Sunday, June 26, 2011

Bubblecake & runny nuts

Every time we drive south to visit Audrey & Josh, we go by this military exhibit. You can see tanks, helicopters, and battlements from the interstate as you drive by. This trip, we decided to stop in Carlisle, PA and discover what exactly we were seeing.  It turns out  it is the Army Heritage Education Center and a completely free museum.  They do accept donations through plastic boxes placed throughout the exhibit. 

There were several school and 4-H groups visiting so many of the exhibits had soldiers present explaining the history, weapons, conditions, etc.  It was probably one of the most interesting military museums I've been to, and covered wars from the Civil War to Vietnam.  They are developing an exhibit to provide information about more recent conflicts as well. The pictures I've included are from the encampment replica from Vietnam and a German pillbox tunnel from WWI. The American trenches were wood and dirt and quite a contrast from the very finished & enclosed German site. The picture of the two of us is from the Civil War exhibit.  After our tour, we continued our drive south.

The best part about Virginia (besides spending time with Audrey & Josh), is going to Bubblecake.  We had heard rumors that Viva la Cupcake was better, so this time we tried BOTH. Yeah, my waistline is thanking me.  But the verdict is that Bubblecake takes the frosting, literally.  Then Audrey told me about a visit to a local ice cream shop where she discovered "runny nuts" (or "wet nuts").  For us northern girls, this seemed odd, but we're never ones to back away from trying something new. So we topped our ice cream one evening with these syrup covered nuts. Amazing.  Today when I went grocery shopping at home, I searched the stores for them without any luck. :( Guess it really is a southern treat. Did I mention we also visited Josh's parents and had a fabulous dinner of grilled chicken, corn on the cob, potatoes, pasta salad, and of course, S'mores? Yes, food is a big part of visiting. Audrey made us homemade blueberry pancakes two mornings, and we had chicken enchiladas one night that were utterly delectable. 

Besides all the eating and visiting, we spent a day at the town pool, the Frog Pond, which looks nothing like our local town pools. This is Belle sliding down the frog slide.  It has several different swim areas, but we spent most of the time in the circular pool surrounding the island.

We also went to Virginia Tech to see Rumpelstiltskin. 

When we returned from all the visiting, my laptop had arrived as well as Rob's passport. Woohoo! The Tylers' are ready to go to Abu Dhabi! And we are looking forward to introducing Audrey, Josh & ourselves to some of the food we'll discover when we get there.  I miss them already (Audrey & Josh - not the food).

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