Traveling to Memphis, TN; Hershey, PA; and Kansas City for Antique Automobile Club of America Show and barbecue

Dear Friend,

Hi. Hope you can spend 5 minutes reading this note.

Can you imagine spending a trip with a focus that includes eating? I love that. Of course we like to do more than eat, so we are often pursuing one of our hobbies - just as golfers go golfing, skiers, go sking, etc. Several blogs ago I said I'd write about our October 2004 trip to Pennsylvania to the Antique Automobile Club of America (AACA) car show, swap meet and auction.
http://www.aaca.org/
My husband and I enjoy looking at antique cars. So we planned to drive to Hershey Pennsylvania for the AACA annual meet. We knew the fall colors would be lovely and they were because we would be there the second week in October. Then there's the food channel, which is often on, in this house. We had seen a special about the best barbecue restaurants across the country. So we wrote down some restaurant names and addresses, plotted our route and off we went to see the cars and eat barbecue and other regional fare. We had a lovely long drive though Tennessee. We ate at Jim Neely's Interstate Barbeque as well as at B. B. King's restaurant downtown, both in Memphis. Other enjoyable attractions of interest included watching the ducklings come out of the elevator at the Peabody Hotel making their way to the fountain to swim and play and then returning to the elevator to go back up to their "penthouse."From there we drove up through Virginia on the Skyline drive through the Blue Ridge Mountains overlooking the Shenandoah Valley which was lovely, as had been Tennesse. Then on to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania where we stayed while attending the AACA show and sale in Hershey, PA about 15 miles away. There were several hundred, yes hundred, booths at the swap meet part of the show and auction. Here are a few images - from the cars lined up in the auction and others we saw in the car show.

We spent three days at the AACA show and sale and then took a day and went over to browse the antique furniture in Adamstown, Pennsylvania. It's in the Amish country and oh my - I could have stayed for days and not have seen it all. While in Pennsylvania we did a little "regional eating." I really enjoyed the German food at Stout's Black Angus in Adamstown. We ate inside in the restaurant as opposed to the beer garden outside. When we were leaving we saw a couple of hundred folks in the beer garden so it must be good also, but was sandwiches instead of the 3 course meal we had inside. While in Pennsylvania we sampled Pitt beef sandwiches from Pittsburg, and Phillie Cheese steak sandwiches from Philadelphia. It wasn't barbecue - but regional fare and wonderful.

From Pennsylvania we went through southern Ohio and into Kansas in order to eat KC steaks in Kansas and sample their jazz as well as their barbecue. We went to Arthur Bryant's Barbecue restaurant in an older part of downtown Kansas city. This is supposed to be one of the oldest barbecue restaurants in the United States if not the oldest. The barbecue was delicious. But back to the jazz and steaks - don't miss the Majestic Steak House because of the jazz in the basement.

http://www.kansascitymenus.com/majesticsteakhouse/

We had a great meal at and the entertainment was outstanding. The big surprise in Kansas City was the architecture from the 1920's in the Country Club Plaza shopping area. It was some of the prettiest Spanish architecture, I've seen. The roofs were pretty terra cotta colored tile, and there were mosaics like the one on the front of the building in the picture created with tiles. This was our country's first shopping center. There are about 5 streets, each about 3 or 4 blocks long with this great architecture and elegant shops. Just lovely. There is lots to see and do in Kansas City that we have left for another trip. We did visit President Truman's home while we were there - Independence Missouri is a suburb of Kansas City.

This trip was both interesting and beautiful.

Next month we are going to Florida. Around the end of March I'll write about that. Florida is another car show and for me, we will bird. This may not be the best month for birding in Florida, but I bet all months are good times for birds there. Did you know that Florida has the #1 state parks in the country? That's what they say on their state part website. We will rent a car there and drive from Amelia Island in the far northeast part of Florida to the Florida Keys. We will visit national parks, enjoying the flora and fauna, beautiful birds and of course the water.

I'm so glad you took the time to read this. I am grateful for you. I am also especially grateful for my ability to see as I go back over this lovely trip that was so dependent on that sense. This whole trip is a very fond memory.

Maggieglad you came

All photographs in this post were taken by me. Please ask before borrowing .