Tulips and Tamales. . . and Beer!

Ron M. and I drove up to Afton this morning to check on things there since I've been closed for the winter.  Betty and Robin met us there, and they came bearing gifts!  My birthday is next week, and despite a person of my advanced age not really wanting to be reminded, I truly appreciated their gifts.  Betty brought a lovely boquet of spring tulips -- pink, of course.

Robin came up with something I've never seen before -- a 6-pack of Route 66 beer!  I've seen Route 66 ROOT beer, but this is the alcoholic variety!  I decided to keep the 6-pack intact and on display at the Station for a while before inviting friends to indulge.  (The beer is a product of a brewery in Wisconsin and you can read about it here: http://www.route66beer.com.)

We stayed for a couple of hours and then started home.   Do you remember the Top Hat Dairy Bar in Foyil?   It had been closed for some time, but we noticed today that it  has reopened as Annie's Diner and there have been some upgrades to the exterior.  I look forward to giving it a try one of these days.

I'm glad we didn't decide to stop today however, because we didn't realize we had a real treat ahead of us. What began as a quick drive-thru of the Blue Whale (I never go past without at least pulling into the parking lot and checking things out), we spotted Linda, the proprietor of their gift shop. While she and I gabbed, Ron braved the sea of mud to navigate to "Molly's Tamales", a food truck on the premises owned and run by the fabulous nearby Molly's Landing Restaurant, and he bought us a handful of the most wonderful tamales!  I've never had a tamale before, but these won't be my last!  

All three food trucks on the Blue Whale property are run by Molly's, and Linda tells us that there will soon be several more featuring other kinds of food.   I highly recommend!

On the way home, I had a surprise phone call from Phil Shinn, our former volunteer at the Station who now resides in California while he tends to his ailing mother.  He will be coming home for the month of March and plans to put in some time at the Station while he's here.  I'm so pleased!   We will probably start opening more regularly the first of March, weather permitting.  At that time, we'll be open at least 6 days a week, then will expand to 7 as the tourist season slowly gears up.  I can't wait to get back and start spending time with all the cool travelers again.  I hope YOU are one of them!