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Thursday November 21. Left Severna Park at about 8:00 AM. Hit the expected rush hour traffic. Was so glad to be headed south when I
got below DC as the I-95 traffic headed north was backed up for miles as usual. Arrived at ZZQ in Richmond about
20 minutes before it opened. By the time it opened at 11:00 there were 10 of us waiting. My friend Glenn wouldn't arrive for another half hour so I
ran recon by getting a sampler plate of 4 meats so I could decide what to order later. The pulled pork shoulder was tasty but fatty. The turkey was
very lean, tender, and tasty. The pork rib was tasty but since it was mostly bone and gristle it wasn't a good deal. The brisket - their most
expensive meat at $23 per pound - was tender and good but the least tasty. There were 3 sauces available. "Thin" was vinegary and I didn't like it.
"Sassy" was mustardy and pretty good. "Thick" was sweet and good. Eventually Glenn, who had never been here before, arrived. He
sampled all 4 meats while I ordered my favorite, the turkey. We also got a couple of sides. By the time we left a little after noon the
place was packed.
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After that we drove up to The Answer, my favorite Richmond brewpub. We got samples of 12 of their beers
and every one of them was a winner. Their stouts were as thick as motor oil and their fruit sours tasted like smoothies.
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Then I headed down to Raleigh NC to the home of my longtime friends Carmen and William.
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After catching up on what's been going on in our lives,
Carmen and I went to nearby Trophy Brewing. We got their preset flight of 8 beer samples:
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Afterward we all had dinner at the house with Carmen's 93-year-old father José and their English lab Reid.
Friday November 22. Reid is a real sweetheart so I had to take his photo.
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Went with William and Reid to
the State Farmers Market Restaurant. Carmen took a break from work and met us for breakfast.
The place has good southern cooking with
a friendly atmosphere. There is a line on weekends but since it was a weekday we got right in.
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Afterward Carmen and I walked around the
State Farmers Market. The Farmers Building has all sorts of
North Carolina produce including apples, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, carrots, onions, peppers, Brussels sprouts, tomatoes, lettuce,
turnips, cabbage, pumpkins, potatoes, cider, honey, eggs, jams, jellies, preserves, and other stuff. Since we were here on a weekday it
wasn't crowded; on the weekend it gets packed.
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There is an indoor building called the Market Shoppes
that sells everything from seafood to soap to candy to pastries. There was a winery giving free tastings. We tried about 7 wines
and bought half a dozen bottles.
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Afterward I joined William and Reid at the house and Carmen went back to work. I took a much-needed nap, and in fact it was the first nap I'd
taken in over a month. A while later Carmen returned and the three of us went to
Barrel Culture in Durham.
It had mostly sour and wild beers, plus a hazy DIPA and two "slushees" that were served
from frozen drink machines.
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We then went to nearby Backyard BBQ Pit, which was named best barbecue in North Carolina by Yahoo Travel
in 2015. It's one of those places that looks rundown and dirty but serves great food at a very reasonable price.
We got pork barbecue, beef barbecue, ribs, and a few sides, all of which were quite good.
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Then we went back to the house for a nice relaxing evening before I took off early the next morning.
Saturday November 23. Hit the road shortly before 6:00 AM and drove almost 7 hours to St. Augustine FL. As usual, the drivers in Florida
were in a big hurry. The speed limit was 70 and people wanted to go 90 or 100, often cutting off other drivers in the process.
I don't know how many of them were Florida residents. At least two maniacs had Virginia tags.
In St. Augustine it was 80 degrees and mostly sunny. A nice contrast to the cloudy 52 degrees it had been when I left Raleigh. I arrived at the home of my friend Linda, who used to live in my community and had moved here about 9 months earlier. She would be hosting a party later in the day so I helped her set up. We hung out with her golden retriever Ginger, then I walked Ginger and found that some folks were already decorating for Christmas.
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Later about 30 folks showed up for her first annual Friendsgiving. It was mostly older folks because this was, after all, Florida. They were
all nice and friendly. I had brought 7 types of homebrew, and several of the guests tried them. Folks brought lots of great food too.
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Sunday November 24. Got a good night's sleep -- more than 6 hours, which is a lot for me. Took off a little before 9:00 AM. Stopped along
the Florida Turnpike to get gas and pee, and my God there are some disgusting people in Florida. I mean, there are disgusting people everywhere,
but it seems that the percentage of disgustos is higher in Florida than I've seen elsewhere. Not just the old people either; even a lot of
middle-aged folks look awful. And of course I encountered many more rude motorists who speed and cut you off. They seem to prefer squeezing
into the smallest gap possible. The further south I went on the Turnpike, the worse it got.
Arrrived at my mom's house in Delray Beach shortly before 1:00 PM. My sister Marge and her boyfriend Doug were there. Within an hour we were eating, because that's what we like to do. Then I took a nap. Later we had a big dinner.
Monday November 25. Had a rough day working out at the clubhouse gym, lying by the pool, picking out craft brews at
Total Wine & More, and eating at
Kingdom Buffet.
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Tuesday November 26. My mom and I went to a supermarket called
The Boys Farmers Market to pick up apples for pie making, plus a few other things. The place is always
mobbed, and with Thanksgiving just two days away, we knew that it would be even busier than usual. It normally opens at 8:30 in the morning, and when we
arrived at 8:15 there were about a dozen people waiting outside. The doors opened right when we got there. After we entered people kept streaming in.
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After we came back we tasted 4 of the 5 kinds of apples we'd bought (we didn't bother to taste the Granny Smith because we were already familiar with them).
Pink Lady was the most tart and therefore the most suitable for pies. Jazz was a nice eating apple but also tart enough for pies. Honey Crisp
was almost as good. The Braeburns were good and tart but kind of mealy.
It was a gorgeous day so I worked out and jogged. The neighborhood is beautiful because it's landscaped with palm trees, ponds, and nice grass.
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Then I lay by the pool.
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Later my mom and I went to Marge's. I made 5 apple pies and 3 pecan pies while a loud mostly Jewish crowd socialized and ate.
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Wednesday November 27. Another gorgeous day. Marge came over and we sunbathed by the pool. Afterward I took a great nap while she and our mom
started preparing Thanksgiving food. In the evening we all went with Doug and my mom's neighbor/friend Sandy to
Flakowitz, a very popular deli that has great corned beef, kosher half-sour pickles, and
matzo ball soup. The matzo balls are so big that only one can fit in the soup bowl.
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Thursday November 28. Thanksgiving Day. More beautiful weather. Lifted at the clubhouse gym and then jogged.
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Later in the afternoon we had a nice little crowd for Thanksgiving dinner. Afterward Doug and I went to our friends Wayne and Debbie's house to visit
and eat even more desserts under their tiki hut. Debbie and Marge have been friends since kindergarten in the mid-1960s, and Marge and Wayne dated
in the late 1970s.
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Friday November 29. Was sore from the previous day's workout but had to exercise again just to work off some of the 13 bazillion calories
I'd eaten the previous evening. Marge, Doug, and their dog Ruby came over in the afternoon for an early dinner of leftovers with my mom.
Then the three of us "youngsters" went to the home of Lenny (who grew up in our neighborhood but was a few years ahead of Marge and I) and Joi, who
live in Greenacres FL. The five of us headed over to Royal Palm Brewing in Royal Palm Beach. We
sampled:
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After that we went to
Mathews Brewing in Lake Worth, which had opened almost exactly two years earlier. We tried:
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The place has a nice biergarten. There were quite a few dogs, and the people were friendly. There was live music from a great band called
The Flyers.
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The main guitarist was amazing. When they did Voodoo Child, he played behind his back, with his mouth, and lefty. On another song he played
guitar and keyboard at the same time. In the following video, he plays guitar with a drumstick.
The three band members rotated periodically, so that each of them played all three instruments. Notice at the beginning of the following video,
the drummer and bass player switch.
In their finale, the guitarist and bass player switched.
Saturday November 30. Some clouds but still nice out. Did nothing all day except for a workout and a shower. In the evening a group
of folks gathered at Debbie and Wayne's. I conducted a beer tasting under the tiki hut with 10 beers, half homebrewed and half commercial.
Selections included:
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Sunday December 1. Another lazy day. So lazy, in fact, that I didn't even work out or shower. I just ate and napped. Went to dinner
with my mom, Marge, and Doug at Tempura House in Boca Raton.
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Monday December 2. Cloudy but warm. Got one last workout and left around 12:30 PM for Linda's. The day grew
sunnier but cooler as I headed north. In just 4 hours the temperature dropped from 82° in Delray Beach to 61° in St. Augustine.
(It would drop into the high 30s overnight.)
Linda returned from walking Ginger a few minutes after I arrived.
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Linda and I Ubered downtown shortly before dusk.
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Our first stop was City Gate Spirits, a distillery that had just opened in August. They gave free
samples of all their products. An interesting Florida law is that samples cannot be shared; if you don't want to finish a sample,
you have to give it back and they'll pour it out. The samples included:
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Next we stopped at Auggie's Draft Room, where we'd been during my previous trip in
February. They have 24 self-serve taps, where you pay by the ounce. We each selected several beers. My samples included:
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We walked along...
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...to Prohibition Kitchen, where we had also gone during my previous trip. There are a good number of
beer taps and live music almost every night. The place is very popular
because the food is very good. We had to wait for a table even though it was a Monday night. Linda got their PK Signature Burger, which she
loved. I got the PK Chef Salad, which was also quite good.
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We walked around some more. It felt weird wearing a coat and a wool hat after having spent a week in shorts.
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We stopped at Ancient City Brewing's
Downtown Taproom (the brewhouse is located elsewhere in St. Augustine).
We sampled several of their beers and also had a cider from another brewery.
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We traveled onward, ducking into a few places that had live music (Trade Winds,
Harry's)...
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...to our last stop, Tini Martini Bar. We got their
Cappuccino Tini (a great martini with Three Olives Triple Espresso Vodka,
Bailey's, Kahlua, and Godiva Chocolate Liqueur) and their Crème Brûlée.
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Tuesday December 3. Got up early, worked on this web page for a few hours, and left by 8:30. Drove to Charlotte NC,
arriving at the home of my friends Jay and Kara at 2:35. They used to live in the neighborhood adjacent to mine and I saw them many times at
Patterson's Pub. They moved to Charlotte
in August due to Jay's career. I hung out with Kara and their dogs Shellbie and Millie until Jay got home from work.
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Then the three of us went to
Resident Culture, which opened in 2017. They make mostly hoppy ales and
barrel-aged sours. The flights were pricey but every beer was good. The food truck cancelled so we got pizza delivered from
nearby Pure Pizza.
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Wednesday December 4. Whenever I shower at the houses of friends who have daughters, I am amazed at all the different products young women
use these days. There are moisturizers, conditioners, acne medications, exfoliators... I counted nine products in the shower this morning,
exactly one of which was actual soap. But not normal guy soap. No, this was liquid soap with "relaxing lavender". Which is just what someone
needs before a road trip - to be lulled to sleep by a tranquilizing botanical.
A bit of frost on the windshield when I left at 8:30. I always listen to various recordings on thumb drives and CDs when I drive long distances. Sometimes it's music. Sometimes it's comedy. Today I listened to Eckhart Tolle, who is my favorite spiritual author/speaker. He beautifully describes the insanity that is the human condition. We all develop a thought system whereby we live in resistance to what is, so that we inflict almost constant mental pain on ourselves. We fear not getting what we want, or getting what we don't want, and we create conflict as we judge, criticize, and compete against others, even our loved ones. We create a false self - also known as the ego - in which we erroneously define ourselves by attributes such as our nationality, skin color, religious/political beliefs, gender, career, etc, and then spend our lives defending this fiction. We are not these things; we are the conscious awareness that observes them. If we put aside all of our thoughts and simply be aware, then we will enjoy the bliss of being and the emotional pain will stop. Most people are completely unaware of all this, so they live as reactional beings who are constantly upset by little things, and if you explain this to them they will not understand or accept it until they are ready to start living consciously. For further reading you might enjoy my blog.
Arrived at Wine Warehouse in Charlottesville VA just after 1:00. This place has a nice selection of beers from all over the U.S., as well as several countries. I bought a few from a brewery I'd visited nine months earlier in Tulsa called American Solera, and also a few from Commonwealth Brewing. I can't get beers from either of these breweries where I live.
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My friends Sue and Tom live a few minutes from there. I arrived at their house at 2:00. Tom was working so Sue and I went to
Michie Tavern, which is a historic landmark. It has a nice interior with a dining room that
serves a buffet but it ends at 3:00 PM so we missed it.
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Their 1784 Pub was open so we got some potato wedges and local artisan cheese.
The beer selection was marginal so I got a bottle of Bold Rock cider.
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Then we went to the gift shop. Sue browsed the knickknacks while I availed myself of the free peanut tasting.
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A stone's throw away is the entrance to Carter Mountain Orchard.
The road up there is steep and winding. We got there just before it closed at 5:00. I snapped a few photos of the view.
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Tom met us for dinner at Ming Dynasty. It has many vegetarian dishes, including several
that use soy to substitute for various meats. I got the Soy Shrimp With Vegetables because I was curious. It was good.
A local vegan club eventually arrived and had a meeting there.
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After dinner Tom went back to work and Sue and I capped off the evening at the
Mill Room, a posh restaurant at the
Boar's Head Resort. We sat by the fireplace, which looks like a regular fireplace
but actually burns natural gas. There was a Christmas tree on either side of it and the ambience was lovely. She got some
Bailey's, I had a
Basic City 6th Lord IPA, and we split a nice piece of flourless chocolate cake.
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Thursday December 5. The three of us had breakfast at the Villa Diner, then we parted ways.
Got home in 3 hours. Another successful trip.