Open Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Holiday Mondays
11am – 6pm
Winter Hours (November – February): 11am – 5pm
Phone: 540-554-8439
Obviously the Washington, D.C. area is famous for its historical monuments, Smithsonian museums and is the center for political celebrity sightings. What might not be as well known is that the areas outside of Washington, D.C. contain a vast array of wine vineyards. For someone who has lived in D.C. for as long as I have, visiting relatives soon grew tired of going to the Air and Space Museum and looking at the Washington monument. So if you’re looking for something different to do in the area, jump in your car and take a quick drive west or south to one of the hundreds of vineyards that Northern Virginia has to offer.
Because I was a little overwhelmed by how many choices the region had to offer, at the suggestion of my officemate, I decided to try out theBluemont Vineyard in Bluemont, VA (about an hour west of Washington). It’s an easy vineyard to get to, just a few miles past Dulles International Airport. Be sure to have a car that can handle a little off-roading; getting to the main complex where the wine tasting and restaurant are requires you to drive down a pretty beat up driveway.
Once you get through the rocky road, the complex is located at the top of a hill and the view is spectacular. When you walk into the quaint, Bed and Breakfast style building, you’ll immediately want to go upstairs to where the wine tastings take place. For $5 you get to sample 8 different red and white wines, as well as get a little talk about the vineyard (a good portion of their wines are made with fruit from the farm across the road). It’s a pretty good deal considering you get in total about a glass and half of different wines.
After our tasting, we chose to purchase a bottle of their 2008 Vidal Blanc named “The Cow”. That along with a meat and cheese platter which we purchased off their food menu (their food menu consists of lots of appetizer style fare) we took our meal out to the deck and enjoyed the scenery. I highly recommend the meat and cheese platter which consists of 2 types of salami, and two types of cheese (one veggie cheese and one amazingly good spicy cheese) and a warm loaf of french bread. There’s plenty of seating outside on the deck and on the tables set up on the lawn, but on the colder days, it might be a little tight inside (although the fireplace did seem really nice, and I’d bet it’d be great during those winter months).
So if you have a free afternoon in the D.C. area, and you’re looking for something a little different to do – give the Bluemont Vineyard a try. It makes a great place to bring friends, a date, or if you have a bigger function, there’s enough room to have a wedding party and/or a family gathering.
Admittedly, I’ve never been to Norfolk,VA but after reading my friend’s blog post – I think I’m going to have to take a trip down. Here’s more from Christopher O’Brien – Norfolk, VA enthusiast:
“How to Get Anyone to Fall in Love with Norfolk in 48 Hours or Less”
I’ve been living in the DC-area now for just over 11 years, and for the past year and a half or so, I’ve been plotting to move back to Norfolk.
My friends, bless them, have cheerfully indulged my escapism. Even as we survived elections, Snowpocalypses, one embarrassing Redskins season after another, and DC summers, they have endured me regularly filling their ears with stories about seven beautiful cities at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. I finally decided that it was time to stop telling them about this magical place and start showing them.
If there’s one good thing that I’ve gotten from being away for so long, it’s a sense for seeing what is truly extraordinary about Hampton Roads. In some ways, the best of the area is hidden in plain sight to the people lucky enough to experience it everyday. This happens all the time, no matter where you live– ask me when the last time I went to the Smithsonian was. But, when I finally got around to bringing one my closest friends down to Norfolk for a long weekend, I came up with a list of highlights I really wanted to showcase not just to him, but to you, AltDaily readers, to remind you of what a fantastic place your home is.
Feel free to crib when you bring your friends in from out-of-town; these are places that showcase the absolute best of Norfolk, both in its history, and in its new birth, happening all around you.
Ah, summer time has arrived. As we head into the Memorial Day week, left and right BBQ grills are getting fired up, pools are opening, and as my one (female) friend mentioned, “Time to break out the white pants”. The summer season also obviously marks the beginning of the beach season as well. Luckily for me, a buddy of mine has a family home about 400 meters from the beach in beautiful Avalon, New Jersey.
Now let me say off the bat – this is not your MTV Jersey Shore type location. If you want to see Ed Hardy shirts and trashy college students, head 20 minutes up the road to Wildwood, NJ or go to Dewey Beach in Delaware and you can see that sort of foolishness there. Avalon is much more family friendly, with several locally owned restaurants and shops, mini-golf, and bike rental places. There are people of all ages, but can’t say of all races (I have to report that in the weekend I was there, including myself, I counted a grand total of 9 minorities). I also don’t think the LGBT crowd would have any problems on Avalon beach, but I’m pretty sure when we went on our day trip to Rehoboth beach in Delaware, they were all there.
Getting to Avalon is easy, but getting in isn’t. If you try and go on Friday night, you’ll hit a one lane traffic jam getting in that can last miles and take up to a couple of hours. Same goes for getting out of the town on Sunday night. But once you get over the bridge into Avalon, the town is a welcome sight and is such a great place to relax. You’ll quickly forget your stress from the traffic. I’ll go down the list of the things to see and do.
The beach is easily the highlight of the town. It’s not usually too crowded, and is clean and family friendly. Make sure when you head to the beach, you go there with cash because unless you have a pass that residents pay for, it’s $6 a day, $12 for the week, and $26 for the season. They don’t want you bringing booze on the beach, but you can get away with it if you’re not being too rowdy. Watch out for the seagulls dive bombing down to get the food though; they’re aggressive and relentless. And finally, the lifeguards are pretty strict about staying near the lifeguard seats and not swimming out too far. You’ll hear a whistle on average every 10-15 minutes. The pictures below were taken at around 11 in the morning; the crowds really rolled in about an hour after that.
If you’re looking for a quick bite to eat head to Nemo’s Pizza. It’s a local family restaurant only open during the summer season. There you can get your pizza, pasta, or Italian sub fix for a decent price. I’d say the pizza is pretty close to the kinda you can get a Papa Gino’s for you New Englanders reading this.
If the fun and sun on the beach gets a little boring, there’s a fun local mini-golf (or Putt Putt if you prefer) place called Pirate Island Golf. Get the last shot in at Pirate Island and you win a free game. And next to Pirate Island is the Avalon Freeze, a small, local ice cream shop with the usual soft serve offerings and their version of the Dairy Queen Blizzard called the Avalon Freezer. Watch out – the Avalon Freezer is as filling as a meal.
For breakfast food, Avalon offers two family breakfast joints. The first is Uncle Bill’s Pancake House. Open from 7 AM- 1 PM, this place will always hit the spot, with every type of pancake, waffle, egg, breakfast meat combo you can think of. I personally love the Special Combo that is 1 egg, 3 butter pancakes, bacon, and toast. I usually also get a side of home-fries because I think they’re some of the best. If you get a fruit pancake (bananas, blueberries, whatever) keep in mind they don’t make the pancake with the fruit in it, they put it on top. Now the place is probably a little overpriced, you’ll end up spending at least $10, and it’s cash only. And don’t be surprised if you have to wait for a table – the place is big, but everyone in Avalon ends up there around brunch time. One final thing that you’ll also probably notice is that the dozens of waitresses running around are all high school girls. Just saying, it’s kinda weird. Here’s some pics of the food there:
The second place is the Pudgy Pelican. Much smaller, and a little less high school cheerleader with their employees, the Pudgy Pelican is a solid diner style back up for breakfast with pretty much the same breakfast offerings as Uncle Bill’s, except that it’s open longer for the lunch crowd with more sandwich offerings. I also personally think their omelette is far superior than the one you can get at Uncle Bill’s as well.
The one exception to the quaint family feel is the one bar in Avalon called “The Princeton“. Located at the end of the main drag in the center of town, the Princeton is one of the few, if not the only, bar in town that’s big enough and loud enough to draw a crowd that includes undoubtedly the college, underage drinking posse. Since it is the place to be, and pretty much the only one in town, you’ll pay a pretty penny to get in on a weekend night, and you probably won’t find that many great drink specials once inside. That being said, if you are looking for a place to drink, dance, have a good time with a group of friends and want to find someone to hook up with – The Princeton is probably your best bet.
Avalon, NJ is a great place to go for a long weekend beach outing. It’s clean, safe (no joke, you can literally leave all your stuff on the beach for hours and nothing will happen to it) and you’ll no doubt get your relaxation in.
423 8th Street Southeast
Washington D.C., DC 20003
Open Mon-Thu,Sun 11am-9pm; Fri-Sat 11am-10pm
Anyone living in the D.C. region knows that hamburger places have been popping up left and right the past couple of years (Next post will probably be on that new Shake Shack Burger joint opening up in Dupont). But even more recently, the culinary entrepreneurs who own the popular restaurants Matchbox and Ted’s Bulletin (see previous post) have moved away from the burger craze, but not too far to its backyard BBQ cousin – the hot dog.
DC-3, named for the restaurant’s theme of a Douglas Commercial 3 aircraft and I would have to guess the play on “DC”, is located on the main drag of 8th street near Eastern Market. The venue is small, and cleverly designed to look like the interior of a DC-3 with steel everywhere, maps on the walls, and a large propeller hanging over the tables to the right. However, as neat as the inside is, the restaurant was wayyy to cold (even for me) and because of the lack of natural lighting, it looked like people were eating in a prison mess hall. Painting fake airplane windows with a blue sky view outside would have probably helped. We decided to get our food to go since it was a nice day out anyways.
The menu is quite overwhelming and you do need a few moments to process the around 20 or so hot dogs DC-3 offers. The pictures of each dog do help with the process and I went with a “Cincinnati Coney Dog” which consisted of a hot dog, chili, cheese, onions and mustard. Along with that I ordered a side of cheese fries. My two friends who came along, one who is a vegetarian, ordered the “Bay Bridge Pretzel Dog” and “Vegetarian Chili” along with fried pickles respectively. None of us opted to get the soft serve ice cream with a pretty expansive toppings bar, although it did look good on a hot day.
We took our food to the park and my first impression was that they really need to learn how to pack things to go. Both had been balled up into tissue paper, and aluminum foil. My hot dog was pretty well smooshed and the cheese fries were kinda stuck together into one sticky ball-fry. That however didn’t take away from the taste, which I’ll say was pretty darn good. The chili dog did hit the spot, had a little heat to it, and accomplished the task of satisfying my hot dog craving admirably. The fries, which were those crinkle fries, were quite good as well, even if I had to peel them apart. My friend who got the crab hot dog was also satisfied, but not overwhelmed to be honest. I’ll say this though, if you’re a vegetarian, the veggie chili and fried pickles get an “A”, so vegetarians – don’t dismiss the hot dog place’s non-meat offering because of its signature items.
All in all, I probably would have liked the food better if it wasn’t to go. That being said, they’ll need to turn down the A/C to get me to want to spend more than 10 minutes in that place. I also wouldn’t go there if I was starving to death. The $4 hot dog also probably would have been a bit more justifiable if it was a footlong versus a Ballpark frank sized hot dog, but it is downtown D.C and it was admittedly really tasty. Check it out if you want a snack or a light lunch. I give the place a solid “B”.
Nothing makes me feel like spring is here more than getting to a baseball game. In D.C., National Park is comfortable, clean, with great food and an overall “nice” place to watch a game. Same goes for PNC in Pittsburgh, and Camden in Baltimore. But what these new stadiums lack is a history and character. As a long time Red Sox fan, I’ve been to Fenway Park numerous times and love the old-school look and feel of Sox games during the summer and I’m almost snobby about how it’s a far superior baseball watching experience than in any other ballpark.
The one place I always thought that could be the exception is Wrigley Field in Chicago. Much like how the Red Sox fans used to be, the poor Cubs fans have had a long history of losing heartbreaking games and a championship drought going back to 1908. So when I was sent to Chicago for work, I made it a goal to get to a Cubs game while I was there.
Wrigley is located right in the heart of the Wrigleyville neighborhood in Chicago. Unlike other stadiums that you can see from miles away, Wrigley Field is so small and intimate that you don’t know where it is until you follow the crowd down the street and you’re right on top of it. Walking into the stadium, you can feel the excitement and energy from the crowd immediately. The interior has that same archaic look that Fenway has, where there is more wood and old paint look then that metallic, smooth, electronic look of the newer stadiums.
We walked in right as they were doing the national anthem, and I was able to take in just how small the stadium was. But what the park lacked in size it made up for in character with the manual scoreboard out in center field and the make-shift bleacher seats on the rooftops of the buildings across the street (easily one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen). Also seeing the seats in left field reminded me of the famous Bartman incident in 2003, and I can see how easily the fans in that section are on top of the action out there. Our ticketed seats weren’t that good (although there aren’t really bad seats in the park since it’s so small), so throughout the game my buddy and I inched our way closer and closer until we had seats that gave us a great vantage point on the first baseline.
The fans at Wrigley were both amusing and knowledgeable, making the conversations around us almost as entertaining as the game itself. Our baseball experience was rounded out with a Chicago hot dog and cold Old Style beer (the Natty-Bo, Milwaukee’s Best, Iron City, whatever shitty beer you want to insert, of Chicago). The close, back and forth game was also an exciting one with home runs, a play at the plate, web gems, and a beer getting thrown in the opposing players face as he tried to catch a fly ball (http://www.chicagobreakingsports.com/sports/cbsports-pirates-jones-on-beer-spill-it-was-a-miller-lite-i-got-a-taste-of-it-20110403,0,5736166.story). We also got a little Chicago native John Cusack as well singing “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” during the traditional 7th inning stretch ceremony.
But ultimately, in stereotypical Cubs fashion, they blew the 5-4 lead in the 9th inning and lost the game 6-5. The picture that said it all in my mind was seeing a Cubs fan in the bathroom afterwards, shaking his head and talking to no one in particular saying “The Cubs are so bad…They’re so bad….”. Don’t worry Cubs fans, take it from a Red Sox fan – It has to happen sometime. But believe me, even if the Cubbies lose, the bars around the park are still hopping like crazy afterwards and everyone seems to still know how to have a good time.
If you’re a baseball fan, get yourself to a Cubs game at some point in your life. I don’t know how much longer that ballpark can hold up over time, so get the experience in while you can.
It takes a lot for me to be blown away by a restaurant, but I think for the first time in D.C. this new establishment has done just that. Hill Country BBQ just opened up last Saturday, and I took to opportunity to check it out tonight along with a buddy of mine. I had heard earlier in the day from a couple of co-workers that the original location (which is located in New York City) was pretty damn good, so my expectations going in were high. Not only were my expectations met, but Hill Country was everything I imagined and much, much more.
Having had BBQ down in Austin, TX, I can say that I can make this comparison with a certain degree of reliability. Hill Country is the closest thing to a BBQ joint in Austin that’s not in Texas that I’ve seen so far. The setup and feel reminded me a lot of Rudy’s BBQ. When we first walked in, you could already tell the the place was going to be lively. Looking like a typical country bar/restaurant, the venue was mainly wood with black and white photos of blue collar workers on the walls, Texas flags hanging from the ceiling, and chalkboard menus all around. We waited at the bar (45 minute wait – but perfectly reasonable since it’s a new place in the heart of Penn Quarter) and had a beer. The beers I’d like to quickly point out are served in honey jars, which warmed us up to the atmosphere right away.
Once our name was called, we were escorted to our table (by one of several gorgeous hostesses – that tidbit is for the guys) and were instructed on how to proceed. Much like Vapiano’s, you’re given a “passport” and get whatever items in the cafeteria style line you’d like and then pay as you leave the restaurant after you’re done eating. The first stop in the line is for the meat. The brisket, chicken, pork ribs (and shoulder) are all priced by weight, and you pay for individual sausages. Trying to figure out what to get was a daunting task, but there is an employee in line ready to answer questions and give advice on what to mix and match. Once you get up to order (there were 6 stations to order meat), they measure out your requested order and then wrap it up in brown paper with a generous helping of white bread. I ordered 1/4 lbs. of moist brisket (you can get lean as well which isn’t as fatty, but has less flavor in my opinion), 1/4 lbs. pork ribs (which ends up being one giant effing rib, Flintstones style) and one Kreuz sausage (I got the plain, but my friend ordered the Jalepeno style).
Moving on after that, you get to the Sides Station where you can order any number of sides from collared greens, to beans, to Mac and Cheese. I went for the 8 oz. Mac and Cheese, and an order of cornbread (comes in 2 large pieces and Ancho Honey Butter).
We brought our food back to our table and our server, who looked like Ludacris (seriously, I’m not being racist – the guy looked like Luda), was super on top of getting us our drinks and checking in often to make sure everything was okay. As for the food, I don’t even know where to begin. IT. WAS. AMAZING. The brisket was moist, flavorful, melted in your mouth, and was that perfect amount of juicy meat with bits of fat. The rib didn’t fall off the bone, but the tenderness of the meat was there and was perfectly seasoned. The sausage had a nice little spice, and when you bit into it it had a little crunch as you broke through the outer skin, and a deliciously soft and juicy interior. There was a tasty Hill Country BBQ sauce on the table as well.
The Mac and Cheese; oh man, the Mac and Cheese could have been a meal itself. The pasta was a penne style, and the cheese practically oozed everywhere (in a good way). I think I tasted a bit of Worcestershire sauce and pepper in the cheese mix as well – it was heavenly. The cornbread and honey butter were good, and probably better than normal because it was literally fresh out of the oven when I got my pieces. Although the cornbread and honey butter were just okay on their own (it’s kinda hard to make cornbread really good or really bad), they complimented the meats and Mac and Cheese quite well.
The food already made the place worth going to, but then a woman came up to us and told us about the karaoke. So I went downstairs to scout it out. Downstairs is a whole other hall, with tables, a bar, and a stage. I’m assuming that they normally have live music on some nights, but on karaoke night the patrons can go up and do their best Dolly Parton, Britney Spears, or Bruce Springsteen impression. One great little thing is that the restaurant will give the singer a complimentary whiskey shot before or after they go up on stage. And the karaoke isn’t just some video machine with the words and bouncing little ball on it; there’s a live band playing along with you (far cooler). Now I’m not sure how many songs the musicians know, but when I went down there the woman was singing a song from “Mamma Mia” so I imagine they probably know quite a bit.
Bottom line: This is hands down the most fun place you could go to eat in D.C. right now. It’s laid-back, the workers are super-friendly, the food is phenomenal (since it’s by weight, you don’t have to pay for any more than you have to) and the price is actually pretty good. I got a total of probably around 3/4 lbs. of meat (w/ white bread), 2 pieces of corn bread, a cup of Mac and Cheese and a Miller Lite for a grand total of $19 (and I took most of the sausage home with me because I was so full after the brisket and the rest). Bring a group of friends and you’ll have a great time. Grade: A-
3318 M Street Northwest
Washington D.C., DC 20007
(202) 965-6005
Open Mon-Wed,Sun 8am-10:30pm; Thu-Sat 8am-12am
Now that the spring weather is starting to slowly come upon us, I like to try and take advantage of any restaurants with outdoor seating. So on the first comfortable Sunday of March, my buddies and I tried to find a place to have brunch in Washington, D.C. and decided on Kafe Leopold‘s.
Located off the main drag of M Street in Georgetown, Kafe Leopold’s is a yuppi-ish, European joint with clientele that falls under the category of either having western European decent and/or upper middle class Georgetowner. Needless to say my friends and I don’t really fit into either one of those categories, so we were sort of out of place (but not uncomfortably so).
With the goal of trying to get one of the tables outside, we came upon Kafe Leopold’s and the couple dozen other people trying to do the same thing. There are about twelve tables on their patio, however only about five of them can accommodate more than two people. And by the way, the outdoor section is dog friendly if you decide you want to bring your pooch along.
My party was hungry enough that we decided to pass on waiting for outdoor seating and signed up for first available. The wait was long; we were told 30 minutes and it ended up being more like an hour. The host was apologetic and checked in on us several times, which softened the irritation a little, but still an hour wait was a pretty long time. We couldn’t really blame anyone however. Sunday brunch is a time to lounge around and enjoy the company of the table you’re at, so we couldn’t really fault the current patrons who were enjoying their meals slowly. Like I said, the clientele was very European.
When we did get seated, we were taken indoors. The interior will remind you of a IKEA dining room, with a lot of white space all around and the solid, modern looking furniture. The only hint of color was a curious orange couch in the middle of the room which reminded us of Gaudi’s bench in Park Guell in Barcelona. There was also a fairly large display case of mouth watering pastries and cakes sitting there and teasing our rumbling stomachs.
Once seated, we ordered a few appetizers and bunch items. I had a Mrs. Palmer cocktail (Sweet Tea Vodka, Lemonade, and Ginger Beer I think) which was the best part of the meal (sadly). The croissant I ordered (I succumbed to the temptation of the pastry display) was buttery, flakey, and quite good, but nothing special. We ordered a prosciutto platter as an appetizer as well, which was alright as well, except for the fact that it annoyingly showed up with our main dishes.
My $15 chive and cheese omlette however was pretty boring and I probably could have made a much better one myself at home. The omlette came with a small green salad and three small pieces of toast (which added up to maybe one piece of white bread), and those didn’t really pair that well with the eggs. One of my friends ordered the same thing and had the same reaction. Our third friend had the Belgian waffle with chocolate and he too was underwhelmed by his meal because the waffle itself was no larger than a frozen Eggo waffle (probably better to get your brunch waffles at Belga Cafe in Eastern Market).
Bottom line: All in all, the experience wasn’t horrible, but it’s not worth it unless you get the outdoor seating on a nice day. But I’m always willing to give a restaurant a second chance and I might go back to try their regular lunch/dinner because those menu items did look much better on other customers’ tables. C+
So, taking a little break from the Egypt talk, I was recently in San Diego a few days after my Arabian adventure. Although it was a work trip, my colleagues and I were able to see some of the sights of the town. I won’t talk about seeing the things that most people visiting San Diego would see (San Diego Zoo, U.S.S. Midway, which is AWESOME by the way, etc) even though all those sights are very well worth checking out. I’d just like to quickly mention a couple places to eat if you’re out and about downtown.
The first place is Currant American Brasserie. This restaurant is just south of the Gaslamp District (a fantastic bar and restaurant scene in San Diego), near Petco Park. The menu is simple; it has your typical sandwiches, salads, and deserts. There is also a pretty good brunch deal with $8 all you can drink mimosas. We ate on the outdoor patio, so I didn’t get a real good look on the inside, but when I went in to use the restroom, the interior had a sort of New Orleans architectural style.
Despite the vanilla choices on the menu, the food was extremely good. We started off with an appetizer of taters tots with a spicy habanero ketchup. The tater tots were nice and crispy on the outside, but the inside was more buttery mashed potatoes than the shredded potato Napoleon Dynamite/Ore Ida style tater tots. Three of the four of our group all ordered the Chicken Club sandwich. I’d have to think really hard to come up with a place that made a better chicken sandwich. The chicken was juicy and grilled to perfection and was smothered with a chipotle aioli that gave it a nice chili-garlic taste. The key though was the avocado. Southern California is known for the fruit and the sandwich had a generous heaping of it. And finally the french fries were the perfect compliment to the sandwich. They were pretty close to the McDonald’s style fries, but with a nice thyme seasoning. Currant is a great place to eat if you want to get a bite to eat without having to have to deal with the hustle and bustle of Gaslamp, but still want to be close enough to head to that area for a drink afterward.
140 West Broadway
San Diego, CA 92101
(619) 702-6309
Open Weekdays 11:30am-12am; Weekends 9am-12am
The second place I’d recommend checking out is Fillipi’s Pizza Grotto. From what I understand, this restaurant now has several branches, but the original is in the Little Italy district of San Diego. The Little Italy district’s main road is India Street (not sure how that happened) which is where Fillipi’s is located. From the outside, the restaurant doesn’t look like much, especially being next to the shi-shier venues on the main drag. In fact, we walked right by the main entrance at first because there were some local, old Italian guys sitting outside the market which makes up the front of the restaurant; its very a nonchalant looking entry way. Once we went it, and walked through the small little market, we were seated in the back.
The restaurant is very much an Italian mom and pop restaurant. Nothing fancy, nothing flashy. The menu was really, really simple – pizzas, pastas, soups, and salads and that was it. The lamanted white menu didn’t even have any descriptions or many varieties of pizza and pasta. The menu simplicity actually admittedly made me not expect much from our meal for some reason. But once we took a bite into our food, there was nothing cheap about it. The pizza I ordered was excellent. The crust had a little more thickness than what you’d expect from a New York style slice, but was nice and crispy unlike a Naples style pizza (where the sauce and cheese sometimes makes the crust soggier). The pizza was delicious; and that was the least impressive dish on the table. The pastas were by far the favorite of the group. The homemade pasta on all the pasta dishes tasted really fresh (if you haven’t had fresh/homemade pasta, go to a local Italian store or even Whole Foods and get the pasta from the refrigerated aisle. You’ll be able to tell the difference immediately from the raw, uncooked box pasta you get normally). The linguine with clams had a nice creamy taste, and the bits of clam weren’t too overbearing on the dish. The bolognese sauce on the ricotta lasagna actually melted in your mouth with savoriness was easily my favorite of the entire meal. And you get a good amount of food. Admittedly the portions aren’t as big as a Maggiano’s or Buca di Pepo chain size, but be prepared to share.
Most people have a list of things they want to do in life before they die. Whether these things are big or small, everyone at some point has said “I gotta try that sometime”. They even made a movie about this very idea recently called “The Bucket List“. Now I’m not saying that I have a terminal illness, but one of the things I’ve always wanted to give a shot was skydiving.
People skydive for several different reasons. Some jump for the adrenaline; some to try something that scares them. Others jump to prove something to themselves, and I’m sure a few people are just plain crazy. I think my reason for wanting to do it was a combination of all of those things.
Now as an idea, the desire to try jumping out of a plane is not very uncommon, however I would never had gone out of my way to find a place and make it happen on my own. So when my buddy Vik calls me up and invites me to go with him and his friends, I “jump” at the opportunity (sorry, had to throw the pun in there).
One of Vik’s friends has experience with skydiving and took us to Chambersburg Skydiving Center, which is in southern PA, about 2 hours away from D.C. Much like the website, the actual skydiving center isn’t much to look at. The hangar and airfield are in the middle of farmland and the plane that takes the skydivers up is a simple 2 propeller Cessna. Up until we arrived, I was surprisingly calm, telling myself that thousands of people from soldiers to civilians jump out of planes everyday. But once you get there, pay (skydiving is not cheap by the way) and they sit you down to watch the instructional video and you start signing waivers saying “You could die doing this“, your heart starts to race. You would be a total psycho if it didn’t (the instructor in the safety video even acknowledged the fact that it’s absolutely normal to be afraid).
After the video, the instructors take you outside to a mock airplane door for some rehearsal on what positions to assume, the procedures, and answer any questions you may have. The type of jump that I was doing was a tandem jump, so I wouldn’t be doing as much of the work, but there were still several important points that my instructor, John, showed me about the skydive. I’ll say that the confidence and thoroughness of all the seasoned jumpers put my mind immediately to ease. They were the perfect combination of easy-going and competent. And just knowing that they’ve all made hundreds of jumps helped calm us all down.
Also luckily for us, it was a beautiful November day. Temperatures were in the mid-60s and there weren’t any clouds or wind to affect us. Jumping out of a plane was enough of a heart-stopper, we didn’t need high winds and freezing temperatures on top of it. After gearing up (and feeling like a total bad ass in the jump suit) we load up into the plane. The cabin is small and cramped, holding about a dozen people sardine style. As we climb in altitude, John starts to attach himself to my back and goes over again the procedure for when we get out of the plane.
It’s a tight space
At 14,000 feet, the door opens. I pop my goggles on. My heart is speeding up. The wind is deafening and all I can hear is “Go, Go, Go” as the instructor orders each of the seasoned individual jumpers who rode up with us to jump. Once those folks are out of the plane, my videographer (once I figure out how to convert a DVD, I’ll post the video) hangs right outside the door on the aircraft to film John and myself as we get to the door.
This is my defining “Oh Shit” moment
I slide up to the edge of the door and it finally hits me. “Oh Shit” – literally. And it wasn’t a reaction necessarily of fear, but more of a “I have no idea what’s going to happen next” feeling. John thankfully doesn’t let me ponder this for long as I hear “ONE! TWO! ….” I don’t think he even yelled “Three!” as he pushed the two of us out of the plane. That first split second I’ll never forget. It’s not the sensation of falling like on a roller-coaster because the plane is already going so fast. It’s more of a feeling that your body has no idea what is going on. The wind hits your face, and my eyes immediately begin to water. After a second or two, I get my head together and remember to get into the skydiving position that we were instructed to get into. From there, it’s literally flying. There’s no other word to describe it. I look up and I see the videographer right across from us. Even as we’re free-falling I distinctly remember thinking to myself how cool the collected that dude must have to be.
I don’t think Tom Petty ever did anything like this
I did my best to try and smile for the camera, but when the wind is going 120 mph into your mouth, it’s a challenge. What’s amazing was how quickly you can fall from 14,000 feet to 6,000 feet. It was probably at most 60 seconds. Once our altimeters hit 6,000, John hit me on the head three times and yelled “Pull, Pull, Pull!”. I reached down and yanked the cord to open the chute (John said afterward that I didn’t hear him the first time and was a second away from doing it himself).
Yeah, my crotch definitely felt the parachute open
When the chute opened, my body was thrown up and back. Not only did my legs almost kick me in the face, my groin yanked upward and I thanked god that everything on me was “centered”. The 5 minute glide down was so serene compared to the windy craziness of the previous minute. John and I chatted and we made some acrobatic turns in the area, which gave me more of the roller coaster sensation that you don’t get in the initial jump. I was amazed just at how free I felt. Suspending in air like we were really gives you time (even as short as it was) to appreciate the view and too be honest, just being alive.
Coming in for landing
As we neared touchdown, John reminded me of the procedure (another nerve-racking moment because failure to follow his instructions would have lead to my legs being broken by the ground) and we slid into the landing zone like we were sliding into home plate.
Thanks John for not letting us die
Hitting the ground, with all my senses returned,I literally couldn’t stop laughing with glee. We had all done something pretty amazing, something that most normal, sane people wouldn’t even think about trying. But I’ll tell you this: the adrenaline rush is addictive. The only thing we could think about was going up again and taking it to the next level. I think when the opportunity arises, next time – I’ll be launching out of the plane on my own.
Waking up the next day was a little tough considering the festivities the night before, but we had a full day of activities ahead of us. Our first stop was Bodo’s Bagels, a local bagel chain that Matt swore to us had the best breakfast sandwiches in the area. Judging by the line of customers at the location we went to (and seeing the crowd outside the UVA campus location) it appeared that most of the people in Charlottesville agreed with him. There wasn’t anything flashy about the restaurant and line moved quickly. Bodo’s offers the usual bagel flavors and cream cheeses, as well as the typical bagel sandwiches. The menu also features lunch sandwiches at a reasonable price. I think the best way to describe the place is that it’s the blue collar Bruegger’s Bagel.
As much as I wanted to love the place, I was lukewarm about what I had. I ordered a bacon, egg, and cheese breakfast sandwich on an everything, whole wheat bagel. I wasn’t blown away by it. Maybe it was because it was Sunday morning and busy, but the bagel itself wasn’t very toasted, and the kids in the kitchen left off the cheese. The bagel itself was actually pretty good and like I said earlier, the price was cheap. I’m more than willing to go back there and give the place a second try to really impress me, but I have to admit, I still prefer Bruegger’s Bagels.
After our breakfast, we had a few hours to kill before heading to watch the New England Patriots game. Since we were in Charlottesville, it wouldn’t have been a trip down there without at least a trip to the Monticello area. Our first stop however was at Carter Mountain Orchard, which is down the road from Monticello. The orchard was located high up on a hill overlooking downtown Charlottesville. The view was spectacular, and it was so serene being able to just sit back and enjoy the view. Since it was early November (which is past the prime season for apple picking) there wasn’t much of a crowd. But there were still pumpkins to be sold, hayrides, and it looked like there were actually still some apples that you could pick. For those of you who don’t know, when you pay the orchard for a bag and go into the orchard, you keep the apples you pick. You don’t give them the apples. Yes, Mel asked us this.
We didn’t end up taking any hayrides or picked any apples. But we did enjoy the hot apple cider for 50 cents and a delicious apple cider doughnut (which tasted almost like a apple pie strudel crossed with a churro crossed with an old fashioned doughnut).
After the orchard, we made our way to Monticello, home of Thomas Jefferson. We arrived to the main visitor’s center and quickly came to the realization that we had spent so much time at the orchard, that we didn’t think we’d be able to squeeze in a trip to the actual house that TJ built for himself. The price to see the house (which required a separate bus ride up the hill) is $17, and we elected to save the actual house visit for another time. There was however, time to see the free museum exhibition, which consisted of an impressive gallery of antique items that Jefferson owned (such as his journals, pocket watches, dishes, etc). There were also interactive computers and movies about how TJ built the house and his general history from youth through the Revolutionary War to his death. Walking through the museum, both Mel and I regretted the decision to skip seeing the actual house, but it gives us an excuse to return.
We wrapped up at Monticello and headed back into town to Wild Wing Cafe. This chain restaurant is pretty similar to any sports wing bar like Buffalo Wild Wings or Quaker Steak, so there isn’t really much to tell other than it was uniquely connected to an old-school Amtrak terminal. I can say the wings there are very good however. The “Virginia Fireballs” were tasty and spicy enough to have a kick, but not make you wish you had a glass of milk next to you. That isn’t the case however with some of their other wings. Both Matt and I each tried a “China’s Chernobyl” wing, and were literally sweating bullets in our seats. To Mel’s credit, she ate an entire plate like it was a plate of cheese. So we challenged her to try the “Braveheart”, which is Wild Wing Cafe’s hottest wing. The waitress brought her one wing, amusingly garnished with lettuce and jalapeno peppers, and we (along with every table around us), watched Mel take it down. Mel being the spicy food lover she is left us disappointed initially, and gave no indication that the wing was at all the spicy wing it was talked up as. Then a minute later, it set in and she gave us the painful look on her face we were waiting for. Her exact words were “It’s not the heat, it’s the knives going into my tongue that hurts”. But she’s got more balls than I do; bravo, Mel.
Let’s just say the weekend didn’t end on a high note as the Patriots got their asses kicked by the Cleveland Browns. But that wasn’t enough to dampen what was a fantastic 48(9) hours of good times and I’ll be taking a trip back down there for sure before Matt’s time at UVA is up.
Here and There 