Road Trip to Abingdon

Brad's Parents

Brad and I are continuing working on our Summer Bucket List.  It never ceases to amaze me how different my husband's upbringing was from mine, and yet we fit together so perfectly. I am always reminded of this when we visit his parents' home in Abingdon, VA. I am writing this a little later than I originally hoped. We went for the 4th of July and stayed for a week. Here are some of the highlights of our trip!


Fourth of July BBQ- Most of the dishes were the same fare we had up North. We had hamburgers, bratwurst, macaroni salad, potato salad, and corn on the cob. It was pretty standard American picnic fare. However, what is it with the south putting mustard in the potato salad? I never did understand this. It just does not belong. However, an addition that could be added from our southern picnic: Banana Pudding. Holy cow. I had never even heard of it until I moved down South. Banana pudding belongs... at every holiday. I am an addict.


Spiderman with a Side of Suicide: We decided to see the Amazing Spider Man movie on the 4th of July instead of fighting traffic from the fireworks (on a side note- liked the new actor so much better than Toby Maguire).So much for worrying about the traffic. We were on a one lane each way highway in the dark. There were adults and kids on bicycles everywhere. I could tell that Brad was concentrating very hard on the bicycles. With my very poor night vision, I saw something dark in the road. I couldn't quite tell what it was until we were about fifty feet from it. It was a girl sitting in the middle of the road talking to herself. I yelled, "ROAD!" and at the last minute Brad has to swerve around her. We pulled over just in time for the guy behind us to hit her, only going about 20 mph. I think she was on drugs.... or drunk... or both. Probably suicide. The police already knew who she was. Everything turned out all right, but it was scary to say the least.

Wolf Hills Brewery Penny Topped Table and Beer Flight... after sampled

Wolf Hills Brewery:  We also got to check out a new brewery in Abingdon called Wolf Hills Brewing. We had a beer flight and sampled five different brews before going out to dinner with Brad's parents. The beer was middle of the road, but the coolest thing: THE PENNY TABLE! The entire table top was adorned with glued pennies. It was a very cool idea. See the picture to the right.




Here is what we tried:

• Lonesome Pine Porter: It was awfully smokey and strong to be a porter when it was just pulled from the keg. After letting it sit a bit, it mellowed out with the rise of the temperature. 
• Holston River Hefeweizen: This was not too bad at all. It was very drinkable and even Brad's Mom liked it. 
• Trooper's Alley IPA: I have one word to say: GRAPEFRUIT. (It was because of the hops, but if you were to add three tablespoons of sugar to it, I would have thought I was drinking grapefruit juice)
• White Blaze Honey Cream Ale:This was my favorite out of all of the samples we tried. Coming from SUNY Geneseo, very near the home of the Genesee Cream Ale, I really learned to hate cream ales. However, this one was pretty decent. Very drinkable and you could actually taste the honey and the flowers with it. Score!

...and there was one more, and for the life of me, I have no idea what it was. It must not have been amazingly good or bad. :) For more info on the brewery, check it out at: http://www.wolfhillsbrewing.com/