Off the Beaten Path in Nashville

If emerging hip cities were like the new kids at school, then Nashville would be the fascinating girl with the cool outfit who shows up at homeroom. With its vibrant music scene, emerging foodie status, streets full of the young and bearded and very own TV show, Nashville is the place to be. Or so we discovered when we decided to take our Christmas vacation there and everyone we told said, “We’ve been meaning to go to Nashville.”

 

The 10-hour drive is relatively painless for those of us from the DC-metro area (straight out on I-66, left on I-81, right on I-40), so it’s a good way to spend an I-don’t-want-to-fly vacation. I did not become an expert on Nashville in our five days of touring, eating, drinking and copious napping. But we did discover some neat out-of-the-way sights, scenes and drinks that will appeal to us aging cool kids.

1. The Parthenon at night

Our first evening in Nashville, we strolled over to the Parthenon in Centennial Park. During the day, I’m sure it’s amazing to see this leftover relic from the 1897 Centennial Exposition and the art inside. But at night, it was spooky and regal and lit with Christmas colors. We wandered between its concrete columns and told stories of time warps. You never get a monument all to yourself in D.C.

2. Johnny Cash Museum

We decided to skip the Country Music Hall of Fame for the Johnny Cash Museum, which had more sentimental value for me because I love the love story of Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash. The small museum packed in a lot of tourists when we were there, but we were still able to spend all the time we wanted listening to his music, watching his videos and looking over an interesting and intimate array of stuff from Johnny’s life. I didn’t see the love letter Johnny wrote to June after she died, but my husband did. With my tendency to cry in public, he thought that was best.

3. The Escape Game. Driving to this out-of-the-way building, I started to think that maybe I’d been suckered into a dumb activity that only tourists do. Wrong. The Escape Game location is in an amazing artist enclave, little homes for recording studios and a pie shop and a really fantastic coffee shop. And the game itself – where you and your compatriots are locked in a room for an hour and must solve puzzles to escape – is totally awesome. And no, we didn’t escape. Boo.

4. Third Man Records. The Nashville outpost of Jack White’s recording studio is tiny and weird and quirky, selling almost entirely vinyl. It’s worth a visit if you’re a fan. And ask if the studio is open. Walking through it, with its Astroturf barbecue area and big blue wall and ginormous overhead fan makes you feel like a rock star.

5. Haircut at Monty's

If there is anyone in your party who could remotely use a haircut, take them to Monty’s in the Arcade. The open-air corridor of shops covered with a roof is cool; art galleries ring the second floor. And Monty’s is everything you want a cool-guy barber shop to be: the barbers are friendly and tattooed, the Galaga is free, the pomade is plentiful and there’s a Playboy in the magazine rack. 

6. Dancing on a Monday at The 5 Spot. As we sat on our stools at The 5 Spot and watched the couples begin expertly jumping and jiving to the first beat of the first song on this soul and swing night, the couple next to us leaned over and asked, “Do you know what’s going on?” We’d come to dance. But this was DANCING: swinging and spinning and what have you. Fortunately, after a couple of whiskeys with picklebacks, we were right in there and it was blast. Get there early. When we left at midnight, the line stretched halfway down the block.

7. Corsair Distillery 

Visit this distillery in the old Yazoo brewery. You can sip a beer beforehand in the Corsair taproom, check out the 100-year-old pre-Prohibition-built still on the tour, pet the bowtie-wearing cat that lives in the distillery and sample some killer rye during the post-tour tasting. Extra bonus: Anyone in your group not interested in the tour can hang out at the Soda Parlor down the hall.

8. Arcade and comic books. On New Years Eve, I made the males in my family decide the itinerary. And boy, did they. We spent two hours at a great $7/hour-$10/day video game arcade on the non-tourist side of Nashville. After an hour, I bailed and went to the nicest tea shop next door. Then we went to a comic book and used album store, where the cash register guy made me feel very good about my depth and breadth of Arrow knowledge.

9. Galax, VA

No, the city of Galax, VA is not in Nashville. But it is the best place to stay for the night if you’d rather drive two five-hour stints than one 10-hour marathon. Galax is home to the historic Rex Theater which, every Friday night, hosts a live bluegrass show broadcast on WBRF 98.1. Obvious regulars come out for the lively show – they jump up for every song and politely sit down and fan themselves in between. Do yourself a favor and fuel up at the Galax Smokehouse beforehand.

10 Reasons Why You Should Visit Catoctin Creek Distilling Company

Photo by Rick Martin

Right now. You should take the day off (or embrace the day off you may already have on this Veterans Day), call a babysitter for the kids, and head out to the Catoctin Creek Distilling Company in Purcellville, Va. Here are 10 reasons why:

10. The drive is gorgeous. I'm sure the drive out to Loudoun County is beautiful the rest of the year (it takes about 50 minutes from inside the Beltway), but right now, an explosion of fall leaf color joins the long horse fences and old stone buildings that make the drive so scenic.

9. Purcellville is hip, historic and still seems undiscovered. The couple of blocks of downtown Purcellville, with the Distillery right at its crossroads, are rich with great restaurants, interesting yet functional shopping, and a nice mix of locals and tourists exploring Virginia's wine country.

8. The Catoctin Creek Distilling Company building is on the National Register of Historic Places. The brick building, built during the second year of Prohibition, once housed a bank then a Buick dealership. Large windows that were once garage doors show off views into the vintage tasting room and the distillery room with all of its steam-punk cool stills.

7. The stills are so steam-punk cool.

6. The tour will give you a great 20-minute understanding of how spirits are made. At the top of every hour, friendly tour guides lead guests on a tour of the distillery and discuss how Kansas rye (rye doesn't grow well in Virginia) becomes Virginia white whiskey, rye whiskey and gin.

5. Scott and Becky's story is inspiring. Owners Scott and Becky Harris made a midlife-left turn to create the Catoctin Creek Distilling Company. Scott was looking for a escape hatch from his software career; he was lucky he was married to Becky, who was a chemical engineer and is now Catoctin's chief distiller.

4. The horseshoe bar in the tasting room invites bellying up. The large bar in the vintage tasting room provides lots of seats, encouraging conviviality with the friendly tasting hosts and fellow imbibers.

3. You can try Catoctin Creek's spirits. For $5, you can sample three half-ounce pours of Mosby's Spirit (white whiskey), Roundstone Rye, and Watershed Gin. For $10, you can sample flights of brandy and higher-proof rye.

2. If sipping straight spirits is not your thing, you can sample Catoctin Creek's spirits in cocktails. For $10, you can choose three mini-cocktails from a menu created by guest mixologists. For October, an Apple Cinnamon Sazerac, a Bloody Mosby and a drink called a Relaxing Rita were three of our options.

1. You can be on TV!! No, this is not the number one reason to visit the Catoctin Creek Distilling Company. But I couldn't figure out another way to mention a topic dear to the Harris' heart: a proposed tax hike on Virginia spirits. Local TV news was at the distillery on the day we visited to film a segment with Scott. Click on the photo to learn more about this issue, and contact your local state representative!

---

Catoctin Creek Distilling Company

 

120 W. Main St., Purcellville, VA, 20132

Hours; Monday-Friday, 1-5; Saturday, 12-7; Sunday, 1-6

Tours offered for $5 at the top of every hour

Hands in the Air at Merriweather Post Pavilion

View fullsize

I thought my blog about my visit to the Merriweather Post Pavilion was going to be about spots to eat, drink and grab some shade at the outdoor music venue north of the Beltway in Columbia, Md.

But as I stood in the dark of the crowded amphitheater last night, the light-show spectacle of the band Queens of the Stone Age exploding in front of my eyes, their bass drum thumping against my chest and making me sway and shimmy and shuffle my feet in the 1-by-1 foot space in front my seat, I realized that this blog needed to more than a "tips" article. It needed to be a call to action. This visceral jolt of an eye-dazzling light show, music beating against your body, the summer heat against your skin, and the undeniable urge to dance in public is something we as middle-aged, responsible parents and partners don’t experience very often anymore.

So do this. This summer. Claim your 1-by-1 foot of space and dance.

“We’re here to drink, dance, party and have a good time,” Queens lead singer and guitarist Josh Homme told the crowd. “There ain’t no time for anything else.”

View fullsize

Josh Homme, Queens of the Stone Age

Homme is a big, broad-shouldered red-head who swivels his hips like Elvis and smokes while he plays guitar. He’s the hottest Agent Brody ever. If there is any man to inspire a crowd to embrace a good time and the inherent sensuality of a concert on a summer night, it is this man. I saw grown men air-guitaring along with him. A middle-aged woman waved her hands like an orchestra director while he sat at a piano and sang about vampires.

But say intense, alt-metal isn’t your thing. Every flavor of band -- from Beck to Phish to Huey Lewis and the News -- is playing at area outdoor venues this summer. Columbia, Md., feels too far to drive? You’ve got Wolftrap just outside the Beltway in Vienna, Va., and Jiffy Lube Live in the far-out Northern Virginia 'burb of Bristow, Va.

So go. Dance. Move. Clap along. Air drum along with the drummer (the Queens drummer was hottie and Baltimore native Jon Theodore). But claim that space and enjoy it.

---

Merriweather Post Pavilion

View fullsize

A full bar with shade and fans inside Merriweather

This outdoor music venue set among 40 acres of trees in Columbia, Md., has a quirky, natural charm with lots of tongue-in-cheek statues, barns used as restrooms and food shacks, and a small deck at the top of the sloping lawn selling $5 beers. It also has incredible acoustics, famed architect Frank Gehry as its designer and a stage that saw Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and the Grateful Dead on its boards. For eats, head to the Jerry's Crisp and Toasty Grilled Cheese stand in the northwest corner for a cheddar, applewood bacon and tomato sandwich on honey wheat. For drinks, go to the 9:32 Club on the west side, a mini-9:30 Club with a full bar, table and stools, fans, and TVs streaming the show. You may never leave.

Click to see Merriweather Post Pavilion's summer schedule.

Hershey Park for Adults

I used to love, love, love amusement parks. As a child, I love the exhilaration of the rides and the promise of cotton candy. As a teenager, I loved the constant whiff of hormones and the excitement of the music blaring out of the Himalaya (aka Music Express, Matterhorn, Thunderbolt, Flying Bobs). As an adult, I loved it for my children -- surprising them with trips to amusement parks on their birthdays, shepherding them around, taking pictures of their glee-filled faces on the mini rides.

But now that my kids are older, all they want from me and my husband is the ride. And the money. We went to Hershey Park recently to celebrate my youngest becoming a teen, and after a couple of turbo rides, the kids kindly asked us to leave them alone. They wandered off and we were left with a serious case of wooziness and a mild sunburn. What we were going to do with ourselves the rest of the day?

Until amusement parks decide to install a napping spot like this one we enjoyed in Tulum, here are some suggestions for enjoying yourself at Hershey Park:

• Go to the back of the park first -- It's a good rule for any amusement park visit: Start at the back and work your way forward. People rush the gates and run to the first, largest, craziest roller coaster they can find, lending to an hour-long wait and an otherwise empty park. At Hershey, two great wooden roller coasters, uncrowded pathways, plenty of benches and state-fair styled food stands greet you at the Midway America section in the back of the park.
• Ride the wooden roller coasters -- Most of the rides with their loop-de-loops and twirls will make you nauseous. It just happens when you're older; I think it's an inner ear thing. But Hershey Park has three great wooden roller coasters (Wildcat and Lightning Racer in Midway America, the Comet in The Hollow) that will give you the exhilaration you remember while keeping your guilty-pleasure amusement park food in your stomach.
• Eat guilty-pleasure amusement park food -- If I'm going to put the calories on my hips, I want it to be worth it. Two food stands we enjoyed were:
  • Bricker's Famous French Fries (Midway America) - They cook the fries when you order them and let you salt and season them yourself.
  • Dippin' Dots Sundae Shop (Kissing Tower Hill) - The Cookies and Cream Sundae was big enough for two, although I wanted to order another one. Around the corner from the Sundae Shop is a quiet and relaxing area with shade trees and tables with umbrellas.
• Don't eat guilty-pleasure amusement park food -- Sometimes the body has had enough. The light-filled, quiet and air-conditioned Gourmet Grille on Kissing Tower Hill offers salads, paninis and wraps as well as the standard hot dogs and chicken tenders. Choose it over the Overlook Food Court, also on Kissing Tower Hill, which was a zoo the day we visited.

• See a show -- We needed to figure out a way to while away the time, and stealing the place of lady who was laying back on a shaded bench and reading her Kindle wasn't an option (although we did consider it.) So we entered the Aquatheater and -- although we've seen such shows a hundred times before -- we still were oohed and awed by the seal and sea lion show, Our Friends from the Sea. A piano duel and hard-working young entertainers singing and dancing in a country-music revue were also some shows we considered.
• Take a quiet stroll -- Believe it or not, it is possible to take a quiet stroll in the midst of an amusement park. There is a long path alongside a manmade lake that connects The Hollow with the Main Entrance, winding beneath the Coal Cracker and Sky Rush, and on a busy, hot Saturday, we felt like the only two people who knew about it.
• Ride Tidal Force -- What I loved about Hershey Park when I was a more enthusiastic rider was that it felt like all the rides had been turned up to 11. Tidal Force is an epic log ride that puts all other log rides to shame. And while the line is long (but in the shade), and although you will get to-the-skin soaked, the mammoth fall and the endless whoosh is completely worth it.

Truly and intensely soaked after riding Tidal Force at Hershey Park

In Between Tip: Hershey Park has a great app for iPhones and Androids that provides locations, GPS navigation, show times and menus. The park also has free wifi. 

Exploring Virginia Wine Country

Fabbioli Cellars in March

We’ve gotten grumpy as we’ve gotten older. That dense elbow-to-elbow city-ness that my husband and I used to love about being inside the Beltway when we were younger is something we look to escape every so often these days. So we’re blessed that, in under an hour, we can be driving past stately wooden fences, rolling hills and stone buildings that signify one thing: We’re in Virginia wine country.

It took us too long to visit it. Our little kids (don't take them to a winery; just don't), and the extreme good fortune of spending bits of every summer visiting my parents’ vineyard in Sonoma County kept us away. But finally, this March, we pawned our now older kids off on some friends and headed west for a weekend.

Virginia wine country is unique from Sonoma or Napa because of its history. The ancient stone inns and horse fences stretching over pastoral hills and two-lane brick roads taking you through downtown Burgs (Middleburg, Leesburg) are beautiful in their longevity and sense of place. I’m not a Horse & Hound kind of woman, but I definitely see the appeal.

Wine is produced in every nook and cranny of Virginia – it’s the fifth-largest wine-producing state – but we stayed north of I-66 and east of the Blue Ridge Mountains, where we had almost 40 wineries to choose from.

Wineries We Visited

Hidden Brook Winery – We began our tasting north of Leesburg at Hidden Brook Winery, a cabin in the woods in an area that’s becoming a crossroads for wineries, with Hidden Brook, Fabbioli Cellars, The Vineyards and Winery at Lost Creek, and Tarara Winery all in a couple of miles of each other. If you follow my rule of no more than four wineries in a day, you could hit this quadrant and be done. Hidden Brook was a lovely place to visit.

The award-winning wines of Fabbioli Cellars

Fabbioli Cellars – This family home with the tasting room in the cellar knocked me out! The tasting was an event, a seven-course, food-and-wine pairing with a host all to ourselves. And any West Coast snottiness was wiped away by the appeal of these Fabbioli Wines. We walked away with several bottles of the Tre Sorelle, a Table Red, and a Tannat for a special occasion.

Barrel Oak Winery – The two times we’ve been to Barrel Oak (once for a friend’s birthday party), we found the crowds we were trying to escape. Just off I-66, the winery is perched at the top of a big hill filled with picnic tables and fire pits and 20-somethings in their aviator glasses admiring the view. Which is great for this obviously popular winery. But not so great for us grumps. We snuck into the besieged tasting room, bought a bottle, drank a bit of it at a picnic table, and escaped.

Three Fox Vineyards

Three Fox Vineyards – Three Fox Vineyards has a small and cozy tasting room on the south side of I-66, and a large, beautiful meadow rolling down to benches facing a creek. This is where we walked with our last glass of the day to enjoy the late afternoon light. Three Fox focuses on producing Italian-style wines, and we took home a couple bottles of the Piemontese Nebbiolo.

Bluemont Vineyard – Bluemont Vineyard was our last stop before we headed back home Sunday. What a way to go out! The drive alone was awesome – we took a “shortcut” north along the spine of a mountain-top road with incredible views of the Blue Ridge Mountains to the west, and then up a steep, sweat-inducing road to get to the winery. On a clear day, you can see Tysons from the ski chalet-like second story deck. The tasting room staffers are loads of fun and as many locals seemed to be filling the tasting room as non-locals. Oh, the wine? We couldn’t leave without a few bottles of their Cabernet Franc.

The March view at Bluemont Vineyard

---

Visiting Virginia Wine Country

For everything you could ever want to know about visiting Virginia wineries, check out VirginiaWine.org. 

Where to Stay: We stayed at the Red Fox Inn, a fieldstone building and collection of cottages in the quaint downtown strip of Middleburg. It is thought to be the oldest continually operating inn in the United States, and it has been visited by President John F. Kennedy, Elizabeth Taylor and was a regular destination during fox hunting season for Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. 

The incredible brunch at The Ashby Inn

Where to Eat: We had some outstanding meals in Virginia wine country.

• The Wine Kitchen
• Tuscarora Mill
• The Ashby Inn in Paris, Va. - I have to give a special recommendation to The Ashby Inn's Sunday brunch. Paris, Va., is a two-block town in a valley with the Ashby Inn at the top of its main (only) street. And the three-course meal and accompanying brunch cocktails were some of the most innovative and beautifully presented food and drinks I've had in my life.