Happy Birthday Denny, 63, ain’t bad for a guy that looks as good as you do!!!!
The four of us left Mark’s house and headed north. We went to Kohler to eat lunch at the Kohler American Club. We split an order of nachos, Mark remarked that the order was much less than the there order we saw at another table. We all joined in, pretty good although the bottom of the plate had lots of small broke chips. Michelle and Mark split a Ruben, I also had a Ruben and Shirleen had a three cheese beer soup. The Rubens were made by using two pieces of dark rye and layered with sliced corn beef grilled with a dab of sauerkraut and thousand island dressing on it, when heated through, the two pieces are flipped on each other and cut. Then they are stacked on each other with a toothpick and olive on top.
We then toured the rest of the hotel and saw the other restaurant. The hotel is a five star; don’t know who counted them, and a good restaurant. The head chef has a six course meal for 80$ with wine 130$. The menu looked really good and top shelf.
Kohler has a show room of its products. We saw many toilets, bathtubs, kitchens and room displays. They also make portable standby gas engines and air conditioning. If you are in the area it is a must to see.
We went back to the house and sat down and rested for a while. We got home and got an unexpected call from Joe. He is on 30 hour leave and Mary, Dan, Em and Luke are down there. We had a nice conversation. He has four weeks left, then two weeks of clean-up. He then waits for an opening in the airborne after which he will be deployed to Washington DC.
We then decided to go out to eat. We went close by, I settled for the Weissgerber’s Gasthaus Inn in Waukesha. It is part of a number of restaurants owned by this family. We had a couple steins of Maibock Spaten beer from Munich, Shirleen her cabernet. We passed on the onion rings and the kids had aa prime rib, Shirleen a petite filet and I Wiener Schnitzel with spaetzels with a nice blend of string beans and thinly sliced carrots. Good food, recommended. When Mark G and his family were with us here years ago, Danielle slept on the floor by the table. jerr
Saturday, April 7, 2007
Friday, April 6, 2007
April 6 Friday Day 40 tonight staying in Brookfield WI – Hampton Inn free nights
Visited Mark and Priscilla at their home in Round Lake IL. We arrived right on time. Priscilla is in the middle of a graduation blanket for her granddaughter, she is able to use her new computer guided sewing machine. She has embroidered neat animals on the corners of the squares. One of the squares has a picture of her, when young, and it is five generations. Not many can hit that. It is a pretty pink colored boarder around the squares. Mark has a nice brand new Harley!! Who said second childhood? But what a nice rumble when he lights it off. We ate at The Whistle Stop in Fox Lake, another railroad memorabilia stuffed restaurant. It had most sizes of model rail along with some life size elements. Shirleen had warm grilled bacon ham cheese sandwich, Priscilla a Ruben, Mark a crispy chicken salad, as the Mahi Mahi was frozen, I a home style ham and cheese omelet with crispy hash browns and English muffin. We came back to there house and looked at the emerging hosta’s, looked at his thoughts on the stream alongside of the house.
Off for Brookfield, we took highway 45, the countryside road. We got to Walgreen’s right as she was getting off. Off to her house we went for our upcoming fish fry. Mark had found a new place for us to try. Turned out it was The New Fox & Hounds Restaurant around Holy Hill WI, half hour or so from their place. The restaurant had been shut down for some time and now has new owners. We started off with beverages, Shirleen’s house cabernet, Mark and I bloody Mary’s and a schnit of beer, and Michelle had a large glass of water. We ordered their sliced deep fried onions and a nice ranch dressing. The cod used in their fish fry were thick pieces, fur of them, almost more than I can eat, accompanied by fries. Michelle had a ribeye steak. All were pleased with the food, service was slow but, there were many many people there.
More tomorrow. jerr
Off for Brookfield, we took highway 45, the countryside road. We got to Walgreen’s right as she was getting off. Off to her house we went for our upcoming fish fry. Mark had found a new place for us to try. Turned out it was The New Fox & Hounds Restaurant around Holy Hill WI, half hour or so from their place. The restaurant had been shut down for some time and now has new owners. We started off with beverages, Shirleen’s house cabernet, Mark and I bloody Mary’s and a schnit of beer, and Michelle had a large glass of water. We ordered their sliced deep fried onions and a nice ranch dressing. The cod used in their fish fry were thick pieces, fur of them, almost more than I can eat, accompanied by fries. Michelle had a ribeye steak. All were pleased with the food, service was slow but, there were many many people there.
More tomorrow. jerr
Thursday, April 5, 2007
April 5 Thursday Day 39 tonight staying in Gurnee IL – Comfort Inn free night
Happy Birthday Emily, my my how you have aged!! Love jerr/Shirleen
``` if you read this before 9:41 I added many things.
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Well the road warriors got out of the gate about 11 am, as that would be 10 am in the time zone we would sleep in tonight. Maumee was a place I had been in my Hubbard travels, we visited the Andersons and looked at how they applied fat and vitamins to their dog food. In order to save the hard cash we had left and no ATM withdraw, we took off on highway 20. as we traveled down the Ohio highway I noticed a sign that may not have been appropriate for Easter time – For Sale Bunnies, dead or alive. What else can I say, don’t eat the brown eggs.
Time for lunch, we thought we would eat heavy this afternoon and picked our favorite restaurant in Middlebury Indiana, Das Dutchman Essenhaus. We have eaten there with the family in the old days and Michelle has dragged Mark Karbo there also. They now have two ways of dining, by the menu or family style. We picked family style so we could pig out for the day. All you can eat broasted chicken, really really good; mashed potatoes, noodles, gravy and green beans topped off by a dessert of 29 assorted pies. Of course I even had one and what did I do but ordered one that cost an extra 75cents, had I known that I would have done differently, mine was a apple turnover, Shirleen’s a chocolate, peanut butter, banana pie – she said it was just scrumptious. I said I have never heard her say there was a bad dessert. They have really added to the place, besides all the craft stuff they have a conference center. We looked through the gift shop. Shirleen found some cute aprons. Upon closer inspection she saw they were made in china for Walmart, someone didn’t check there tags closely!! On their placemats is the following, the same comment we heard yesterday at Lancaster. Amish country, we will do our best to offer you the hospitality that reflects our own conviction that God desires all of His creation to live in harmony. That is what our guide yester said about their deire to live in harmony. The following prayer was also included.
Give thanks for the fullness
Of days spent together,
The friends that we pray
Will be with us forever,
The feelings we’ve shared,
The food and good fun,
With faith that God’s blessings
Have only begun.
We got gas in LaPorte IN, that is also where we got off the right highway but after a couple of turn around’s we got back on to an acceptable highway, not the one we had planned on. We then worked through Gary Indiana and saw a Schugel truck. We avoided the tolls by going up a nice highway 90/94 but soon realized we would be diverted to a detour and we know what can happen then. We followed the directions explicitly and survived the downtown Chicago in the middle of rush hour. At least it is not as bad as one time before when we traversed it at 5 on a Friday.
We followed the directions to the Comfort Inn at least four times, finally found it, we took another free night, sixth one since we left home.
We light dinner this evening, at Max & Erma’s in Gurnee. A couple of wines a Fetzer cab and Sutter merlot for me. We split an order of Nacho’s, I got the sour cream and avocado with the salsa. Not bad, our waitress had the highest pitched voice we have ever heard, bet she could hit the high notes easily. jerr
``` if you read this before 9:41 I added many things.
````````
Well the road warriors got out of the gate about 11 am, as that would be 10 am in the time zone we would sleep in tonight. Maumee was a place I had been in my Hubbard travels, we visited the Andersons and looked at how they applied fat and vitamins to their dog food. In order to save the hard cash we had left and no ATM withdraw, we took off on highway 20. as we traveled down the Ohio highway I noticed a sign that may not have been appropriate for Easter time – For Sale Bunnies, dead or alive. What else can I say, don’t eat the brown eggs.
Time for lunch, we thought we would eat heavy this afternoon and picked our favorite restaurant in Middlebury Indiana, Das Dutchman Essenhaus. We have eaten there with the family in the old days and Michelle has dragged Mark Karbo there also. They now have two ways of dining, by the menu or family style. We picked family style so we could pig out for the day. All you can eat broasted chicken, really really good; mashed potatoes, noodles, gravy and green beans topped off by a dessert of 29 assorted pies. Of course I even had one and what did I do but ordered one that cost an extra 75cents, had I known that I would have done differently, mine was a apple turnover, Shirleen’s a chocolate, peanut butter, banana pie – she said it was just scrumptious. I said I have never heard her say there was a bad dessert. They have really added to the place, besides all the craft stuff they have a conference center. We looked through the gift shop. Shirleen found some cute aprons. Upon closer inspection she saw they were made in china for Walmart, someone didn’t check there tags closely!! On their placemats is the following, the same comment we heard yesterday at Lancaster. Amish country, we will do our best to offer you the hospitality that reflects our own conviction that God desires all of His creation to live in harmony. That is what our guide yester said about their deire to live in harmony. The following prayer was also included.
Give thanks for the fullness
Of days spent together,
The friends that we pray
Will be with us forever,
The feelings we’ve shared,
The food and good fun,
With faith that God’s blessings
Have only begun.
We got gas in LaPorte IN, that is also where we got off the right highway but after a couple of turn around’s we got back on to an acceptable highway, not the one we had planned on. We then worked through Gary Indiana and saw a Schugel truck. We avoided the tolls by going up a nice highway 90/94 but soon realized we would be diverted to a detour and we know what can happen then. We followed the directions explicitly and survived the downtown Chicago in the middle of rush hour. At least it is not as bad as one time before when we traversed it at 5 on a Friday.
We followed the directions to the Comfort Inn at least four times, finally found it, we took another free night, sixth one since we left home.
We light dinner this evening, at Max & Erma’s in Gurnee. A couple of wines a Fetzer cab and Sutter merlot for me. We split an order of Nacho’s, I got the sour cream and avocado with the salsa. Not bad, our waitress had the highest pitched voice we have ever heard, bet she could hit the high notes easily. jerr
Wednesday, April 4, 2007
April 4 Wednesday Day 38 tonight staying in Maumee – Toledo Ohio – Comfort Inn
Light snowing yesterday Wednesday! Think we are back home.
Woke up this morning and there is snow on the car, must be warm enough as it slid off the car.
Not much to say about today as we are on the toll road and very little cash left and we don't like to use the ATM. We have seen six J&R Schugel trucks on the road today. Most in central Pennsylvania. A Viessman tanker from North Mankato/Gary SD also spotted. In between I wrote the last two days blogs. For lunch we had a Norton all beef hotdog from a service center on the tollway. Norton weenies are from New York City supposedly the best! They were good, I burped them up for hours, for some reason Shirleen does not? jerr
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What did we have for dinner, almost forgot it. When you eat at the Olive Garden, it is easy to forget because we do it so often. Shirleen’s cabernet and pizza with Roma tomatoes, onions, pepperoni, and mushroom. She ate half of it. I had one of there new dishes, Wow was it good, Crab Alfredo Venezia begins with tender snow crab in a creamy seafood Alfredo sauce, served over spaghetti that is tossed with fresh spinach and diced Roma tomatoes. Recipe right off their website. The perfect accompaniment to this dish is Olive Garden’s Principato Rosato, a light-bodied blush wine. I followed the suggested wine, so so. They will have this dish through April 8th.
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Seeing that we are road warriors now and not traditional gypsies I will try and define some things I have written and others I have not because of time. The word antebellum was used when we toured Charleston, truthfully I had no clue what it meant. Someone mentioned the meaning and I looked up the following in Answers.com and here is what I found.
Ante Bellum
Before the war. Usually used to describe the United States before the U.S. Civil War (1861-65). Typically spelled antebellum in English.
Antebellum is a Latin word meaning "before war" (ante means before and bellum war). In United States history and historiography, the term antebellum is often used to refer to the period of increasing sectionalism leading to the American Civil War, instead of the term "pre-Civil War". In that context, the Antebellum Period began with the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, or could be set as early as 1812. Sometimes it is called the Old South.
Romanticism
There was a land of Cavaliers and Cotton Fields called the Old South. Here in this pretty world, Gallantry took its last bow. Here was the last ever to be seen of Knights and their Ladies Fair, of Master and of Slave. Look for it only in books, for it is no more than a dream remembered, a Civilization gone with the wind...
— From the opening of the film Gone with the Wind (1939)
I again thought why have I not remembered what the word meant. Of course, we in the north do not relive the civil war as those of southern extraction. We saw many confederate rebel battle flag, the typical large red with the blue banner from corner to corner with 13 stars in the blue field. It ain’t dead yet. Jerr
Maybe more to come today??
Woke up this morning and there is snow on the car, must be warm enough as it slid off the car.
Not much to say about today as we are on the toll road and very little cash left and we don't like to use the ATM. We have seen six J&R Schugel trucks on the road today. Most in central Pennsylvania. A Viessman tanker from North Mankato/Gary SD also spotted. In between I wrote the last two days blogs. For lunch we had a Norton all beef hotdog from a service center on the tollway. Norton weenies are from New York City supposedly the best! They were good, I burped them up for hours, for some reason Shirleen does not? jerr
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What did we have for dinner, almost forgot it. When you eat at the Olive Garden, it is easy to forget because we do it so often. Shirleen’s cabernet and pizza with Roma tomatoes, onions, pepperoni, and mushroom. She ate half of it. I had one of there new dishes, Wow was it good, Crab Alfredo Venezia begins with tender snow crab in a creamy seafood Alfredo sauce, served over spaghetti that is tossed with fresh spinach and diced Roma tomatoes. Recipe right off their website. The perfect accompaniment to this dish is Olive Garden’s Principato Rosato, a light-bodied blush wine. I followed the suggested wine, so so. They will have this dish through April 8th.
```````
Seeing that we are road warriors now and not traditional gypsies I will try and define some things I have written and others I have not because of time. The word antebellum was used when we toured Charleston, truthfully I had no clue what it meant. Someone mentioned the meaning and I looked up the following in Answers.com and here is what I found.
Ante Bellum
Before the war. Usually used to describe the United States before the U.S. Civil War (1861-65). Typically spelled antebellum in English.
Antebellum is a Latin word meaning "before war" (ante means before and bellum war). In United States history and historiography, the term antebellum is often used to refer to the period of increasing sectionalism leading to the American Civil War, instead of the term "pre-Civil War". In that context, the Antebellum Period began with the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, or could be set as early as 1812. Sometimes it is called the Old South.
Romanticism
There was a land of Cavaliers and Cotton Fields called the Old South. Here in this pretty world, Gallantry took its last bow. Here was the last ever to be seen of Knights and their Ladies Fair, of Master and of Slave. Look for it only in books, for it is no more than a dream remembered, a Civilization gone with the wind...
— From the opening of the film Gone with the Wind (1939)
I again thought why have I not remembered what the word meant. Of course, we in the north do not relive the civil war as those of southern extraction. We saw many confederate rebel battle flag, the typical large red with the blue banner from corner to corner with 13 stars in the blue field. It ain’t dead yet. Jerr
Maybe more to come today??
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
April 3 Tuesday Day 37 tonight staying in Hershey PA – Comfort Inn
As you noticed last night I had changed plans. Now we are 20 miles south of our northern based next sight. We had thought about going up to Lancaster county and this gave uas that opportunity. So back up through DC around Baltimore (Bemo) and off into the countryside of Pennsylvania to Lancaster. This is known as the Dutch region but actually it is Deutsch as they came from Germany but the people mispronounced the name therefore the Dutch. We had heard at the boarder that there was a working train and it ran everyday. We headed to the Strasburg Rail Road since 1832. When we arrived we could buy tickets for the next ride. We opted for a diner car where, you guessed it, they were serving lunch. What a beauty it was, an old coal burner locomotive designated as a 2-10-0 wheel configuration, cars that reminded me of the Durango Silverton cars of olde. The diner was a reconstructed parlor car to diner specifications. Lead windows, mahogany wood interiors, mahogany heavy chairs and table, set with linen. The conductor came through in his suit and collected tickets. The waitress took our order for a pork, potato and gravy meal. I ate one and a half orders. As we slowly went the nine miles we looked over the rolling countryside. Amish with there horse and plow, another with a horse and disk, waving to the train as we passed. We topped at a crossing and blew the steam whistle and heard the answering call of the olde number 6 answering us, it had ran those tracks many years before and has never been seen but can be heard. At the end they unhook the engine and attach it for our pull back. What an enchanting ride. Our second train ride of this year. I found a railroad hobby shop and bought a couple of old horse and buggy, buggy pieces for the HO set of mine. We drove through the town of Strasburg and enjoyed the well kept old brick, stone and wood houses. We saw a double towered Queen Ann’s house, first one we think we have ever seen.
Now to The Amish Farm and House built in 1850, it is an authentic working farm. We again took the guided tour, which included the house. The tour started in 10 minutes so off to the gift shop we went. Well who do I spy? The Danish couple from yesterday, of course in my normal bashful manner I went over and re-introduced myself, he had a pleasant smile on his face and we shook hands and marveled on how we could pass through the same small area of the world again. We also met his daughter. It turns out he is an educator and is off for two weeks visiting her. This was a most pleasant experience again to meet them 132 miles from the last spot.
The lady giving the tour was not Amish but had lived in the community with them since childhood. Her insight was helpful. She said that there were 26,000 Amish in Lancaster County. We first heard about the way the community holds there Sunday church services. It is held every second Sunday at one of the ten families in there small area. The males sit on one side with the oldest in the first spot behind them would be the children with their fathers behind them. On the other side the same setup would take place. They read from the Old Testament and say prayers fro upwards of three hours. After that they serve a light lunch and play games and talk. The Amish feel that it is most important for family to be together, so all there activities are based on that precept. We discussed the austere furnishings, clothing design and uses. No pictures but a calendar in each room, only other wall adornment was a picture frame with the family and children’s birthday and some fancy dish plate. Upon their death the body is kept in the house dressed in white and viewed by the community. It is horse drawn to the cemetery and buried in the next available spot not in a family grouping. A quick mentioning about marriage. The service is performed in there normal dress, nothing white or different. Two meals are provided by the parents for all who attend upwards of 400. We then walked through the farm, an old lady was woking on a quilt in one barn and a wood carver was working on some spoons. We went in to look at his work. He had many rooster and chicken carvings, probably because they are in the farm yard. I asked do you see the rooster in the twig and just cut away the wood from it? He said yes, and picked up a thin twig and said look on page eight of this book and read the 10 lessons of good wood carving. Each said Always use a sharp knife blade. He whittled out a little flower from the twig he had in his hand and handed it to me. I thanked him and he was quickly off to someone who was really going to purchased something. Those people wanted him to autograph the two spoons they were buying. We finished the tour and said goodbye to the Danish friends, I gave him one of my calling cards, told him to think of us when he gets back home.
Saw two J & R Schugel trucks today one in Maryland and Pennsylvania, makes us feel close to home.
So off to dinner we go. Back in 2003 when we had a Corvette event at the Lodge we had intended to eat at the fancy dinning room. The following is from their website: The Circular Dining Room, located at THE HOTEL HERSHEY is famous for its elegant dining and unique setting. Here you will enjoy the finest classical cuisine, exquisite chocolate desserts, and impeccable service. Facing majestic gardens and tranquil reflecting pools, the Circular Dining Room is exceptional with its circular setting. Founder Milton S. Hershey made sure that the restaurant would have no corners. As a world traveler in the early twentieth century, he noted that if guests did not tip well they would be placed in a corner. "I do not want any corners," he said upon construction of the restaurant. Thus resulting in breathtaking and unobstructed views of the beautiful gardens and rolling hillside of Central Pennsylvania.
Dinner and Brunch Attire: Jackets required for gentlemen, dress or dress pants required for ladies. We should have read this before going over there. We had arrived at the Lodge to see the tulips; little did we forget that we re now in cool weather, no blossoms. We went through the gift shop and I tried to have Shirleen buy a cup that had chocolate spelled across the front of it but, she didn’t. I then went to the concierge to ask what the dress code was. It did not include peddle pushers. The gal said she was sorry. I said lets look into our suitcases and come up with something, she found a dress slack in the suitcase. I was able to borrow a sport coat for myself from the matra’de, cannot find the appropriate spelling, her name was Brenda,. We were seated and Matt, seemed like a new person – not much moxie, came and greeted us by name, because I had to give it to get the jacket. If we were in Europe we would have had the appropriate dress. We ordered two glasses of wine, never did get the names but Shirleen’s cabernet and my pinot noir. Good flavors, I have come to believe when the cost of the wine is more than 8$ you get a good house wine. Then came the bread, a chocolate cherry dark bred, sourdough and Italian bread accompanied by two butters, a real butter then a chocolate butter, really tasty, even for me. Shirleen ordered the following dinner:
Grilled Beef Filet, Truffled Dauphinoise Potatoes, Wilted Greens, Shallot Jus
And I the fish special of the day a fried firm white fish name unknown with fingerling potatoes with mixed fresh vegetables and a balsamic glaze.
The filet was not medium rare and for one of the few times, when asked by Brenda I told her that the steak was nt medium rare, she looked at it and agreed. She immediately said the dessert was on them and she would talk to the cook. When done we received the dessert menu and Shirleen ordered the:
“Chocolate Evolution”
A Tasting of Five Chocolates
38% - Milk Chocolate Timbale With Hawaiian Sea Salt
Peanut Brittle, Milk Chocolate Twigs
63% - Warm Crispy Chocolate Cake
70% - Dark Chocolate Sorbet, Port Reduction, Micro Mint
82% - Dark Chocolate Consommé
I would have liked to have ordered the Louie XIII shot for 146$ but, that was not offered. I ordered the chef’s cheese plate. I ordered the pecorino, a local hard cheese and a delicious local Maytag blue cheese. They also had a nice crispy bread cracker with bread – the bread I did not touch. Accompanying this was a fine raspberry jelly. Nice dessert. Well Shirleen’s was just scrumptious. Real peanuts in the brittle and the port reduction was an extract of chocolate diluted with water, not much there. The rest was great.
I also sent Mark three Flat Stanley’s for Danielle’s class with this one being the Capital in DC for. jerr
Now to The Amish Farm and House built in 1850, it is an authentic working farm. We again took the guided tour, which included the house. The tour started in 10 minutes so off to the gift shop we went. Well who do I spy? The Danish couple from yesterday, of course in my normal bashful manner I went over and re-introduced myself, he had a pleasant smile on his face and we shook hands and marveled on how we could pass through the same small area of the world again. We also met his daughter. It turns out he is an educator and is off for two weeks visiting her. This was a most pleasant experience again to meet them 132 miles from the last spot.
The lady giving the tour was not Amish but had lived in the community with them since childhood. Her insight was helpful. She said that there were 26,000 Amish in Lancaster County. We first heard about the way the community holds there Sunday church services. It is held every second Sunday at one of the ten families in there small area. The males sit on one side with the oldest in the first spot behind them would be the children with their fathers behind them. On the other side the same setup would take place. They read from the Old Testament and say prayers fro upwards of three hours. After that they serve a light lunch and play games and talk. The Amish feel that it is most important for family to be together, so all there activities are based on that precept. We discussed the austere furnishings, clothing design and uses. No pictures but a calendar in each room, only other wall adornment was a picture frame with the family and children’s birthday and some fancy dish plate. Upon their death the body is kept in the house dressed in white and viewed by the community. It is horse drawn to the cemetery and buried in the next available spot not in a family grouping. A quick mentioning about marriage. The service is performed in there normal dress, nothing white or different. Two meals are provided by the parents for all who attend upwards of 400. We then walked through the farm, an old lady was woking on a quilt in one barn and a wood carver was working on some spoons. We went in to look at his work. He had many rooster and chicken carvings, probably because they are in the farm yard. I asked do you see the rooster in the twig and just cut away the wood from it? He said yes, and picked up a thin twig and said look on page eight of this book and read the 10 lessons of good wood carving. Each said Always use a sharp knife blade. He whittled out a little flower from the twig he had in his hand and handed it to me. I thanked him and he was quickly off to someone who was really going to purchased something. Those people wanted him to autograph the two spoons they were buying. We finished the tour and said goodbye to the Danish friends, I gave him one of my calling cards, told him to think of us when he gets back home.
Saw two J & R Schugel trucks today one in Maryland and Pennsylvania, makes us feel close to home.
So off to dinner we go. Back in 2003 when we had a Corvette event at the Lodge we had intended to eat at the fancy dinning room. The following is from their website: The Circular Dining Room, located at THE HOTEL HERSHEY is famous for its elegant dining and unique setting. Here you will enjoy the finest classical cuisine, exquisite chocolate desserts, and impeccable service. Facing majestic gardens and tranquil reflecting pools, the Circular Dining Room is exceptional with its circular setting. Founder Milton S. Hershey made sure that the restaurant would have no corners. As a world traveler in the early twentieth century, he noted that if guests did not tip well they would be placed in a corner. "I do not want any corners," he said upon construction of the restaurant. Thus resulting in breathtaking and unobstructed views of the beautiful gardens and rolling hillside of Central Pennsylvania.
Dinner and Brunch Attire: Jackets required for gentlemen, dress or dress pants required for ladies. We should have read this before going over there. We had arrived at the Lodge to see the tulips; little did we forget that we re now in cool weather, no blossoms. We went through the gift shop and I tried to have Shirleen buy a cup that had chocolate spelled across the front of it but, she didn’t. I then went to the concierge to ask what the dress code was. It did not include peddle pushers. The gal said she was sorry. I said lets look into our suitcases and come up with something, she found a dress slack in the suitcase. I was able to borrow a sport coat for myself from the matra’de, cannot find the appropriate spelling, her name was Brenda,. We were seated and Matt, seemed like a new person – not much moxie, came and greeted us by name, because I had to give it to get the jacket. If we were in Europe we would have had the appropriate dress. We ordered two glasses of wine, never did get the names but Shirleen’s cabernet and my pinot noir. Good flavors, I have come to believe when the cost of the wine is more than 8$ you get a good house wine. Then came the bread, a chocolate cherry dark bred, sourdough and Italian bread accompanied by two butters, a real butter then a chocolate butter, really tasty, even for me. Shirleen ordered the following dinner:
Grilled Beef Filet, Truffled Dauphinoise Potatoes, Wilted Greens, Shallot Jus
And I the fish special of the day a fried firm white fish name unknown with fingerling potatoes with mixed fresh vegetables and a balsamic glaze.
The filet was not medium rare and for one of the few times, when asked by Brenda I told her that the steak was nt medium rare, she looked at it and agreed. She immediately said the dessert was on them and she would talk to the cook. When done we received the dessert menu and Shirleen ordered the:
“Chocolate Evolution”
A Tasting of Five Chocolates
38% - Milk Chocolate Timbale With Hawaiian Sea Salt
Peanut Brittle, Milk Chocolate Twigs
63% - Warm Crispy Chocolate Cake
70% - Dark Chocolate Sorbet, Port Reduction, Micro Mint
82% - Dark Chocolate Consommé
I would have liked to have ordered the Louie XIII shot for 146$ but, that was not offered. I ordered the chef’s cheese plate. I ordered the pecorino, a local hard cheese and a delicious local Maytag blue cheese. They also had a nice crispy bread cracker with bread – the bread I did not touch. Accompanying this was a fine raspberry jelly. Nice dessert. Well Shirleen’s was just scrumptious. Real peanuts in the brittle and the port reduction was an extract of chocolate diluted with water, not much there. The rest was great.
I also sent Mark three Flat Stanley’s for Danielle’s class with this one being the Capital in DC for. jerr
Monday, April 2, 2007
April 2 Monday Day 36 visited Washington DC staying in Lorton VA – Comfort Inn
Cherry Blossoms just beautiful. Walked down the Potomac with blossom pedals blowing in the air. Later - jerr
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April 2 Monday Day 36 visited Washington DC staying in Lorton VA – Comfort Inn
Our day was started at the U. S. National Arboretum in Washington DC outskirts. They house the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum of bonsai exhibit and it was striking; the oldest bonsai tree was started in 1785 and not over a foot tall. These old trees are usually conifers. There were many nicely trained trees, with varying ages to them, flowering azaleas and a variety of other trees. We were introduced to a display of stones, called Scholar’s Rocks traditional Chinese Gongshi displayed on an individually carved wooden base, in a ceramic container, or in a tray of sand. They can be called spirit stones or viewing stone. They are unusual stones, ideally shaped by natural forces, catching the essence of Earth’s life-energies.
We did a walk through some of the shorter paths as the area covers 454 acres. There were some big columns on a mound that came from the Capital building when it underwent a renovation years ago and never replaced back to the capital. There was a cherry blossom path to follow on the acreage, these turned out to be much larger than the Potomac trees these were big, well rounded and sitting by themselves in all there glory. As we were walking around the park we were passed by it turned out three young adults, I said to them, I knew we’d be passed up. One of the guys turned around and smiled and said, the race does not always go to the swiftest! We all laughed. Straggling behind but with this group was an older guy, in his 50’s, who was walking with them. When he caught up with us I ask him to walk along. He said that he had lost 100 pounds and walks the garden three to four times a week, Monday is his slow day – that was today, other days he keeps up with the kids.
Time for a quick snack. We were standing on the corner of 7th and Constitution with a puzzled look on our face. Along came this suited man and asked if we were lost? I said no, looking for a place to eat. I looked at his ID tag, he worked at the Federal Transportation Unit, added some creditability again. He sadi right us, I’d recommend it. It was the Potbelly Sandwich Works. Shirleen’s roast beef with chips and I with a cup of delicious chili and a, to die for - only as the easterners can make, a meatball sub and a coke. And off we were again. Looking for a map, Found a gal stationed in that area with maps, ended up she was out and also her buddy, so she gave us the one she usually keeps showing people where they are. I looked up and saw the U. S. Naval Log society and went in . a small room on the ground floor but an extensive Navy set-up beneath street level. Fun to walk through and think back.
So we footed it to our other intended stop in DC and that was the National Museum of the American Indian. For those who do not know, the stone that was used in this building was harvested from the Vetter quarry in Mankato over a 10 year period. The design of this building was flowing without square corners, except in the elevators. We waited for a guided tour. The gal was a Cherokee from around Oklahoma. She added an element of creditability throughout the tour. The exhibit covers all the Indian tribes of the Americas and Hawaii. It starts by showing their universe by presenting there Native beliefs, it moves to there Peoples centering on Native history, and there Lives focuses on contemporary Native life. It stresses the belief of the Indian in the careful nurturing of the Earth. She showed us the many different types of Indian dress, notably the women’s. The different uses of the hide, two sides or front and back of dress was from two deer sewn together; three sides or three hides like before but across the top was the third hide to make a shawl arrangement. Some adorned with elk’s teeth, rolled tobacco lids that would jangle, many with glass bead work and some with porcupine quills. They display figured art from 3,000 years ago, different forms of gold work and some compositional metals – copper, silver and gold. At the start of the tour we meet some people from Denmark and I chatted along the way with him. They had a daughter going to school in DC.
We also had time to take n the National Botanical Museum. It is quite the showcase. Again we waited for a guided tour. The beauty of the orchids again overtook us. Every once and a while we could feel rain, it was from, you guessed it, the automatic sprinkler system our taxes paid for. She said it worked as designed and included a shade system to decrease the amount of sunlight. We walked out through the new garden part and viewed another Chihuly art work, much like the one in Florida, many bulbs and elongated bulbs of from one to five feet long, piled in an old wooded green boat tied to the side of the pool. Off to the car we go.
Now we are off to the Cherry Blossoms just beautiful to view from the car along with a thousand other gawkier’s. We noticed we could park next to the trees. We got in line and after ten minutes we parked in the center of the tree area. It was fun to see families with children enjoying and playing amongst the trees and blossom pedals falling down, many others strolling hand in had. We walked down the Tidal Basin with blossom pedals blowing in the air. We took pictures with the Jefferson monument and cherry blossoms and us and the Jefferson and the cherry blossoms. We took more pictures of the blossoms, never could get enough. We were really lucky, the opening of the Cherry Blossom Festival opened two days before. The cultivar of cherry tree is the gifted one from Japan, Yoshino. As we left, where we were waiting to get in had grown to block after block of waiting people.
Now off to dinner. We had seen a The Capital Grill on our walk back to the car, could we find it again? With Shirleen’s innate guiding ability we parked right in front of it. We sat at a bar table, much like the full dinning room but without table linens. We grabbed a couple of waters, which I guzzled down quickly and two house cabernets which turned out to be pleasant, bill said they were: Yalumba Y Series of varietal wines express the lively personality and colourful 150-year history of the Hill Smith family of Yalumba, Australia's oldest family owned winery. These are fresh and flavoursome fruit-driven wine styles of quality and consistency, highlighting the true regional character of South Australia's most renowned viticultural areas and confirming Yalumba's reputation as Australia's finest independent winemaker – from their website. We mixed and matched something together, a spinach salad with warm sweet sour dressing and real crumbled bacon bites. An order of onion rings and a couple of lobster and crab cakes, not as good as those that Shirleen had the day before, might be because of the lobster. I asked the waitress if this was part of the same Capital Grill we have in St. Paul. She said that that company owns 27 of these in state capitals. Another quest.
Off we went to the south in preparation for a trip to Fredericksburg in the morning. I looked at what it had and that night decided not to go there. But where, well there is always tomorrow morning. Later - jerr
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April 2 Monday Day 36 visited Washington DC staying in Lorton VA – Comfort Inn
Our day was started at the U. S. National Arboretum in Washington DC outskirts. They house the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum of bonsai exhibit and it was striking; the oldest bonsai tree was started in 1785 and not over a foot tall. These old trees are usually conifers. There were many nicely trained trees, with varying ages to them, flowering azaleas and a variety of other trees. We were introduced to a display of stones, called Scholar’s Rocks traditional Chinese Gongshi displayed on an individually carved wooden base, in a ceramic container, or in a tray of sand. They can be called spirit stones or viewing stone. They are unusual stones, ideally shaped by natural forces, catching the essence of Earth’s life-energies.
We did a walk through some of the shorter paths as the area covers 454 acres. There were some big columns on a mound that came from the Capital building when it underwent a renovation years ago and never replaced back to the capital. There was a cherry blossom path to follow on the acreage, these turned out to be much larger than the Potomac trees these were big, well rounded and sitting by themselves in all there glory. As we were walking around the park we were passed by it turned out three young adults, I said to them, I knew we’d be passed up. One of the guys turned around and smiled and said, the race does not always go to the swiftest! We all laughed. Straggling behind but with this group was an older guy, in his 50’s, who was walking with them. When he caught up with us I ask him to walk along. He said that he had lost 100 pounds and walks the garden three to four times a week, Monday is his slow day – that was today, other days he keeps up with the kids.
Time for a quick snack. We were standing on the corner of 7th and Constitution with a puzzled look on our face. Along came this suited man and asked if we were lost? I said no, looking for a place to eat. I looked at his ID tag, he worked at the Federal Transportation Unit, added some creditability again. He sadi right us, I’d recommend it. It was the Potbelly Sandwich Works. Shirleen’s roast beef with chips and I with a cup of delicious chili and a, to die for - only as the easterners can make, a meatball sub and a coke. And off we were again. Looking for a map, Found a gal stationed in that area with maps, ended up she was out and also her buddy, so she gave us the one she usually keeps showing people where they are. I looked up and saw the U. S. Naval Log society and went in . a small room on the ground floor but an extensive Navy set-up beneath street level. Fun to walk through and think back.
So we footed it to our other intended stop in DC and that was the National Museum of the American Indian. For those who do not know, the stone that was used in this building was harvested from the Vetter quarry in Mankato over a 10 year period. The design of this building was flowing without square corners, except in the elevators. We waited for a guided tour. The gal was a Cherokee from around Oklahoma. She added an element of creditability throughout the tour. The exhibit covers all the Indian tribes of the Americas and Hawaii. It starts by showing their universe by presenting there Native beliefs, it moves to there Peoples centering on Native history, and there Lives focuses on contemporary Native life. It stresses the belief of the Indian in the careful nurturing of the Earth. She showed us the many different types of Indian dress, notably the women’s. The different uses of the hide, two sides or front and back of dress was from two deer sewn together; three sides or three hides like before but across the top was the third hide to make a shawl arrangement. Some adorned with elk’s teeth, rolled tobacco lids that would jangle, many with glass bead work and some with porcupine quills. They display figured art from 3,000 years ago, different forms of gold work and some compositional metals – copper, silver and gold. At the start of the tour we meet some people from Denmark and I chatted along the way with him. They had a daughter going to school in DC.
We also had time to take n the National Botanical Museum. It is quite the showcase. Again we waited for a guided tour. The beauty of the orchids again overtook us. Every once and a while we could feel rain, it was from, you guessed it, the automatic sprinkler system our taxes paid for. She said it worked as designed and included a shade system to decrease the amount of sunlight. We walked out through the new garden part and viewed another Chihuly art work, much like the one in Florida, many bulbs and elongated bulbs of from one to five feet long, piled in an old wooded green boat tied to the side of the pool. Off to the car we go.
Now we are off to the Cherry Blossoms just beautiful to view from the car along with a thousand other gawkier’s. We noticed we could park next to the trees. We got in line and after ten minutes we parked in the center of the tree area. It was fun to see families with children enjoying and playing amongst the trees and blossom pedals falling down, many others strolling hand in had. We walked down the Tidal Basin with blossom pedals blowing in the air. We took pictures with the Jefferson monument and cherry blossoms and us and the Jefferson and the cherry blossoms. We took more pictures of the blossoms, never could get enough. We were really lucky, the opening of the Cherry Blossom Festival opened two days before. The cultivar of cherry tree is the gifted one from Japan, Yoshino. As we left, where we were waiting to get in had grown to block after block of waiting people.
Now off to dinner. We had seen a The Capital Grill on our walk back to the car, could we find it again? With Shirleen’s innate guiding ability we parked right in front of it. We sat at a bar table, much like the full dinning room but without table linens. We grabbed a couple of waters, which I guzzled down quickly and two house cabernets which turned out to be pleasant, bill said they were: Yalumba Y Series of varietal wines express the lively personality and colourful 150-year history of the Hill Smith family of Yalumba, Australia's oldest family owned winery. These are fresh and flavoursome fruit-driven wine styles of quality and consistency, highlighting the true regional character of South Australia's most renowned viticultural areas and confirming Yalumba's reputation as Australia's finest independent winemaker – from their website. We mixed and matched something together, a spinach salad with warm sweet sour dressing and real crumbled bacon bites. An order of onion rings and a couple of lobster and crab cakes, not as good as those that Shirleen had the day before, might be because of the lobster. I asked the waitress if this was part of the same Capital Grill we have in St. Paul. She said that that company owns 27 of these in state capitals. Another quest.
Off we went to the south in preparation for a trip to Fredericksburg in the morning. I looked at what it had and that night decided not to go there. But where, well there is always tomorrow morning. Later - jerr
Sunday, April 1, 2007
April 1 Sunday Day 35 Landover Hills MD Comfort Inn car problems!!!!!
April fools!!!!!!!!!!! jerr
Before I start I must say writing the blog at the end of the day is tiring, prone to mistakes and inadvertent missed good things. Yesterday I mentioned poppies and that should have been pansies. To top it off they are one of my favorite.
Today started at the day at Norfolk Botanical Gardens. Without saying we viewed beautiful color. Azaleas in full bloom, clumped together were whites, pinks and violet. The Plantation in NC was the largest plantings of azaleas and good color. Matching these I would say. This again was a free pass, we belong to the Minnesota Horticultural Society at the U. the garden had a bonsai demonstration. Many different kinds, one I may be able to grow a dandelion plant in a small pot. Other beauty’s also. We walked to the tram transport and took a look at the vegetation before we walked it. The azaleas were in full bloom, magnolias also. There were trees 15 feet high and full of blossoms, I said look at the clumps of blossoms, they look like snowballs, Shirleen agreed. The plantings were really planned out, many violas and pansies in the same pot. Large potted plans in brown, blue and a fish container. A neat use of the crape myrtle was when the espaliered them along a walk way. Again there was a generous use of bunches of pansies and tulips planted among them, blue pansies and yellow and red tulips. We have really seen a couple of nice gardens with sculpture contained within them; this was another of those gardens. A new plant we saw was a lobster claw blossom, yellow and light red thin pedals.
We then crossed the Chesapeake Bay, two tunnels and three bridges, a meer 12$. Neat way to get to the Virginias peninsula coast. We again traveled away from the center roadway and went occasionally to the coast side. You guessed it we were hungry. We found the Historic Eastville Inn Restaurant built in 1724 in Eastville Virginia. The dinning room was old style, high ceilings overhead, walls a yellow/orange color, fancy purple gathered drapes on the windows as if the colonial era. The sign on the front of the building said it was a National and VA Historic Register and was a SOCIAL MECCA and COURT LODGING. Find this place the food is beyond the normal fair. Shirleen’s said her coffee was flavorful and I had a chardonnay. Shirleen’s crab cake sandwich and marinated cucumbers were good, she said so continuously, different than normally. Turns out the cucumbers were marinated in there house dressing, must have been and oil, water and spice mixture. My crispy fried oysters were just as good. A must eat place.
The above put of the way place was again a place few would find. We continued up the back roads, some only one and a half lanes wide, no middle strip. Some of the trees alongside were marked like the European trees, painted white up the trunk of the tree about three feet high, so when the lights hit the white tree at night you can see what you are going to hit if you don’t slow down. Many houses reminded us of the slave houses, these were all the way from wooden to mobile homes. The homes were mostly in need of paint but, the cars alongside were well maintained and washed. Better than ours at this time. This again was America. Further on we came upon a seaside fishing village, nice old small and plantation sized homes with pretty flowering plants. We went down to the boat area and saw it was a clam and oyster business that was being pursued. Piles of shells, later we saw a pile of them for sale. We spied a restaurant “Stella Waterfront restaurant. It is used as a pathway in small gardens. As we went along the countryside we saw soft white wheat sprouting to three inches or so and right among these were old cemetery stones, three maybe five and a fence, sometimes the gravestones were right in the front yards of the homes, next to a yellow bell bush.
We checked in the Comfort Inn in Landover Hills Maryland, right outside of DC four miles to the next botanical garden. Makes you wonder about where you stay when the hotel clerk is behind bulletproof glass but, we did not have to have a passport or give our fingerprints. We ate at a nice Italian Inn next door, ordered a medium pizza and left half there. It was a thick crunchy crust with a mild tomato sauce with pepperoni and mushrooms. Another surprising and pleasant surprise. Out waitress Jan turned out to be a comedian and a couple years older than us. Her joke was: What did one wall say to another? I’ll meet you at the corner. Enough for tonight. jerr
Before I start I must say writing the blog at the end of the day is tiring, prone to mistakes and inadvertent missed good things. Yesterday I mentioned poppies and that should have been pansies. To top it off they are one of my favorite.
Today started at the day at Norfolk Botanical Gardens. Without saying we viewed beautiful color. Azaleas in full bloom, clumped together were whites, pinks and violet. The Plantation in NC was the largest plantings of azaleas and good color. Matching these I would say. This again was a free pass, we belong to the Minnesota Horticultural Society at the U. the garden had a bonsai demonstration. Many different kinds, one I may be able to grow a dandelion plant in a small pot. Other beauty’s also. We walked to the tram transport and took a look at the vegetation before we walked it. The azaleas were in full bloom, magnolias also. There were trees 15 feet high and full of blossoms, I said look at the clumps of blossoms, they look like snowballs, Shirleen agreed. The plantings were really planned out, many violas and pansies in the same pot. Large potted plans in brown, blue and a fish container. A neat use of the crape myrtle was when the espaliered them along a walk way. Again there was a generous use of bunches of pansies and tulips planted among them, blue pansies and yellow and red tulips. We have really seen a couple of nice gardens with sculpture contained within them; this was another of those gardens. A new plant we saw was a lobster claw blossom, yellow and light red thin pedals.
We then crossed the Chesapeake Bay, two tunnels and three bridges, a meer 12$. Neat way to get to the Virginias peninsula coast. We again traveled away from the center roadway and went occasionally to the coast side. You guessed it we were hungry. We found the Historic Eastville Inn Restaurant built in 1724 in Eastville Virginia. The dinning room was old style, high ceilings overhead, walls a yellow/orange color, fancy purple gathered drapes on the windows as if the colonial era. The sign on the front of the building said it was a National and VA Historic Register and was a SOCIAL MECCA and COURT LODGING. Find this place the food is beyond the normal fair. Shirleen’s said her coffee was flavorful and I had a chardonnay. Shirleen’s crab cake sandwich and marinated cucumbers were good, she said so continuously, different than normally. Turns out the cucumbers were marinated in there house dressing, must have been and oil, water and spice mixture. My crispy fried oysters were just as good. A must eat place.
The above put of the way place was again a place few would find. We continued up the back roads, some only one and a half lanes wide, no middle strip. Some of the trees alongside were marked like the European trees, painted white up the trunk of the tree about three feet high, so when the lights hit the white tree at night you can see what you are going to hit if you don’t slow down. Many houses reminded us of the slave houses, these were all the way from wooden to mobile homes. The homes were mostly in need of paint but, the cars alongside were well maintained and washed. Better than ours at this time. This again was America. Further on we came upon a seaside fishing village, nice old small and plantation sized homes with pretty flowering plants. We went down to the boat area and saw it was a clam and oyster business that was being pursued. Piles of shells, later we saw a pile of them for sale. We spied a restaurant “Stella Waterfront restaurant. It is used as a pathway in small gardens. As we went along the countryside we saw soft white wheat sprouting to three inches or so and right among these were old cemetery stones, three maybe five and a fence, sometimes the gravestones were right in the front yards of the homes, next to a yellow bell bush.
We checked in the Comfort Inn in Landover Hills Maryland, right outside of DC four miles to the next botanical garden. Makes you wonder about where you stay when the hotel clerk is behind bulletproof glass but, we did not have to have a passport or give our fingerprints. We ate at a nice Italian Inn next door, ordered a medium pizza and left half there. It was a thick crunchy crust with a mild tomato sauce with pepperoni and mushrooms. Another surprising and pleasant surprise. Out waitress Jan turned out to be a comedian and a couple years older than us. Her joke was: What did one wall say to another? I’ll meet you at the corner. Enough for tonight. jerr
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