Eaker’s (it’s pronounced “acre”, btw, so you don’t sound like a foreigner), Hilltop, Otto’s (German), and Nury’s Breakfast (chilaquiles! not the one on Main, it’s a couple of blocks south on Washington?) are the places I eat most…Eaker’s more than most. I skip the brisket (it’s very good, but brisket is everywhere) and go heavy on the gochujang ribs; their cucumber salad and kimchi fried rice are excellent sides.
If you want a beer to walk around Main St with, the Brewery makes a good porter.
Not sure the name of the Mexican place on Main, but the breakfast is pretty good.
With Southhold gone, my #10 will be Pontotoc Vineyards. Carl and Frances Money. I’ve been there 20+ times.
I’ve been there to (Fred. Brew Haus) and the porter is 5 stars. 2002 and beyond.
Making a couple of assumptions based on absolutely nothing, if you are around 70 years old and started this around 30 years old that means you go to a winery once a month for every month for 40 years. That is some serious dedication.
Nury’s is great. My favorite breakfast taco in Fredericksburg is the chile relleno taco at Hilda’s down towards the airport. I remember when that was a breakfast taco and tamale only shack, that’s now grown up to a real tex mex restaurant. But they haven’t forgotten their breakfast taco and tamale ethos.
Eaker’s is my favorite barbecue place in the world. Lance and Boo sold the best barbecue in the world out of a truck in the parking lot of the Westbury Baptist Church all through the pandemic. Then they found their brick and mortar, three blocks from my parents’ house in Fredericksburg. It is my gold standard.
No idea if it’s still a thing, but the then gf and I spent a night at the airport “hanger hotel” years ago. Totally different and very nice.
I’ll look for Hildy’s next time.
Re: wineries, weeks not months and three/four times, not one time, and 2 or 3 days, not one day, but it’s a lot. The Napa/Sonoma/Russian River Valley I’ve been there 50+ times, but then in 2008 we saw Becker vineyards and the rest is history.
Just got back from the Alaskan cruise. Seeing glaciers up close and personal is awe inspiring.
Thanks to all for suggestions in Vancouver. We ended up having a beautiful day and just walked all over Stanley Park on our extra day in Vancouver. An 8 mile walk helped work off some of that cruise food we had been consuming.
Southwest Airlines removing open seating, will add some “premium” seats with more legroom.
As long as they don’t get rid of free checked bags…
Because carry-on bags are what makes loading the plane so efficient…
Free checked, paid carry-on is the obvious answer no airline would dare to try.
I flew to Cuba out of Fort Lauderdale on Southwest. There was a mass of folk visiting grandma in Cuba, most spoke English if at all as a second language, and everybody was hauling back loot, stuff you couldn’t get in Cuba like toilet paper and Kotex and computers. Nobody knew how Southwest’s system worked, and didn’t seem culturally inclined to participate, so instead of orderly lines in groups A, B, and C there was a scrum. I got in line as number 36 or so and was about the 10th person on the plane because everybody else was milling. When I went in I asked the stewardess if the flight was full and she said no, SW never filled the flight because passengers brought so much stuff on board. It was a marvelous experience. All it really lacked was live chickens.
There’s a pretty good chance that some of that “luggage” was filled with live chickens.
Great story. Did you enjoy Cuba?
Yes. It’s one weird place.
Did you see a lot of the old American autos from the '60s or so?
They’re everywhere, and being used for everything. We spent most of our time in the countryside, not in Havana, and there were ancient cars being used as everyday transport everywhere. I’d guess that most of them will have had their engines switched out. On workday mornings you will also see hundreds of people lining the roads waiving pesos trying to get a ride to work.
There are also gas lines that stretch for a mile, so driving a car is hard work. There are still horse-drawn farm carts on the highway.
Communism works so well for the people.