My last few blog posts have chronicled a recent wine trip we took to various parts of France and I will be returning back to that storyline, but I wanted to touch on a road trip I took two weeks ago. My eight year old son Michael and I drove to Washington, DC, for three days, then on to northwest Pennsylvania and Niagara Falls for a few more days, finally stopping at the home of some very good friends in the Smoky Mountains of North Carolina on the way home to Jacksonville. This was a 2600 mile adventure that will hopefully stay in my son’s memory for years to come.

 The first leg of the trip was the eleven hour jaunt to DC, which was going to let me know how well my eight year old was going to be as a travelling companion…and he did great! We let the iPhone app Yelp* direct us to a local, family owned BBQ restaurant in Manning, South Carolina. We had made a rule that we would not eat at any national chain restaurants on the trip, so we could get a taste of each place’s local foods. This wasn’t easy to do since Michael only eats about six different foods, but fortunately barbeque is on the short list. The food was great and the people at D & H Bar-B-Que were fantastic…a good start to the trip. As the trip to DC continued we took pictures of the signs announcing the entry into each new state and counted each VW Bug we saw, a travel game we have been playing since Mike could talk.

   We got to our nation’s capital just as it began to get dark, checked into our hotel and then went for a much needed walk to stretch our legs and look for a local pizza joint, another of his food groups. That done, back to the hotel to get some sleep and prepare for three days in the sweltering heat of July in Washington, as we soaked up the sights and history of the many attractions this great city has to offer. I lived in Alexandria, Virginia many years ago, so I had seen most of the sights, but it sure was fun seeing them again through the eyes of an intelligent, inquisitive, high energy and talkative eight-year old. So after three days of seeing many of the Smithsonians, the National Zoo, the Capitol Building, White House, Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument, Vietnam Memorial assorted galleries and historic buildings, my son’s favorite…getting around on the Metro trains and taking a ride in a limousine. Oh, well, the memories will stay with him forever.

   My hometown, Erie, Pennsylvania, where I hadn’t been in over eight years, was our next stop. This was a short six hour ride through the rolling hills of western Pennsylvania that brought back lots of memories for me. Seeing the town where I spent most of my youth was a little sad as the once bustling, industrial Pennsylvania city was looking pretty worn down as the companies…and well-paying jobs…move to greener pastures. But it was great showing my son where I spent my youth, introducing him to friends, family and even foods he hadn’t met yet. It was really fun watching him react to the people and places he was seeing for the first time, but the best time for him was visiting Niagara Falls in Canada. This is a sight that, though I had seen many times, still opens my eyes in amazement at the wonders of nature: the enormous power of the water sending the huge sounds of the falling water of Lake Ontario as it empties into Lake Erie. The immense clouds of mist that billowed around us, as we rode on the Maid of the Mist, which takes you very close to falling water and gives you a real sense of the incredible might of these historic waters. He was in heaven, as we got more and more soaked, the closer the boat got to the Falls.

   So, after five days of introducing Michael to my old friends, family and favorite foods like Greek burgers, pepperoni balls, Stanganelli’s Chocolates, Sontheimer’s Bakery, Smith’s Hotdogs, and Wegman’s, we loaded up the car and headed off to the Smoky Mountains of N.C. to see our friends Lee and Mindy. This was the part of the drive that I was really looking forward to showing Mike. Since he was born and raised in flat as a tabletop Florida, the mountains of West Virginia and North Carolina would be something he had never seen before. As expected, he was thrilled as we drove in and out of the clouds in West Virginia.

   The next morning we made our way to the Smoky Mountains of North Carolina to the beautiful home of our friends in this breathtaking mountainside community. I had no idea that places like this existed in the mile-high peaks of the blue ridged mountaintops. We spent the day seeing the sights of this hidden gem nestled high in the mountains among the pines, oaks and other flora. It was a great day, topped off with the perfect dinner of hotdogs and hamburgers served out on the deck. Now, burgers and dogs are always good, but this was made a little more special by the trio of wines we enjoyed (you knew there were wines in here somewhere, didn't you?): 2006 Konsgaard “The Judge” Chardonnay, 1996 Henschke “Hill of Grace” Shiraz and to end the evening a 1997 Phelps Insignia. This was a very memorable trip for my son, but the memory that I will have, along with the time enjoyed with Mike, is of the dinner on the mountainside deck with these two wonderful people and three incredible wines. Not that drinking wines like these wouldn’t always be fun, but the time, place and people I was enjoying them with is what will make this great wine memory last.

     We really had a terrific time on our summer adventure and I look forward to next year’s trip, but wherever we end up going, it will be hard to beat the adventure of 2012…

 Ken Amendola, Wine Supervisor,  N. Florida

Follow me on Twitter @abcwinekena