birthday

Curt just turned 25 yesterday. An entire quarter century -- practically a fossil in fact. To celebrate this Susan took him on a surprise trip out to Virginia's eastern shore a bit ahead of the actual date.

We went to a lot of places. Here's a map.

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A: You've got to start out at home.

B: You also have to go buy nail polish at Ulta if you're going to through the big city. We also purchased delicious picnic lunch supplies at The Fresh Market. Life's hard when Kroger is the best you've got at home. 

C: Our first night we stayed at the Hope and Glory Inn in Irvington, VA. 

It was wonderful. Susan made sure we got there in plenty of time to bike over to their associated winery just up the street. The wine tasting was actually quite good, and you can't miss it. 

Apparently the sign ordanances are a bit tough down there so the winery owner had a local boat company make some gigantic corkscrews. In case you can't tell from the photo on the right one of us has a bit higher arches than the other. We had dinner at Merrior, the oyster restaurant run by the Rappahannock Oyster company. We sat overlooking the river at sunset and enjoyed a variety of raw and roasted oysters as well as scallops over cheese grits and a crabcake. It might be the best seafood we've ever eaten.

D: We just happened to be passing through Yorktown on our way out to the coast and thought we'd drop in. Who knew that we had a giant monument to beating back those jerk brits? You'll notice Susan modeling victory down at the bottom.

E: Then we got to cross the chesapeake bay bridge tunnel -- arguably the entire point of the trip. Curt, as predicted, thought it was awesome. Susan felt a bit crabby about things though.

F: That night we stayed out on Tangier Island, VA. It's a small island in the middle of the chesapeake accessible only by air or water. We took the passenger ferry from Onancock, VA (G) There were about two beat up cars on the island -- most people knocked around on scooters or golf carts. We stayed at the Bay View Inn down there. It wasn't exactly nice but it fit in with the rest of the island as part of a working fishing village. We both had fried whole softshell crabs for the first time and quite enjoyed them.

There were birds on the island.

Lots of them.

We walked down the entire 1.5 mile beach to the southern tip of the island and saw nary another person other than right at the beginning and close to the end of our walk.

G: We left for Tangier from Onancock and then stayed there the next night. We apparently decided to stop taking photos at this point in the trip as about the only one is of the Inn at Onancock where we stayed that night. It was quite nice as well. Susan was particularly impressed with the quality of the bed linens. 

On our last day to ride home we swang up to see Chincateague Island, VA. After her recent beach experiences with Curt (read: he's been a bit grumpy near lots of other people and out in the sun) Susan's been looking into some beach locations we both might like. The island is interesting in that it's a beach town but the beach is actually out in a wildlife refuge/national park. Bikes quickly get you away from the people and out to your own spot of beach. Curt also really enjoyed riding by the NASA Wallops flight facility and seeing all the radio dishes and antennas on the way there. 

We then skedaddled back through some rain and traffic back home, picked up our puppy from the dog sitter and resumed our normal life. It was quite a nice trip and a great time to relax with each other before a busy fall.

For Curt's actual birthday day Susan made Curt one of his favorite dinners: Country fried steak (venison of course) with potatoes and green beans. She topped this off with a spectacular homemade carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. Ruby might have wanted some. Notice the catfish like drools.

we're just here for the food

There is a food magazine called edible that we really enjoy reading.  They cover many different regions all across the country.  For example, in Raleigh we read edible Piedmont and here we have edible Blue Ridge.  Each edition focuses on local foods and the folks that produce them.  On Saturday they held the first annual edible Food Fest in Orange, VA.  We had never visited that part of the state so, of course, we were up to the adventure.  It was about a 2-hour drive, much of it through beautiful rolling pastures with white fences and the Blue Ridge Mountains for a backdrop.  The actual town was extremely small, but charming nonetheless.  There were lots of booths selling a range of wares, including:  hickory syrup (the "other" maple syrup), chicken hoop houses, natural soaps, Southern Exposure Seeds (!!!), and a variety of foods and crafts.  We had a "progressive" lunch so that we could sample foods from multiple vendors.  It was all very tasty.  Then, we made our way to the speaker tent so we could get a good seat for. . . .drum roll please. . . .Joel Salatin!!!  That's probably the real reason we went.  We are big fans, and just finished reading his book Folks, This Ain't Normal out loud to each other so we were pretty excited to hear him speak.  He certainly did not disappoint.  His speaking style was very engaging, informed, and passionate but not pretentious in the least.  Definitely worth the drive.

So maybe they were a little goofy. . .they literally guarded the trash cans/recycling bins to make sure you disposed of everything properly:

Joel Salatin and his goofy self!

Susan Ada being a real good tourist

On our way home, we passed Castle Hill Cider.  We decided to stop in for a tasting.  Hate to admit it, but the ciders were merely mediocre and the server was anything but informative.  So to cheer ourselves up, we decided to stop at Albemarle Ciderworks  on the way home.  We have tried their cider before, so we knew it was tasty, but had never been to their tasting room and orchard.  They already had many varieties of apples ready to purchase so we quickly filled a bag and went inside to begin tasting.  No sooner did we walk in than we saw Tom Burford.  You probably don't know him, but he's pretty much THE heirloom apple expert in the world today.  He holds a wealth of knowledge of countless varieties and works tirelessly to preserve them for future generations.  His projects have included restoring the orchard at Monticello as well as traveling the world to help preserve heirloom apple orchards.  We met him last Spring when we went to his tree grafting seminar (yes, the one where Susan Ada almost cut off her finger) and have run into him regularly since.  He ordered a glass of cider so we could chat for a while.  We always enjoy our time with him.

There was one more place we've always been curious about on Hwy 29.  It's just a little roadside stand with a huge ice cream cone sign.  We've never stopped so we decided to pull over and have some cheese fries and soft serve.  It seemed a bit sacrilegious after all the wholesome, nutritious food we'd been exploring all day. . .but we just couldn't resist.  Hey, everything in moderation, right? 

2nd anniversary :)

One of our close friends in Lynchburg grew up going to Ocean City, NJ every summer and now returns every year for a week and takes his family.  This year he invited us to join them.  We accepted with pleasure and embarked on a new beach adventure.  The drive was only about 7 hours, but we were honestly surprised at just how many tolls there were.  Ocean City is quite different from the beaches we are used to.  There is a boardwalk that is 2.5 miles long and it is lined with family fun and food establishments.  We rode the ferris wheel, played putt-putt and ate pizza, frozen custard, and fresh cake doughnuts.  The actual beach is quite large, but it was FULL of people. . .like you had to hunt for a spot big enough to put your stuff down.  Then when you wanted to go to the water you had to weave through the maze of sunbathers.  It was definitely a different experience but we had a great time with our friends and really enjoyed trying something new.

All the people on the boardwalk in the evenings:

Playing putt putt by the beach:

Susan Ada scored the lowest of the seven of us who played. . .but she won a free game at the end to redeem herself :)

On our way home, we stopped in Philadelphia for a night to celebrate our second anniversary.  It was Curt's first visit and we had a great time!  We went to see the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall, shopped in fun stores, ate a fancy dinner in Rittenhouse Square, and went to the Reading Terminal Market.  It was a quick trip so we hope to return again someday.

Curt's first time seeing the Liberty Bell:

Independence Hall:

Ok, this is actually a picture from our first anniversary, but we realized halfway through dinner that we were both wearing the same outfits we wore to dinner last year.  Oops.  We might be getting lazy in the wardrobe department, and the photo department seeing as though we forgot to take a picture of us this year.  Cheers!

real, live food

We have been to New Jersey and back and celebrated our second anniversary since the last post.  However, we left our camera behind and haven't gotten it back yet so things will just have to be out of order :)

There has been some real progress in the gardening department at the Hilliard and we couldn't be more thrilled!  In April, we planted Christmas Lima beans, Cranberry beans, beets, 4 kinds of tomatoes (7 total plants), zucchini, pumpkins, and melons.  The weather has been quite unusual with a super hot spring and intermittent dry/wet weather most of the summer.  Plus, Lynchburg was lucky enough to get hit by a derecho in July which brought 80 mph winds.  And, our neighbors removed a ginormous tree that was approximately 20 ft from our garden, so some casualties were inevitable.  Then, factor in the deer, groundhogs, moles, crows, and squirrels and to say odds were against us is quite the understatement.  However, we persevered and last night had our first harvest of tomatoes.  You would have thought we birthed a child.  The excitement was palpable, and we can hardly wait to eat our own food for dinner tonight!!

Meanwhile, Susan Ada went to Evergreen to help her mom can on Saturday.  They literally harvested tomatoes, green beans, and beets that morning then processed them on the same day.  Preserved food cannot get any better than that.  We can only dream of having a big enough harvest to get to preserve it someday, but we will definitely keep learning and trying.  Here are a few of their treasures: