Spring Beach Trip to Duck North Carolina, Beach Birds and Restaurants

Early April I slipped away to enjoy a week at the Beach with a dear friend. It was a perfect time of year before the Summer rush. I left my new greenhouse behind at a crucial time. I had my seedlings coming up in the greenhouse but it was pretty calm in the garden so it ended up a good decision.

The weather was generally warm enough in Duck, North Carolina to get outside every day. We booked a house ocean view with a hot tub. We even sat on the beach a few days but most of our time was spent hiking or reclining on the decks. I even found some time to rotate between two books and we attempted to read aloud one of my favorite books, The Devil in the White City, but it ended up being so very time consuming. We turned on the TV only once, the very last evening, because we were packing and trying to down leftovers.

The sunrises were glorious and our hikes were peaceful. We checked out a nearby trail, the Pine Island Audubon Nature Trail and made it up to Corolla several times to walk the supposed "wild horse areas". A lot of poo views but no ponies in sight. We headed out one day over to Manteo to visit The Elizabethan Gardens. 

As always, there were plenty of things to see and do. We had the best food ever and my fav coffee shop with enormous biscuits, Treehouse Cafe, had just opened for the season. A word to the wise, wait until April 1 to go to Duck as many restaurants do not fire up until then! Missing out on all that good food would be so sad. Our favorite found restaurant was NC Coast Bar and Grill. We discovered their wonderful beignets so had to hit it twice, once for a dinner sunset. An interesting phenomenon is that the sun rises only over the beach and the sun sets only over the sound side (the outer banks is a barrier island strip having 2 open sides). If your beach house is situated on the ocean side you have to go over to the sound side to see a sun set so restaurants on that side are busy during that period of the day.

Curiously we didn't see any Ducks in Duck but enjoyed many Cormorants and my favorite seabird the Pelican. We had numerous flyovers of Pelicans and even saw a few Dolphins. There were not many bird sightings in the forests we hiked but my Merlin bird sound identification app on my phone picked up many different calls. I was surprised to see quite a few butterflies during this time of year.

It's never long enough but my greenhouse and messy gardens were calling me home.

Plan a trip somewhere this year, have some fun!

~Rebecca

 

Grand Gardens

This past weekend, we attended Through the Garden Gate, a gardening tour series organized by the Piedmont Master Gardeners.  The gardens of Cathy and Chirs Kramer were open to the public and the tour was hosted by the Monticello Gardening Club.

Climbing Hydrangea, one of my favorites.

It was an overcast day with periods of light misty rain but that did not dampen the experience, it only enhanced the vibrant colors in abundance around every corner.  If there was a weed in sight, I certainly didn't give notice to it as the plant diversity held my attention and kept my mind occupied. 

Sometimes you visit a place that you would never want to leave, an oasis, this is one of those special places.  A garden retreat nestled in meticulously tidy woods with pastoral and mountain views. 

Poppy pods nearly ready to bloom.

I can't begin to name the thousands of plant species that surrounded and overwhelmed my senses but a few that were memorable were Climbing Hydrangea, Clematis and Ivy, native Columbine, Spiderwort, Roses, Peony, Ajuga, Oakleaf Hydrangea, Kousa Dogwood, Japanese Maple, Foxglove, Poppies, Sedums, Coral Bells, Phlox, and Succulents.

This is a garden that I would love to visit with each passing season, to capture the early spring bulbs, summer bold colors, and glorious fall tree foliage.  This was one of the top private gardens I have visited.

We must have spent several hours roaming the grounds but eventually we departed heading for lunch on the downtown mall at the The Twisted Branch Tea Bazaar.  We were pleasantly surprised to discover the best salad in Charlottesville.  The Bazaar Salad was visually appealing and delicious.  Colorful specialty greens were surrounded by small sliced tomatoes and cucumbers topped with yellow raisins, feta cheese, julienned carrots, pears, and candied walnuts (made in house), and finally drizzled with a delicate Ginger Dressing.  Served with a side of perfectly toasted Pita Triangles.  It all melded together so well and each bite was delectable.  We also discovered their really cute outside back porch that looks out toward Monticello (you do have to stand against the wall and squint but it is there).

-Rebecca

A Day of Dave Matthews and Tacos

Blenheim Vineyards

Being that I have lived in Charlottesville for only a little over a year now, it is understandable that three newcomers had no idea they had stumbled upon a winery owned by Dave Matthews.  I'm sure if you are reading this post and you don't live in Charlottesville, you may be wondering if I am referring to "the" Dave Matthews... well, YES, I am.  Charlottesville apparently harbors a list of "names".  Probably the most well known name being Sissy Spacek.  I'm still waiting to run into her at Whole Foods Grocery.  I'm told others have seen her shopping there --- I've yet to ogle over shiny locally grown apples with "Dave" or fight over heads of lettuce with "Sissy", but it's fun knowing that may be one day it could happen.

Kluge Farm Shop - "FOR SALE"

Myself and two other Charlottesville semi-newbies headed out Saturday to take advantage of free food and cider at an open house.  We were rather disappointed so decided to venture out to catch the last open weekend for the Kluge Farm Shop Winery.  The famous winery was up on the auction block last week and no one bid on the property (the minimum bid was 19 million).  You could grab a case of Kluge wine at half off.  I'm not much of a wine drinker so we left empty handed.  A tasting was $12.00... may be this is why they are going bust.  That's pretty pricey for a tasting and given they are selling off the last of the lot, one would think a taste would have been free just to unload what was left. The least expensive case of six bottles of Red for $50.00.

After we left Kluge, we noticed a sign for another vineyard and it was only .4 miles up the road, so what the heck.  We ended up at "Dave's Place", Blenheim Vineyards.  A lovely A-frame tasting room nestled in a hill, revealing the most incredible view.  The tasting was very reasonible at $5.00 a person to enjoy sipping eight wines.  We all liked Painted White 2009 the best.  It was a wonderfully snowy bitter day and enjoying a few sips of wine was quite refreshing.  The winery was quite busy on this fridgid day, full of happy tasters chatting among friends.
 

The delicious Cheese Enchilada.

Our last stop on our Saturday outing was to a little Mexican Cantina in downtown Charlottesville. La Michoacana Tortillema y Taqueria is a little whole in the wall mainly "to go" deli.  I had read review online about it some time ago and decided that a taco was just what we needed as a chaser.  La Michoacana on 1138 E. High Street is an authentic Mexican feed eatery.  There is no Americanization of the food -- no huge portions fried in oil covered with shredded lettuce and a glob of sour cream.  I enjoyed the vegetarian "Super Taco" which was a very small soft flour tortilla topped with rice, black beans, guacamole, lettuce, and tomato.  It was delicious but small, costing only $2.00.  Cindy and Susan split a Cheese Enchilada which was more robust and flavorful.  It was spicy and hot but the flavors were deeply melded together so that it was not offensive to ones tastebuds.  If this was not HOT enough for you, there were three large bottles on the counter that would most likely burn up any future wine tasting opportunities if you were to

douse your food.

We had a good day tasting new things!  Do you know of an interesting spot in Charlottesville that we've yet to discover?  Leave a comment. 
- Rebecca

The Season has Begun

We had a nice time on the Charlottesville Downtown Mall on Friday for the annual Lighting of the Tree.  It was very crowded and everyone seemed to be enjoying the crisp weather, carolers, and festive mood on the mall.  For those of you that have not been to the outside pedestrian mall, it is "the place" to bring out of town guests.  Specialty shops, restaurants, and entertainment venues line the walking corridor.  

There are always interesting sights such as people walking their pooches, vendors selling their "street wares", or strolling musicians trying to make a few dollars.  There are at least four theatres along the route and an ice skating rink that is really cool.  It was slated to be closed but fortunately it was sold so the skating continues.


We attempted to try out a downtown mall restaurant but because of the hordes of people, we had to go to our favorite restaurant in Charlottesville.  I have tried various Asian influenced restaurants but I keep going back to Tara Thai.  The Vegetarian Pad Thai is the best I have ever had.  The service is outstanding and they kindly asked if we would move because a large party needed our table and we gladly complied.  They gave us three delicious Tara Coladas (one for each of us, not three for me).  YUM.  We were very impressed with the service and our reward for simply moving.  Thanks Tara Thai.

- Rebecca