small towns

Foodie’s Delight: Roadside Treasures and Unexpected Destinations

~ adriennecohen221 ~ Leave a comment

I am apt to brake quickly when driving along the byways of this country.

I’m always on the lookout for distinctive photo ops, and I can’t resist interesting signs (especially unique place names like Toad Suck and Smackover in Arkansas,) decaying fences, old churches and cemeteries, or American flags painted on the sides of old barns and brick buildings. As my husband notes, I am sometimes a pain in the neck, but I try not to be too demanding about those stops.

Most of the time, at least.

However, I also have been known to request, if not demand, a “slow down and turn around” when I spy a roadside vegetable stand or come upon a weekend farmers market. There’s something appealing about buying produce direct from the source. It’s gratifying to meet the people who grow our food. That food, whether just-ripened berries, plump tomatoes, or recently-picked apples and pears, always tastes better somehow.

At times, as I willingly admit, I can be insistent.

What’s better than cutting into a fresh peach and tasting it as its proud grower looks on approvingly? Typically, I don’t mind when the juice drips down my chin and onto my shirt! It’s all about the flavor, the freshness, and the fun.

Seasonal specialties like fresh melons and sweet corn, pumpkins and apples or the products made from a fresh harvest — pickles, preserves and jams, sauces, or homemade breads — often seem irresistible. In states where it’s possible to buy fresh pecans and freshly roasted peanuts, we brake for those too. And, occasionally, for just-picked bouquets of daffodils, tulips, or chrysanthemums.

On an impromptu weekend excursion with friends the last weekend of July — destination: the 41st Annual Grape Festival in Altus, Arkansas — we happened upon a farmstand, and it was the prospect of fresh peaches that clinched our decision to stop.

Farm Stands and Festivals

Luckily, everyone was willing, even though this became one of those turn-around-and-go-back moments. It didn’t take long. Nor did it take long to fill several plastic bags with juicy peaches, plump red tomatoes, and vine-ripened sweet grapes. We chatted a bit with the owners of the farm stand. Then, satisfied that we had made a good decision, we loaded our treasures into the back of the SUV and hastened on down the road, eager to get to the festival.

Truth be told, I’m a huge fan of quirky local festivals all across America. It helps to have a willing partner, and my husband and I have made special efforts to visit more than a few of them, including The Goat Festival in Perryville, AR, held annually on the first Saturday of October. We plan to be there again this year and have already ordered our t-shirts. Who can resist the prospect of a fashion show that features young kids in pajamas? The second weekend, on October 12, we plan to attend the 15th annual Sorghum Festival in nearby Mt. Ida, AR, sponsored by Heritage House Museum.

In Arkansas, it seems there are enough festivals and small town celebrations to keep me on the road all year long.

Following the grape festival, we planned to stop for a picnic on the way home. We opted for Paris.

Arkansas, not France.

Small Town Discoveries

The Olympic Games were slated to begin that very day in the “real” Paris across the pond. We had heard that the townspeople of Paris, Arkansas had decorated the 25-foot-tall replica Eiffel Tower that stands in the town square with iconic colored rings, symbol of the Games. It seemed only fitting that we stop there.

We had packed a picnic basket with bread, crackers and cheese, chicken salad, sliced ham, olives and pickles, cookies, fudge, and lemonade. And we had peaches from the farmstand, a bonus. Leaving Altus, we made a brief stop at Wiederkehr Village, which now also includes a tasting room and restaurant. Johann Andreas Wiederkehr, who arrived in the area in late 1880 from Switzerland, founded the family winery that is now the oldest continually operated winery in the state.

We planned to drink a small toast to the start of the Games. By the time we reached Paris, the air had cooled a bit and we found a picnic table in a city park. Large trees offered shade as we unpacked our picnic basket.

Small Town Delights

Traveling the back roads to Paris took us across rolling hills and along picturesque fields and pastures in this Ozark Mountain valley. It is rural, to be sure. Although I acknowledge that there are valid reasons to travel Interstate routes across the United States, country roads just seem more interesting.

That was the certainly the case for our drive to Paris, and I now have a full handful of reasons to return. In addition to finding the Eiffel Tower, we were intrigued by the adjacent Love Lock Fence, and spent a fair amount of time reading the names and dates on the locks.

There are well-maintained public buildings, stately old homes, towering shade trees, and flowers seemingly everywhere in Paris. I savored the sight of vintage automobiles resting aside old buildings as much as the flower-filled baskets hanging from the light posts.

I longed to visit the charming shops in the downtown area, and to walk through gardens filled with colorful flowers. I vowed I would return to visit the “Old Jail” Museum, the Coal Miners Museum, a wine museum, and Subiaco Abbey, a “working” Benedictine monastery founded in 1878. The monks there produce a hot sauce known as Monk Sauce, made from Habanero Peppers grown in the Abbey gardens.

And the murals! The street art and murals in this small town are exceptionally varied and striking, as unexpected as they are enchanting.

Paris is a small town with a population just slightly over 3,200 and a distinctive history. The city was incorporated in 1879, but a settlement had been established there five years earlier. Once the heart of an agricultural area, it has also been a railroad town and a coal mining center. We had too little time to explore fully, but I would like to learn more about life there, for it seems to “live larger” and have a more intriguing story than one would expect.

Faraway is close at hand . . .

~ adriennecohen221 ~ 2 Comments

It recently occurred to me that the small town in Texas I now call home is the “faraway” to most of the world’s inhabitants. It’s still true that most places on earth are totally unfamiliar to most of us, even though we refer repeatedly to “the shrinking planet.” There are enough faraway places to keep me occupied for several more lifetimes!

In preparation for the next getaway, I have lately been googling “best things to do in . . .” as an attempt to separate “must do’s” from “possibles.” I’m trying, as always, to jumpstart trip-planning. It’s a task I never finish in advance, but half the fun of going is facing the unexpected. The other half is the anticipation of what’s already decided!

Learning about home . . .

On a whim, I plugged in “best things to do in Burleson, TX.” It was more than just interesting, just short of enlightening. I have started a new mini-list of places to go and things to do right here in my own faraway place. I still qualify as a new arrival, at least in the eyes of born-and-bred local friends.

There are plenty of newcomers to Burleson, drawn by proximity to Fort Worth, reasonable prices, good schools and a distinctive small-town aura. There is a unique vibe — a progressive attitude with pervasive ties to the past — and no shortage of friendly people. This dot on the map was established in the early 1880s as an interim stop for the railroad running south out of Fort Worth.

Later, in 1912, an interurban rail line from Fort Worth to Cleburne also operated a station in Burleson. That depot still stands today. It is, in fact, a cornerstone of the town’s historic district, the focus of a cosmetic redevelopment plan that extends several blocks in each direction from city hall. The historic depot and two early interurban passenger cars will figure as prominently in the city’s future as they did in its past, when trains rumbled through 10 times each day.

Freight trains still run twice daily, sounding mournful whistles and stopping traffic at local crossings. I like that, because I’ve been a lifelong fan of trains and train whistles. (Can you guess why? Because they take people to faraway places, of course!)

Where commonplace and uncommon meet

During my online search, I learned:

There is a periodic ghost tour that makes at least five stops at local “haunts.” There may be no regular schedule, but that tour is on my list!

There is a Coldstone Creamery — how I’ve missed that, I do not know, but I am no stranger to other ice cream shops and numerous pizza parlors!

In 1920, the population was 241. The 2010 census reported 36,690 residents, and next year’s count is likely to exceed 50,000. Whether that is good or not depends largely on one’s point of view.

There’s at least one popular sports bar that features karaoke nights. I will probably continue to miss that attraction, a decision regulars there will surely applaud!

Learning new things about the place I call home made me stop and think about the other places I’ve been recently, those with histories that span many centuries. Burleson is only a child on the world stage.

But my small Texas city is charging forward, growing and taking giant steps to build a sound, healthy, connected community that is good for business, good for residents, supportive of its students and its seniors, welcoming to newcomers, and attuned to citizen wants and needs. It is progressive in all the best ways, and still manages to cherish its past.

It is comfortable.

Reality is the intruder . . .

There are still working farms within Burleson’s borders, along with golf courses and city parks, a creek-size tributary of the Trinity River, a stocked fishing pond, and two local wineries. Its previous rural character is still evident, and getting anywhere in town takes only minutes.

It remains small-town enough to boast large turnouts for summer music and movies on a blocked-off downtown street, for local holiday parades, and for patriotic observances at the city’s Veterans Plaza. It is a place where one can stumble upon painted rocks, left in public places by the volunteer artists of Burleson Rocks. They are meant to be found and treasured by passers-by. And several of its buildings are enlivened by colorful, larger-than-life murals.

It is a place where friends can meet for a spontaneous dinner out without making reservations, and where the sounds of live music drift from a local craft brewery/eatery’s rooftop deck on pleasant evenings. The drumbeat of high school marching band practice punctuates early mornings in the early fall, and local high school football games attract Friday night crowds.

Rabbits and possums are regular backyard visitors, and finding Texas longhorns, horses, donkeys, and even young camels grazing in a field is not entirely unusual.

Even though a busy Interstate runs through it, my city is not a tourist destination by any stretch of the imagination. But if you find yourself in Fort Worth for business or pleasure, Burleson is only about 20 minutes south of the high-rise office buildings and hotels, and it beckons to visitors with the promise of an entirely different Texas experience.

The open road: Traveling tips

~ adriennecohen221 ~ Leave a comment

101_2217Fast food isn’t particularly good for the waistline or the pocketbook! And, no matter how familiar, most of it is nothing to write home about.

So, this summer, why not slow down a little to nurture your spirit as well as your body? Whether you take a quick weekend jaunt or an extended trip across the country, here are some good ways to make your next driving trip a memorable one:

Pack a picnic basket

Seriously. There was a time when a wicker basket was a staple in the back seat or the trunk of almost every vehicle. Those were the days when people planned a day’s journey based on the distance between gas stations, and pulled off the road to enjoy a field of flowers or a lakeside vista. Today, with conveniences available at every highway exit, it’s not so necessary to plan ahead, but having a picnic basket full of good food still makes sense.

Fill yours with hard boiled eggs, a package of mini carrots or sugar snap peas, cans of sardines and packets of tuna, a jar of peanut butter, a loaf of crusty French bread, crackers, and homemade granola or trail mix. Bring along either a round of Brie, a wedge of blue, or some string cheese that can stand being out of the refrigerator for a few hours. Include apples, oranges and dried fruit, and maybe some homemade cookies. Pack plastic plates, glasses and silverware, a roll of paper towels and a plastic tablecloth. Include a blanket or quilt for sitting on the ground.

If you’re taking a long trip, restock at a local grocery store; forego the chain restaurants. Forget the cooler full of soda, but bring a large thermos filled with iced tea or lemonade. In cooler weather, fill the thermos with hot chocolate, tomato soup or chicken bouillon. Invest in refillable personal water bottles and fill them with tap water. When you get hungry, get off the road and get out of the car. Park by a stream or find a city park: Walk around, lounge on the grass, walk the dog, and let the kids run!

Get off the road – go local

Turn off the interstate occasionally. Even if you want to make good time getting to your destination, you’ll be surprised how invigorating it can be to take a scenic route or venture onto a back road. Forget the GPS and the app, and buy an old-fashioned road map, the paper accordion-folding kind that you spread out on the hood of the car, the kind that shows small towns, county roads, twisting dirt paths, historical sites and topographical features. Then make time to explore.

Leave the smart phone in your pocket and teach your children map-reading skills; get lost on purpose, just so you can find an alternative way back to the highway. Cultivate spontaneity! Take a few chances. Laugh a lot!

The highways were built to move goods and people quickly from place to place, and they do that well. But, any journey can be as interesting as the destination if you take a turn through the countryside and small towns along the way. It’s a whole different world view and one you don’t want to miss. Stop to photograph wild flowers, historical markers, spectacular views, a herd of longhorns, or an old barn. Look for the unusual. Stop at farm stands and “pick your own” orchards. Buy freshly-squeezed orange juice in Florida, fresh shelled pecans in Texas, cherries in Washington or just tapped maple syrup in Vermont. WP_20160508_007 (1)

Keep a travel journal

Don’t worry about the literary quality; just make it personal and it will be memorable. Simply write quick notes to keep in an old three-ring binder and punctuate with doodles, postcards, snapshots or restaurant business cards. Or take notes on your digital device to accompany the pictures you snap: Transfer the notes and photos to an online journal when you return home. Just be sure to date (and place) the entries so that you can look through actual or virtual pages later to recall specific events.

Your kids will love reliving this part of their history, and you can tell friends and relatives about your experiences.  Write about the wild flowers or the weather; the long, boring miles of highway, or the squabbles in the back seat; add anything that describes the moment! And don’t wait for an epic two-week vacation to Europe to begin journaling. You don’t have to be born with a sense of adventure to enjoy travel. You simply have to keep your mind open to possibilities, your heart open to fun and your eyes focused on the new sights all around you.

Slow down and look around

Take advantage of state tourist information centers as you cross state lines. Great sources of information,  they are staffed with knowledgeable volunteers, and often offer snacks, coffee and cool drinks. They also provide a welcome break from sitting! Many states also have upscale, modern rest stops with clean rest rooms, playgrounds and picnic tables.

Turn off the highway and head for a small town square. Look for a local café, or a diner with lots of cars parked outside. Chances are you’ll discover friendly people, good food and good times. Strike up a conversation with your server; ask questions about the area if it’s new to you.

Travel without reservations if you don’t have a deadline, and look for local hotels in small towns rather than chain motels along the highway. Consider it a bonus if you find a charming country inn, a lakeside cottage at a state park, or a historic hotel in the heart of a Midwest city. Another way: Take day trips to other towns in your area. You’ll be surprised at the things you discover!

Walt Whitman said it pretty well:

         “Afoot and light-hearted I take to the open road, 

         Healthy, free, the world before me, 

        The long brown path before me leading wherever I choose.”