Hello! My name is Helen and I was asked to be a guest blogger on this cute blog. After all. . .the little red-haired girl is my daughter. I had the good fortune this summer of driving across the country from the East Coast to the West Coast. And I love food almost as much as the little red-haired girl. So I decided to take pictures of many of our local and regional meals. We did have some incredible meals along the way. Pictured above was our first stop in Philadelphia. I have always heard about the yummy Philly Cheesesteak Sandwiches. According to another one of my daughters who has spent time on the East Coast, Geno's in Philadelphia is about as good as it gets. Arguably one of the finest sandwiches ever! Most folks in Philly have their preference - it's either Geno's of Pat's. And oddly enough, the two eateries are right across the street from each other. Ironically, both establishments had line about the same length. Fun place to have a great sandwich in downtown Philly!
Next stop on our cross country trip, was Hershey, PA. What a delightful little town. It's located not far from the capital city, Harrisburg. Located in the rolling hills of eastern Pennsylvania, the sweet smell of chocolate can be detected from many miles away. We took a tour of the factory and enjoyed seeing how the chocolate comes from all over the world and is processed here. Hey. . . don't you wish that these huge containers were actually filled with York Peppermint Patties and Almond Joys?!
We decided to stop in Morgantown, WV before our stop in Ohio. This is a cute little town in the mountains of West Virginia. Breathtaking views from the mountain tops. We did learn that actor Don Knotts was born and raised in this area and the town folks even named the main street in town after him. We had dinner that night at a nice, upscale restaurant called Madeleine's in the downtown area. The ambiance was friendly and the food outstanding. I choose the Risotto du Jour which that day happened to be mushroom with a sun dried tomato sauce. Not only was it delicious but the presentation was nice.
As we traveled through Kentucky, we stopped in Clermont to tour the Jim Beam Bourbon Distillery. Located just off Interstate 65, the minute we drove into the little burg, there was the pervasive smell of bourbon throughout the town. We were pressed for time so consequently couldn't take time for the tour but enjoyed the beautiful countryside in central Kentucky.
We have always heard about the wonderful barbecue food in Kansas City, but we weren't sure which Kansas City it was supposed to be - Missouri or Kansas. So we decided to try Kansas City, KS, especially since that was about dinner time. We got a recommendation from some locals in Kansas City, Missouri and they said the best BBQ fast food was at a fun place called Arthur Bryan's. And you can see the look of delight on my daughter's face when she is about to eat a huge portion of Pulled Pork. She is holding just one portion - I had another huge plateful to eat. It was so tender and made an excellent sandwich. Too bad this was about 9pm and we didn't want all that food so late. So we saved more than half for the next day. Succulent, tender pulled pork at Arthur Bryan's!
We had stopped earlier in Missouri and talked to some locals who found out we were driving across Nebraska on our way to Denver. They impressed upon us that we really needed to stop in Paxton, NB at this roadhouse called Ole's. Not only was the food impressive (delicious home cooking), but they had the largest collection of stuffed animals I have ever seen. Including the fictional animal, the Jackalope. I bet you have never seen one of these guys hanging from a restaurant before. Quite a sight to be sure! While I traveled most of the way across America by car (actually 2,800 miles) with my husband and daughter, I needed to fly home from Denver. My experiences driving that distance, seeing most of America and spending time with my family is something I will always treasure. I'm just grateful I was able to taste and experience such wonderful regional foods. I hope you might be able to travel across our country at one time in your lives.
