Wednesday, November 1, 2017

Home at last, home at last..


Okay, okay, despite multiple promises and false starts this is REALLY (REALLY) the last time you have to suffer “the trip”.  The physical trip lasted from Monday July the 24th to Saturday August 5th.  The virtual trip lasted at least twice that time if not more… 

So anyway, our last night on the road was spent in Morgantown, West (By God) Virginia, home of the mountaineers (quick diversion:  did you hear the Coon Skin Capped, buckskin clad “mountaineer” that struts around with a musket at football games got arrested for DUI and a backup had to be run in for the last game?).  Anyway we got there in time that allowed us to try a place for dinner at a restaurant that was recommended by our good friends from work that attended a lot of the football games.  It is called “Olivero’s”… which they describe in part (with a few capitalization and grammar gaffes here and there) as

"Known as one of West Virginia's most respected restaurants for fine Italian cuisine and top notch service, Oliverio's on The Wharf, established in 2001, is located in morgantown's newly renovated Wharf District. The tuscan inspired eatery, with it's big city feel and small town charm is within walking distance from area hotels and downtown"

Well, it certainly wasn’t within walking distance for us, we were on “the other side” of some mountain and required GPS aided navigation to get there, up hill and down dale through odd places.



The restaurant was indeed in the Wharf District, in a renovated warehouse that had those trendy exposed trusses, and big HVAC ducts, all painted black of course.  "Wharves" imply water and indeed it was situated with a nice view (from the patio) of the Monongahela River  


We wound up there after a bit of await, they have some sort of turn your name in, go sit, and wait for your phone to tell you your table is ready!   Technology. There was a wedding party sharing the large patio with us, but they were pretty well behaved.  The menu had a decided “Tuscan” slant




With the normal “categories” of zuppa, antipasti, etc.. once again, being a college town most of the servers were students and ours was very nice.   Even got both our drinks correct.  Based on the recco from our friends we ordered a starter of the Bruschetta, and were quite pleased.



For main courses, MFO had a shrimp entrée which she liked and I tried the Chicken Marsala, which I didn’t.   Harshly speaking it was just a bowl of glop.  Tasty glop, but not a breast in a nice sauce.  Chopped up chicken swimming in a sauce..

Anyway, it was a nice evening and fitting for our last on the road.  Thanks to our friends for the guidance..
So the next morning, we arose, eagerly set out only to wind up........ going the wrong way… Nice.  Turned around and fetched up against an operation getting a dump trump out of a place it didn’t want to be causing us a delay



Morgantown is not far from far western Maryland, and shortly Larry welcomed us back to the Old Line State



Then it was just the usual slog past the usual Maryland landmarks


and scenery

Although there were some interesting things along the way (not brown, not in the vale)



And finally, National Harbor in all its glory loomed on the east side of the Potomac..



And ultimately we returned to the digs.  Quite a rewarding trip, with all the hard work of MFO preserving my Father’s record of life, as well as on the Craig side of things.  It is comforting that they will now be preserved, and available to see.  Not just stuck in a basement anymore, and not a burden to the FOJ’s…  nice.

END OF THE JOURNEY!!

Which leaves me just a little time for one (of at least three) news and notes…   Have you seen those Arby’s commercials where apparently “healthy” is out, and they’ve gone in for (envision James Earl Jones’s booming bass) “We’ve got the MEATS!” with pictures of mounds of various red stuff with onions, cheeses, etc.  Reminiscent of the “Guts, Glory, RAM!” manly approach.   Well, Arby’s has broken new ground in that they are going to add Venison to the line up.  Yes, Venison.  A few reviews are quite positive.  I suppose there are farm raised deer as well as beef. (and I'm not going to take the easy shot about road kill).What’s next?  Boar?  Bold move on their part..

I guess at Arby's you don't have to worry about

DFD

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