We've been on a road trip which has included bbq, a wedding, family and friend visits, and golf. We left on 10/8 and the first stop was Kansas City, Mo. We stopped at Arthur Bryant's BBQ (the king of bbq founded in the 1920's) We tried pulled pork, ribs, and 'burnt' ends. They also had 3 sauces. I liked the burnt ends the best and the spicy sauce. The original sauce was good too but very different (kind of like liquefied spices). We went from there to Columbia, Mo. for the night. We arrived at Gma's house the next afternoon for a couple of days. She kept us busy with some yard work, trimming, doc appts. and of course a trip to the New Riegel Cafe. These have always been our favorite ribs and they still are even after eating ribs in Kansas City.
We went to Newark on Friday to Molly and Beau's wedding. It was a great weekend and a wonderful wedding. They were married in a restored theatre which was beautiful. We could walk everywhere and also went to an arboretum for a walk with Mike's brother's wife Jane who we haven't seen in probably 30 years.
After the wedding we were back at Gma's for a couple nights and then headed to Pa. We stopped at Matt and Tiffany's house which was beautiful. We got the tour of the house and grounds and went to a great tapas/beer place. The house is unique, beautiful and the trees and views were wonderful. We pulled into Arlene's place that evening. I don't seem to be taking many pictures this trip and wish I had been taking them now. The leaves in Ohio weren't quite ready yet but the leaves in Pa. were beautiful. It was a really pretty drive to Ebensburg to see Gma C. We don't know if she really knew who we were but she was a little more responsive the second two days. She even read a few words from some of her cards. After seeing Arlene (Thanks again Ar), Gram, and the Messina's (it was fun seeing Joe, Ben, Matt, and meeting Cate and seeing Al and John) we headed back toward Pittsburgh and spent an evening with Nick, Leann, Noah, and Samantha. Noah's baseball game was fun too.
Saturday morn (10/19) we drove to Canton and spent the night with Mike. We went to the Gervasi winery ( a 55 acre estate/former farm)which was absolutely beautiful. The pictures below don't do it justice. It was strange seeing rows of grapes in Canton. They aren't quite old enough to make wine with yet. It seemed like we were in Sonoma/Napa. We had wine/tapas in the Crush House. We again reconnected with some old friends we hadn't seen in over 25 years.
The next morning we left early (10/20) and drove all the way to Alabama. I would have liked to stop in Cincinnati (always heard their chili was great). We passed thru Louisville, Nashville and played the old game we usually play when somebody in the car is hungry (reading off the names of places to eat while zooming by). Val, Ty, and Mere will remember the game................ I would have liked to stop at Mammoth Cave NP but the goal was to get to Florence, AL. We did have a great meal at The City Hardware (crab cakes and shrimp and grits).
The fall colors haven't reached Alabama yet (do they ever?). Maybe it never gets cold enough. Are we getting older?? - road trips, visiting old friends, food tour??? We've had a good time.......and the drive hasn't been that bad. We've listen to two audio books - 1 good, 1 very fair, and attempted one. We are saving one the the return trip.
Look for the next post - today we're hitting the RTJ trail for a couple of rounds of golf today and tomorrow before heading to Memphis for some more BBQ (one of Arn's dream's/bucket list - RTJ and Rendevous BBQ). | |
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