Tuesday, November 4, 2008

East Again

We took off Thursday morning, Oct 30, for our second trip East in less than two months. This time the purpose was to attend the Bar Mitzvah, in Washington DC, of one of Marilyn's brothers Grandsons. We find driving just as satisfactory as dealing with the airlines and not an investment of many more hours.
Our first stop was at the "Wexner Art Center" on the campus of OSU, in Columbus. The gallery is devoted,currently, to a showing of Andy Warhol's works from sketches to movies. If you are really interested in Warhol you should see the show, that runs till mid-February. The exhibit is extensive and to view it in depth should take a number of hours, probably 6 or 8. We devoted less than two.
From there is was on to Hagerstown MD, where we spent the night. Following the advise of the desk personnel at the Hampton Inn we went to "Al Pomodoro" for an excellent dinner. "Al Pomodoro" is located in the Hub Plaza at 1101 Opal Court, Hagerstown, MD 21740, Phone 301-739-2741. The restaurant is located in a suburban office building and the decor fits that mode.
The food is quite good and plentiful. I had a wonderful "Eastern Shore" Seafood platter with plenty of shell fish, broiled or sauteed, and served on a bed of linguine with a light white wine sauce. The outstanding items were the jumbo lump crab meat and the prawns, but the clams and mussels weren't bad either. Nothing was poor enough that I couldn't finish it all. The salads, which came with the meal, were sizable and the homemade salad dressings were especially tasty. I had a Parmesan vinaigrette while Marilyn choose Balsamic. Her main course was veal scaloppine with a sauce of pieces of mushrooms, artichokes and sun dried tomato's. She couldn't eat it all so I came to the rescue, for part.
The next morning we drove to Antietam Battlefield, outside of Sharpsburg MD. We spent about two hours being orientated and touring the battlefield. It was a beautiful Fall day which added to our enjoyment and now we can chalk off another historic site.
We arrived in the DC area, actually Silver Springs MD about 2 PM and spent the afternoon enjoying the weather, walking and visiting with family.
Dinner that night was at "Crisfield Seafood Restaurant" 8012 Georgia Ave. Silver Spring, MD 20910. Phone-301-589-1306. Crisfield is an Eastern Shore Seafood House" which has been in business for 68 years. I have been there several times and have never been disappointed. Money has not been spent on ambiance but the food and service is beyond reproach.
I chose New England clam chouder, with just the right mix of clams and potato's and a main course of fresh, fried oysters. They were excellent. Mine came with French Fried potato's, which could have been crisper, I like them close to burnt, and wonderful cole slaw, as good as I have eaten anywhere. This, of course, called for several bottles of beer.
Marilyn had grilled flounder while our children, 3 of them were with us, had varrious crab dishes and seafood chouder in a tomato based light cream sauce. I intend to keep Crisfileds on my must visit list.
Saturday was a family lunch, the service and a dinner, at the Temple, with a Mediterranean menu. Sunday we all gathered for another family meal, this time brunch, before we started our drive home. Dinner on the road was at the "Waffle House", good, fast and very reasonable.
That was the weekend and as today is election day we'll have to see who next will inhabit DC.

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