May 2019 Colonial Williamsburg and Newport News, Virginia

Smartyn & H2 resting at Newport News Park

Mary Ann with Thomas J. in Williamsburg

  After an all too brief drive by in Asheville, it was time for the final push east into Virginia. We arrived a few days before our scheduled week in Williamsburg at a really nice timeshare that brother Ed had reserved, The Colonies at Williamsburg (more about that in a minute). We set ourselves up at a very cool RV park nearby in Newport News. It's simply named Newport News Park, and here is how they describe themselves.."One of the largest municipal parks (7,500+ acres) east of the Mississippi River, Newport News Park offers a wide variety of activities, including hiking, biking, mountain biking, picnicking, paddle boating, canoeing, archery and freshwater fishing. Year-round camping is available at 188 campsites." For being located right in a metropolitan area, this truly is one of the best parks we've stayed in anywhere in the country. We liked it so much, we booked ourselves back in to explore more after our week at The Colonies. So back to The Colonies at Williamsburg timeshare property. It's a really conveniently located grouping of apartments, ours was a two bedroom, two bath unit with a large fully equipped kitchen and a nice living area. The units surround a great clubhouse with two pools, indoor and outdoor, game rooms, and a nice coffee bar. It's about a short ten minute drive to historic Williamsburg and even closer to shopping and restaurants. Speaking of that, the restaurant scene here has changed a lot (for the better!) since we last visited the area back in 2004. We found some really good choices this time compared to then, when we actually gave up trying and started using the kitchen more at the timeshare apartment we were staying in at the time. This time, besides a great revisit to one restaurant, we found several new ones that were terrific. The revisit was to The Blue Heron, a French styled bistro that still has great food.

Dining at the bar at The Blue Heron

They have all the traditional menu choices of a good bistro with some of their own signature dishes too. It's still so good, we went back twice! We did manage to try a few other good places during our week with Pat and Ed, and among the most fun was Food For Thought, a unique eatery with sayings and quotes all over the menu and walls of famous and not so famous philosophers. The mostly Southern style cooking was unique too. A top choice of brother, Ed, who loved their ribs! But the best new find for us was Waypoint Seafood and Grill. This upscale lunch and dinner spot tucked back in an unassuming strip center, is a winning choice. We had a quiet lunch there, and would definitely put it on the revisit list too.

Waypoint in Colonial Williamsburg

One other place stands out during that week of exploring the area. One day we decided to take a drive north, across the York River into Gloucester and beyond. Along the route there are historic signs everywhere, the battle of...this Revolutionary War camp or that Civil War event. Near the end of our drive north and east, winding up at The Chesapeake Bay, we found a place called Hole In The Wall on Gwynns Island, a sleepy (in summer anyway) vacation home place. It's your typical waterfront dock your boat for a meal kind of looking restaurant, but this place has a stellar chef! Everything we tried was outstanding, but the piece de resistance was dessert (they don't even list their sweet choices on the menu since the desserts change daily!) This was a Lemon Marscarpone Cake that had the consistency of Tres Leches.  It was out of this world, and even though Mary Ann pushed me to order it, thinking I'd like it, all four of us devoured it like ants on a sugar cube.

Lemon Marscarpone Cake at Hole In The Wall

If you think the Marscarpone sounds weird for a cake like this...think about Tiramisu. It's that popular dessert's key ingredient. Now you still don't think you'd just want to stick the whole thing in your mouth at once?! I'm trying to regain my composure at the keyboard here, just thinking about it.

Pat & Ed in Williamsburg

  So, what about the historic part of Colonial Williamsburg. First, almost everyone's familiar with this place, and when we mention it, a lot of reactions are, Oh yeah, we want to go there one day, but we don't get too many, Wow, we've been there! It is so cool! Anyway, it is a place nearly anyone will enjoy. For a person even mildly interested in the history of this country, this is pretty much where it all started. Within a few miles are historic Jamestown, Yorktown, and of course, Colonial Williamsburg. It hasn't always been in the amazingly well preserved  condition it's now in. In fact, in 1926 the buildings were in an advanced state of deteriorating. A local reverend named Goodwin formed a relationship with John D. Rockefeller Jr., and the restoration began. Walking the streets there is as close as you can get to feeling what life was like in this wealthy place in the late sixteen and early seventeen hundreds. Here is something lifted directly from the Williamsburg Foundation website.."In the preservation of the setting of Virginia’s 18th-century capital, Mr. Rockefeller and Dr. Goodwin saw an opportunity to ensure that the courageous ideals of the patriots who helped create the American democratic system live on for future generations". For  more info, you can click here You can simply walk the streets (for free) or buy a ticket and go inside many of the buildings for live demonstrations that detail everyday life here. Of course, the place is filled with museums, shops, and more places to eat (in fact, The Blue Heron is right in the middle of this area). You could spend several days and still not see everything. One thing is sure though. When you are finished, your mind will be filled with a new sense of American history. Our week with Ed and Pat flew by, and they were on their way back to Florida. We relocated back to Newport News Park for what turned out to be over a week's additional visit, especially since Memorial Day had quickly crept up on us, and we don't like having to roll to new places on a big holiday. It was pretty interesting to be here then. The park swells up with mostly local campers (of all types!), and observing many of the weekend amateurs is fascinating..and sometimes funny. They swarm in on Friday, like flies, set up, and begin their urban camping. The tents, tiny trailers, sleeping bags, you name it, roll in, the campfires light, they try to get in line for the over taxed restrooms, trying to get as much in as possible within a limited amount of time. Then, as quickly as they arrived, Monday comes, and they all decide to leave within the same few hours! If your not an RVer and don't know, nearly everyone who has a bathroom, even in their small trailer, has to dump the tanks at the ONE dump in the park here! OMG! At about 11 am on Monday the line to use that one dump station was at least 100 trailers long! We had never seen anything like it. As we headed out of the park in the car, the scene of all those campers trying to leave at the same time is one we will not soon forget. We figured by that evening, the place would calm down..and it finally did. 

  Our visit now concentrated on Newport News. This is a pretty populated greater area, which is made up of it, Norfolk/Chesapeake, and Virginia Beach plus a myriad of smaller communities all around.

A Navy ship being refitted in Newport News

Of course Williamsburg's only just up the road by 15 or so miles too. Newport News and Norfolk are mostly known for ship building, the military, and all things aquatic. There is still a strong sense of what made this place..ships! The shipyards in both Newport and Norfolk are very active these days, and between them and all the military, the economy seems very vibrant.

Entrance to The Maritime Museum

The original turret of the Monitor gets a constant chemical bath

We saw from afar a lot of navy ships getting revamped. One of the most interesting things we did here was to visit The Mariners Museum. Here you'll find the remains of The USS Monitor, one of two Civil War Ironclads that changed modern navel warfare forever and a reenactment of their famous battle. We're not the types who need to visit every museum when we travel, but this one is an exception. There are really interesting neighborhoods here too. One of them is Hilton Village, Mostly built as a planned community for ship workers during World War 1, this small area of unusually designed homes and shops is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Historic Hilton Village shops and restaurants

What's there to eat you ask? Our favorite new find in Newport News is Taste. It's a fast casual walk up and order place with amazingly fresh soups, salads, and customized sandwiches, all in a very inviting upscale specialty food store environment. On your way out, you can pick up a bottle of wine, gourmet nuts, fresh baked cookies and other bakery items, gelato and more. It's in a cool lifestyle center with shops, restaurants, apartments, and a big movie complex. We revisited a couple of times,

Taste in City Center at Oyster Point

and enjoyed the food a lot!

Inside Taste

  Another interesting find here is a food store called Lidl. It's another German owned chain making it's entry to the U.S., first along the East Coast. If you're already familiar with Aldi, the store is larger with even more hard goods. Good quality, mostly private label, bare bones pricing, easy in and out seem to be the theme, just like Aldi. They operate about 10,000 stores in Europe and now here, so they're probably going to spread quickly across the country too.

New Lidl store in Newport News

  We spent some time while here at the local Whole Foods stores. In fact, they served as a sort of base camp for getting Amazon shipments, eating at their good local and very fresh food bars and enjoying some good local house coffee, while picking up items to take home to H2's galley. Of the two stores we visited in the area, we spent the most time at the closest, just down the road about ten minutes. If you haven't been to one lately, you might be surprised to notice their pricing seems to be getting way more competitive for comparable items than, say, a year ago, especially if you watch their sales and are a Prime member.

  Well, after the extra ten or so days it's finally time to turn back around and start heading west again, but pretty slowly this time. There's lots to see in this great country, and we feel that as much as we have seen in the ten years we've been RVing, we've only just scratched the surface on the highlights. Our return trip to Arizona was slow and deliberate, and we got to visit a lot of new places we'd not yet been to and a refresher on some old favorites too. We'll share them next time...

The Road to Virginia

Durans on old Route 66

We finally left Base Camp Tucson in early May, 2019 for an extended trek east to rendezvous with brother, Ed and sister in law, Pat for a week long time share visit in Williamsburg, Virginia. They'd never been, and we did visit (way before RV's came in to our travel lives) for a week back in 2004. We were so impressed with the natural beauty and American history then that we really wanted a redo someday. Well, when Ed called to say he thought it'd be a great destination and visit, we signed up. Winding through the mid section of the country, especially the part from Eastern New Mexico through the Texas Panhandle, and into Oklahoma and Arkansas, can be tricky business at this time of year. This year's weather vortex has proved to be no exception. We call it..take a deep breath and thread the needle! We managed to dodge the bad storms mostly, that is until we actually got all the way to Tennessee. Memphis, to be specific. Before we got there though, we had a couple of new experiences. The first was Duran's Central Pharmacy in Albuquerque

Hand rolled tortilllas at Durans

The Huevos Rancheros were great, if 9.0 on the incendiary Richter scale. They did say these were unusually potent that particular day. Next, we spent the night, carefully skipping across stormy

Oklahoma, in Elk City, home of the National Route 66 Museum. Here, the entire road is recreated

A good display of cars from the era of Route 66

in a really fascinating way. This is a place along I 40 well worth the stop! As we sped through Arkansas, thinking we had avoided the worst of the storms, we made it to Memphis, got settled for a couple of days (mostly eating)...and the skies commenced to open! It didn't really slow us down, and we managed to seek out a couple of noteworthy new finds. The first is some worthy Memphis Bar B Que at Commissary in Germantown.

Great Memphis BBQ

This place puts forth some righteous food! I sampled the brisket and M A had barbecued chicken. They both ranked high on our (fussier than usual) we're from Texas! scale. Then we stumbled on a new (to us anyway) regional chain called Rise. They do mostly fried chicken, sides, and biscuits, in a fast casual atmosphere. Small menu, and everything we tried was above average.

A visit to Memphis wouldn't be complete for me without the landmark Gibsons Donuts! I could eat my way through the entire glass donut case, but I limited myself to a classic glazed and one lemon filled, which was overfilled with delicious lemon custard...think Homer Simpson....Dogghhnuttttt..gllluhhh! 

Gibsons, Memphis

We kept our compass pointed east by northeast, after pulling out of Memphis, and headed for a quick stop in one of our favorite towns, Asheville, NC. We had only half a day and a night to hit some familiar places, so we dead headed for Wicked Weed for lunch and one of our must do Italian restaurants..anywhere.. Vinnie's! Both hit the mark, as usual. Asheville has a disproportionate number of good bakeries too, and we managed to squeeze in two of them. The West End Bakery has great bread, and their morning buns are always stellar! Also, The Well-Bred Bakery and Cafe, near the entrance to The Biltmore Estate, makes amazing pastries, especially cakes! We took home a slice of their deep chocolate cake, and we almost had to fight over who got the last bite. Mary Ann actually let down her self imposed sugar ban to compete for it with me. It was that good!

Well-Bred Bakery, Asheville

Our next stop will be the Williamsburg/Newport News area, about 2500 miles from Tucson. Stay tuned for our visit to that interesting part of The USA.

Lake Havasu

 It's now late October, 2017 and after returning from Northern Minnesota, Canada, and the Lake Superior side of  Wisconsin, we made a semi local (250 miles) jaunt over to the West side of Arizona, on the California border, to a place everyone's heard of, but nobody seems to know where it is, Lake Havasu. We thought we'd better get over there before the annual snowbird invasion happens. When we pulled in to the area, it was pretty quiet, and we had no trouble getting a good spot in a nice RV park. Let the exploration begin. Here are some first impressions. This is not a place where you stop on the way to somewhere else. It's not really close to anything. The landscape's very interesting...desert, mountains, and lots of water. The lake was formed when The Colorado river was dammed in the 1930's. Yes, it is the place where a fellow named Robert McCulloch, in the 1960's, spent millions to have The London Bridge moved there. It's the centerpiece of his planned communi-

McCulloch & Wood

ty, Havasu City. He, along with the city planner, a fellow named C.V. Wood Jr., are immortalized on a statue near the bridge, in a town now with a population of about 80,000. It's actually bizarre and out of place to just see it there in the desert, crossing The Colorado River instead of The Thames.
 After looking around at the shops and eating places near the bridge, we headed towards the older part of town that could be called the closest thing to a downtown. It's filled with more shops, services, and restaurants, and we really didn't feel the need to try too many of them since they mostly seemed touristy. We did try one place that, at least, looked kind of interesting, called The Red Onion. But it also turned out to confirm our suspicions and was just ok at best (the poor service ruined an otherwise average meal). The only place that turned out to be a winner was called Cha Bones. It's a very nice looking venue with better than average food. We finally ventured out for a happy hour there and ordered a couple of items that were really good.

Inside Cha Bones

Oh well, sometimes it's great to have a good galley in the coach and practice our RV cooking skills.
 Another interesting point to the area is the mix of homes. There's anything from little track houses to pretty upscale RV homes (this place is seriously an RV centrist area), to multi million dollar estate type realty with mountain and lake views. We took one side trip down to Parker, where the dam is. It's a pretty ride along The Colorado, but there's not much in the town except for a nice casino and some cool houses right on the water. To sum up Lake Havasu, would be that it's understandable why the area has grown. It has a lot of physical beauty, it's not really on the map so therefore a good place to insulate oneself from much of the outside world, and there is enough infrastructure around to keep you from getting bored. All in all, some good reasons for why McCulluch must have had the foresight to say, "If I build it, they'll come."

Another bridge view with walking paths

Fall 2017 Lake Superior Loop

Lake Superior sunset/Herbster Wi.

It's the beginning of September, and we're both ready to hit the road after spending most of the summer in Tucson. In July, we did take a run up to Show Low, east of Flagstaff, in the very pretty White Mountains. Until you start to dig in, the famous travel destinations in Arizona, like Sedona or The Grand Canyon, are just the tip of the iceberg. The state is filled with more hidden gems than one could imagine. Show Low, after trekking less than two hundred miles north from Tucson, through the amazing Salt River Canyon and Apache Indian territory, is a more off the map, year round outdoor venue for those who know.
In summer it's a cool place to beat the heat of Southern Arizona, and in winter it's a fun ski destination. There are plenty of good local eating places and lots to see and do. One surprise is the number of upper-end and gated neighborhoods of second homes belonging to people from Phoenix and Tucson.

Salt River Canyon, north of Globe, Az.

  Anyway, after that summer break, in September we headed to Santa Fe for a week of checking out what's new. Our home away from home had a couple of surprise changes. The best one is that Clafoutis, the bakery restaurant, moved to a larger, much cooler location.

Clafoutis

The very French baked goods and the food are still the same great quality, but the new place is much nicer with great indoor/outdoor seating spaces. We were happy that nothing much changed at our favorite kitchen away from home in Santa Fe, Counter Culture. In a weeks time, we must have gone back three or four times! Boring!...but the food's sooo good!

Counter Culture's homemade cakes

  From Santa Fe, we traveled a familiar route up to far Northern Iowa to the Winnebago mother ship in Forest City, for a little routine maintenance. After that short stop, we rolled up to Northern Minnesota, to Duluth, for the beginning of Fall color. Duluth's an interesting place. Located at the far western end of Lake Superior, it has a long history as the hub for ships transporting ore from the nearby mines through The Great Lakes. One of those nearby mining towns is Hibbing, Mn., where Bob Dylan grew up. He was born and spent his first few years in Duluth though, and there are lots of references to him around town.

A local hotel's Dylan display

Because of the very short warm season around here, decent RV parks are pretty scarce, so as we've done lots of times before in these climes, we parked the coach on the edge of town at a pretty nice casino and spent almost a week in the area. One day we headed farther up The North Shore (as the locals call it) all the way through The Canadian border and spent the night in Thunder Bay, Ontario, also on the big lake.

Downtown Duluth

Historic retractable bridge for long ore ships, Duluth

From Duluth we headed east along the south shore of Superior into Wisconsin. A couple of nights in a tiny village area called Herbster gave us an overview of this part of Far Northern Wisconsin. The highlight was the apple growing region, centered in Bayfield. This little port town is all things...Apple. We drove around through the orchards nearby and sampled everything from apple donuts to pies and ciders. I've been working on a jar of apple butter from there that is very applishious!

South shore of  turbulent Lake Superior/ Herbster Wi.

Our return leg took us down to Omaha for a little extended stop since the heavy rain that hit us on the way in to Nebraska didn't want to quit. We hunkered down at Cabelas and made the best of it by exploring some parts of town we weren't as familiar with. We have been to The Old Town part of downtown several times, but this time we headed for a new place we'd heard about. The Jun Kaneko Studio (https://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-giant-fanciful-art-of-jun-kaneko/) is his base of operations, and this world renowned artist lives and works in Omaha of all places. Unfortunately, the studio was closed for a private exhibition the day we went, but we did manage to see some of his art  around town.

Kaneko's 80' glass sculpture, Buffett Cancer Center

The rains finally moved off after three days, and we resumed on the road back through Wichita and down to Amarillo for the final leg through New Mexico to Base Camp Tucson. In all, about a 3800 mile loop to parts of the U.S. we hadn't yet explored. Our next trip is to another Arizona place we'd heard of but knew little about...

A New Base Camp...and How We Spent Our Summer!

View from our patio.

We moved our party in May to our new place in Arizona. Now that we've spent almost all summer here, we're not quite sure what the big deal about the HEAT 😈 is! Sure it's gotten pretty toasty here a few times, but when it's really hot it's also really dry. The only time it feels a bit uncomfortable is when you're out in the direct sun. Tucson is also not usually as warm as a hundred miles up the road in Phoenix. It's on average five or ten degrees different. In fact, as I'm writing this the monsoon has kicked in again, and it's raining and 88 degrees. Well, anyway, now we're looking forward to the fall this year and the mild, resorty winter weather that this place is famous for. We've spent the better part of the past three months reestablishing ourselves with new doctors, hair cutters ( M A is very happy since she found a great solon for herself right out of the box!), trying new eating places (this town is a hidden gem for foodies!), and just getting more familiar with the surroundings. The coach is stored almost right across the street from our new apartment so I have been enjoying having a great spot to keep it maintained. Speaking of it, we have had some time to get more familiar with certain areas of this beautiful state that we knew little or nothing of before. In July, we headed north from here, through the amazing Salt River Canyon. Imagine driving a 38 foot RV down one side and up the other (almost) of The Grand Canyon! It was quite an experience.

The Salt River Canyon

We headed up to Show Low, a summer and winter getaway for those who know and want a change of weather in both seasons. It's much higher elevation so much cooler in summer and good sking in winter.

The original Fort Apache, near Show Low

We took the coach from there further up to I 40 and back over to Flagstaff for a quick drive by, then back down I 17 through Phoenix and back to Tucson. In the beginning of August we headed a different direction to Southeast Arizona and the Sierra Vista area. This includes some pretty well known places like Tombstone and the quaint little mountain mining town, Bisbee. We've been to those locales on previous trips, so this time we headed to the pretty Three Canyons area near Sierra Vista for a little cool and shady hiking. Ramsey Canyon gave us just what we were seeking, a long winding hike along a hard running stream.

Ramsey Canyon waterfall

We both almost thought we'd gotten lost and ended up somewhere in North Carolina, near The Blue Ridge Parkway! Now that we're back home until our next big trip in the fall, we'll have to settle for hiking on our bike/walking trail right behind our place or at The Catalina State Park, right across the street. Food! I could write volumes already about the food scene here (and I probably will), but so far, a few places in a couple of catagories are really high on the list. The first has got to be my new number ONE burger...anywhere! Truland (and it's fast casual sibling, Graze). These guys know burgers. From the bun to the grass fed (or slightly less expensive, basic organic) beef, to the whole perfect salty, cheesy, and organic condiment topped conglomeration, this is my new burger to hold to all burger standards! Even their fries and sweet potato tots are amazing. A photo just wouldn't do it justice.

Truland in Oro Valley

Two other faves are Prep and Pastry and Welcome Diner, another way better than average local kitchen. We'll be updating lots more Tucson eating places here as time goes on, but since we do like to cook and eat in, it may take a while longer because there is...Trader Joes, Whole Foods, Sprouts, Natural Grocers, and Frys (Kroger), all within about five or six minutes from our door! The next update will most likely be the fall roll out from here...West!

A Quick Catch Up for April, 2017

For those who follow us around, I have to go back to my comment from last year and say, "We've been so busy living the vagabond life, we don't have time to write about it!"
A lot of followers request that we at least catch them up on our travels and lifestyle, so here goes...Our last post is from Albuquerque last fall. From there, we started out east towards Central Florida for a visit with brother Ed and sister in law Pat. But that trip was ill fated. As we were heading on Interstate 40 and crossing in to Arkansas, Mary Ann, thankfully a very experienced motor coach driver, noticed debris flying behind our coach and announced she was quickly pulling off to the shoulder. We both jumped out and couldn't believe what we saw next. The front passenger side of our Smart Car had blown off from a tire blow out! Within less than an hour, and an emergency call to Mercedes Benz roadside assistance, the car was loaded onto a flat bed tow truck for a trip backwards to Oklahoma City, the nearest Mercedes Smart Car Dealer. We followed it back in the coach and ended up making lemonade out of lemons and spent about three weeks there, getting reacquainted with what is a very interesting, growing mid sized city. Of course we got around all over town, and we hit on a couple of memorable eating places. One that sticks in the mind is Waffle Champion.

We visited this place repeatedly! Fresh waffles, made to order, are the headliner here, and are they fun!! OKC is burger central too. Oklahoma City differentiates itself from the rest, claiming that Onion Burgers were invented there (a practical result of The Great Depression, when onions were used as filler for more expensive beef ). Tuckers has been around since then and claims to be one of the originals. You have to try one. They are tasty!

We also made several trips there during our unplanned stay in town. When the little car had been repaired we changed course and headed back to our apartment base camp (New Braunfels, Tx) to get some medical and dental attention (and finally a decent haircut for me!). Hair cuts for me and Mary Ann (especially M A!!) could be the subject of an entire blog someday. So after spending a month or two in base camp, we headed for Palm Springs to catch up with our planned schedule. We stopped in Tucson for a week or so and continued west for the rest of winter. The Palms Springs International Film Festival in January has been a tradition for us since first discovering it's diverse programming in 2004. Most of the films are foreign (yes....subtitles! for those of you who cringe at the thought!). We spend most of our indoor entertainment time watching those movies! It's a passion. Watching stories from other cultures is more interesting to us than most of the current fare coming from our own domestic film makers (although sometimes there is an exception). This year's festival did disappoint us though, and we think the Europeans, in particular, may be running out of steam too. The unusually windy, rainy, and cool weather was a factor for us leaving the area early this year and beginning our trek back east, towards Texas, where the weather all winter had actually been much nicer. So by the end of January we crossed back into Arizona to spend a little time in Quartzite, the winter gathering spot for thousands of RV'ers who want to immerse themselves in everything RV! From there we homed back in to Tucson, where we had a revelation. We asked ourselves if it was time to move our base camp there from New Braunfels. After all, we seemed to keep being drawn there for all the outdoor activities and the way better than average food scene. We still love New Braunfels, it's small town charm and location between Austin and San Antonio, but we've been here and done this, and it's just time to move on to somewhere new. So in May we're relocating base camp to Encantada at Steam Pump, a beautiful new place in Oro Valley, a suburb of Tucson. I guess we'll report back in once we've gotten settled there and head out for summer Out West somwhere...

Albuquerque...A Quick Revisit Driveby

Since we're spending the summer in Santa Fe, one of America's small town food capitals, and since our anniversary was coming up, we decided to head down the hill, as we say, and drive the 60 miles or so to Albuquerque for a revisit of a couple of favorite places, Zinc Wine Bar and Bistro  http://zincabq.com/about-us/ and The Grove  http://www.thegrovecafemarket.com/philosophy/ . Go back to October, 2011 (in the right hand column...over there...to the right...see it?) to get more details about these two stellar Albuquerque mainstays. The good news is that nothing much has changed in five years (actually, we have been back to both in-between times...just haven't written about it), and, in fact, they both might even be better! Let me just interject here that Albuquerque continues to spiral upward as another way better than average food town too, just like it's smaller cousin to the north, Santa Fe. We are threatening to just hit it for a week or so sometime to dig deeper, like we've been doing again in Santa Fe (stay tuned for that). At The Grove we sat at one of our favorite indoor tables (they do have a great patio too!), I proceeded to dig in to my plate of perfect thin pancakes that are topped with a little honey, creme fraiche, and about half a cup of fresh berries and apples...heaven. I had picked up the latest copy of Edible Magazine, and there they were on page 12, with a great story on them and their successful operation, owners Lauren and Jason Greene. The story features a large picture of the couple, and as my eyes looked away from the magazine I noticed someone walking by the table with her little boy in tow.

Lauren's little guy, Bryce, keeping an eye on mom!

I looked at the magazine picture again. I looked up again, and there she was...Lauren, asking how everything was. Well, the conversation that ensued was fun, and we could both tell that she was one big reason why The Grove are two big buzz words in town and have been since they opened the doors in 2006...and why we keep coming back when there are so many other great restaurants nearby. Lauren's in charge of the hospitality and concept pieces. We meet owners and managers of places all the time and a few leave lasting impressions. Lauren is one of them. "So what's so special," you ask. First, the space The Grove occupies is very cool. Then, they serve Intellegencia Coffee from Chicago. We are coffee nuts. Intellegencia's are high end beans for coffee nuts. If you've ever had it, you get it. The coffee is expressive of the rest of the food offerings at The Grove. Jason (who we haven't met yet) handles the chef part of the team. The locally sourced ingredients are high end and the results taste like it. 

Pancakes smothered in fruit...eggs on their amazing muffins

The Grove is open every day for breakfast and lunch, and it really ramps up at peak times. There are two lines that move pretty quickly, and nobody really seems to mind the wait since it's a fun people watching scene at all times.

The line forms at the rear!

The place and The Greenes deserve all the praise that people (us included) heap on them. It's always one of our first stops when we hit town and it will continue to be!

  Zinc Wine Bar and Bistro was our anniversary dinner destination, and, as always, it didn't disappoint either.

Zinc's located on Central Avenue which is old Route 66

We usually look for Kevin or Keith, the two brothers who, along with their invested chefs, own the place. Turns out that they were at their two other terrific restaurants that night, so we were in the hands of Chef Chris Pope.

Chef Chris Pope of Zinc

It had been awhile since we'd been in and chef was busy with his line people, working lots of orders, when we bellied up to the high chairs that line two sides of the open kitchen...dinner and a show for us. Even though we both love to cook, it's fun almost being in the busy restaurant kitchen, listening to "order in...." and watching the organized chaos. Six or eight plates at a time, lined up, waiting for each ingredient on a three to four item plate to fill with over the top food. Mary Ann ordered, and I quote..."WILD MUSHROOM CHINESE BROCCOLI POTSTICKERS – Hand made dumplings with yuzu – tamari glaze,then served alongside a warm salad of napa cabbage, tatsoi, slivered vegetables &  toasted cashews, all tossed in yellow curry – miso vinaigrette." 

Look at the plates waiting to get finished in the kitchen!

  An unusual and creative dish, to be sure. I ordered one of Chef Pope's off the menu specials, the Branzino or European Sea Bass. It was served on a bed of creamed leeks and purple potatoes...delicioso! We ended with one of several unique desserts. Zinc's offerings in this category always match the rest of the menu, over the top wonderful. No run of the mill choices are anywhere in sight. A blueberry tart, maybe four inches deep, with a layered, buttery crust, and topped with a scoop of buttermilk gelato. All made in-house. All wonderful. Two great choices for anniversary eating (no chances were taken here!). 

  We did manage to check out one other new venue before we headed back up the mountain to Santa Fe. The Green Jeans Farmery  http://www.greenjeansfarmery.com/  is an example of a concept we've been watching for a little while now. It's sort of a coop of small store fronts, mostly occupied by restaurants, breweries, bakeries, and the like, where rents are lower, and food choices can be interesting. So far this one has what looks like eight or nine dining and drinking places. You could call it a free standing food court of local places, not attached to a mall. Or it could be described as a startup food location, anchored by a few well known places to draw people in. Here's how they describe it on their website:

Green Jeans Farmery* is a community-oriented commercial plaza constructed entirely with repurposed shipping containers as modular, architectural building blocks.  The Farmery functions as an indoor/outdoor gathering place that builds on ingenuity, fun and localist choices with the message of healthy living and neighborhood. We've seen smaller versions in East Orlando and a larger one in Dallas. It's always fun to see something new, and it'll be interesting to see if the idea , in one form or another, takes off in more places...

Green Jeans Farmery in Albuquerque