Foodz, Booze, Brewz, and Such

Martinsville isn't a very large town, and we don't have but so many local dining and drinking options, though Brugger and I do our best to support several exceptional establishments in town. Third Bay Café, right up the street from us, is owned by an old high school buddy of mine, and it remains one of our favorite go-to restaurants anywhere. Their big ol' cheeseburger is easily the best in town; Brugger often gets a "burger salad"—one of their excellent house salads topped by a burger! Third Bay's dinner menu isn't all that extensive, but everything on it is consistently excellent.

At a recent gathering of friends, Kimberly and I met a nice couple named Scott and Jamie, so we got together with them last weekend at what was, for me, a new discovery. Scuffle Hill Brewing, in nearby Collinsville, has been around for a pretty good while, but we'd never visited it before. The several brews I tried were all excellent, and they carry wine from Hamlet Vineyards, a very good local winery in  Fieldale, a short distance up the road. After Scuffle Hill, we had dinner at Yamato Japanese Restaurant, one of a couple of decent Asian restaurants in town. They feature a hibachi area with some exceptionally agile teppanyaki chefs, but we prefer their sushi bar; the dead fish is always superb.

Renewal Brewing in Uptown Martinsville has become one of our favorite destinations. They have several excellent brews and hard seltzer concoctions. It's located in the basement of one of the old buildings in town, and we find its speakeasy decor perfect for our tastes. The owner also runs Mountain Valley Brewing, out in the scenic boonies around Axton, not too far out of Martinsville. We've only been there once, but revisiting it is on our near-future schedule.

Our most upscale dining option can be found at TAD Tavern, Uptown. It's relatively new, and based on our first experience there a few ago, I give it top marks. You may walk out of the place speaking consoling reassurances to your wallet, but the food, service, and atmosphere could not be better. High marks all around!

Anyway, this is my shout-out to some of our favorite local spots. This is far from exhaustive, and several more deserve accolades, so I'll yak about them in a future entry. For now, g'day.

The Multi-Cache of DOOM and Other Things

Getting ready to head up yonder

Early Saturday morning, friend Diefenbaker (a.k.a. Scott) and I got together in Greensboro to hunt a bunch of newer geocaches that have come out in the area over the past few days. Friend Fishdownthestairs (a.k.a. Natalie) joined us for a brief while before she had to tend to other business. Scott and I made quite the day of it; at the end of the run, we logged 50 caches, a one-day total I haven't managed for several years now. We could have gotten many more than that if we weren't a couple of old and tired men, but we were, so we didn't.

 

Saturday evening, a new multi-cache ("The Multi-Cache of DOOM," GCB3JA4) came out in Rocky Mount, about 30 miles north of here, but Ms. B. and I had plans for Sunday: an excellent brunch at Hamlet Vineyards in Fieldale with friends Bob & Yvonne. A nice couple, Scott & Jamie, whom they had met at another recent event, joined us. For local wine, Hamlet's is very good, both reds and whites, and their food ain't half-bad. I had a very tasty gumbo with shrimp, chicken, and sausage; Brugger went with fresh-baked bread with an assortment of prosciutto, hummus, and spinach & artichoke dip. We give Hamlet very high marks all around.

 

This morning, I got up early and set out for Rocky Mount. A couple of times recently I had cached on the ridge where this new cache lurks, and I can tell you, the terrain up yonder is some kind of serious. Very steep; rocky; thick with brush, brambles, and briers; and covered with a carpet of cacti (last time, I brought home quite a few very annoying, hairlike needles in my hand). This multi-cache took me up the back side of the ridge, the lower slope of which you see in the photo above; in the past, I've gone up the other side, which may be marginally easier. Once you get into those trees up there, making forward progress becomes a real bear.

Upon arrival, I quickly found the first of the three stages, which lay close to the parking coordinates. The second lurked just inside the trees at roughly the highest point you see in the photo there. It was in a target-rich area, so it took me a while, but I eventually snagged the little bastard. Then... into the worst of the terrain. Whew! It didn't help that I ended up reaching the final stage by way of the most difficult route I could have chosen (needless to say, the descent was somewhat easier). The cache itself was a mint, 50-caliber ammo can, loaded with swag. So, I managed to grab the almost-coveted first-to-find honors here.

 

A physical ordeal to be sure, but a hell of a lot of fun. And now, back to the cactus...er...salt mines.