Jackie Wells-Fauth
One of the most interesting things that happens on any vacation is the many adventures that take place in restaurants. If you want the true experience, you have to avoid the McDonalds and Denny’s restaurants that you can see anytime, anywhere. However, this also means there is some risk involved in feeding yourself.
On our recent vacation, we had a number of interesting dining experiences. Some of them were absolutely wonderful and others had to be written off as “taking a risky eating dive.” This includes not just the food, but the atmosphere as well.
For instance, our first meal on our trip was in a major US airport. We were late arriving and none of us wanted to wait until we had found our luggage, rental car, directions to our hotel, etc., to eat. So, we took advantage of some of the eating establishments we found along the concourse hallway.
“There’s a Panda Express,” Roy said at about the same time as his sister said, “There’s a Popeye’s.” The beauty of this situation is that everyone was able to select the food they wanted. The problem? These places did not provide seating. So, we had our Panda Express/Popeye’s at the “Gate D84 with service to Charlottesville, VA, Restaurant.” While we felt a little funny, sitting among passengers getting ready to depart, dribbling our crumbs on their carry-on luggage, we were too hungry to care. The good news? There was no need for a tip!
The eating spaces in hotels which provide continental breakfast can also be interesting dining experiences. Our first morning out, we went expectantly down to eat, hoping for something besides tepid milk (and coffee) and a dry roll. We got far more than we expected because we got a breakfast floor show. While eating our bagels and jelly, we listened to a chirpy young woman who spoke cheerily with everyone who passed until, for reasons known only to her, she addressed a gentleman with hands full of toast and juice, “You can’t sit here.”
It so happened that the gentleman objected, vigorously to her remark and proceeded to explain, in very colorful language, why he could sit there if he wanted. It escalated quickly when she responded, borrowing some of his more explicit phrases. We were afraid we were going to get the deluxe performance (fisticuffs and police intervention) but fortunately, they each delivered a final comment on the other’s character and stomped out. End of floor show and we hadn’t even bought tickets.
We continued on our holiday and for several days, we were blessed with excellent food and comfortable atmosphere. We even enjoyed a sandwich lunch at a cute little restaurant in Plains, GA that we convinced ourselves had once enjoyed the patronage of Mr. Jimmy Carter himself. We took pictures, anyway.
The highlight of our dining adventures, however, came from an evening when we were late arriving in the city and we were starving. We first came upon a hotel (not ours) which offered several establishments of fine dining, including a hamburger spot. But when we tried to pull into the parking lot, we were blocked by a gate demanding money. My brother-in-law refused to pay $35 in parking to eat a $10 burger, so on we went, on a wild ride, finally ending up at a local bar and grill, whose main attraction was that it was open.
We stepped in and quickly deduced from the psychedelic wallpaper and music from a play list that was marked by its vulgar references and incredible volume, that this was probably not our normal type of establishment. We ordered some food at the top of our lungs from a waitress who was probably thinking the same thing about us and prayed that we had heard each other right. After a while (and the food took a loooooonnnnngggg time to come) we were reduced to sitting silently nursing our migraines and entertaining ourselves by reading the signs—such as: “Do not smoke marijuana in here.” Fortunately, we had not connected with our drug dealer and so we were not able to light up. We tried not to gobble our food when it was served to us at Table 13 and before you ask, no, we didn’t stay for dessert!
We had so much good food in so many fun places over the time we were on vacation that we are all going to have to diet for the next month, but one thing is sure: Eating on vacation is always an adventure.
dropsinthewell 