm, mmm, good!
Saturday morning, we were not in a huge hurry to get going, as we planned to use our breakfast vouchers at the Majestic, so we got packed up and made our way down to the dining room. While we would have preferred to order from the menu, it was pretty clear that having the buffet would be the thing to do, so we surrendered. The buffet was good, and the food was fresh since there were a lot of people getting it, too. Just one problem – the eggs Benedict was a very popular item, and it was out almost the whole time we were there. I finally got one just when I was about to give up, and had the egg over the delicious lox they served. It was time to say goodbye to Yosemite Valley, though we would still be in the park for quite a while longer. After one last look at the lovely old hotel, we hit the road – turning east for the first time….
The main dining room at the Majestic
The lobby/gathering area/great room at the Majestic
One of the gorgeous windows in the great room
A bit of info about the Majestic
Our last look back – from the parking area looking back to the registration desk door
Our route would take us back out to California Highway 120, which would take us completely across the northern portion of Yosemite, and then we would take US 395 south for a bit. It was a pleasant drive through parts of the park that we hadn’t seen, and there were lots of people hiking, camping, swimming, and hanging out on this holiday weekend. We drove past Tuolumne Meadows and then caught a glimpse of Mt. Dana, the second-highest peak in the park, which still had snow on it! Kim was getting her first practice at winding mountain roads after a few days of no driving at all.
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We were almost out of gas, and we had heard all about a little gas station that had a great restaurant in it, but somehow we missed seeing it. We went into the town of Lee Vining hoping to find it, but no luck. We did find Lake Mono National Park, so we stopped there to see what it was and to find out about the gas station, which turned out to be just inside the park. We had a look at Lake Mono, which is a big saline lake with some volcanic islands in it, and it’s a great place for birding. It was already getting hot, and we had a lot of ground to cover, so back we went to the Mobil station (home of the Whoa Nellie Deli) to fill up, and then we were off, ready to cross the desert that is Nevada.
Lake Mono Visitor Center
Lake Mono is a big saline lake with a few volcanic islands in it
It’s a big bird sanctuary
Just outside Yosemite, the topography is completely different!
Out of Yosemite, heading south on the scenic route
Ran across this behemoth as we drove down the highway.
While US 50 across Nevada may have earned the title “Loneliest Road in America”, we would beg to differ with that opinion. At least it had three little towns on it! This southern route was much more deserted! If not for the horses, cows, and extraterrestrials, we would not have seen any living things. We saw not a single other car going in our direction! Early in the route we went through the town of Tonopah, home to the creepy Clown Motel (calling David M!!) and then we saw not much else except the ‘town’ of Rachel (which was pretty much a trailer park). We enjoyed the Extraterrestrial Highway, but we disappointed not to have any (live) ET sightings. We stopped for gas in Caliente, the smallest incorporated town in Nevada (population around 1100) and admired the depot (which is also the library, town hall, and museum) that was across the street from the Sinclair station. We finally made it to the Utah border and found our way to the Holiday Inn Express in Cedar City.
We saw this scary sight in Tonopah!
Long and straight
Wild horses on one side of the road
Lots of open range cattle warnings!
Aptly placed!
And some mountains!
More cows
Time to trim the tumbleweed wannabes
On the Extraterrestrial Highway
The terrain changes a bit
Seriously, there is no one out here!
Another alien sighting
The mountains are getting closer
Welcome to Rachel!
The AleInn in Rachel (this was pretty much all of Rachel).
At the end of the ET highway…
Great mural here
Rest of the mural
The little town of Caliente had a cool depot and a train roared past as we were there.
Even though it was Saturday night, we barely made it to Centro Woodfired Pizza before it closed at 10 PM; however, the host seated us cheerfully and our server, Jacee, could not have been friendlier. We shared a pizza – Kim had Fennel Sausage and I had Pollo Bianco – and had a beer and both were delicious! The thin crust pizza was done perfectly and the toppings were plentiful and good. We were enticed by the Nutella Piegato for dessert – “pizza dough filled with creamy Nutella, folded (Piegato) and baked in our wood fired oven until gooey and delicious. Finished with whipped cream and a nutella drizzle.” Oh boy, was it good! And we saved enough to give Jayce a couple of pieces, too.
At Centro Wood-fired Pizza in Cedar City, UT
The menu
The main course
The fabulous dessert!!
We didn’t even try to blog or do pictures tonight, because tomorrow would be a LONG day and we needed to get some rest.
After a fantastic night’s sleep at the Jamestown Quality Inn (which was packed – where did all of these people come from??) we repacked our bug-spattered car (ick!) and headed out in search of breakfast. We tried a place across the street which didn’t open until eleven, but some of the women working there pointed us in the direction of the Depot Cafe downtown. After a bit of searching we found it, in the “mall”. It was a happening place, although we were the youngest patrons in there by about 20 years. But they knew how to make a good breakfast! The place was full of railroad memorabilia and all of the menu items had train names. Kim and I both had “The Fireman”, a ham and cheese omelet with hash browns and toast. Good way to start the day!
After a short ride through downtown, we arrived at Frontier Village and the National Buffalo Museum – what a great time we had! Frontier Village was great – an old West street lined with museum quality shops and services – a newspaper office, post office, saloon, blacksmith, dentist’s office, barber shop, church, school, law office, bank, general store, etc. Writer Louis L’Amour grew up in Jamestown, so there is a Writer’s Shack that honors him and his books. There was a stagecoach, so we paid our $5 fee and hopped aboard. What a ride! We were practically hysterical! It was fun for ten minutes, but we determined that we would have been whiny pioneers! We rode out of the village and past a few buffalo grazing, then returned back to the stagecoach station. From there we walked down to see the World’s Biggest Buffalo, which is one of Hampton Inn’s Landmarks. We first discovered these mostly restored pieces of Americana on Route 66, and now we are on the lookout for them. It was a big buffalo, all right – 60 tons!! We walked through and looked at most of the exhibits, then drove down to the buffalo museum to try to see White Cloud, an the only female albino buffalo in North America. It was a hot day (for North Dakota) so she was down in the shade of the trees, pretty far away, but we got a few photos of her. It was almost noon and we had not gotten on the road, so we opted to skip the museum and get going.
Our goal today was to get to Medora, in extreme western North Dakota. We had been duly warned about the boringness of North Dakota, so we had searched high and low for places of interest so that the drive wouldn’t just be interstate all the way. Our first detour took us south of Jamestown to pick up a section of “A Very Long Straight Road” which goes from Hickson to Streeter, North Dakota. They were not exaggerating! What we didn’t expect along this straight road through the prairie was lots of water! And it came right up to the road, in lots of places! It appeared that some of the water had appeared unexpectedly and had flooded out areas. There were even seagulls! What was really odd was that it wasn’t clear from where the water came – no rivers, just seemingly random ponds and lakes. We enjoyed the drive out in the country and on our own. Shortly after the town of Gackle (spelled out in red, white, and blue tires) we turned back north and rejoined the interstate, headed for Bismarck and another state capitol. Best things about the interstates out here – no traffic (NONE!) and 75 mph speed limits!
On the way to Bismarck, we passed the World’s Largest Sandhill Crane in the town of Steele. It was behind the Lone Steer Motel/Cafe/Lounge and there was a pretty little memorial garden there. It was a nice little diversion…
The North Dakota state capitol in Bismarck is one of only four capitol buildings in the US that are skyscrapers (you may remember the Louisiana state capitol in Baton Rouge from last year’s trip, and Florida and Nebraska are the other ones). We didn’t think the building was very pretty from the outside, but we loved the art deco interior. Again, symbolism abounded inside. We had a wonderful tour guide, Taryn, who shared some of the fun facts about the capitol. Here are a few things we learned: The sculptures in the huge Memorial Hall represent farming and mining, the two largest industries in ND; the chandeliers represent heads of wheat, weigh 1000 pounds each, and contain 109 light bulbs each; the lighting in the House chamber represents the stars and moon at night, while that in the Senate chamber represents sunrise and sunset; the bronze doors of the elevators depict the pioneer experience; and there’s a really cool room that serves no particular purpose (it’s a back entrance to the Secretary of State’s office) that is lined in “monkey wood” – you can see the faces of different animals in it. We enjoyed the views from the 18th floor, especially of the mall with “North Dakota” spelled out in flowers. Across the way from the capitol was the state historical museum and a statue with Sacajawea and her papoose.
From Bismarck, we went south to see Fort Abraham Lincoln, but when we got there, we learned that the park had just closed (at five PM), so we turned around and visited the ND Veterans’ Cemetery next door, then continued west, bound for the Enchanted Highway. But first, we saw the World’s Largest Holstein Cow, “Salem Sue”, a statue of a cow so big (38 feet high and 50 feet long!) that we could easily see her from the interstate. We just took pictures from the road and chose not to stop for this one. Erected in 1974, Sue honors and advertises the dairymen of the area, their superior herds, and the production of high quality milk.
The Enchanted Highway runs from Regent, ND, to the interstate due north, and it is lined with some of the World’s Largest (are you spotting a theme here?) Metal Sculptures. It was easy to see where to get off the highway, as “Geese in Flight” holds the Guinness World Record as the largest scrap metal sculpture in the world. It was erected in 2001 and is built of used oil well pipe and oil tanks. Other sculptures along the way were The Deer Family (2002), “Grasshoppers in the Field” (1999), “Fisherman’s Dream” (2006), “Pheasants on the Prairie” (1996), “Teddy Rides Again” (1993), and “Tin Family” (1991). Which one is your favorite?
On the Enchanted Highway, we saw lots of pheasants by the road. They hang out right along the sides of the road (something we had noticed on our Roadside Giant Tour in 2007) and this year I even got some good photos of them! We also saw beautiful fields full of sunflowers in full bloom (second largest cash crop in ND) and we enjoyed the rolling green hills dotted with big rolled bales of hay. By the time we got to Dickenson, we were pretty hungry, so we stopped at the first place we found, El Sombrero, and wolfed down some pretty good Mexican food. It was dark by the time we pulled into Medora, so we found our hotel and lugged in our stuff. We loved having our own little Teddy bear to greet us!
Thinking North Dakota was a lot more fun to cross than Kansas,
OK, I’ll take all the blame for our late start today!! I know, it’s not like I haven’t known for weeks that I would be leaving this morning, but it’s sort of like knowing when Christmas is and still not being ready. And I have had just a little bit on my plate lately! But Anne and I spent a good part of the evening printing transfers, ironing transfers, washing t-shirts, buying t-shirts, printing Flats, laminating Flats, cutting out Flats, making a cute suitcase for the Flats, shopping for some last minute necessities, and enjoying a fantastic dinner at Margaret’s. By the time we got all those preparations done, I still had a bit of packing to do…
Suffice it to say that even getting up before seven didn’t get us out the door before 10:30. And I think Anne thought we would be ON THE ROAD by ten. Oops. But we did get going, and shortly after we were on our way it started pouring down rain. We need the rain so badly that we couldn’t be upset about it! And it only rained for a few minutes, anyway. When we realized we would be going through Mt. Airy, NC, at noon, we decided we would have to stop at Snappy Lunch for a Pork Chop Sandwich. You may remember that Kim and I stopped in Mt. Airy (aka Mayberry) on our 2008 Sassy Sisters Trip, “Ye Olde Curiosity Tour”; however, we had breakfast there, as we had gotten an earlier start!
We parked right on Main Street and strolled down past a big crowd at Floyd’s Barber Shop and turned into a very crowded Snappy Lunch. Right up front was a woman whose only job was cooking pork chops, and boy, did they look good. We never even saw a menu, which was fine. We just ordered our pork chop sandwiches “all the way”, like the locals eat them. Talk about YUMMY!! A HUGE boneless, breaded, fried pork chop (twice as wide as the big bun it was served on) dressed with mustard, slaw, tomatoes, and chili – what a mess! And have you ever noticed that the places that serve the messiest food usually have those little napkins like we had in the “Hav-a-Nap” dispensers in the grade school cafeterias? The ones that cover about six square inches of your lap? Seriously. We attracted a bit of attention when I started pulling the Flats out of their cute suitcase and lining them up on the table, but it was so worth it! I didn’t see anything even close to resembling this food in Australia!
After lunch, we were lured into Opie’s Candy Store by the smells and the colorful variety of candies inside. Mmmmm, mmmm, as Andy would say. Mighty fine candy! We only bought a little, and the Flats loved it. Did I mention it had poured down rain the whole time we were at Snappy? And that the line at the barbershop was for the tour bus load of people who had to board the bus in the pouring rain? It was the happening place to be, but we were running so late that we didn’t even go to the old jail! We zoomed right past the Blue Ridge Parkway and traveled up I-77 through Virginia on our way to Charleston, WV. From there, we thought we were going to Huntington, Ashland, Lexington, Louisville, and Indianapolis, but Lee, our wonderful Australian Garmin guy had another plan…..
We sort of missed a little exit on the interstate, so we just did what Lee said on his ‘recalculation’, and the next thing we knew, we were headed for Ohio!! So instead of crossing Kentucky, we crossed Ohio from Chillicothe to Dayton! We were running so late!! But, in the good news category, there was NO traffic, five o’clock or otherwise, and the scenery was lovely – gently rolling hills reminiscent of Pennsylvania Dutch country. So we just sat back and enjoyed the ride, and felt bad that our time with Carolyn would be less than planned! In fact, we took it so easy that we almost ran out of gas, and Priuses are not forgiving when they are not fed. When the tank is empty, they just stop. No sputtering. Not that I’ve ever had that happen to me….So, around Dayton, we took another unintended detour in search of a little pusholine. You know you cut it a little too close when you put 9.44 gallons in your ten gallon tank!
Crisis averted, contact made with Carolyn, and plans in place, we stopped for a quick drive through at the Steak and Shake (Anne’s VERY FAVORITE thing) in somewhere, Ohio. Soon, it commenced to being dark thirty, and we skedaddled on around Indy and soon pulled in the driveway of Carolyn’s beautiful home. We had a quick tour of the house (it was FANTASTIC!!) and met her two sons. Daughter Ann was fast asleep already, but Jack and Sam were hanging out in the basement watching TV. They had graciously given up their rooms to Anne and me – what troopers! Then it was sharing time – Anne shared jewelry, I shared the Flats, and Carolyn shared DESSERT! My, oh my, did we enjoy that! Key lime pie with macadamia nut crust, a humongous piece of carrot cake, and shark’s fin pie (chocolate and peanuts and vanilla ice cream). YUM. Soon it was bedtime – Anne couldn’t get there fast enough!! Of course, I found things to do online for a while. What a great day!
We weren’t in a big rush this morning, since we didn’t have far to go today. On the agenda – breakfast, a visit to Graceland Too in Holly Springs (allegedly open 24/7, in the home of an eccentric Elvis-loving man), a stop at Kim’s house in Memphis, and ending up in Paducah in time to eat at Doe’s (we were already craving chocolate cobbler…) It was a little drizzly and foggy – the perfect weather for dawdling. We weren’t sure where to eat, but since Oxford is a college town, we knew there would be some great breakfast places nearby. Sure enough, a little research on the iphone took us straight to Big Bad Breakfast, which was tucked away in a little strip shopping center. I was pretty sure I would like it just from the name, but when we walked through the front door, which was clearly recycled from a college classroom and bore the label “Organic Chemistry” I knew we had come to the right place!
The menu looked great – obviously lots of dishes were prepared with locally grown and/or fresh ingredients, although you can probably guess that there weren’t many ‘heart-healthy’ items on the list. Kim chose the Big Bad Breakfast, which was scrambled eggs, bacon, home fries, and toast. I got the Secret History, which was fantastic! It was a huge omelet, made with shallots, fresh herbs, tomatoes, and Swiss cheese, and it was served with home fries and a big biscuit. Best part about the biscuit (which I couldn’t finish) was the homemade raspberry jam. Great way to start the day! Another thing we loved about it was the light fixtures over each booth. All different and all made from recycled items – see for yourself!
Holly Springs and Graceland Too are just up the road from Oxford, so off we went. Kim’s daughter, Kerry, has visited GT many times, so we had an idea what to expect. It would be a little hard to describe, and many others have tried. Sadly, there were two things that we weren’t prepared for – first, the house is not pink and second, contrary to ALL published accounts and first-hand reports, NO ONE CAME TO THE DOOR! We rang the bell, we knocked, we honked, we yelled, we circled the property, we attempted to agitate the dog, we stood around for much longer than we should have, and we DIDN’T GET IN!! Bummer. NOTE: It is permanently closed as of 2014, when the owner died.
Spurned by the host who is always home, we dejectedly got back in the car and headed for Memphis. We arrived just about the time we knew that Jim would be on his lunch break, and sure enough, we tracked him down. Since we were still stuffed from breakfast and Jim had finished lunch, we just settled for hugs in the parking lot. We stopped by Kim’s house just long enough for her to gather up some things she needed, clean out the car a little bit, off-load some things we wouldn’t need any more, and to give Kim some time to take care of a little business since she’d been gone for a couple of weeks.
In one of our less than stellar moves, we decided to take the “scenic” route to Paducah, and rather than taking the normal, albeit boring route up the parkway from Fulton, we got back on the Great River Road and toured rural (very rural) western Kentucky. There had been so much rain lately that the road itself looked like a river in places! There was not much to see, although we did see a magnificent heron taking flight.
We had some fond memories of family outings and picnics at Columbus-Belmont State Park, so we set our sights for it. To give you a little background – Columbus Belmont is right on the Mississippi River, and it’s where Confederate troops got the bright idea to stretch a giant chain across the river in an attempt to stop the advancing Union troops. You get a gold star if you figured out that the plan didn’t work. But here’s a piece of the chain and a look at the river!
Columbus was called the “Gibraltar of the West” by the Confederates, and was considered by them the key to their defense of the upper Mississippi River valley. The anchor weighs six tons…
It was dreary and raining a little bit while we were here, and it probably goes without saying that we were the only ones visiting this out of the way state park today. I’m not even sure if the rangers were there! We are impressed by the Kentucky State Park system, though. Many of the parks have gorgeous and challenging golf courses, and most of them have pretty decent lodging and camping facilities. Much better than the NC state parks I’ve seen! As we left the park, we just decided to make a beeline for Paducah (not that there is a very direct route from here to anywhere…) but we got stopped by a commotion in the middle of the road.
It was almost dark by the time we got to town, so we checked into our new home away from home (it’s really strange to stay in a hotel room in the town you grew up in) and then we went straight downtown to Doe’s. The Barbeque on the River fest was in full swing, although given the lateness of the hour and the rain that was starting to fall, we were able to get a parking place without too much trouble. The lower blocks of Broadway and Jefferson were closed to vehicles, and there were still LOTS of people downtown. Thankfully, most of them were eating barbeque, so we got a great table right in front of the Ole Miss – South Carolina football game on the big screen. Gotta love Thursday night football! Doe’s was worth the wait – man, is their food good! Kim opted for their famous tamales and chili, but I splurged on a nice big rare filet and a perfect baked potato. Good eats! But the best was yet to come – the main reason we came was for the chocolate cobbler, and we were not disappointed! Don’t miss Doe’s when you come to Paducah!
We were excited to be back in our hometown and were looking forward to reconnecting with our high school classmates over the next few days. But for now, stuffed and sated and sleepy, it was dreamtime!
Morning comes earlier every day…it was sort of sprinkling on us by the time we finally got going, but it stopped before we even got to downtown Vicksburg. Our Hampton was right across the street from the National Military Park. This particular cemetery is a loop drive of over 20 miles, and at a 20 mph speed limit, you’re gonna be there for a while… We passed, on that, although we did learn something about the Illinois memorial later on. I’ll fill you in shortly.
We decided to skip breakfast this morning and have an early lunch at Rusty’s (recommended by Kim’s friend Kristy, who grew up here – thanks!!) so our first stop was the Biedenharn Coca-Cola Museum. In the summer of 1894, Vicksburg businessman Joseph Biedenharn put Coca-Cola in bottles and delivered it to rural areas near Vicksburg. This was the first time Coke was served in bottles rather than from a soda fountain. You already know the rest of the story – but the first Coca-Cola bottling franchise started right here in Mississippi! The museum provides a great timeline and description of the bottling process and how it has evolved. Best of all, it has LOTS of coke memorabilia and some really wonderful old advertisements. We loved it! It took all we had not to order a coke float at 10:30 AM, but we restrained ourselves.
From the Coke Museum, we walked down the street and decided not to go into the Doll and Toy Museum, so we headed down to the riverfront and the floodwall. The same muralist who has painted murals on the floodwall in our hometown of Paducah, Kentucky, has also painted historic scenes on the floodwall here. The above photos are both panels from the Vicksburg floodwall. I just love these murals and we always learn things while looking at them – and I love it when learning is fun! For example, I’ll bet you had no idea that 36,325 soldiers from Illinois participated in the Vicksburg campaign or that there are 1300 (!) monuments in the 1800-acre National Military Park here. The Illinois monument is considered the grandest, and it was dedicated in 1906 after being built for just under $200,000. Here are a few of my favorite murals by Robert Dafford (a native of Lafayette, LA) and his talented team:
We took our time wandering around the waterfront, and we were a little perplexed about the width of the river here – it’s not nearly as wide as we expected the Mississippi to be. Then after seeing the mural of the two bridges over the river, one of which I had crossed last year, I remembered that this section of the river is only a canal now. The river carved a new channel in 1876, leaving Vicksburg without a port until 1903 when the U. S. Army
We had finally killed enough time – it was time for our next meal!! Up the hill we went to Rusty’s Waterfront Grill, which was already starting to fill up by the time we got there, well before noon. The place was packed long before we left! I decided to eat “light” so I ordered a side salad and an appetizer portion of crawfish tails, and look what I got. YUM!! Kim had a chicken sandwich, and we both drank about a gallon of tea. Now we were ready to start our ride up the Delta on the Great River Road!
orps of Engineers diverted the Yazoo River into the old bed. The city
While we were leaving town, I read in one of our books about a little place we might want to stop, so we set the Garmin for Margaret’s Castle. Boy, were we in for a surprise. We finally got to meet Rev. Dennis, but sadly, Margaret was in the hospital and is at the end of her life. Rev. Dennis is 93 years old, but that didn’t stop him from preaching to us! He was being visited by him home health nurse when we were there (that didn’t stop him either) but he seemed glad to have company. We learned a whole new version of the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve, and Cain and Abel story, and we all recited the 23rd Psalm. You’ll get a general idea of Rev. Dennis’s philosophy from looking at some of the pictures of the ‘castle’ he has built. You have to admire his single-minded devotion and persistence!
Once we got on the GRR, the scenery didn’t change much. We passed cotton fields and rode along the banks of the Mississippi. The land is flat, the soil is dark, and the weather was hot. No wonder the Blues got their start down here! We just drove on, talking and singing along with the radio, until we hit Greenville, MS, and the home of the original Doe’s Eat Place. We know about Doe’s because there’s one in Paducah, but it’s likely that many of you have never heard of it. Doe’s is famous for their tamales and chili, their spaghetti sauce, awesome steaks, and our personal favorite, chocolate cobbler. Doe’s is some mighty good eating, but if you saw the original (and still open) Eat Place you might not believe me! But remember to get there in the evening, when it’s open!! Good thing we weren’t counting on having a meal here today…
From Greenville, we turned east and took off on the Blues Highway, headed for Greenwood and the Crystal Grill. Of course, we had to stop in at the Highway 61 Blues Museum in Leland, and we were glad we did. Even though the museum is just in a storefront and the signage is straight off the copy machine, the material in the exhibits and the history in the rooms are incredible! It’s amazing how so many talented Blues musicians came from this poverty-stricken, education-poor Mississippi Delta area. We had several conversations about how and why this came about, but the proof of it all was right there in front of us, and gosh, is the music ever good! And even though Leland is also the hometown of Jim Henson (of Muppet fame), we missed the visitor’s center dedicated to him, but not for lack of trying. We drove all through the streets of Leland (there are not that many, and we have seen them all) and I narrowly escaped an attack by a Cujo-like dog (really!), and then just as we gave up and got back on the highway, we saw a giant Kermit sitting on top of a building not anywhere near where the Garmin thought it was. We didn’t go back…
It was a short, flat ride from Leland to Greenwood, whose most recent claim to fame is the arrival of the Viking Corporation (you know, upscale kitchen appliances) and the appropriately upscale Alluvian Hotel. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but what we saw wasn’t it. This classy looking boutique hotel has little in common with the Delta country we’d spent the day driving through. See what you think!
We were looking forward to our meal at the Crystal Grill, which Kim’s buddy Jim had told us not to miss. We were not steered wrong! We loved the dinner special – we got a salad, meat and two sides, pie, and iced tea for an impossibly low price. We both had fish and mac & cheese; I had green beans with mine, and the breads were yummy. Even though we’re not huge fans of meringue, the chocolate pie was delicious!
Sadly, the Crystal Grill closed for good in 2024, after 90 years!
From Greenwood, we decided we’d make it a fairly early night and just go as far as Oxford, home of Ole Miss (hotty toddy!) so that we could stop by Graceland Too in Holly Springs on our way to Memphis and Paducah tomorrow.
No rush this morning, except to get to breakfast at the inn by ten o’clock, as we thought we’d just be going to Natchez tonight. It was nice to wake up slowly! We looked around the inn now that we could see it in the daylight – I had stuck my toes in what I had hoped was the hot tub part of the pool last night, but since it felt the same as the rest of the pool…Kim watched a big ole frog hop right in the pool this morning – made me feel right at home! We eventually wandered over to the dining room for breakfast, which was a nice buffet. I had an egg roll (not the Chinese variety), a bite of sausage, some bacon, fried potatoes, some really yummy little apple treats, and cheese blintzes with blueberries. Nice way to start the day!
As you may have noticed, we’ve been indulging in some mighty good food on this trip, so we thought we might take a little walk this morning in hopes of getting rid of a fried something or two. Armed with Laurie’s map, we headed off for the visitor center/museum. Before we had even gone a few blocks, we were glowing. Seriously. Like with sweat dripping off of us – it was just a bit humid! We passed several houses with official-looking plaques and descriptions on them, but according to our map, we were not officially on the walking tour yet. Where was that visitor center??
We found it! And it was air-conditioned!! We took our time examining the exhibits, and seriously, they had done a good job giving us a taste of what life was like in antebellum St. Francisville. When we were ready to face the heat again, we started our tour. There are a lot of old homes here, most of which appear to have been restored and are being lived in today. We passed the Methodist Episcopal Church, which is now the Methodist Church, several houses with lovely gingerbread trim and wrought iron balconies, the old bank building, the courthouse, and the Episcopal Church. There was a wonderful old graveyard next to the Episcopal Church, and since it was full of huge old live oaks covered with Spanish moss, it was shady and several degrees cooler, so we took our time exploring it.
We finished our walking tour and made it back to the inn to collect our car, and we went straight to George’s for some cold tea! They weren’t quite open yet, but we must have looked really hot and thirsty, because they let us have our liquid refreshment! Now we were off to tour one of the plantation houses in this area, and we had chosen Rosedown, the home of Jefferson Davis’s mother and named for the flowers she loved. It wasn’t far away, and we got there shortly after eleven, with the sky looking fairly threatening. Bad news for us – a tour was just underway, and the next one didn’t start until noon. We decided to pass, and then the lady asked us if we didn’t want to tour the gardens between now and then. We were going to just have a short stroll through the rose gardens and then leave, until she wanted to charge us half price just for that. And mind you, it’s late September – there was not all that much in bloom! So we just said thanks, but no thanks and went on in search of a plantation that suited our schedule.
That led us to The Myrtles, which was built in 1796 by General David Bradford, who led the Whisky Rebellion. Guess he decided to come South after that worked out so well… Anyway, The Myrtles is haunted, or so the story goes. We were only allowed to take pictures in one area of the interior of the house, and that was this huge mirror in the entryway. Even though the glass in the frame has been replaced on multiple occasions, the same markings always appear back on it in the same places. We were told a story about a slave girl who supposedly haunts the house, but after reading the accounts at I have decided not to relay what we heard. Check it out and decide for yourselves! After our tour, we walked around the grounds for a while, then got some gas and took off for Angola and the Louisiana State Penitentiary.
You know how sometimes you just know you should follow your intuition rather than doing what someone or something else is telling you to do? Well, this afternoon was one of those times. Once again, Kim was led astray by her navigator, and we soon found ourselves deep in the woods, first on a road, then a gravel road, then a dirt road, and then on a one-lane dirt road, all going nowhere fast! We saw few signs of life, other than the “Posted: No Trespassing” signs, so after a while, Kim performed a lovely seven or eight point turn and we went back to the highway we never should have turned off of, and before too long we were at the prison gates.
Just outside the gates of the prison was a museum about the history of the Louisiana Penitentiary, which was known as one of the bloodiest and most awful prisons in this country. I found it interesting that the current warden was willing to share that history, although it’s hard to see how far you’ve come unless you’re willing to admit where you were. This is the prison where “Dead Man Walking” was filmed as well as the place it was written about, and many other prison movies have been filmed here.
We were the only visitors, and soon we were joined by a nice-looking man, all dressed in white. He proceeded to give us a guided tour of the museum, and it soon became evident that his knowledge was first-hand. He was the nicest guy, very gentle and soft-spoken, and he will be turning 50 soon. He’s been incarcerated for 25 years, serving 60 years for aggravated burglary. Seemed a shame to us – such a heavy sentence – don’t think they pass those out much these days. He’s coming up for parole, but he’s been turned down twice already… Anyway, his name is Edrick and we liked him! He showed us his ‘crafts’ – remember those chains we used to make out of chewing gum wrappers? He makes all kinds of things using that same technique and cigarette packages. The museum was really interesting and well worth the out-of-the-way stop. Later, when we learned there had been an escapee last week, we were glad we had found our way off of the back roads and back onto the highway…
The rain started falling about the time we got back on the road, but it just drizzled on us as we made our way back to Natchez. Our original plans were to make it there in time for lunch at Mammy’s Cupboard (it was really good!!) but we missed that, so we decided to stop for a treat at The Malt Shop. We both got chocolate malts and split a shrimp po’boy and enjoyed them on the picnic table out front. The sky was really gray and threatening, and it was very hot and humid, but at least it wasn’t raining! We went back to the Basilica, which we were able to see this time. Wow – more beautiful stained glass! There are some gorgeous photos on the website and if you make it to Natchez (we highly recommend it!) be sure to stop at see for yourself.
It started raining in earnest as we drove out of Natchez, so that put a damper on our plans to stop in at the places on the Trace that we missed in the dark on our way down. We did stop at the Emerald Indian Mound, which is huge and centuries old, but then it started pouring. Kim gamely drove on to Vicksburg through the driving rain, and we were done for the day. We ordered pizza and did laundry and called it a night. We were really sorry to have missed getting to spend more time in Natchez on the flip side – we enjoyed it a lot! FYI, they do ‘pilgrimages’ in the fall (this year it’s now – Sept 26 – Oct 10) and for four weeks in the spring where the plantation homes are on tour with guides in antebellum attire. It would be a fun time to be there!
A little soggy but overall, I can’t complain about the rain!
Amazingly, I was clear-headed this morning but seriously wondering why on earth we agreed to a 9 AM start! I got my day going right with a large glass of iced tea from the Starbucks in the lobby of the hotel, and that turned out to be one smart move! Sunday morning in N’awlins means Café du Monde for beignets, so off we went. There was more activity than I expected at this hour, and it was hot, hot, hot already. But we didn’t have to wait long, and soon we were stuffing our faces with those hot, melt-in-your-mouth, powdered sugar-coated morsels that make me drool just writing about them. We sat and savored them for as long as we could, given the people in line waiting for their turn at nirvana.
We strolled around the shops near Jackson Square, buying some pralines and a few little lagniappes for friends back home. We got a kick out of the street performers and the buggy drivers, and Alex and Kim bought some art from the street vendors. We took our time getting back to the hotel, and when we got there, we saw Storm Troopers (from Star Wars) in the lobby. Go figure. We dropped off our purchases, and everyone got a glass of tea to go this time. It was HOT! Even though we had just eaten (a seemingly non-stop activity this weekend), we walked over to Canal Street to catch the St. Charles streetcar so that we could have lunch at the Camellia Grill.
The streetcar ride was lots of fun and something I had not done before. Kim was really getting her money’s worth for her first trip to the Big Easy! We rode past the Garden District – great houses! – and past the Audubon Zoo, and Tulane, Loyola, and Newcomb on our way to the end of the line and the treats that awaited us there. The Camellia Grill is an institution that almost met its end, but has been resurrected. You’ll want to make plans to get there as soon as you can!
Our wait wasn’t too long, and it just gave us time to digest breakfast. Soon we were at least inside, in the AC, waiting for our turn at the counter. White-coated, bow-tied waiters and cooks worked with flair and economy of movement as they grilled, fried, and soda-jerked our burgers, onion rings, fries, and shakes. And they had the most awesome crushed ice!! My all-time favorite meal – loaded cheeseburger and onion rings – stick a fork in me now ‘cause I am DONE!!! It was SO GOOD!!! We absolutely could not eat a piece of pie this time! Josh, our waiter, even filled up my giant Sonic cup with that wonderful ice, and we were ready for the ride back to the hotel.
This time, our streetcar driver wouldn’t let me on because my cup of precious ice had no lid, so I had to toss it…so sad!! So I didn’t enjoy that ride back as much as I would have!! By the time we got back, it was our late checkout time – Kim and I had miles to go and Rex had a plane to catch, but Jim and Alex weren’t leaving until Monday. I’m not sure I could have eaten or drunk any more rich New Orleans food! We said our goodbyes to the guys and headed down to the car, and it probably won’t surprise you to know that we had an interesting adventure just trying to get out of New Orleans. Never a dull moment in the car with us! But we made it, and soon we were crossing the Huey P. Long bridge (or at least an annex of the bridge!) and were on our way to Houma.
We were going to Houma to see my friends Rod and Beulah, who had befriended Rex and me and fed and housed us four years ago when we were in Houma to build a Volunteer Village to house people who were coming to aid with relief from Hurricane Katrina. The village is still being used, as relief still continues for a part of the state that was very badly damaged yet receives little notice from the rest of the world. Camp Good Earth is run by Presbyterian Disaster Assistance. It was no surprise to me that Beulah is still a force! My daughter, Kim, and I stopped in to visit Rod and Beulah last summer when we were on our way home from Austin – it is always good to be in their home.
Houma is deep in the heart of Cajun country, and Rod is a bona fide Cajun (and boy, can he cook, too!!) Back in the day, he used to host a Cajun radio show, in the native tongue, and he plays in Cajun bands. We headed even deeper into Acadian Louisiana, bound for Lafayette. We passed bayou after bayou, noting the ‘bear crossing’ signs with interest. Hmmm – we would have to find out more about that!
It was almost dark by the time we found our hotel in Lafayette, and Lee the Garmin man was hell-bent to send us through the hood to get to the restaurant we were going to. It’s not easy finding things open on Sunday night (by night, I mean after about 7:30) so we headed to Prejean’s, which was open. Good choice, once we got there! I had corn and crab chowder and crawfish enchiladas, and Kim had a huge bowl of shrimp gumbo. More good eats!
We had an easier time getting back to the hotel, and were looking forward to learning about Cajun country over the next few days.
How lovely it was to sleep in this morning!! We had a date to meet Jim and Alex in the lobby at 11:15, so we were able to take our time. No breakfast needed, as we were heading for a gastronomic experience at Galatoire’s, a New Orleans institution – and it was just down the street, so no worries! Alex is a NOLA planner extraordinaire, and we were along for the ride and loving every minute of it! Even Jim and I were on time for this fine day, so off we went. Let the good times roll!
Galatoire’s opens at 11:30 and doesn’t take reservations for the downstairs dining room, so we made sure to be there early. First stop – the upstairs bar. Bloody Marys for Jim and me, Mimosas for Rex and Kim, and a brandy milk punch for Alex, and before we had finished them, it was time to get our table. Jim and Alex are regulars here on their trips to New Orleans, and Bryant is their server of choice – we can see why! He was great! Baskets of fresh bread were waiting on us, and our drinks were quickly refilled. Garlic bread was next, followed closely by shrimp remoulade and oysters en brochette. We had a couple of salads, one with shrimp and one with crabmeat, then it was time for the main courses. Alex and I had two of our favorite things – Eggs Benedict and a filet, Jim had broiled drum, Rex had Poisson meuniere amandine, and Kim had a filet. I think. We also ordered cauliflower au gratin, onion rings, and asparagus with Hollandaise to share, and there was plenty of Bearnaise sauce for our meat. Rex, Jim, and I decided to try a Pimm’s Cup, and Kim and Alex stuck to beer.
One thing I love about New Orleans restaurants, beside the obvious, is that they are lined with mirrors so you can see everything going on around you. We had fun people watching, and were pretty sure we had spotted a celebrity. Kim recognized Laurie from Trading Spaces, and sure enough, she and her husband were there celebrating their tenth wedding anniversary. We sang Happy Birthday about half a dozen times (but not to Rex!), too. The table behind us looked like the Sopranos had come to town, complete with a little kid who looked like Eddie Munster and who kept falling asleep between courses.
You may think we’d eaten so much that we couldn’t possibly want more, but there was more! Alex had arranged for us to have some Café’ Brulot (a brandied coffee drink that Bryant flamed at our table), and I even had two cups of it. And I HATE coffee!!! Out came dessert – a couple of chocolate sundaes for Jim, Kim, and Alex and an order of banana bread pudding (not banana bread, but bread pudding with bananas) for Rex and me. Oh my. When we looked at the time, it was 3:30 – we had been there for FOUR HOURS!!!! What a special treat!! Thanks, ALEX!! When you come to New Orleans next time, make sure you save time for Galatoire’s!
We waddled back to the hotel thinking we might spend some time by the pool (don’t ask what we were thinking – I had not brought a maternity bathing suit with me and I’m sure the one I had wouldn’t hold me after that lunch!!) but there were too many young people out there, so we just put on our shorts and t-shirts and went for a walk. Somehow we ended up at a bar, one that may be the oldest continually operated bar in the country. It was Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop, which we thought was fitting, since Saturday was “Talk Like a Pirate Day”. It is home of the Voodoo, a frozen concoction that tastes like a grape Icee but is full of vodka. A most dangerous combination!! We all had to have one, of course, and since Florida was kicking Tennessee’s butt, some of us (Jim, Alex, and I) had a second one for the road.
This time we walked down to Jackson Square, watching street performers and just taking in the sights. I loved seeing all of the creative hanging signs outside the shops that lined the streets, and the balconies covered with lush green plants and laced with wrought iron were so pretty! Somehow, we ended up back at the voodoo place, where the three of us had yet another drink. What were we thinking?? By 8:30 or 9:00, we were thinking we might should eat (what?!?!) so we got a table at Mona Lisa’s pizza, where I am told we enjoyed really good garlic cheese bread and a couple of pizzas.
It was a fun, full day, but it was time to call it a night. We walked back to the hotel (wasn’t this a cool shadow we saw along the way?) and made plans for the morning, and I’m sure the rest of the gang didn’t think I’d remember enough to write this! And I know David and Kim enjoyed getting our (possible impaired) text messages from the Mona Lisa!!
It would have been the perfect Saturday if the Vols had won…
Although we had very few ideas about what we might be seeing in Natchez today, we were excited to find out what the possibilities were and we were stoked to know we’d be in New Orleans by dinner time. At least, that was the plan!! We found a little breakfast place on one of the downtown streets and tried to be a little healthier than usual. We split a yogurt, granola, and fruit cup, and Kim had a cranberry orange muffin (she said it was like eating cake!) and I had a blueberry scone that was about the size of a softball. I didn’t even eat half of it!! We asked the nice lady in the coffee shop what we shouldn’t leave Natchez without seeing, and she suggested St. Mary’s Basilica, just around the corner, and the Longwood Plantation, also not far away. We already knew we would be driving out of town past Mammy’s Cupboard, so that seemed like a good start – we could always come back through this way on the flip side.
We had noticed the basilica on our way to the hotel last night, even commenting on it, but we hadn’t known what it was. There was a lovely park just behind the church – trees festooned with Spanish moss, a gorgeous fountain, a Civil War statue, and benches set in shady spots. We walked around the corner to the TALL front doors of the building – it was quite an imposing ediface! After taking a few photos from the outside and noting that mass was at 8:30 AM (it was about 11 AM), we started to go into the sanctuary when we realized there was a service of some sort going on, so we made a note to stop back in on our trip home, because the stained glass windows are supposed to be stunning.
Off we went to Longwood, following the instructions on the Garmin, so we saw neighborhoods that most people would have missed. We passed several other plantations on the way, so we wondered what made Longwood so special. We pulled into the drive and were instantly transported to an earlier time, driving down a long drive under an arcade of trees full of Spanish moss. Our first glimpse of the house was impressive – it was very tall, and it was octagonal! We couldn’t wait to see the inside of it! We parked and found our way into the gift shop, which was darling and full of funny books about the South, lots of good sounding cookbooks, postcards, and little pretties. We did a bit of shopping as we waited for our tour to start – reading material for the road!
As is typical on many of these tours, we could not take pictures of the main floor, so I won’t be able to share a whole lot with you, but here are a few of the details I remember. The house was the dream of Dr. Haller Nutt, who wanted a different kind of plantation home, hence the shape and style of the house. To build the facade, a kiln for making bricks was built on the property and 750,000 bricks were produced here. At the time the war broke out, the facade was finished, as was the 10,000 square foot basement, consisting of nine rooms. The house was six stories and would have 30,000 square feet of finished space when it was done, but most of the builders and craftsmen were from Pennsylvania and other states in the northeast, so they left most of their tools and supplies and went home. At the time, people thought this ‘uprising’ would be settled quickly, so the workers thought they would soon be back to finish their work. As you may have guessed, this never happened.
The war lasted four years, Dr. Nutt lost his fortune and then died before the end of the war, and his wife and eight children lived in the finished basement of the house for the duration. As hard as it is for me to believe, the house NEVER got finished, yet it somehow survived. It was finally purchased by a Texas man who has stipulated that it never be completed but that it be open for the public to enjoy as it is.
One thing that adds to it’s historical value – since the facade was completed and the flooring put in for the other floors, the top five stories of the house were used for storage. That means that almost EVERYTHING – packing crates, even for the piano – was stored in the house and many of the original boxes are still there. Be sure to visit it when you come to Natchez! Our tour guide was very knowledgeable, and you can tell that the people caring for and showing this house really love it!
Although we were sure when we started out this morning that we would be on the road before Mammy’s Cupboard opened for the day, we were now going to be lucky to get there before it closed! Only open from 11-2 and closed on Mondays, we were afraid if we missed it today, we might have missed it for good. The Garmin sent us off in exactly the opposite direction than we should have gone, but common sense, a phone call, and the iphone got us to Mammy’s. And yes, Mammy’s could be considered politically incorrect, although she is now painted more of a flesh-tone than I’m sure she used to be, but who could help but want to eat lunch under the skirts of a 28 foot tall woman? Okay, that didn’t sound exactly the way I intended it, but maybe you get the picture. If not, look at our picture and then go to http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/3344 for the rest of the story.
Even though we were still stuffed from breakfast, we could not resist lunch here! Homemade bread, delicious sandwiches, and mile high pies – oh my goodness!!! My roast turkey sandwich came with avocado and blueberry chutney, and it was served with homemade vegetable soup and a side of potato salad. It was SO GOOD!!! Kim had a ham sandwich that looked equally tasty, but so that we could have some pie, we each only ate half of our sandwiches, then we shared a piece of chocolate icebox pie (we only shared it because it was the last piece…) We could not wait to come back here when we were really hungry!!
By now we were afraid Rex would arrive in New Orleans before we did, so we skedaddled off down Highway 61 (the Blues Highway) bound for Baton Rouge and New Orleans. No more stops for us (except for tea!) and we probably passed the airport about the time Rex’s plane landed!! But since we were sure we would have already been in NOLA and drinking by then, we’d had Kim’s friends Jim and Alex arrange a ride for Rex! We found our way into the city, to the hotel, and into the parking garage without incident, and soon we were joining Jim and Alex for drinks at the Old Absinthe House, just across the street from our hotel. Rex got there not long after we did, so our New Orleans party weekend could officially begin. I probably forgot to mention that we were celebrating Rex’s double-nickel birthday, which is really on the 26th, and ORIGINALLY, the rest of his family (adults, not our kids) were to be partying with us. We see how well that went over…they won’t know what fun they missed and will have to read about it here!!
We met some of Jim and Alex’s friends at the bar – thanks for the great hotel rooms, Allison!! – and then went back to the Royal Sonesta to make arrangements for dinner. Russell, the concierge, set us up with late reservations at Clancy’s, on Annunciation in Uptown New Orleans. We cleaned up a bit, then took a taxi over to St. Joe’s Bar for a drink before dinner. It was a cool bar complete with church pews and other icons. We sat out on the back porch until it was time to walk over to Clancy’s.
Clancy’s was a hopping place – packed with people (mostly local, I’d say) having a good time and enjoying great food – and it was loud! I’m sure I won’t remember what everyone else had, but I got some shrimp and crab gumbo, the Clancy’s crab salad, and an order of fried green tomatoes. With crabmeat! Rex and Kim got the gumbo, too, and I think Jim and Alex got salads. Jim and Alex got veal, Kim got the same crab salad I did, and Rex got the lobster risotto that I was thinking about ordering – saved! We had a pretty long wait for dinner (good thing the bread was good!) but it was worth it – delish!! We split some desserts – Kim, Jim, and Alex shared a big brownie with ice cream, and Rex and I had a frozen lemon pie. Oh man, we hit the mother lode! That pie was fantastic!!
Somehow, we made it back to the French Quarter and walked around a bit. Kim had never been to Nawlins, so we made the obligatory trip to Pat O’Brien’s for a nightcap. The streets were wild – it’s Friday night – so we saw all we needed to see and then went back to rest up for our big lunch date at Galatoire’s. I probably gained five pounds today – it was great!!
We got off to a fairly early start, at least for us, in Tupelo. Not finding any mention of good breakfast places in any of our books, we went looking on our own and arrived at Shockley’s, which looked pretty grim, outside and in, but had decent enough breakfast. Kim liked her hash browns and said her ham was mighty tasty. I had a cheese omelet, which was fine. Since the atmosphere was depressing (think school cafeteria, or worse), we didn’t linger. Besides, we were off to see where Elvis grew up.
We’ve learned that no matter where we travel, Elvis finds us – hunts us down and pretty much haunts us – and begs us to have something to do with him. So here we were in his birthplace, Tupelo, Mississippi. Did we have a choice? It was not difficult to find the two-room shotgun shack that Vernon Presley built for his wife and what was to have been twins, but instead was the larger-than-life Elvis. Sadly, two tour busloads of people, some from England, had beat us to the punch, so we opted not to pay money to stand in a single file line to go through the house. We got photos of the actual Assembly of God church where Elvis and his parents attended (it had been moved to the site, complete with an outhouse, which I’m not sure belonged with the church or the house) and where Elvis first discovered gospel music. We saw a modern chapel with brilliant stained glass windows that was built and dedicated to Elvis’s memory after his death, and then we stood around the Fountain of Life, which marked the years Elvis lived in Tupelo. I thought the most interesting exhibit was an outdoor wall which was lined with memories about Elvis from the now-grown children that he went to school with and played with as a boy in Tupelo. They painted a picture of a poor but proud boy who always knew he would be somebody and who had a God-given talent for music. The house looked much better than it probably ever did when Elvis lived in it, and it was encircled by a sidewalk of squares commemorating every year of Elvis’s life (but only telling things about the Tupelo years). Did you know Vernon had been imprisoned when Elvis was young? The family moved to Memphis when Elvis was entering his teen years in hopes of finding a better job for Vernon and a better life for the family.
After a quick Sonic stop for our morning tea, we were back on the Trace, headed for Natchez. The sky was not promising, and the weather reports were grim – RAIN, and lots of it, was predicted for the whole southeast. We were not sure we would be able to avoid it today. The first interesting thing we saw along the parkway was another Indian burial mound site, but we just did a drive-by and didn’t stop to see them. We did stop at French Camp, which turned out to be most enlightening. French Camp was established by Louis LeFleur as a stand (inn) in 1812, and it became a school for boys in 1822. It later had a sister school for girls that served as a finishing school, which burned down long ago. Today French Camp Academy is a private Christian boarding and day school serving area youth. There was a house that’s been restored, a blacksmith shop, an old school building that now serves as a museum, and several other outbuildings, and they make sorghum here in the fall. We spent about an hour just poking around and talking to the museum lady (don’t think she gets much business) who showed us her senior picture (class of 1947) from FCA. The sun was shining brightly, and it felt like you would expect a summer day in Mississippi to feel – a little sticky! While looking at the house, we came across a mother cat and three little kittens – that was about the extent of our excitement.
Our next stop was the town of Kosciusko, which you may have heard of since it is Oprah’s birthplace. It was named for a Polish general who served with Washington in the Revolutionary War. He was an amazing engineer who designed many forts all over the eastern US and who fortified West Point. We had a little picnic at the welcome center here, where the nice folks manning the desk allowed me to charge my laptop while we ate. We sat out on the slightly damp picnic benches and had the pimiento cheese from Glasgow on our leftover rolls from Nashville, the tomatoes we bought in Danville, and some almonds that Kim had brought. It was all good!
The crazy weather continued after we got back on the Parkway – it rained on us while the sun was shining. We were getting so frustrated because we couldn’t find the rainbow that we KNEW had to be there!! This ended up being a theme for the afternoon, as this action was repeated about six times! At one point, we pulled off at a turnoff just to try to find the rainbow, and instead we happened upon the most lovely sight – the Pearl River, covered with lily pads and with several beautiful birds wading in the water. We finally found a couple of rainbows, too!
We pulled into the parking lot of the Cypress Swamp and got out for a little nature hike just as the thunder started in earnest. We didn’t let it scare us and we had a really nice, albeit wet, walk through the swamp. Lots of fungi and other cool nature all around us! It is hard to believe that at one time, ALL of the cypress trees in Louisiana had been harvested. They are so pretty!
We made one other stop before it got too dark, and that was at the “waterfall” at Owens Creek. My oh my, worse than the other waterfall we stopped for, but at least this time we didn’t end up hiking down (and back up) 900 feet to see it! It started raining again, and this time it was getting dark, too, so no rainbows. We did see lots of deer lining the parkway, so Kim did well to avoid hitting them and to drive in the rain with no streetlights. By the time we arrived in Natchez, the rain had stopped.
On the way to our hotel, we passed Fat Mama’s Tamales, which I knew to be the home of “Fat Mama’s Knock You Naked Margaritas”, so we were thrilled to find it was within walking distance of the hotel. Like next door. No need to tell you where we ate dinner!! And boy, were those margaritas good!
As predicted, the day dawned a bit on the overcast side. We wondered why we had not saved the cave for today, but since it sounded like it was REALLY raining in the area where we would be going, we decided to spend a little more time in Kentucky. After getting clean in our little slanty wigwam shower, we headed out into a little Mother Nature shower, bound for the Cream and Sugar Cafe that we passed yesterday in Cave City. It was a lovely space, with a hardwood floor and cheery yellow walls filled with original art. Our server was a little ray of sunshine on this cloudy day, and our breakfast arrived in a jiffy on darling little cherry plates. Kim had country (not city) ham and eggs with a biscuit, and I got the Highlander omelet – ham, onions, peppers, tomatoes, and cheese – with a biscuit. The perfect way to start the day!
Here’s how nice they are at Cream and Sugar – my friend Anne liked the dishes in this picture so much that she emailed the cafe, and they wrote her right back with info about where to purchase them!
[NOTE: Cream & Sugar Cafe is permanently closed. So sad.]
Our morning’s destination was Kentucky Down Under, an attraction in nearby Horse Cave that boasted a collection of Australian animals, a cave, and several other items of interest. Since I’ve just returned from Australia, I thought it would be funny to have pictures of kangaroos taken in Kentucky! We got there just in time for the 10 AM cave tour, which we weren’t necessarily planning to take, but when we heard it was a short tour and that the cave had lots of formations, we changed our minds. Our tour guide, Shannon, was a local girl whose grandfather had led tours of this same cave. The only other cavers with us were a mom and her four-year-old son, so we got personal attention. This cave is called Mammoth Onyx Cave, as the owners of this land tried to catch tourists before they got to Mammoth Cave (back in the day).
The cave was allegedly discovered by a young girl in 1799, who stumbled upon the entrance (a 30 foot deep sinkhole) while she was playing in the woods. When the owners first began exploiting the cave as a tourist attraction, visitors climbed down (and back up) a wooden ladder through this hole. Imagine the clothes women wore back in the early 19th century and picture that! Since this small cave is open to the surface and is not protected by a sandstone layer like Mammoth Cave is, it is a wet cave and therefore has lots of wonderful formations. It was slippery going in the cave, and some of the passages were quite narrow, but the formations were pretty cool. My favorite one looked like a chocolate fountain! The colors ranged from a light brownish yellow to deep red-orange to chocolate brown. Early visitors to the cave were allowed to break off pieces of stalactites to take home as souvenirs, but today more care is taken to protect the cave.
There was a small pond in the cave that used to be a home to eyeless fish and crawfish, but they are no longer living due to the number of pennies that were thrown into the pond by sightseers (over $20,000 worth!) One of the fun things they always do in caves is turn out all of the lights so that you can experience utter darkness – it is always a surprise to me how very BLACK it is with no light, and how even one little light can illuminate so much! On the way back up the stairs and out of the cave we spotted several small (two or three inch long) salamanders, which is a good sign for the health of the cave. Thankfully, even though it had been overcast and much rain was predicted for the day, we didn’t get flooded down in the cave. Shannon told us she had given tours ankle deep in water!
Back out in the heat and the light (did I mention the humidity?), we went to our first Down Under exhibit, which was about bringing non-native plants and animals to the continent of Australia. I found it interesting that there was no mention of bringing non-native animals (like kangaroos) to the US, but maybe that’s just me. The presenter of this exhibit, Jesse, did a great job. He talked about seemingly non-threatening animals that the British introduced that have since caused much harm, chief among them being rabbits. The Australians had even built a LONG ‘vermin-proof’ fence in Western Australia just to keep rabbits out of the many sheep stations there. Of course, the rabbits just burrowed under it. Other animals he talked about were dogs, sheep, goats, and camels. The camel turned out to be a good thing, as it was good for traversing the desert which occupies so much of the interior of Australia. We met Camelia (original name, huh?) and then we were on to our next stop – the kangaroos!
The exhibit here had three kinds of kangaroos – the reds, the Eastern grays, and the smaller wallabies. We were able to pet a couple of them, but most of the kangas were just lying around being lazy. They were cute, though, and it sure was funny to see them in Kentucky! Also in the enclosure were black swans and emus. We got to pet an emu, too, and feel how thick its feathers are. No wonder it can’t fly – they were heavy! From the kangaroo pen, we walked over to the lorikeets. These birds were by far my favorite Australian birds – they are so colorful! Green, blue, red, and yellow – just like a rainbow of birds. These guys knew it was feeding time, and they could hardly wait until we got in the pen. One landed on Kim’s shoulder and stayed there the whole time! Another stopped on her head for a little while, but it was really funny to see the birds on the heads of the bald men!
We had missed the border collie shepherding event, but we got to feed some lambs and see several different kinds of rams. I didn’t realize that some rams do not have horns, and I surely didn’t know that one variety of ram can have up to twenty horns!! The little boy who had been on our cave tour also got to milk this GIANT cow. From here, we went through the exhibit that had lots of different bird cages. The birds are so exotic and pretty! We had missed the morning digeridoo recital, and we chose not to wait for the 3:00 show, so after a quick stop at the dingo pen, we were on our way. This was a nice little park and one I would recommend if you find yourself in the area for a few hours.
Since we were trying to let the southern torrential rains work their way east before we went south, we decided to take the Cordell Hull Scenic Byway down to Tompkinsville, KY instead of going straight to Nashville. This route took us through the metropolis of Glasgow, where we got hungry for some lunch. Even though we had our Road Food book with us, it was of no use in this part of the state. As much as I’ve liked most of the places I’ve eaten on the Sterns’ recommendation, my biggest gripe about their books is that often, you need to stay in one area for many meals, and then you might go hungry before you find your next good place to eat! You’ve probably realized that our trips are as much about food as anything, and we’ve learned to sniff out the local eateries pretty well. Now with Garmins and iphones, in addition to AAA and books like Road Food, it’s even easier. And so we found ourselves navigating the streets of Glasgow, circling the town square and landing in the parking lot of the Li’l Country Diner, a very non-descript looking building with a large, mostly empty, gravel parking lot. Given that it was about 2:00, this didn’t dissuade us. Good thing, ‘cause there were some good eats inside! We got the meat and two, for which both of us chose roast beef and gravy, mashed potatoes (and gravy), and green beans. I also succumbed to the pull of a freshly made deviled egg, and of course we each had a roll and a huge glass of iced tea with lemon. The pie of the day was butterscotch, but for once we were able to control ourselves. We did have the foresight to take a half-pint of homemade pimiento cheese with us, and you can’t beat the prices here – both of our lunches, plus the cheese, cost under $15…
[NOTE: I think this place is closed, too.]
Off we went, stopping at the Sonic for our road tea, headed for Tompkinsville, where we didn’t know what we might find. The road was pretty and before too long we were there. We saw signs for the Old Mulkey Meeting House, so we went to see what that was. It was a lovely old log church meeting house, set in the woods next to some old cemeteries. In the afternoon mist it made a great picture. Several of Daniel Boone’s relatives, including his sister, were buried there. Sheila, the lady at the visitor center told us that back in town, Tompkinsville was famous for its Rolley Hole Marble players. She suggested that we stop in at the Monroe County Marble Club Super Dome and watch some marbles being played. She gave us a map and a description of Rolley Hole marbles, so off we went.
Well, I’m not exactly sure what I expected, but this was NOT it!! I’m afraid a written description won’t do it justice, and neither will my photos – you sort of had to be there! To get to the Dome, we hung a left at the IGA and went past the Armory and its many warnings and no trespassing signs, and then we came upon a sort of Quonset hut-like structure, if Quonset huts were made of wood and looked like they could fall down any time. Since we were looking for a dome, we were a little surprised, but since the road ended in the parking lot (I use the term loosely), we figured this was the place. Then we saw the ‘marquee’ that said Monroe County Rolley Hole Marble Dome and we were sure we were in the right place. We were soon greeted by three men who somehow knew we were not regulars there! We were just hoping we weren’t about to become permanent residents. But we needn’t have worried – they were very hospitable and invited us into the inner sanctum.
The arena consisted of a large dirt (special dirt) floor marked off by a wooden wall about 8-10 inches high. The court (?) rink (?) was surrounded by chairs and recliners in all stages of disrepair. Sort of like a LaZBoy hospice. Or cemetery. In the middle of the court were three shallow holes, apparently where you want the marbles to end up. The shooters that the men use are made of flint or granite and can be different sizes. They can make you one, if you forgot yours. The place was even air-conditioned, if you count fans and large open doors as air conditioning. I’m thinking it could get cold in there in the winter!
HERE is a great article about the Rolley Hole Super Dome and the men who play there. Spoiler alert, they are WORLD CHAMPION Rolley Hole players! And if you have a dead recliner, send it to Tompkinsville, KY. They can use it at the Marble Dome!
These were our hosts at the Rolley Hole Super Dome.
On the way out of town, we stopped at the IGA to get supplies for the road – saltines for our pimiento cheese, cold brew tea bags, and ice. We were good to go! We had thought we might take scenic route KY 100 over to Scottsville before heading south to Nashville, but after our recent Close Encounter of the Deliverance Kind, we just went south!
Right past the Tennessee state line, we came face-to-face with a grazing buffalo, and then we started seeing some large horse farms. Soon we were nearing Gallatin and surely we were passing some homes of country music stars – big spreads! Kim’s son’s girlfriend, Laura, works in Gallatin, so we gave her a call and stopped in to see her. We invited her to dinner with us and made arrangements for our room for the night, and then we took off for Franklin via downtown Nashville. Even at 6 PM and leaving about 15 minutes after we did, Laura had time to go to the grocery before Lee (our Garmin mate) had gotten us through the center of town. We did get a good look at the Titans stadium, the Cumberland River, the old Union Station, and the state Capitol though! We drove right through Vanderbilt’s campus and eventually got to our hotel in Brentwood. Laura met us there and we enjoyed being in civilization by getting sushi at Peter’s Sushi in Cool Springs. I got Spicy Catfish (a Thai entrée) and Kim and Laura got sushi rolls. We didn’t see anyone famous except In the photos on the walls.
We were grateful to have made it to Tennessee and to have missed most of the rain, although it was POURING when we got home from dinner. Tomorrow, it’s Natchez Trace time!
Having a bad day in Louisville? Just head on over to Lynn’s Paradise Cafe and World of Swirl and everything will be all better! And did you know they take reservations there – definitely the way to go!! We had made reservations for 11:30 Sunday morning and even though the place was packed and the line was long, we got seated on the patio right away! It was a gloriously beautiful day, and being surrounded by all the pink, purple, yellow, and red silk flowers just made it perfect. And then we saw the menu. OMG!!! I almost got what would have amounted to dessert for breakfast – thick slices of cinnamon swirl bread, griddled in vanilla nutmeg batter, smothered with chocolate sauce, strawberries, and whipped cream, disguised as French Toast – but sanity prevailed. Instead, I had the Kentucky Farmhouse Scramble – three eggs, scrambled with roasted red peppers and country ham, topped with local cheese and tobacco onions, served with fried green tomatoes, bread with honey butter, and a side of cheese grits like you’ve never tasted! I guess that could be a heart attack disguised as breakfast, but it was SO GOOD!!!! Kim had the fried green tomato BLT with a side of fruit. She is so good…
[NOTE: Sadly, Lynn’s is no longer open, as of January 2013. A pity.]
We loved the people watching there and had fun after breakfast looking through the gift shop (the World of Swirl) and checking out some of the fun displays out in the parking lot. Peppy had fun posing as a spoon. From here, we drove over to the lovely Cave Hill Cemetery, which is the final resting place of Colonel Sanders and George Rogers Clark, among others. The cemetery is HUGE, and even though we got directions to the Colonel’s grave, we got a little lost. Imagine that. But we found it, many other interesting monuments (we loved the magician’s), AND we got out.
Our next stop was Churchill Downs, where the famous twin spires have pretty much been overshadowed by the sky boxes, museum, and other signs of progress… The museum was closed due to flood damage, so we just took some photos out in the parking lot. The monument to Barbaro was stunning – he looked like he was in full gallop, riding through the air.
We drove through the UofL campus and found our way back to the Hyatt, where we parked the car and started off walking. On the way to the Louisville Slugger plant, we passed lots of the Gallopalooza horses on display throughout town, and then we went past the 21c Museum Hotel, which was decorated with red penguins and had a pomegranate stretch limousine parked out front.
Perhaps we should have stayed here – check it out:
“21c Museum Hotel in Louisville, KY is the first of its kind—a 90-room hotel dedicated to accessible luxuries, Southern-style hospitality and contemporary art from living artists, exhibited throughout its galleries and public space. Among the many upscale offerings: iPods with a wide variety of music for guests’ listening pleasure, award winning design and décor, poster art, 42″ HDTV flat screen televisions, WiFi, 500 thread count Egyptian cotton sheets imported from Italy crowning the exquisite bedding, silver mint julep cups, gourmet coffee makers, mini-bar refrigerators, Malin + Goetz bath amenities, and nightly turn down and Concierge services. The hotel also offers a full exercise facility with a steam room, sauna and spa services. And, of course, red penguins.”
Around the corner, we passed a strange sculpture of Daniel Boone, and then we arrived at the Louisville Slugger factory and museum. You can’t miss it – the world’s largest baseball bat is propped up on the building. It’s 120 feet high and weighs 68.000 pounds!! It’s hollow, and could hold 30,000 gallons of water…. We had to laugh, because right next door is the Kentucky Mirror and Plate Glass Company, complete with a mural of a baseball breaking a window. We popped in long enough to get our tour ticket, even though supposedly they don’t do tours on Sunday, and then we walked around the corner to GlassWorks. One of the cool things about Louisville is that lots of the museums are all situated near each other – the Science Museum was just across the street from Louisville Slugger. Makes it easy to see a lot in a little bit of time!
Glassworks was worth a look – we wanted to see the gallery there. Kim is a fused glass artist (she has done some great stuff!!!) so even though there was a lot more blown glass than fused, it was still fun to see all the creativity and talent on display. Back we went to the Slugger, where we joined about 20 other people for a really interesting tour of the factory. Great interactive displays and very knowledgeable guides made this a fun activity. It was hard to believe that all Louisville Slugger bats are made here, and that most of the wooden bats in use are Sluggers. Yet another example of a family-owned, small, very successful Kentucky companies – they may be onto something! Make sure to stop by next time you’re in Louisville!
On the way back to the hotel, we walked down by the river (the mighty Ohio, for those a little geography challenged) and we agreed that Louisville has really not capitalized on the riverfront like it could have. The Ohio also flows past our hometown of Paducah, where it is a focal point of the city. No wonder riverboat riders are pleasantly surprised when they stop over in Paducah! We re-entered the city on 4th Street at the Galt House and took our souvenir bats back to our hotel room. When we got hungry (did you notice we didn’t have lunch???) we walked down 4th Street Live in hopes of finding something good, but we found nothing that suited us. Back to the car!
We found our way down Bardstown Road and stopped in at Wick’s Pizza, which was hopping with football fans. It reminded me of Mellow Mushroom, so you know it was good! We chilled over our Blue Moons and pizza and watched a little football, then we went looking for Homemade Ice Cream and Pie Kitchen. Aaahh, sweet reward! This is my kind of place! We shared a piece of chocolate chess pie with cookie dough ice cream, and I got a piece of caramel Dutch apple to go (for a healthy breakfast). We sat outside – perfect weather – and enjoyed our slice!
Since we didn’t have a wheelbarrow, we had to waddle back to the car and to the hotel, where I was too stuffed to blog. What a satisfying day!!
We were up early for the exciting festivities of the day, but it was still later than we wanted it to be by the time we got going. We went back to the area where we were last night, since we had seen a little diner that we were hoping would be open. Sure enough, the “Open” light was glowing in the window of the Backstretch Diner, so we found a booth and settled in. We were glad to see country ham on the menu, so we both ordered it – that is some good eatin’! The diner was not full, but was doing a brisk business – well, not too brisk – we had to wait a pretty long time for our food, but it was tasty.
After breakfast, we stopped at a little bakery across the street and got some cookies for the road – you never know when you might find yourself out in the middle of nowhere… We were so impressed that the young girl behind the counter at the bakery tied our box with string, although it was clear she had grown up there. Her pictures, from birth to present, were covering the walls of this family-owned shop. Any place that you can get freshly baked cookies at 9 AM is all right with me!
From cookies to candy we went – straight to the Rebecca Ruth candy factory, which is housed in a house! There’s a wonderful story here but all you really need to know is that they make the BEST bourbon balls, as they should, since they invented them! It’s hard to believe that all this delicious candy is made in this little factory inside a house on a regular street in Frankfort, Kentucky.
Around the corner we went, and soon we were standing on the front steps of Kentucky’s state capitol. We found it to be one of the most beautiful capitol buildings we’ve seen, and we make it a habit to stop in any capitols we happen on as we travel. We had to laugh though, to realize that even though we spent our first 18 years living in Kentucky, we had never been to our own state capitol. Guess that’s what happens when your parents are from Tennessee! I was most surprised to see that Kentucky honors Jefferson Davis in its rotunda – not that I think they shouldn’t, I was just surprised they did. It has always been interesting to me that both Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis were from Kentucky, a border state that never went one way or the other during the War Between the States. Of course, we’re still a bit backwards here in Kentucky, since smack in the middle of the First Lady Inaugural Ball Dress exhibit was Martha Layne Collins, and she was the GOVERNOR, not a first lady!!!!! What gives there?
Capitol buildings intrigue me, too – some are in small towns like Frankfort, in the middle of a very normal, middle-class neighborhood, while some are in the center of huge cities. Some are surrounded by security and official looking cars and signs, and some you just walk right in without seeing anyone around, but ALL of them are such works of art, built at a time when building was not easy, and I always wonder if buildings like this could even be built today. They are a testament to the power of our government, too – democracy in action, buildings that house the people who we elected to make the laws of our states. Check out your own capitol someday!
We stepped out the back door of the capitol in search of the Floral Clock that Kentucky is famous for. Never heard about it? Here’s what the website says: There are other flower clocks in the world — one in Canada at Niagara Falls, some in Europe, and smaller ones in the United States. Kentucky’s is unique because it keeps time over a pool of water instead of resting on a bank of earth. The face of the giant clock is 34 feet across. The planter that holds it weighs 100 tons. Dedicated in 1961, the floral clock was a project of the Commonwealth and the Garden Club of Kentucky. We had a little trouble finding it, but it’s hard to hide a 34 foot clock made of flowers!
From the stately halls of the capitol, we went in search of a truly Kentucky Saturday afternoon event – the Great Outhouse Blowout, which would be held on the grounds of Penn’s Store in the bustling metropolis of Gravel Switch, Kentucky. I know you think we are making this up, but we’re not. We had hoped to have time to stop in at a few distilleries along the way, but we didn’t want to miss the Privy Parade, so we chose to believe that if you’ve seen one bourbon distillery, you’ve seen them all. I know that’s not true, and we’ll probably stop in at least one more, but we have our priorities.
We had gotten directions from the website, from AAA, and we had the Garmin (Lee did NOT want us to go the way we wanted to go), but it was the Maps app on my iphone that got us there. We were afraid that we would have missed all of the outhouse action since we were running late, but not to worry, so were they!
Once again, we had the experience of driving to some remote location, not seeing any other vehicles headed our way (or even going the other way), and arriving at our destination only to find HUNDREDS of people there!! Where do they come from, and how did they get here? It’s enough to make you believe in Close Encounters of the Third Kind… We paid our entrance fee (for door prizes!) of $3, well under our $5 limit, and parked our car in the huge pasture available for parking. We could see the rolling outhouses across the meadow, so off we went. There is one paved road leading to Penn’s Store, and it was serving as the racetrack. It was turning out to be a really hot day – I was glad we didn’t have an entry into this race! We watched a few heats and talked to a couple whose daughter was running in one. They told us we had missed the near-collision of an outhouse and a loose dog on the track – no injuries, but the privy was damaged when it turned over. Hate that we missed that!
When we’d had enough, we strolled over to the store for a look see. Penn’s Store is the oldest country store in America being run continuously by the same family. It’s been in the Penn family since 1850!! You may have seen it on the Today show. There were about 20 people crammed in the shade of the store, and since that was about 18 too many, we didn’t stay to browse. We paid homage to Penn’s Privy, the outhouse that started it all (reminded us of Girl Scout Camp!) and then got in line at one of the ‘caterers’ outside, hoping for a cold drink, but waiting way too long with nothing happening. Time to get back to real life! We gave up any chance of winning a door prize and headed for the car.
With no particular plan in mind, we decided to wander over to Danville, Kentucky, home of Centre College, and another place we’d never been. It’s a pretty little town and we strolled around an almost deserted campus for a while, then drove down to Constitution Square. Danville was the capital of the Kentucky Territory of Virginia, and the constitution of the Commonwealth of Kentucky was written here. We stopped at a street vendor’s market along the way and bought some grape tomatoes, which were juicy and tasty. We wandered around the old buildings in Constitution Square – the first post office, a church meeting place, the jail, a tavern, and a schoolhouse – and then we took off for Louisville. You may have wondered what happened to lunch – we did, too! We broke out the cookies to sustain us for the long ride ahead. Yum.
We got to Louisville a little before five, after passing some beautiful horse farms in this lovely bluegrass section of Kentucky. The rolling hills and green (didn’t look blue to me!) grass reminded us of Amish country – it was the perfect day for a ride through the country. Once in Louisville, we checked in to our hotel and then met our friend Mike Dalton for a beer and some reminiscing. And some football! Note to Jonathan Crompton, Tennessee quarterback: The object is to throw the ball TO the guys in the bright orange uniforms. It is not like hunting, when you try NOT to hit the men in orange. I hate UCLA.
We didn’t really eat dinner either, unless you count chips as dinner, which we did. Thanks, Mike – great to see you and we appreciate the hospitality! Back to the hotel we went, where I promptly crashed and Kim watched football. It was a great day, except for Tennessee football. But go, Duke!
Our first thoughts this morning were of this date eight years ago and the lives that were lost in America that day. How much things have changed in America since then! We honor the memories of those who died and we are grateful for the men and women in the armed forces who continue to defend our borders and protect our freedoms.
Even after all of our chances to learn the “don’t start the day without eating breakfast” rule last year, we left without eating, which we would soon regret. But, we had lots we wanted to see and do today and time was a wastin’! Our first stop this morning was the Old Talbott Tavern in Bardstown, KY, which Kim’s friend Jim told us about. One of his good friends from college is married to the owner, so of course, we dropped by to say hello. Kathy wasn’t in, but we loved the old (1779) place.
The Old Talbott Inn is the oldest inn in Kentucky
Next door was what used to be the old jail and is now another bed and breakfast, complete with stocks our front. We took a few photos and got ready to leave, when a man in a UK cap stopped to talk about John Calipari when he saw Kim’s Memphis Tigers license plate. He ended up telling us about lots to see and do in the area and pointed us in the direction of My Old Kentucky Home. On the way to the Home, we passed the Stephen Foster Story, so we had to stop there first. It’s an open air amphitheater that’s only open during the summer, so we wouldn’t get to see the performance. We were able to look around and go down to the stage, all the while listening to a medley of Stephen Foster songs. We were in the middle of one of Kentucky’s many state parks, most of which have really beautiful golf courses. This one is no exception, and given the nice day, the links were busy!
Just down the road was My Old Kentucky Home, originally known as Federal Hill, which was the private home of the Rowan family. Now there is a lovely visitors’ center, gift shop, meeting facility, and large outdoor rotunda and they give guided tours of the home. History tells us that Stephen Foster was related to the Rowan family and had visited them here, where he was inspired to write “My Old Kentucky Home, Good Night.” The house was HUGE – the three stories were each 13 feet tall and the rooms were big. Renovated just a couple of years ago, the house is decorated in a style befitting a family of such wealth in the 1840’s. The colors were bright and bold, and the look was really quite modern.
We couldn’t take photos inside, but here’s the exterior of My Old Kentucky Home.
The day was heating up and we felt sorry for the women dressed in period costume (well, except for the tennis shoes) who led the tours, but we were getting pretty hungry and were a little afraid we might be having a touch of low blood! Of course, the people in our little tour group kept asking questions that Tammy, our guide, didn’t know the answers to. Like, what did they use for toilet paper on the cushioned chamberpot seat? Seriously. Now we can say we daughters of Kentucky have finally been to the mecca. Weep no more, my ladies!
We couldn’t get back into town soon enough – we were so hungry! We decided to go back to the tavern, and just as we got there, Kathy called and said she’d come over to say hello. Business was booming, and Kathy arrived just as we were being seated, so she joined us at the table and then proceeded to treat us to a most delicious lunch! Thanks, Kathy!! Kim yet again showed remarkable restraint and ordered a salad, while I was lured into trying the Hot Brown. And the fried green tomatoes! Kim and I shared the tomatoes, which were beyond good. My Hot Brown was mighty fine as well. For those of you who don’t know, a Hot Brown consists of a piece of toast topped with ham, turkey, tomatoes, a supremely yummy cheese sauce, and bacon. It’s served hot and in a casserole dish – it’s a Kentucky favorite that was invented at the Brown Hotel in Louisville. Try one if you get a chance.
Cheesy perfection – a Kentucky Hot Brown
After lunch, Kathy showed us around the property – we saw the tavern, which is a hopping and lively place at night, the old pub, and some of the guest rooms at the inn. We decided to walk over to the Tom Moore Distillery to see the world’s largest bourbon barrel, so Kathy came with us. On the way, we passed the Basilica of St. Joseph Proto-Cathedral, which used to be the archdiocese of Kentucky until it moved to Louisville. This particular distillery used to be Barton’s, then it was Constellation Spirits, and it is in the process of becoming the Tom Moore Distillery now. We were too late for a tour, and it turns out you can only see the giant barrel on a tour. Oh well, maybe we walked off half of a fried green tomato!
On the walk back to the Tavern, we passed some fun yard art, old businesses, and great homes, and then we found ourselves at an old cemetery just behind the old jail. Turns out the tavern is supposed to be haunted, so it’s no wonder – with this ancient burial ground just next door, the ghosts don’t have far to go. We told Kathy goodbye and started down the road to Heaven Hill and Maker’s Mark, more stops on the Bourbon Trail.
We really wanted to see Maker’s Mark, where the last tour started at 3:30, so we waved as we passed Heaven Hill and took off for the tiny village of Loretto. Maker’s Mark puts on quite a show! The campus is gorgeous and I recommend taking the tour there. Did you know that if you go to their website you can become an Ambassador? Ask me how I know… That means your name will be put on a plaque (along with 29 others) which is put on a barrel of your very own bourbon. You’ll get updates about the status of your mash (it takes 5 to 7 years to make this liquid gold!) and when it’s ready, you are invited to come fill two bottles and dip them in Maker’s Mark signature red wax. Sign up today!
Our tour guide, Mike, was great and once more we were surprised when we arrived for the tour. We had been driving on back roads in Kentucky all alone – no other vehicles on the road – and we arrive to a full parking lot and about 50 people on our tour. How did they get there and where did they come from??? Shades of Oatman on our Route 66 adventure!
Big vats of mash at Maker’s Mark
After the tour, we were ushered into the gift shop for a bourbon tasting. First, we were taught how to smell it (not with your nose – inhale through your open mouth over the glass) and then how to sip it (letting the liquid roll over your whole tongue before swallowing it). Before we sampled the finished product, we tasted “white dog”, which is the uncured pure grain alcohol – pretty raw stuff! Then we got the sweeter amber concoction – so smooth! Kim hated it and thought she was going to die – it took her breath away! I loved it, so I finished hers, too. Nothing I wouldn’t do for my sista!
We had considered going to Louisville this evening and watching a ballgame – the Louisville Bats were playing the Durham Bulls!! – but instead we opted for the capital city, Frankfort. We were beat and just chilled in our hotel room for a while, then we went to a nice little Italian restaurant down next to the old state Capitol building.
The restaurant was Serafini’s – good food! We ate outside right next to the street, where we were surprised to see that a train track ran down the center of Broadway in front of the old Capitol. I had one of my favorite salads – apple, goat cheese, candied pecans, greens, and the risotto of the day, which came with a fish I’ve never heard of and can’t spell and therefore cannot google. The risotto was portabello and leek with a pink peppercorn sauce and asparagus – very nice! Kim had Penne Santini, which had shrimp and a spicy tomato cream sauce with vegetables. We were strong though, and didn’t have dessert, even though they sounded wonderful!
During dinner, we were “serenaded” (although not nearly as nice as the Stephen Foster music) by an amateur guitar player/singer who unfortunately had access to a microphone & PA system across the street at the old Capitol. There had been a 5K run earlier and lots of kids were still milling around and listening. About the time we finished up, so did our troubador…. We took a walk around this area of Frankfort after dinner – lots of small bars and bistros with an eclectic crowd – interesting place! We found a diner we may check out for breakfast, and we look forward to seeing our home state’s Capitol in the light of day.
So that was our day, and you won’t believe your eyes when you see what’s in store for you tomorrow!! Here’s a hint: it involves a parade, but one we bet you’ve NEVER seen or even heard of! Talk to you later!
Welcome aboard! We’re glad you decided to ride along with us this year – Peppy is always happy to have some company, and it should be an exciting trip, since we haven’t planned it in advance. We’re just taking a page out of Daddy’s book and making it up as we go along, so fasten your seat belts!
Here’s what we do know: we are going to hit the Bourbon Trail in Kentucky, then we are taking the Natchez Trace from Nashville to Natchez MS, the we are meeting Rex and friends Jim and Alex in NOLA, and we are ending up in Paducah for our combined 35th and 36th high school reunions on the weekend of BBQ on the River. For that reason, we’ve named this adventure Bourbon, Blues, and BBQ.
Everything is inside out and upside down this trip – I flew over to Nashville where Kim and Peppy picked me up, and Kim is driving and I’m navigating. This has already proved to be a great example of us not working to our strengths – we had done at least two (maybe three) U-ies before we got out of Nashville, and we came mighty close to running out of gas. Could be interesting!
Kim had never eaten at the Loveless Cafe before, so that was as far as I’d gotten by way of planning for today. What a treat!! Check it out for yourself at www.lovelesscafe.com and check out our pix! It’s been a Nashville institution since 1951, and is famous for its homemade biscuits and jam, fried chicken, breakfast all day, and just FINE country cookin’! It was almost dark when we arrived, which was great because the neon was looking good and the sky was gorgeous.
There was no line tonight, so we got right down to the business at hand – devouring the hot biscuits set down before us, complete with butter, homemade jam (strawberry and blackberry) and honey. They were calling to us so loudly we had almost finished them before we remembered to take a picture for you!
And check out those giant glasses of refreshing iced tea with lemon. I’m in heaven, since I’m just back from a month in Australia, which I loved, but where it was almost impossible to find iced tea. Or ice, period!
Choosing what to eat was no easy task, either. I’m trying to undo some of the damage I did Down Under, but I had to defer any stab at healthy eating while at Loveless! When someplace is famous for fried chicken, you order fried chicken! Or at least I did. Kim got grilled catfish, which looked great. We had both toyed with getting veggie plates – the list was so good! I settled on slow-cooked green beans and hashbrown casserole and Kim got fried okra and mac & cheese. We both exhibited a little restraint and didn’t clean our plates. Of course, that was because you know when you walk into a place like this that dessert will find its way to your table. We split a bowl of peach/blackberry cobbler (with ice cream) and didn’t eat all of it either! We had fun chatting with Tammy, our server. She was intrigued that we could spend this much time together in a car. We are so lucky that we like each other and we get along!! Miles of smiles!
It helps to laugh, especially when your navigator (that would be me, today!) is too ADD to pay attention to the road signs. But we found our way from the airport to Loveless AND back to the highway. It was dark thirty by the time we left, so onto the interstate we hopped, bound for Our Old Kentucky Home. Really! We’ll show you pictures tomorrow! I was no help at all, as my very early (3 AM) morning had caught up with me, piling onto my already jet-lagged self, and I was soon snoozing while Kim drove. I woke up in time to help her find the hardly-traveled-on Bluegrass Parkway, but I didn’t notice that the gas tank was on empty. Or beyond. Neither did Kim, until we passed the last gas station…
So, for my gratitude journal today, I’m thankful for airplanes that land safely, country cooking, my sister, a car that says it can only go 323 miles but really goes 405, and a 24 hour gas station in a town where nothing is open 24 hours!! And my iphone, that got us where we were going!
We even found a place to stay, so we’re ready to crash tonight and hit the trail – the Bourbon Trail – tomorrow!
We were in no rush to stick around the Atlantic City area, so we grabbed a quick bite of breakfast and were on our way by about 8:30. Did we mention that our hotel had a riverboat docked behind the dumpsters? We’re not sure why, and we did not go investigate, but it looked pretty funny to us. Atlantic City seemed to be a bit seedy to us, and in all fairness, we did not go all the way into the city to check it our for ourselves. Margate City seemed okay enough, and the beach (or shore) was pretty, but we’ll take our North and South Carolina beaches any day!
We did not have a whole lot on our agenda today – a drive-by of Storybook Land, Longwood Gardens, the Charcoal Pit, and a detour to the Haines Shoe House, which we missed in Pennsylvania at the beginning of our trip. Storybook Land was just down the road from our hotel, and it did not open until about 11, so we had to be satisfied with a few photos from the parking lot. Given that it’s an amusement park with a $20 ticket price, that’s probably all we would have done even it if were open! You can read about it at http://www.storybookland.com/ (turn your volume down – it’s loud!) and if you’re in the area with small children (somehow Atlantic City and small children don’t seem to go together…) you may want to visit. It looked really clean and well-maintained, and it’s been family owned since 1955.
On our drive across New Jersey towards Delaware, we saw a few curiosities worth stopping for – we just had to stop and turn around to get a picture of the American flag made out of colored milk jugs in someone’s front yard, and we were a little surprised by a Muffler Man sighting. Before long, we saw the twin spires of the Delaware Memorial Bridge, but not before we stopped for gas (again!) to take advantage of the lower prices and great service in New Jersey.
Our original plan was to have lunch at the Charcoal Pit in Wilmington, DE, on our way to Longwood Gardens, but since it was 10:30, we decided to visit the gardens first and then go back to the Pit. We passed the turnoff for Winterthur, which we had considered visiting, and we drove right through Chadd’s Ford, which is home to another Wyeth museum. So much to do and so little time!! We had voted on Longwood Gardens to honor our mom and grandmother, who both had gorgeous gardens and are/were excellent flower arrangers. We were not disappointed!
Longwood was the estate of Pierre du Pont, and it encompasses over a thousand acres of gardens, woodlands, and meadows as well as a summer home, a conservatory, and lots of fountains. Visit it at http://www.longwoodgardens.org/ but really plan to see it in person! We strolled through the flower garden, which I loved because of the way the flowers were planted in groups of similar colors – it was like walking through a rainbow! From the flower garden, we went to the Italian Water Garden, where my favorites were the waterfall tumbling down a staircase and the frog fountains. A special display going on this summer was a series of treehouses created especially for the Gardens. The first one that we came to was the Canopy Cathedral, which reminded us of the Gillette Castle because of the way the logs were carved.
From the fountains in the Italian Water Garden, we walked up a long hill past the meadow, and soon we had come to the next treehouse, the Lookout Loft, which was in the shady Forest Walk section. It was a sort of Adirondack-style treehouse. We walked past the duPont house, not sure if we could go in it or not, and then we found ourselves at the final treehouse, the Birdhouse. It was nice to go up in the trees and enjoy a few moments out of the heat of the sun, and Kim and I were reminded of the fantastic treehouse our dad had made us when we were kids. All the neighborhood kids hung out at our house, since in addition to the treehouse (which also had a fireman’s pole) we had a bagswing and a roller coaster that Daddy had made. We had a nice little walk down Memory Lane as we walked through Longwood Gardens!
When we realized you could go in the house, we took that tour, too. It was so interesting! I have loved being in these totally well thought out and well designed homes of people who clearly knew what they wanted and could afford to have it built the way they wanted it! Some favorite things in the house were the built in map case, the hidden library, Mr. du Pont’s office, the towel warming rack in the kitchen, the silver safe, and the fly fan. Even though the air conditioner was allegedly on, it was very hot and humid in the house, so we didn’t linger as long as we might have.
From here, we went to the Conservatory, which was built in 1919 and houses almost 200,000 square feet of plants!! Outside the Conservatory was another fantastic fountain display, the Main Fountain Garden, which covers five acres and has 380 fountains spraying 10,000 gallons of recirculated water. Wow! Next to it was the topiary garden, and from there we went to the Chime Tower and Waterfall. We could have stayed here for a few more hours – there was a lot we didn’t see – but we were wilting and hungry, and we had miles to go…We stopped in at the gift shop and we have to tell you that even the bathrooms were beautiful, complete with flower arrangements and mosaics. What a spectacular place this is!
Like I said, we were hungry and couldn’t wait to eat at the Charcoal Pit, (http://www.charcoalpit.net/) which we had read about in Road Food but we’d also heard from Melanie that we would not be disappointed. We had no problem finding it, and since it was getting close to 2 o’clock, it wasn’t too crowded. On the way in, we noticed some of the awesome ice cream creations and we saw some mighty juicy burgers, so we knew we were in for a treat! Kim had a chocolate soda with her burger and fries, and I opted for the big burger (no fries or onion rings!) and a hot fudge sundae. Heavenly!! Sure wish we lived closer to the Pit!!
Backtracking again, we were soon back in Pennsylvania and before we knew it, we were back in Amish country. We had loved the rolling terrain and green farmland of this part of Pennsylvania when we first started our trip, so it was a treat to get to see it again. We drove through Intercourse and Bird-in-Hand again, and we loved hearing the clip-clop of the horses on the Amish buggies. Why, you may ask, were we not heading south since we were on our way home? Well, one of the things we had really wanted to see on this trip was the Haines Shoe House, which is near York, PA. (http://www.jarrettsville.org/family/shoehouse.htm) You may remember that we had to bypass it on our first pass through PA, or else we would not have gotten to Lititz and Wilbur’s Chocolates before it closed, so we had figured out a way we could get here on the flip side of the trip. It was just a bonus that we got to enjoy Lancaster County again!
We arrived at the Shoe House a little after 4:00 and were there in time for the last tour of the day. Sadly, we were not allowed to take pictures inside the house, so you’ll have to be satisfied with seeing the outside and going for yourself to see the inside. I will say it was cool – people could (and have) really live there, and the current owners have decorated it really nicely – lots of shoes of all varieties add to the fun theme. We had no problem turning down the ice cream (there’s a shop there) since we were still on a sugar high from the Charcoal Pit, and now it was time to turn south and head for home.
It’s always hard to realize a trip like this is almost over, but that time was fast approaching! We weren’t sure where we would be spending the night, so we started looking at the map and perusing our Hampton Inn book. Kim made a few phone calls and we decided we could get as far as Leesburg, VA, before it got too late. We traveled down Highway 15 (which goes to Durham, too) and soon our Hampton was there to greet us. Since I’d been craving Chinese food for days, and we were pretty pooped, we took the easy way out and ordered some to be delivered. A couple of cold beers from the car, Chinese on paper plates – it was just what we needed! We got a little blogging done, downloaded pictures, planned our next day’s drive, and watched a little TV. Only one more day…
We had two big things on our agenda today – a tour of Yankee Stadium and “Young Frankenstein” – so we hit the ground running. We had the name of some Chelsea area restaurants, so we got our bearings and walked over to Madeleine Patisserie for breakfast. Kim had a ham and cheese croissant and I had Canadian bacon and grilled onion quiche, which also came with a salad. I’m not accustomed to having salad with breakfast, but it was good! This little restaurant is famous for their macarons (no, not macaroons) but we did not get any this morning, thinking we might stop back by. That didn’t happen, so I’ll have to try a macaron some other time. It was raining a little bit, so we had our jackets and hoods on, which was making us pretty sticky and hot, as it was warming up fast and was pretty humid.
We were already a little stressed, just knowing we had to get ourselves from lower Manhattan to the Bronx on the subway. But, being the intelligent, intrepid adventurers that we are, we made our way to the subway entrance and entered the underworld. Even though we had specific instructions about which trains to take, we did what any smart Southern girls would do – we went to the window and asked what to do. The attendant could not have been nicer – she sold us our tickets, told us how and when to change trains, and pointed us in the right direction. Now, if only we could follow her instructions! We did pretty well, only having to ask a nice man at the next stop which train we were supposed to get on (we had been in the right place) and soon we were arriving in the Bronx. Of course, we went the wrong way when we got off, so we stopped in a little grocery store and got re-oriented.
Once we went around the corner in the right direction, there it was, right in front of us – the hallowed grounds of Yankee Stadium! And immediately across the street was the new stadium, well underway. For those of you who are not big baseball fans, this is the last year that the venerable old stadium will be used, as it is slated to be demolished once the new venue is completed. The first game in “The House That Ruth Built” was played in 1923, so you can imagine that it’s seen a lot of wear and tear. Read more about it at http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/index.jsp?c_id=nyy and see some great photos. On the way from the subway to the stadium, we met a dad with his daughter and son who were also going for a tour. They were from Lubbock, Texas, and we had fun chatting with them. It was raining pretty steadily so we all sought shelter under awnings as we waited for the tour to begin.
Soon we were inside, being separated into four groups. Our group began the tour in the Yankee clubhouse, which was a big surprise – not all the tours get to go in the clubhouse. This was the only place we couldn’t take pictures, but it was still fun. A couple of things of interest – the late Thurmon Munson (a Yankee who was killed in a plane crash) still has a locker and Derek Jeter has two lockers – the one he uses like everyone uses, and the one next to it that is full of his fan mail! From the clubhouse, we went through the tunnel and into the dugout just like the players would. That was pretty cool, too! We sat on the bench in the dugout and got to see the same view the players would during a game. By now, it had stopped raining, and we were able to fully enjoy the experience. From the dugout, we walked through the stadium (up the stairs and ramps) to the press box. One of the funniest things about that was the wire baskets used for the press kits and stat packs – it looked like something you would have seen forty or fifty years ago, especially next to the green blackboard with lineups written in chalk. Not exactly high tech here!
The view from the press box was primo! One thing we learned about was the area in the outfield bleachers called the Batter’s Eye – out in dead center field was a section painted black (as opposed to Yankee blue) and no one ever sits there so that there is nothing to distract the batter from beingable to see the little white ball that’s coming at him. Who knew? We got a chance to buy a special version of the Yankee press guide (we bit) and then we walked out to Monument Park, which is near left field, next to the bullpen. Along the wall leading to it are the numbers of all the retired Yankee jerseys. Did you know there were two number 8’s retired? Both belonged to catchers – Yogi Berra and Elston Howard. Around the corner were the monuments – some to famous Yankees like Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, and some plaques commemorating things like the Papal blessings (there have been three) of Yankee Stadium and 9/11. All too soon, (even for Cardinal fans) the tour was over and we were on our way back to the subway.
Once again, we stopped to ask specifics. The attendant we asked this time was just getting off duty, so she personally escorted us to the correct train and then said, “Where in the South are you ladies from?” We just had that look about us, I guess! We had a nice chat with her and then just waited for the train to come. We were sort of leaning against the wall (germophobes, don’t even think about it) and Kim had her bag on the floor at her feet. Suddenly, this man swooped in and stood right next to Kim, ostensibly reading his paper but in reality scoping out her seemingly unattended bag. We were looking at pictures on my camera (while really paying attention to everything around us) and after a while, Kim casually reached down and picked up her bag. With that, the newspaper guy left, just as quickly as he had arrived. We were almost hysterical thinking what he would have done with Kim’s bag had he stolen it, since all it contained was Kim’s rainjacket and Peppy!! I told her we were lucky he didn’t take it – he might have come back and shot us when he saw what was in it!
We got back to the hotel without further incident, and since it was getting on in the afternoon, we looked for lunch options. Ya know, in New York City, you can eat just about anything, anywhere, at almost any price, but I’ll bet there aren’t many of you who would have found the Trailer Park Lounge and Grill. But the Sassy Sisters did, and it was just our speed! On our way there, we passed the iconic Hotel Chelsea, which was practically across the street from the TPL&G. The minute we stepped through the screen door (no lie!) we felt RITE at home. There was a bowling alley section, a real trailer, lots of black velvet Elvi, and tons of Southern signage and such. I’ll try to post a variety of photos so you can get the full effect. At any rate, the place was practically empty (it was about 3:30) except for a few people at the bar. We had chicken salad sandwiches – Kim had mac and cheese (it was FINE!) and I had sweet potato fries – and we had really good frozen margaritas – strawberry (K) and mango (J). The place was so cool (temperature-wise, too) and entertaining that we lingered over our meal, chatted with the bartender, and took lots of pictures. I have no shame! The bartender was a fine southern boy – from South Dakota! We talked to him about all the places in SD that we had visited last summer. He doesn’t miss it.
After lupper (you know, lunch/supper) we walked down to the Chelsea Market. This melange of neat shops is housed in what used to be the Nabisco factory, and boy, have they retrofitted it! It was a fantastic place, full of foods of all kinds and home (at least we think so) to the Food Network. There was definitely something Iron Cheffy going on there – we followed the VIP signs until they caught onto us. We watched bread being made and baked at Amy’s Bakery, somehow passed by gelato without getting any, looked through a market full of produce, spices, dried fruits, cheeses, and more, wandered through an awesome kitchen store, and finally succumbed to ice cream (coke float for me, purple cow for Kim) at this fun little dairy bar. Got milk?
We were sad to hear that the Chelsea Flower Market was closed, cause we had heard good things about it. Since we had play plans for that evening, it was time to move on. We walked back via a different route, and just enjoyed the street life of New York. Except for the man who looked around to see if anyone was looking, saw us, and peed into a fenced in churchyard anyway, right there on the street! Is nothing sacred? We crossed the street. We had a little bit of time to cool off and rest before show time, and then we were off to the theatre district.
We started out walking to the Hilton Theatre, because cabs weren’t stopping on 6th right then, but by the time we got to about 30th or 32nd, we got a cab. The Hilton is at 42nd and Broadway, so Kim got to see a little slice of Times Square and all of its craziness. We were excited about seeing Young Frankenstein, as it was one of our favorite movies of all time. I just hoped it could live up to my expectations. The cast was great – Dr. Frankenstein was played by the guy who played George (the creepy pharmacist on Desperate Housewives), his fiance, Elizabeth was Megan Mulalley, who was on Will and Grace, and Inge was played by Sutton Foster, who was the lead in Thoroughly Modern Millie on Broadway a few years ago (Rex & I had seen her in that). The set and special effects were beyond fantastic, and the play stayed true to the movie, and all the hilarious jokes (and more) were in there. We were howling most of the evening! If you’re a Young Frankenstein fan, you’d love the play, and if you’re not a Young Frankenstein fan, I’m sorry!
After the play, we walked back to the hotel and again observed and enjoyed life in Manhattan. It is not like where we’re from! It had been a long day, and by the time I downloaded pictures, we were crashing and burning. Now you know how I got so far behind on my blogging…
Much more to see and do tomorrow – the waterfalls are calling us…
Since we were so close to our first morning’s event and it didn’t open until 10 AM, we took our time this morning. We ate our breakfast at the Hampton and on the way out of the parking lot we saw NASCAR driver Carl Edwards’ car trailer. This weekend’s race would be in New Hampshire. This was exciting for me but Kim could have cared less. I kind of like Carl (he’s tall & does back flips!) and NASCAR. Somehow, between Jill and our maps, we found our way to America’s Stonehenge, although it took us much longer than we planned for. Funny how that seems to be a theme for ALL of our escapades…
We entered A.S. through the gift shop and watched a short orientation video about the site. You will definitely want to learn more about it at http://www.stonehengeusa.com/ – it was fascinating! Most of the rock formations found have been carbon dated to the 15th century, which as any of you who know even a little history will recognize as being before most any Europeans were thought to have been in this country. Of course, this area of America had long been home to many different tribes of Native Americans. While it is not known who built these homes, drainage systems, walls, and communal places, parts of it reminded me very much of the medicine wheel we saw in Nebraska last year (check out last year’s blog and read the part about Dancing Leaf Lodge in Wellfleet, NE).
There was an elaborate placement of large rocks which align with the sun’s position on the equinoxes (equinoxi?) and solstices and other important solar and lunar dates. Many think that the boulders of Stonehenge in England as well as other mystical sites are also markers of this kind. What was also neat is how well the drainage systems still work – it had rained really hard the night before, but the area all around these rocks was dry except where water was coming out of the drainage ‘rocks’.
Remember our Massachusetts friends from the Sugar Hill Inn? They had been to A.S. on their way up to Vermont, so they had been just in time for the summer solstice celebration that happened here. We saw remnants of where the ceremony took place, as there were still flowers and spices placed on a large rock flower and a series of trees formed into arches encircled the ‘altar’. As we walked back from the main site, we were enchanted by the beautiful birds that were singing and playing around in the woods. We saw orioles (not something we are used to seeing), chickadees, sparrows, and woodpeckers, as well as lots of chipmunks and some of those green bottleflies. It is worth reporting here that the ‘green’ bug spray we paid $8 for (in Vermont, where else?) works pretty well and we have been glad we had it on more than one occasion. When people tell you the north woods mosquitos could carry you away, they are not kidding.
As we got back to the gift shop, we hiked by several pens of alpacas, so we got to see them up close and personal. They are indeed the ‘lambas’ we saw in Pennsylvania. They are so funny looking, especially after they have been shorn! We are pleased to say that we both love our new hiking boots and after having very little cell phone service for the entire trip up to this point, somehow, in the middle of NOWHERE NH, we both had five bars of service the whole time we were here. Go figure. Anyway, we stayed here longer than we thought we would and now we were over 90 minutes behind schedule. My road to hell must be at least 90% paved by now, especially since I haven’t yet sent my Christmas cards which say “Happy New Year!”
Given our time issues and the fact that Massachusetts does not seem to have many non-interstates/big highways that go anywhere in a north-south direction (all roads lead to Boston or around it), we took the path of least resistance and time (we hoped) and braced ourselves for the interstate straight through Boston to Pawtucket, RI. Astonishingly enough, we sped right through Boston and even went through the tunnel of ‘Big Dig’ fame with no problems. We got back on US 1 as we got close to Pawtucket, where our first stop was the Hasbro headquarters, as we had a date with Mr. Potatohead.
He was so cute – a big ole spud in between the HQ and the R&D (and maybe manufacturing plant – we don’t know ’cause they wouldn’t let us in – top secret toy stuff, you know) buildings. The places in the parking lot were marked with Monopoly cards – we really tried to figure a way to infiltrate the plant, but they were onto us right away. Wouldn’t even let us take pictures in the HQ building or get past the guy in the lobby of R&D. How do you get to work at a toy place, anyway? I love to play!
It was getting so far past a normal lunch hour that our options were very limited (same old story, I know) but as luck would have it, most diners are open 24/7, and the one on our list today was the Modern Diner in Pawtucket. It was housed in a Sterling Streamliner and was the first diner in the country to be placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Bet you didn’t know that diners originated in Providence, RI, in 1872. Our server told us that they had great hamburgers, so we tested them to make sure. She was right, and their onion rings were not too bad, either. As we were leaving the diner, the heavens opened up and…
We got drenched just running to the car. Our next stop was Providence, and in case you don’t know, Pawtucket and Providence are right next to each other (as everything in the tiny state of Rhode Island is not too far from anything else). We were going to see the state capitol, so we figured, no big deal, we’re almost there anyway – how hard could that be? Well, if it had not started HAILING immediately after we got on the interstate, we would have been fine. As it was, I was driving down the road with one arm up over my head because it sounded like we were under artillery fire!! We expected the windshield to be cracked and broken at any second. The hail was at least marble (shooter) sized – not quite golf balls but damn, it sounded like cannon balls were landing on us! I was so afraid to see my car – I was almost glad that it was still raining when we stopped so I couldn’t tell what the damage was. I just knew there was some. And there was…
We parked (parallel again!) on the street in front of the capitol building, and for the first time in a long time, we had to go through a metal detector to get in. We spent the rest of the thunderstorm inside and enjoyed seeing another beautiful capitol. Kim and I were talking about how neat it is that these old buildings are, for the most part, still being used for the purposes they were intended – they are not torn down or even renovated (at least not to the point that most of us can tell – maybe wiring, AC, computers, etc.) but the furnishings in many look to be original. The Rhode Island capitol was full of fascinating artifacts – my favorite was the Gettysburg Cannon, which was a cannon used at that famous battle but it got a cannonball stuck in it when it got struck by a Rebel cannonball just as the yankees were loading their cannon. So there it was in the building, cannonball still sticking out of the bore.
Next, we were intentionally heading to the PJ’s so we could see Nibbles Woodaway, the giant termite perched on top of some pest control building. Sadly, he’s easily visible (but not photographable) from the interstate, but from the lovely alley where we were (we opted not to pull into the “Cheaters Gentlemen’s Club” parking lot) we only got a side/rear view of Mr. Woodaway. But we got that, anyway.
We drove down US 1 (aka Post Road) to the coast of Rhode Island, stopping in for a look-see at Smith’s Castle, circa 1678. We were sad to see that it was closed, although it was not at all what we were expecting. Unless you think that normal looking old frame houses should be called ‘castles’ I think you would have been surprised, too. The grounds were lovely, though, and there were lots of geese and ducks out on the water behind the house. Turns out Richard Smith (it was his castle) must have been a big deal back then, because everything in that area of the state was named for him. I have not researched him yet, but I may have to find out a little more about him.
Next stop, the Watch Hill Bathing Beach and their Flying Horse Carousel, which is the oldest one in the country, having been built in 1883. The horses had real hair manes and tails, and they were suspended from the ceiling by chains. There was a chute for the brass rings that the kids tried to grab as they went round and round. If they were lucky enough to get a ring (the attendants even handed them to the littlest riders) they put them over their horses’ ears until the ride was over. The panels on the interior were painted with different ‘flying horses’ – it was a charming ride in a very high rent district.
We were just across the state line from Stonington, Connecticut, where we were spending the night. Thanks to my good friend, Anne, we had reservations at the home of her good friend, Sandy, who I had met but didn’t really know. What a trusting soul she is, to let two almost complete (and some would say crazy) strangers stay with her! We are grateful to our friends and theirs! We found Sandy’s charming little cottage with no trouble, and even though she wasn’t home, she had left the door open for us. It’s hard to imagine being able to live like that in the places where we live. Shortly after we arrived, Sandy pulled in and gave us a quick tour of the house and the lovely beach area nearby. After that, we were off to Mystic to see what was there and to eat dinner, and Sandy was off to a previous engagement.
We found Mystic to be quite touristy, which is rarely to our liking. The movie Mystic Pizza, starring Julia Roberts, was actually filmed in quaint and lovely Stonington. Not a surprise to me! We found one of the restaurants Sandy had recommended in Mystic, but when we found out there was a 45 minute wait (at 8:30 PM) we hightailed it back for Stonington. On the way back, we saw a beautiful rainbow (for no apparent reason) and this time we got a picture of it. Going back was a good choice! Sandy had told us about a place called Noah’s, which we walked right to from Sandy’s house. We had one of our best meals of the whole trip there! Kim had panko-crusted broiled flounder with garlic-chive mashed potatoes and green beans, and I had sea scallops with an orange-chili salsa, rice, and a medley of fresh vegetables. Oh, and we each had a delicious salad – Kim’s with bleu cheese and mine with avocado slices. The homemade bread was great, too, but the piece de resistance was dessert.
When I saw that they made pavlovas there, I told Kim we HAD to have one. So we each had one! For those of you not familiar with this Australian favorite, a pavlova is a meringue shell, filled with ice cream and/or whipped cream (that would be an AND in this case) and garnished with fruits like kiwis, strawberries, raspberries, and oranges. And maybe drizzled with raspberry puree. Heavenly! I dreamed about mine!
When we got back to Sandy’s, she had left a note saying she’d found a ride into New York City and had decided to leave that night, so we had the house to ourselves with instructions to lock the doors and turn out the lights when we left. Thanks a million, Sandy, for truly opening your home to us, and to you, too, Anne, for telling Sandy we weren’t known criminals. Our only excitement for the night occurred when Kim went out to the car to get something and there was a for real, live and in person (or in animal) SKUNK out by my car. And then it went UNDER my car! Thankfully, it did not spray Kim or the car. We think it heard that Peppy was in the hood…
I’m dreaming of a white pavlova, just like the one I ate tonight,
We really hated to leave Denise’s wonderful house, especially the Bed and no *#&@ Breakfast part of it! But we had miles to cover, so armed with a full pitcher of fresh tea, we were on the road by 8:30. It was a foggy, cool morning – the kind I’ll really miss once we are back home. We had planned to have breakfast at the local Bristol Diner, but they were on vacation (the week before the ‘real’ season begins) so we set our sights on Bath, sure that we could find something to eat there.
On the way, we stopped by the hugely popular Taste of Maine restaurant (not open for breakfast) and took a picture of the big lobster (we didn’t know he would be a Bubba Lobster!) out front. In addition, they had a lobster fisherman in his yellow slicker and hat (carved out of wood) and a huge pole for osprey nests.
Bath is on the coast north of Portland, on the Kennebec River, and it’s a huge shipbuilding port. It was home to Bath Iron Works, which has been sold and is now General Dynamics. Their biggest customer is the US Navy, and they’ve built battleships, frigates, cruisers, and destroyers here. It has a HUGE crane that you can see as you cross the bridge into town. We got off the highway (US 1) and went in search of food. Right away, we spotted the Starlight Cafe, but we had already passed the street we needed to turn on before we turned. As we drove around town, we enjoyed the 19th century architecture and then we passed Beale Street Barbeque. Given that Kim is from Memphis, we doubted the authenticity of the place, so we found our way back to the Starlight.
Boy, can we ever pick them! This was the cutest place – sort of underground – I had to duck to get in. There was a counter and several small tables. A friendly local woman urged us to try (with absolutely no hesitation) the cinnamon bun French toast. Since I could see the cinnamon buns right in front of me, I bit. The woman told me I wouldn’t need to eat for hours later and that I’d be on a sugar high all day!
Kim, ever the steadfast companion, had scrambled eggs and ham and a humongous biscuit. We loved checking out the place as we waited for our food. Each table had a different set of salt and pepper shakers – ours were lobsters, next to us was Dagwood and a huge sandwich, etc. Oh yeah, I also was unable to resist the blueberry scones that were on the counter next to the cinnamon buns, but I got it to go and didn’t eat it that day. I was stuffed by the time we left, and was on such a high that I didn’t even mind when Jill got us so lost that we were going the wrong way down a one-way street. In fact, I didn’t even notice it, but thankfully, Kim did and we were eventually able to wind our way out of Bath and back to the highway without attracting any unwanted police attention. There are hazards to having a red car, though…
The next curiosity on our list was a ‘Moose or Monster’ sculpture found in some gas station parking lot next to the highway near a Holiday Inn and a McDonalds. Believe it or not, we found it! I will spare you the ugly details about our parking lot escapade. We emerged unscathed, and no animals were injured, including humans. Or other vehicles, by some miracle. By the way, we think it’s closer to a moose than a monster.
We saw a cute little cow in a coffee cup on the ceiling of some java joint – Kim got a great shot of it, and we weren’t even expecting that one! We arrived in Freeport with one item on our agenda – to take a picture of the giant boot outside the LL Bean retail store. Well, we did that, and then we needed to go inside in search of a rest room, so now we both have a new pair of hiking boots and I have a new pair of comfy brown slides. I did not buy the $7 socks – I can get those at Target! It was a good thing we did not have time to do any more shopping, because we are running out of space almost as fast as we are running out of money. Of course, there is always UPS…
On the way to Yarmouth, we passed an outdoor furniture shop with a giant Adirondack chair, so we turned around to get a shot of it and the big Indian across the street from it. Yarmouth is home to Eartha, the world’s largest rotating globe (a certified Guinness World Record) at the DeLorme map store. She measured just under 131 feet around, and 41 feet, one-and-a-half inches across her middle, and she’s reportedly gorgeous at night, when she’s all lit up and you can see her from the highway. It was pretty impressive to see her in broad daylight, but impossible to photograph her in a way that does her justice. You sorta have to be there, but you can also check her out at http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/10408
Next stop – Portland, Maine’s largest city. As you may know or have guessed, it’s also on the coast and we spent our time there in the Old Port district. We parked on the street (no mean feat, but for once on this trip I did not have to parallel park) and stopped in at the visitor center. We took a long walk along the waterfront down to the Maine Narrow Guage Railway Museum. We opted not to take a three mile train ride, but we did spend some time in the small museum there. We got to see men actively restoring some old rail cars, and we got to walk through several different kinds of passenger cars. Check it out at http://www.mngrr.org/ and learn all about narrow guage railways! Toot, toot!
We had thought we might walk UP to the old Observatory, but we satisfied ourselves with a photograph since we only had two hours parking time (on the other side of town) and we still were due for lunch at some point. Plus, it looked like it could rain at any minute. Read all about it at http://www.portlandlandmarks.org/portland_observatory/oww.portlandlandmarks.org/portland_observatory/observatory.shtml – it’s really cool and we would have liked to have seen it. Huff, puff.
On the way back towards the car, we passed the Maine Customs House (official business only, no weapons, show your ID and you’d better have a damn good reason to go in!) and walked down several cobblestone streets. There was a lot of neat shopping and some cute stores. We ducked in one that was full of maritime junque – we first saw some mermaids and other neat carvings, and when we went in there was a parrot sitting on the proprietor’s shoulder. It was a fun place to look around – kind of like Mom’s house, had she lived at a seaport.
On the way down the street, we passed a brewpub called Gritty’s and then remembered that was a place Denise had suggested we eat. So we did! I had a steak salad that was really tasty, and Kim had chicken caesar. We split some homemade potato chips and wisely (but with difficulty) avoided having beer. While there, we saw not one but TWO men wearing Tennessee shirts/jackets – these were the first even remotely close to Tennessee people we had seen on the whole trip, while we North Carolinians get around. Kim went over to talk to the guy with the UT Lacrosse jacket on – he was in town on business and was a UT alum. He said the bartender at his hotel was also from Tennessee.
We had already decided that we were going to need to take the interstate from Portland on if we were to have any chance of seeing the Paper House in Rockport, Mass, before it closed. That turned out to be a really good choice, because it began pouring down rain just after we got out of Portland. What a dreary trip! We sped through Portsmouth (sorry, Danielle!) but we did see the two HUGE state liquor stores at the NH state line (one of each side of the road). Somewhere along the way, we got off the interstate and found a road that took us through Ipswich, Essex, and into Rockport, and even more amazingly, we found the Paper House! Before it closed!! You will surely want to check it out at http://www.paperhouserockport.com/ because our photos don’t begin to do it justice.
My favorite thing about it was the honor system used for charging for the obviously self-guided tour. Put $1.50 per adult in an envelope (provided) and drop it in the mail slot of the house next door! We did, although we had to raid our laundry money since we only had twenties! Other items of interest there were the grandfather clock made out of newspapers from each state capital and the desk made of newspaper accounts of Lindbergh’s flight across the Atlantic. Now you know what to do with all of those papers you’ve been reading!!
We went to Gloucester in hopes of getting some good shots of the Gloucester fisherman (http://www.city-data.com/picfilesc/picc22624.php) but our hopes were dashed by the DOWNPOUR of rain. We waited it out (of course, we had parked and were walking) at a neat Spanishy Greeky (not sure which) restaurant where we had sangria and some roasted tomatoes and goat cheese. While at the bar, we learned all about the ‘Gloucester Twenty’ (the high school girls who for some insane reason got pregnant on purpose) since they (but not the boys involved…) were the news story of the day. Except for the weather, which was really the top story. So much for our lovely drive around the northern coast of Massachusetts…
Undaunted, we went to Salem even though all of the attractions there were of course closed, since it was after six by now. We found the Salem Witch Museum and what we thought was a statue of a mean old witch, but it was really just a pilgrim, Roger Conant, who was the first settler of Salem. He was born in 1592 and died in 1679. Salem must have agreed with him – good thing he wasn’t a woman! We loved the crosswalks – they were bright green with witches on them. We found the Essex Peabody Museum (highly recommended by several people) but it was closed, too. We did not see the Bewitched statue and did not look too hard for it.
Since this was one of two nights that we did not have hotel reservations, we thought we should be finding a place to spend the night. But first, we saw signs for the House of Seven Gables, so off we went. It was closed, too, but we saw the outside, the water, and several OLD houses (built in the 1770’s). From there we went to the Hampton Inn Peabody (peeBUDdy, for those of you who thought it was really Peabody) but they were booked, and so was the next closest one at Wooben (I thought he was asking me if I wanted a Reuben sandwich and maybe had a speech impediment) which is really Woburn…no wonder we couldn’t find it on the map. Good thing we don’t have to speak to Jill (Well, we do, but thank God, she can’t hear us! I hope!)
Since we were striking out in the Boston area, and we were going to America’s Stonehenge (betcha don’t know about that one!) the next day, we just decided to drive to Manchester, NH, and stay at a lovely (really – it was great!) Hampton Inn and Suites. We even had a fireplace in our room! And a kitchen and a couch! Too bad we were there for about 9 hours, most of which were spent in a deep slumber. We didn’t eat dinner (thanks to our tapas break) until after we got to Manchester. We ate at Bugaboo Creek (okay, it’s a chain, but it was close and open and nothing else was!) I had French Onion Soup (made with their ale) and lettuce wedge and a Maine blueberry mojito (really yummy!) and Kim had a chicken quesadilla. The restaurant was decorated in that north woods look, complete with a talking moose (over the mantel) and a flying squirrel that were not Rocky and Bullwinkle.
I had issues getting an internet connection so that’s one of my many excuses for being so late to post this blog entry!! But, true to Hampton form, they gave us a $25 gift certificate to Brookstone for the inconvenience. Can’t beat that with a stick.
After a great night’s sleep at Denise and David’s, we slept in for a little bit – a much overdue rest! Denise kindly agreed to accompany us today, and even better, she offered to be our tour guide and drive! We both got to take a break from our jobs as driver and navigator. Unfortunately, we practically had to unload the car to make room for a third person, since the SisMo was packed! In the process of taking things out, we discovered that we had had a leak of dishwashing liquid, which had dried over much of the back seat. I was afraid to put water to it, thinking we might get sudsed out in a scene similar to I Love Lucy or the Brady Bunch or something, so I just cleaned it off as best as I could with paper towels.
We made our way through Round Pond heading for US1, and in the process we passed an old cemetery that still had a doorway leading to a storage vault. Back before we had heavy equipment for grave-digging, it was often too cold for men to dig graves in the cold northern winters, so they stored caskets in these vaults until spring thawed the ground enough for digging. It’s amazing the things you learn on the back roads! We also passed some recycled metal sculptures, mostly in the yard of one man who either needs to start selling them or stop making them…
We were on our way to the world famous Moody’s Diner on Route 1 in Waldoboro, Maine, where we love their slogan – “When I get hungry, I get Moody’s!” We bought a sticker of that saying for Kim’s kids to give to her ex, since it fit’s him to a T! We had a fantastic breakfast there – Kim had her usual, I had eggs scrambled with lots of veggies and home fries, and Denise had some yummy looking blueberry pancakes. We loved the diner – it’s truly a Maine landmark, and it has a great gift shop.
Denise modeled a moose hat that was really funny – with her sunglasses on she reminded me of Bullwinkle! (Sorry Denise – it was too cute not to include in the pictures!)
From Moody’s we went to the Maine State Prison Store, in which inmates sell mostly wooden furniture, games, and functional pieces (salad bowls, cutting boards, bird houses, etc.) that they have made. The state prison is no longer there, having been torn down some years ago, but they did leave one concrete watch tower to commemorate the space. One of my all-time favorite movies, The Shawshank Redemption, was set there (but not filmed there). Of course, we all found something there that we couldn’t live without… We were impressed with the inmates who were working there, too – they were very well-mannered, helpful, and we could tell they were proud of their handiwork. Too bad all prisons aren’t teaching their residents great marketable skills while they are incarcerated.
Our next stop was the Owl’s Head Transportation Museum, which was HUGE and very cool. The very first exhibit we saw was a flying machine whose wings were completely made from bird feathers. There was a full scale model of the Wright Brothers plane that flew 120 feet at Kitty Hawk, NC, and then there were coaches, cars, bikes, and planes from every era. I loved the cute little midget car and the Red Baron’s plane, but that stylin’ Packard was my fave. After we finished looking at the exhibits, we all three got to ride in a Model T out behind the museum. Way cool!
We left Owl’s Head for Boothbay Harbor to the south, hoping for a game of candlepin bowling. We got to peer in the windows at the bowling lanes (the pins are really narrow, the balls are small and wooden, and you set your own pins) but the official summer season didn’t start in Maine until the next day. Rats! We drowned our sorrows in ice cream – homemade, no less! I had Maine Moose, Kim had Whoopie Pie, and Denise was good and had Mango sherbert. Ours was better, though! We wandered around the harbor a bit. Did I mention they make some of the best ever salt water taffy there? In the interest of truth in advertising, we all tried some so that we could assure you, our dearest readers, that it really is GOOD!
On the way back to Round Pond, we saw Miss Piggy, who changes clothes with the season. She and the rest of Maine are busily gearing up for the 4th of July, which Denise tells us is a big huge deal up in these parts. It was neat to see all of the bunting and flags up, as well as reading about all of the fun parades that were being planned. We just had to stop in at Edgecomb Pottery, ostensibly just to look. Ha! I bought jewelry and Kim bought pottery. Denise already has a good sampling of their gorgeous wares! Their stuff is really beautiful and so unique. We could have spent hours there, to say nothing of lots of dollars! After we left there, we stopped in to see some ostriches and fainting goats, and then we were off to King Ro’s to pick up some Moxie soda. King Ro’s is a great New England general store, with little bits of everything. Their gas pumps are old and don’t go to $4 (too bad gasoline does!) so they just make the price half of what it really is and then they post a note saying to double the total. Ya gotta love it! I’d like to see them try that in Durham!
Back at the house, I took some time to download and back up pictures while Kim and Denise went down to the dock to look at starfish. I wish we had a picture that would do them justice, but we don’t. Kim reports they were of all colors and sizes and that there were hundreds of them! Denise said that they had not ever seen them until they built the bridge out to the dock. Just believe us when we all say they are so fascinating! Before we left for dinner, Kim and I bravely tested our Moxie and then gave the rest to Braxton, who happily guzzled it down. He is more of a man than we are!
We were going to Shaw’s for an early lobster dinner, but first we stopped by the Pemaquid Lighthouse. It is so picturesque, and the rocks of the shoreline were unbelievable. You can almost see geology in action, as there are layers of sedimentary rocks alternating with metamorphic rocks.
We stopped by the grocery store where Wyche works so that he would know to join us for dinner, and then we were off to Shaw’s where several lobsters there were swimming their last. Great onion rings, a cold Cape Cod, and succulent, fresh lobster, a beautiful view overlooking the water, and friends to share with – what more could we ask for?
When we left Shaw’s, it had started raining pretty hard, but this couple was oblivious to the fact that everyone else had moved indoors. Ah, love and lobster!
After we got back to the house, Kim and I took Tess down to the docks for a last look at the starfish. It was the perfect ending to a wonderful weekend in Maine. Thanks, Denise and David, for your wonderful southern hospitality and Maine knowledge, and for opening your stupendous home to us!
Belated greetings from the coast of Maine, even though I’m writing from the coast (sorry, SHORE) of New Jersey. Apologies for getting so far behind, and we appreciate your patience. Good things come to those who wait!
The first day of summer started for us about 1 AM as we loudly creaked our way up the stairs of the Sugar Hill Inn in Franconia, NH. We were so lucky to have stumbled upon this great inn! It was so old that the floors slanted downhill and the doorways were too short for Rex to have fit through. We were in the Blue Room, which as you may have astutely deduced was decorated in shades of blue. The bathrooms in this old inn have been remodeled and renewed, so we were treated to wonderful showers. We got to sleep in a little bit (until 7:15) since breakfast was not served until 8. We got there about 8:10 and found that Joey, Kathy, Jean, and Keith were already there and Jean and Keith did go for their morning run! We were impressed with their diligence and discipline, especially since we kept them up partying until way after their bedtimes! Not only that, we were jealous, because they saw a moose on their run. We still have not seen a real live one yet.
However, we did have a little excitement at breakfast. We had finished our meal of fresh strawberries and blueberries, a blueberry muffin, eggs scrambled with cheddar cheese, bacon, and home fries when Alan called out, “There’s a bear!” We all looked to see where he was pointing, and it was at the house across the street. And when I say at the house, I mean the bear was up on the front porch looking like it was ringing the doorbell! It was a good sized black bear, and when no one came to the door, it went around the house and came out on the other side and headed across the yard to the woods. Not an everyday occurrence for us! We said our goodbyes to everyone and pointed the car in the direction of Mt. Washington and the famous Cog Railway. As usual, we had intended to be there when the first train ran at 9 AM, but since we didn’t leave until about 9:30, that wasn’t happening. In addition, we foolishly left the directions to Jill, who told us we were there when we were still miles away…
As you know, though, we are resourceful and able to read maps (perhaps better than the people who program GPS systems) so we pulled in the parking lot about 10:30, in plenty of time to catch the 11:00 train. The ride takes about 3 hours in all, which includes a twenty minute stop at the top of Mt. Washington, home to some of the worst weather in the world. In fact, the highest wind speeds ever recorded were there – 231 mph!! Mt. Washington is in the Presidential Range, and it’s the second highest mountain east of the Mississippi (NC’s Mt. Mitchell is the highest). The Appalachian Trail runs along the ridge to the summit, so it was funny to see hikers taking pictures of us on the train as we took pictures of them. We each probably thought the other was crazy.
What was really crazy was that there was a road race going on that morning, too, which was just ending as we approached the peak. Believe it or not, LOTS of people actually ran up the road from the bottom to the top of Mt. Washington! They are the really insane ones! There they were in their shorts and sleeveless tanks while everyone on the train was putting on their fleeces and jackets. And no telling how long they’d been running! The Cog Railway is really something. It goes up the opposite side of Mt. Washington as the road, and the train is powered by coal. On the way up, a locomotive pushes the train and it runs on a cog system. On the way down, gravity takes over and the brakeman earns his keep. You’ll have to check out all the details at http://www.cog-railway.com/.
It was after two when we left Mt. Washington, headed for Maine. Not being quick learners, we again let Jill do her thing. Big mistake. An hour later, we might have gone 15 or 20 miles, but at least we were on the right track.
We didn’t have much of an agenda for the rest of the day – we wanted to see the famous Lynchville, Maine, signpost and we wanted to get where we were going by about 7 PM. Could we make it??? When we were just stopping for lunch at 3 o’clock (and finding almost everything closed) and we were STILL in New Hampshire, it was beginning to look like we would not make it all the way across Maine to the coast.
For heaven’s sake, we couldn’t even get out of New Hampshire and we were maybe 50 miles from the border at most to begin with! We were in Gorham, and thankfully found a small café that was still serving. SALT was in the basement/bottom floor of a building that used to be a bank, and it was really cool. The nicest young man served us, and Kim had a chicken sandwich with roasted tomatoes and lettuce on delicious looking bread, and I had a chorizo meatloaf with pepper jack cheese sandwich, also on very tasty homemade bread. For dessert we split a whoopie pie, which was two cakey chocolate cookies (big ones) with buttercream frosting in between them and homemade toffee bits on the edges of the frosting that were showing. YUM!! The toffee was so good we got a piece to go!
Soon after we got back on the road, we crossed the border into Maine. One thing we have noticed on this trip, as well as our other road trips, is that we can almost tell when we’ve passed from one state to another even without ‘Welcome to….” signs. It’s like they each have a very distinct personality and geography. The road we were on (Route 2) was extremely bumpy and clearly suffered from many harsh winters. We were a bit leery about getting off of this ‘good’ road onto a smaller one, but that’s how we had to go to see what we wanted to see. As it turned out, the smaller road was just fine and in much better shape. Before long, we passed a yard with lots of interesting yard art and a man out working in it. We were reminded of John (on Route 66 last year) and we thought about stopping to chat with him, but we didn’t.
Until we noticed the signpost in the corner of his yard – STOP!!! We found a place to park not too far down the road and came back for some photo ops. We found out that the owner of the property was from London, and even though he’s been in country for 16 years, he still sounded like an East Ender. We asked him how that happened, and he laughed and said he didn’t want to sound like an American!
Back on the highway, we were on a mission to get to Round Pond. We bypassed ice cream and only stopped to take a picture of Red’s Eats in Wiscasset, and by some minor miracle, we pulled into Denise and David’s driveway (which is a mile long!) just a little after seven. Friends from Durham who have recently built a dream vacation home in Maine, Denise and David were so kind to offer us a place to stay for a couple of days. I can’t begin to describe how beautiful and well thought out their ‘cottage’ (aka, palatial home) right on the rocky coast is! Besides being huge and wonderfully planned, it is decorated perfectly. Not one detail was overlooked that I could see, and our room was looking so comfortable and inviting it was all I could do to not crawl into bed and snuggle under. Except for one thing – dinner and music!
We took off for Schooner Landing where some friends of David and Denise’s were playing in a trio there that night. The Horseshoe Crabs were great and the food was mighty good, too! I had fresh fried oysters, just pulled out of the water out back of the restaurant that day, a baked potato, and cole slaw. Kim had broiled haddock, a salad, and garlic chive mashed potatoes. Worth driving all day for! We listened to the music for a while longer, and then made our way back to the house. I spent a while downloading and backing up photos, and then it was bedtime. Let me just say right now that Denise wins the prize for best bed, best shower, and best house right now. Kim and I give her a five or ten star rating! And she was worried about being one of our curiosities! We told her the only thing curious about her was that she invited us to stay with her, but we are so glad and grateful that she did.
After a semi-restful night’s sleep in the Wood Loft, we were up early as the sun came streaming in our double garage door windows. We were just happy it was sunshine and not rain that was streaming in! We dressed without showering (in the spring water shower that shared accommodations with the ‘efficient composting toilet’), gathered up our things, and started trudging down the very muddy path to our car. The party had lasted until about 4:30 AM; needless to say, no one else was stirring.
The remains of our steak dinner and all of the wine glasses were still sitting where theyhad been left the night (morning?) before. Mickey had told us he’d be at the office by 7:00, but breakfast wasn’t until 9:00. We didn’t feel like sticking around that long, so we planned to meet him in the office to settle up. What a shocker that neither he nor anyone else was there at about 7:50…We amused ourselves by getting online and posting yesterday’s message. About 8:15, Bill and Barbara appeared so we paid our bill (our most expensive lodging bill to date by FAR) and left without our “hearty breakfast” – we were afraid it might have been more homemade wine! At lunch time!
As we drove down the gravel road in search of the interstate, we laughed about the whole experience, and once we got on the highway, we noticed how normal the woods on either side of the road looked. We will never think those are just woods from now on! You’d be amazed at what is hiding in almost plain sight…
We were on our way to the town of LeRoy and the Jell-O Museum, and we vowed to stop at our first opportunity for breakfast (and a bathroom with a flushing toilet!). Sadly, that didn’t come for quite a while. We stopped in Fillmore and ate a delicious breakfast at Friends and Family Restaurant. Other than the fact that their iced tea tasted more like coffee than tea, the food was tasty! Kim had scrambled eggs and sausage; I had a Scramblemelt, which was eggs scrambled with onions, peppers, and mushrooms and topped with cheese and tomatoes. It was served with home fries (good) and whole wheat toast (which Kim ate). The locals there were very friendly and told us which way they would go to get to LeRoy. They seemed to know we were not from around there. And did I mention our total bill was $6?
It was an uneventful ride to LeRoy, which was a very picturesque little town. We could really tell which towns had been prosperous and which had not… LeRoy surely benefitted from the invention of Jell-O in 1897, and even though the manufacturing plant has been in Dover, Delaware for quite some time now, the town is still capitalizing on it. The Jell-O Museum was full of fun facts and great advertising, which has been the secret to Jell-O’s success. We had fun there, and our tour guide, Caroline, was so nice and helpful. Downstairs was a transportation museum, which featured everything from an ox cart to a 1908 Cadillac. It was a great display as well. We enjoyed our jaunt to LeRoy, but we were off in search of our next fun time.
Rochester is probably best known for George Eastman and the Rochester Institute of Technology, but since the Eastman House was closed on Monday, our destination was the Strong National Museum of Play. Boy, did we have fun! It’s home to a carousel made just down the road at the Herschell Carousel company in North Towanda, Dancing Wings, a butterfly house, and the National Toy Hall of Fame. Kids of all ages were having so much fun with the mostly interactive exhibits there. We ate lunch at the Skyliner Diner (there is one in the museum) and had fantastic burgers. It poured down rain while we were at play, so it didn’t bother us at all! We found out later (once we got to our hotel room) that there had been severe weather going on around us – a fierce hail storm and possibly a tornado. We were glad we missed those!
We had no problems leaving Rochester, but we were surprised to cross the Erie Canal. We turned off to see if we could get right near it, and we could by crossing a one-lane steel bottom bridge. Unfortunately, there was a good bit of traffic over that bridge, so we couldn’t get a great photo from the bridge. We also realized we had likely missed our chance to see Lake Ontario…
Our next stop was Ganondagan State Historic Site, which has a replica of a Seneca Longhouse. We were sadly surprised to see that the park was closed on Mondays, so we couldn’t go inside the longhouse. We were able to walk down to it, so we walked off a bite or two of our burgers. It was our second walk of the day, since we had had to hike our way out of Pollywogg Holler.
By this time, we were pretty worn out and it was almost five, so we just headed for our Hampton (I can’t tell you how excited we are to be staying in a Hampton!!!) and the beautiful Finger Lakes. After I crashed for an hour and Kim enjoyed a hot shower (our Pollywogg night had caught up with us) we took off walking through the streets of Geneva in search of food. We found it at Parker’s Grill and Taproom, where we had a light supper of Harvest Soup and a house salad followed by an ice cream cone on the lake. Yum. We watched the almost full moon rise over the lake and wondered if the fish were biting. We talked to a neat young man with dreads who biked out on the pier where we were having our ice cream. He had a guitar with him and was very friendly. Later on, as we were walking back to the hotel, we passed him again, only this time he was riding his bike while singing and playing the guitar. Now that’s talent! We’ve enjoyed watching our first TV since we left home, although we were sad to see how bad the flooding in the midwest is and we were very thankful that it was last year’s trip that took us to that part of the country.
