I took a vacation today, and at about 10:00, Robert and I headed out to Smithfield. We visited the Ava Gardner Museum, which was just delightful — especially the lady with the Southern drawl at the entrance. What a hoot. She led us to a movie viewing room, and she started a 20-minute movie after explaining to us about the portraits of Ava hanging on the walls.
The greeter was very interested in where people were from. She asked us. The couple that came in after us were from Massachusetts. And the couple after them from New Jersey. They were just riding by on I-95, saw the ad for the museum, and came by.
When we were done, we asked the lady to direct us to the best local BBQ. She sent us up the road to a little dive called White Swan. Well the BBQ was pretty good, but the Hush Puppies! Oh my god. They had to be the best ever; Robert and I both thought so, and ate too many of them, topped with honey butter. Yum. Yum. Yum.
We both got the BBQ Platter, he with slaw and potato salad, and me with slaw and French fries. We shared the fries, and I ate more of the potato salad than he did, because it wasn’t that good, and less so to him.
From there, we stopped by the outlet malls by I-95, which I wasn’t impressed with. Nothing really “outlet priced” about most of the stuff. I did get a nice black, leather belt, which I desperately needed, and am pleased with.
We stopped in Harry & David’s, which I had never heard of, and there were two rather large women working in there giving samples. They looked like they love their work. They gave us a taste of this dip on a tortilla chip made of cream cheese and this onion and pepper relish that was out of this world. I decided to buy some to take on the road trip to DC.
Robert looked for a mug to replace one he had broken at work, but didn’t have any luck.
We got on I-95 to come back, which was a mistake. We stopped at the next rest stopped, looked at the map, and returned back to Smithfield to pick up 70W.
We stopped at Sam’s on the way back, and I bought a pair of cargo shorts, and some tortilla chips to go with the dip. Robert bought two bags of Energy Bars for Linda. We were in and out.
Back home, I packed and waited for Joe and Doug to arrive. Joe got there at about 4:15, and Doug at about 5:00. I said my goodbyes to Robert, and we hit the road.
We got in DC at 10:00, and drove around trying to find the damn hotel until 11:00. Finally, at a stop light, I said, “Let me out, and follow me.” I motioned to the cabby in front of my that I wanted a ride. Doug and Joe followed us to the hotel.
We finally got to the EAGLE at about midnight. That bar was a disappointment, as it was the last time I went there. I don’t plan to go back.
We left at about 2:30, and told the cabby we were hungry. He suggested this all-night diner. When we got to the area where it was, it was an ocean of people, mostly straight and drunk. There was a line to get in the diner, which we didn’t want to wait in. We had the most incredible slice of pizza in a little place right next to it. God, it was good. We got back to the room, and in bed at 3:30.