Barbecue, for Better or for Worse

In several previous chapters, I have sung the praises of various children’s museums in Tennessee, but I have not taken the time to really talk up the very good one that we have in Atlanta. Since we are members here, we’ve been watching our baby grow in the toddler area since he was about six months old. It had been a few months since we were last here, and at that time, he completely drenched himself in the fishing area. Resolving that this time, we’d not let him get soaked from head to toe, we felt he was big enough, at nineteen months, to explore the rest of the exhibits. Continue reading “Barbecue, for Better or for Worse”

Circumnavigating South Carolina – part four

So, here’s the situation: the sun had gone down, I was in very unfamiliar territory, my last four stops had been okay, and I was missing my family a bit. Nevertheless, I pressed on. I would be driving through the small city of Florence after dark, bound for one last meal in the town of Scranton before stopping for the night in Lake City. Continue reading “Circumnavigating South Carolina – part four”

Leonard’s Pit Bar-B-Que, Memphis TN

On the Sunday of our too-short visit to Memphis, the four of us started the morning at that city’s children’s museum, about which more in a later chapter, and then we dropped Marie and the baby off with her sister. My daughter and I then took off for Arkansas and a lot of barbecue. We soon turned around, because the first stop on our planned tour was, weirdly, closed, despite my phoning the day before to confirm they’d be open. Still, we crossed the Mississippi on the fantastic I-40 bridge and returned via the slightly less awesome I-55 bridge, which is how everybody should go to Arkansas and back. Continue reading “Leonard’s Pit Bar-B-Que, Memphis TN”

Big Marv’s BBQ, Scottsboro AL (CLOSED)

I feel that I must again express my disappointment that rural Alabama is so poorly covered by those of us who blog about food. I see that we have quite a nice audience, even if the transition to WordPress and our own domain means that our stats have taken the stumble that I heard would happen, and I’d like to think that many of our readers are adding restaurants that we have featured to their personal wishlists. Having said that, however, nothing would be better for either small communities or the independent restaurants there than blanket coverage from lots of bloggers, particularly when the restaurants that need championing are ones that serve up a product as good as the pulled pork at Big Marv’s. I applaud the restaurant for using social media to communicate with its fans, but I’m disheartened that Google searches don’t suggest that anybody else is using social media to talk about the restaurant. This needs to change. Continue reading “Big Marv’s BBQ, Scottsboro AL (CLOSED)”

Pig O’s Bar-B-Que, Crawford GA

Two Saturdays ago, Marie and I enjoyed a Date Day. The teenage girl was off one direction and the baby boy was with my mom, and so we drove up to the Athens area to enjoy some time without the company of younguns. Our first stop was Oglethorpe County, where we went to Shaking Rock Park, one of our favorite places, and enjoyed a nice walk in the woods. I always enjoy the sight of beautiful creatures sunning themselves on the rocks, like these fantastic lizards that I snapped: Continue reading “Pig O’s Bar-B-Que, Crawford GA”

Circumnavigating Alabama – Part 5

When I woke on Saturday, I surprised myself by being a little hungry. After all that I ate on Friday, I didn’t expect that, but I also knew that I’d be eating a little less on this day, and light salads for a couple of days after. I also surprised myself by sleeping as late as six, which is seven on my Eastern Standard Time clock and a couple of hours later than I normally rise. Still, I had about an hour to drive before lunch and five hours to kill, so I puttered around and played online and took a very leisurely morning. Eventually, I pulled on one of my Georgia Bulldogs T-shirts, checked out, went back to Jackson’s main street to photograph the restaurant where I was unable to eat the night previously, and wound my way down the road toward Mobile. Continue reading “Circumnavigating Alabama – Part 5”

Circumnavigating Alabama – Part 4

So, the situation as I was leaving Tuscaloosa was this: the sun had gone down, I was completely full, albeit well under budget, I’d met some great people and enjoyed some terrific scenery, but I was on a time crunch, with another 130-plus miles to go before my destination motel, and three more restaurants to visit. I was also pretty sure that I’d be getting sleepy pretty soon, before I had planned to. I had to press on through the darkness of US-43, which runs parallel to the combined routes of I-20 and I-59 in a southwest direction until reaching the town of Eutaw, at which point it drops away straight south. Eutaw is one of those towns where travelers have to pay close attention to the signs, because the road makes some surprising and abrupt left turns. It makes a long and gentle westerly curve into the downtown area and then drops south after that. I’m a pretty seasoned road tripper and it surprised and confused me more than these things usually do, anyway. Continue reading “Circumnavigating Alabama – Part 4”