ROAD TRIP! (July Revisited)
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| Family Vacation-style road trip. Less crashing, but just as eventful. |
Is it the end of August already**? Huh...better recap our July road trip finally then. I knew I'd have a hard time distilling down a post for this. With that in mind, I'm going to keep this short and sweet, focusing briefly on some of the amazing beer.
I can't remember the last time we took a full-blown vacation, but our modus operandi hasn't changed really over the years: get out and eat/drink/explore as much as we can. With kids in tow, that obviously looks a little different (more kids museums), but not by much. So, that's how we started our vacation planning. We'd be driving to North Carolina, stopping a night in PA both there and back, pit stops in Richmond both there and back, and a few nights in DC as well.* In the end, it would include about 1,300 miles of roadtripping. We'd hit museums in Harrisburg PA, Richmond VA, Raleigh NC, Durham NC, and the National Zoo in DC. And breweries of course!
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| About 1300 miles of roadtripping. |
Pennsylvania Part 1
We ended up on our way to York PA where we were staying a night, much later than intended after work. As we neared, we decided we needed a stop. We were hungry. And parched. With this in mind, our first stop became probably my favorite of our PA stops/beers: TROEGS!
Troegs was a huge operation compared to what I thought of in my mind. I was thinking it'd be a bit smaller (closer to Ithaca Beer). And maybe it was just that the indoor space was bigger compared to Ithaca's huge lawn, but it just felt BIG. We sat and we enjoyed a couple pints as music began to play in the small beer garden. The kiddos made a couple friends, played cars in the gravel, and tossed a small football around. Helluva way to kick things off.
Richmond Part 1
After spending the night, we made our way to North Caroline. We ended up pulling off a bit earlier to visit Strangeways brewing outside of the city (they have another location in town). This version was quite the sprawling playground, for adults and kiddos. We grabbed a couple of pints, some snacks, played a few games indoors and out before making it into the city for a museum stop/dinner.
After the Fredericksburg stop, we'd get some energy out at the Science Museum of Virginia. And work up a hunger. But where to eat for dinner? The clear answer: The Answer. Don't let the outside fool you. Inside you'll find delicious Vietnamese flavors and wonderfully crafted, modern brews.
I expected we'd hit the road straight away after filling our bellies, but the wife had one last idea. Yeah, let's go ahead and check out Veil. We wouldn't stay long--a taste or two and cans to go--as we had a drive still. While short, it was another tasty stop on this old-fashioned family vacation.
North Carolina
Alright. We made it. North Carolina. Franklinton specifically. And well--there's not much around there. But we did drive into Wake Forest on our first full day there. Wake Forest the city, by the way, is NOT where Wake Forest the university is currently located. But hey, they did have a brewery at least! White Street Brewing seems to be the big brewery for that area (before getting into the major cities) and had some decent brews on tap--and some shuffle board!
We'd spend the next couple of days bouncing around nearby, larger cities. Essentially, we did Durham for one day and Raleigh for another. In Durham, we'd hit up Clouds Brewing for lunch--they also have 2 spots in Raleigh, but I loved the location of this one. It was a commons-esque pedestrian walkway filled with shops, cafes, restaurants etc. After a few hours of playing inside and out at the Museum of Life and Science, we'd wet our whistles again at Ponysaurus Brewing before heading back to Franklinton. They had a great variety of beers in a welcoming and inclusive environment.
In Raleigh, we'd flip the script a bit and hit two museums and just one brewery. Oh yeah, and delicious breakfast at Morning Times to kick things off. After visiting both Marbles Kid Museum and the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences we stopped at Lynwood Brewing Company on our way out of town for a pint. And some empanadas--super tasty empanadas actually--from Qspresso food truck.
And before we knew, our time in Franklinton was up. It was a great visit with family, filled with lots of museums and, of course, tasty beverages!
Yes, more time at Science Museum of Virginia (it's pretty awesome!) and one more brewery stop before finishing the drive to DC. Final Gravity was another great brewery with outstanding beer and a nice set up, including the OG homebrew shop attached, arcade games, and darts. A great pitstop along the way.
After arriving, we'd meet up with some family at Atlas Brewing. Every time we find a brewery that is actively inclusive, we rejoice. In addition to their giant DC pride banner, they also were hosting a weekly game night for the deaf community. This was my type of joint. We'd stay for a pint and grab some cans to go before getting some grub at a food hall (Tastemakers) near my aunt's house. The food hall ended up so good, we'd not only grab dinner there but also breakfast/coffee the next two mornings. Oh and they had a playground across the street for the kiddos! I'd love to have a place like this in Ithaca--and I wonder how much of this could be done within a revamped Ithaca Center. Think food truck-type places all in one setting versus the cafeteria style stuff. Oh, and a spot that serves drinks like "Benjamin's on Franklin" did. Man, I'd love that.
On our way back to NY we made another planned pit stop, well two actually*. Our destination was a night in Harrisburg but we'd do lunch in York first. At a brewery of course. Collusion Tap Works was another tasty stop with well-made beers, very good sandwiches, and plenty of things to do. We'd play a little bit of cards, and of course a little bit of corn hole as well. The brewery space was beautifully done and York itself has some awesome murals.
After this, we headed to Harrisburg for the night. We'd make it in time for the Whitaker Center for Science and Theater (somehow ended up parking directly in front of the museum) followed by Pizza Boy for dinner. Pizza Boy was another perfect stop for our family. While I found the beer order way more difficult than it should be (hard to read menu, awkward line) it was still great to belly up to a table and eat some pizza and drink an absolutely crushable pilsner. "Pizza. Beer. Happy." We walked it all off riverside on a beautiful night.
Before leaving for NJ the next morning (and then eventually NY), we were able to take in the Broad St Market. This market is really cool with an amazing variety of food vendors--yet was lacking in coffee. Oh that's okay, Zeroday Brewing has an outpost there and pierogi taste better with beer!
Phew! That's it. That's all of it. Well, most of it at least. And in the end, there's no place like home.
*Sadly a death in the family of one our good friends led to a detour to NJ at the end of all of this.
**Narrator voice: This post would not be finished in even August....
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