Trip 1: Galveston, TX (shrimp cocktail) - You can get good shrimp from most anywhere along the Gulf, but my favorite place is Galveston. A group of us took a short weekend trip there and worked with the Good News Galveston organization to help out with the Hurricane Ike recovery. I was surprised to see the extent of the residential damages left; the media tends to just report on the tourism part of the city, which has been fixed for months.
Part service and part learning project, I discovered all I didn't know about hanging drywall. Which was pretty much everything! The owner of the house where we were working is retired from the Army Corps of Engineers, so he knew everything about construction and had every tool imaginable times two. Luckily he was a patient teacher, having us "practice" in the garage before we graduated to the inside rooms. Climbing on ladders, measuring, and "playing" with mud - my kind of fun.
If you are wondering, my favorite shrimp place in Galveston is Miller's Landing, on the seawall. "The 16" plate is the best deal and has almost enough shrimp for my satisfaction. Just save room to get a malt at LaKing's Confectionery on the Strand.
Trip 2: Boston, MA (clam chowder) - In case you haven't heard, Southwest is now flying to Beantown. I flew up there with 70 or so co-workers for our inaugural service out of Boston Logan. This weekend was full of events and FUN, which means lot of pictures. So stay tuned to read about this one.
Of course, Boston and clam chowder are pretty much synonymous; the New England flavor, at least. However, I may have discovered the best chowder ever on this trip. And considering it has long been my favorite soup, that's saying something. Don't try all the other places, just go to Legal Seafood. I've heard about it for years, it is an established and well-known Boston eatery. But I'd always assumed Legal was the famous one, not the best one. Lesson learned, their clam chowder beats any I've ever eaten. Interesting note - their clam chowder has been served at every Presidential Inauguration since 1981.
Trip 3 - Kansas City, MO and KS (BBQ pork spareribs) - It may be unTexan to say so, but KC may just have the best barbecue in the country. So good, my parents and I went for the weekend just to eat at one of our favorite places, Jack Stack's. And if you don't believe me, well, then you haven't had KC barbecue.
The food may have been the inspiration for the trip, but we got in some visiting and sightseeing as well. We went to church and Sunday lunch with Tonya, my good friend from college, and her family. I'm here with them at Sheridan's, because lunch must be followed by dessert, right?
Their daughter Avery had changed so much since I'd seen her (of course she was only a few months old the last time I saw her). A stranger to no one, she was greeting everyone while we were eating ice cream, including a big dog!Besides driving through downtown KC (and wondering why none of it looked the same to me as when I was there for the National FFA Convention in high school), we also checked out a Lego art exhibit. Nathan Sawaya is an artist who creates life size sculptures from Legos. They are pretty impressive, too. Here's a couple of ones we saw:
Trip 4: Atlanta, GA (cheesesteak) - Yes, this was meant to be the trick question. I know it is called a Philly cheesesteak for a reason, but they do sell them elsewhere. I'm not sure what Atlanta's signature food item is, something with peaches? I was in Atlanta for, what else, a Braves game and ordinarily a baseball game means hot dogs. But by September I've been to over fifteen or so games and have eaten at least that many hot dogs. Thus, the Philly cheesesteak was the game food of choice.
This trip is also worthy of a separate post. Some great pictures of the stadium and other Atlanta sights. Stay tuned, I'll try not to take as long :)
