We arrived last night, driving down I-78 into the setting sun. The location is very rural, I and M’s place is set in acres of trees with a few houses dotted about. They have lots of wildlife about including deer, which render gardening nigh on impossible as they eat everything. We awoke early and just caught the sun rising and casting early morning shadows across the frosty grass. Downstairs, we found them throwing the frisbee for Fergie the friendly Golden Retriever who of course never tires.We had expressed a desire to see something of the area where they live, so that was the plan for the day. We set off in the Jeep, minus Fergie and made a tour up the Delaware River. On one side it is PA and the other bank is NJ, so we pottered to and fro across various bridges from one state to the other. The towns and villages are mostly a couple of hundred years old with quaint shops, churches and inns. As it has recently been Halloween there were plenty of pumpkins, ghosts, skeletons and witches decorating the doorways and porches.
One of the places we stopped at was Frenchtown with its pretty main street and alleyways with artisan shops. We drifted into an art gallery/shop where the theme was definitely nature. The owner had hundreds of bird carvings from local wood carvers, all very lifelike and beautifully finished in realistic painted plumage. The walls were covered in natural history art, it was good to see so much excellent work. This was, after all, the Decoy and Wildlife Gallery. But coffee called so we went next door to River Blue Café and enjoyed coffee and cookies before exploring further. One very brightly coloured shop front displayed equally cheerful handmade hats and scarves and just down a side street were more pumpkin displays. There was a certain French flavour to the town, one shop was even called 'Pardon my French'. So soon we were off again, heading for Peddlers Village. Although I&M warned us of its touristic cuteness, they said it was a good place to go, but none of us had anticipated the crowds. It was Apple Festival weekend and there were scores of big buses parked in the car park bringing people to the associated artisan market. All the car parks were full and we eventually found a space at the furthest away point possible. We walked back to the village only to find, as you can imagine, that it was mobbed. There were queues for everything from the loo to the café and with that many people we couldn't even see anything properly. What a shame, but then we will just have to go back again one day.
So we returned to the car and made our way back to the house via a couple of covered bridges to a welcoming Fergie. Dinner was booked at Don Shula's restaurant in the nearby mall. Shula's is famous for its steak, and most famous for serving a 48oz portion. If you can eat it unaided at one sitting your name goes on a plaque on the wall. There seem to be about 300 of them so far, with one guy having done it one hundred times. For the 100th dinner he was joined by Don Shula himself. The theme of the restaurant is a football season when the Miami Dolphins, that Don Shula coached, had a perfect season. That means they played the whole season unbeaten. We settled for steaks up to 12oz and still had plenty to take home for Fergie; and they were superb - tasty and tender. We followed them with chocolate fondant - just two between four and it could have been one between four it was so rich and flavourful. And then we had some refreshing mint tea.
Decoys and Wildlife Gallery, Frenchtown NJ
River Blue Café, Frenchtown NJ
Cathy Smith Designs, Frenchtown NJ
The Frenchtown Inn, Frenchtown NJ
Black Bass Hotel, PA
Peddler's Village PA
Covered Bridges of Bucks County, PA
No comments:
Post a Comment