Hello!
I try to make it a rule to blog each and every day, as
things are so easily forgotten. However,
days like yesterday come up now and then, and the choice becomes write or
sleep. Last night, sleep definitely won!
In fact, I believe I went to sleep
around 10 pm and noticed absolutely nothing until 7:30 am. Definitely needed, that’s for sure!
So … yesterday! We
were up around 6 am and out the door at 7 am to get back to the 30th
Street Train Station for our return trip to DC.
(And we unfortunately had to miss our wonderful hotel’s fabulous
breakfast, but assured ourselves we will return!) We had made contact with a very old friend –
Maxine Gaiber, with whom I worked at Art Center what feels like decades ago…
and were meeting her for breakfast.
(Although truth be told, we were so early we snacked, and then when Max
came, we all forgot all about eating, as it was so much fun catching up!) When we last saw Max and her family, her two
kids were about 6 and 9 years old. Now,
the 9 year old has two children, 5 and 7, and the 6 year old has a Ph.D. and
two kids; one is 4 years old and the other is 10 months! So yes, it definitely has been a while! Maxine is now Director of the Gershman Y in Philadelphia, and it was great
seeing her! We’re definitely going to
have to make a return trip to Philly, that’s for sure! The time until our 8:44 am train moved way too
quickly, and soon we were on our way back to DC.
Arrived DC right on time, and decided that traffic being what
it is, we would use our Metro passes yet again to take the Metro to Reagan
Airport to pick up our car. It was
actually very easy to do, with either an elevator or escalator to take our
luggage. We took the Metro from Union Station
to Gallery Place on the Red line. Easy
transfer there to the Yellow line, and right to the airport. Seriously simple! Then, of course, things got complicated. We followed the signs saying “Rental Cars”
but of course, no Dollar there! Turns
out Dollar and Thrifty are “off site” and we had to take a shuttle bus to get
back to the terminals to wait outside in the truly backing hot sun for yet
another shuttle bus to take us “off site.”
Finally the bus arrived, and took us to the location. Interesting place, as the rental guy really
didn’t want to give me a car with insurance declined. Really thought we were going to have a
problem, but finally he backed off.
Found a car – a bit banged up, but R took photos of the “before” “just
in case.” It’s a Ford Focus, and has
plenty of room for us and the luggage.
Also has cruise control, which is always nice on a road trip. We were on the road heading out of Washington
by about 1 pm.
Soon we were headed south through some truly lovely scenery
– the Appalachians are really beautiful!
 |
| Guess who? |
 |
| SO good to see Linda! |
Stopped at a Roy
Rogers for lunch. Haven’t been to
one of those in YEARS! Good roast beef
sandwiches – not as good as Arby’s, but quite acceptable. R also preferred the Roy Rogers horse radish
sauce, and their lemonade was really good!
Got to Boone about 7:30 pm, and into our hotel, Country Inn & Suites.
Just fine. Large room with two
double beds, and on the top floor at the end, which we prefer. We also turned off the a/c and opened the
window!! What a concept! There is road noise from the highway below
us, but nothing we couldn’t sleep through, that’s for sure!
Dropped our bags, and off to find
best-friend-from-high-school Linda, who is living at her brother’s house. Wound all around some very back roads, until
R realized that he’d selected the wrong street – felt a bit relieved, as we
were way out of town on a dark and lonely road!
Back tracked to the right street, and literally, you can just about see
the hotel from their driveway! Right
place, and it was so good to see Linda and her brother Michael (who I haven’t
seen since high school!) and meet Michael’s wife, Nancy. Spent a few minutes visiting, and then Linda
directed us to an interesting restaurant in downtown Boone (which they can walk
to from their house), Wild Craft Eatery.
And it was still open!
 |
| R's "healthy" dinner! |
 |
| My meatloaf is somewhere under the green beans |
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| Linda's shrimp tacos |
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| Vegan chocolate cake! Who knew?! |
Linda had shrimp tacos, R had Cuzco Cakes, and I had the
meat loaf wrapped in bacon served on mashed potatoes, and (of course!)
smothered in gravy. The meat loaf was
excellent but seriously, I could do without the gravy and biscuit. Robert’s Cuzco cakes were, and I quote:
“Smoked gouda and yam quinoa cakes, with black beans, chipotle queso, yellow
corn, spinach, tomato, guacamole, sour cream and pepitas.” Whew!
How healthy can you get! To
counteract all that healthiness, I did order a piece of their vegan chocolate
cake. It was interesting and very good –
I just do NOT want to know how they did it!
Back to the hotel around 10 pm and I went straight to sleep
… up now and heading to the shower. Will
post with a few photos, and more later!
m
xxx
I'm with you. I can do without gravy!
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