A friend recently forwarded me the list of the 100 foods that every omnivore should eat in his or lifetime.  The list, compiled by a British food blogger at Very Good Taste, runs from the ridiculous (road kill) to the standard (a Big Mac meal) to the pricey (Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant).

 Scanning down the document, I knew it was my chance to join the herds of bloggers who decide to take on a task and blog it to completion. Yes, I’m sure you’ve seen the blogs or read the books or seen the movies of those trying to, say, cook all of Julie Child’s recipes, have sex every day for a year or live a waste-free life. So, for the next year – or however longs it takes – we will eat from one to 100. I will try to go in order, but I’m making no promises.  

Venison

First up, is something I’ve long wanted to try: venison.

It took me two weeks to track down venison. At Yelpers’ recommendation, I tried Whole Foods and then the expansive gourmet grocery Wegman’s (there’s one in Fairfax and off 95 in Woodbridge). Whole Foods told me that they stopped carrying venison because they “we’re sure where our vendor was getting it from.” Wegman’s did have it. But at about $30 a pound, I decided to save my funds for food I knew tasted good.

Fortunately, we went to West Virginia last weekend – a state where everyone apparently keeps a steak (or side) of venison in the freezer. In hunting season – the height of which is next week – school kids have vacation so they can join their parents in the woods with a rifle.  

Considering this, I’m not too surprised I was served venison not once – but twice – in one weekend.  

The first was the tenderloin cooked with honey and truffle oil. It was a bit like pork, dry and dense, but not unpleasant. The second time, we had a leg – or at least that’s what I think it was judging from the bone.  It was stringy like jerky. After a few bites, when the hostess wasn’t looking, it went under the table for the dog.  She enjoyed it.

Next up: Nettle tea.

It’s been a busy year. We started this as a humble Wordpress blog and expanded to our own website. We traveled up and down the East Coast — covering Maine to North Carolina. We’ve eaten jelly fish, ramps, duck fat fries and lobster fresh from the boat. And we’ve had a beer (or two) in every stop along the way. Here’s a recap of the best and worst of our first year.

The Best Bars

Novare Res Bier Cafe and The Great Lost Bear in Portland, Me.: With the help of the guys from Portland Taps, we found these two amazing beer bars. Great selection, great atmosphere (Novare Res had a cellar quality; The Great Lost Beer bar was like a log cabin in the Great North Woods).  See our post here.

Brewer’s Art in Baltimore:  I don’t understand why Baltimore gets a bad rap with Washingtonians. Bar hopping there makes for a riotous, and affordable, night out.  This bar in particular is great. Its is in the cellar of a Victorian townhouse and on tap are the bar’s own Belgian-style microbrews. Even Esquire magazine noticed; it named Brewer’s Art the best bar in the US this April. Wow!  See our post here.

Flying Dog Brewery in Frederick, Md.: While this is not actually a bar – and we did visit many great bars this year – it comes in 3^rd. Flying Dog has an excellent spread of beers of which you can enjoy limitless samples.  The atmosphere at one of these Saturday afternoon tasting is that of a well-behaved college house party – strangers chatting and spilling out on to the back porch. And, did I mention, its $5. See our post here.

The Best Surprises

Yeah, of course Maine was gorgeous and New York City was a captivating metropolis filled with excellent food.  These places/events were just as amazing – in ways we never expected.  

Davis-Elkins loop – Although I’ve been singing West Virginia’s praises since this blog began, I have yet to influence anyone to actually go there. I don’t give up easily.  Follow this route for a road trip, a mellow escape from DC insanity and a getaway that’s great in the winter.  There’s skiing, burritos and beer. Just do it! See our post here.

Kinetic Sculpture Race – I heard about this race from a blogger meet-up. I mentioned that we cover quirky travel, and this event sprung to everyone there’s mind. For the Kinetic Sculpture Race, groups of friends, classmates and coworkers make human-powered parade floats that can float in the bay, push through sand and coast down bumpy brick roads. It’s amazingly odd. Next year, I’ll be bringing a bike so I can better follow along with the race. See our post here.

Ohio Brew Week –The word “festival” (and its cousin “fair”) often makes me shudder. It usually means high prices, hoards of people and lots of vendors pushing useless junk (used laser disks, anyone?) However, this beer festival was the complete opposite. It was festively crowded and reasonably priced. We heard some great music and tried beers I’ll never see elsewhere. And there was a beer choo-choo. See our post here.

The Biggest Disappointments

We really wanted to love to these popular destinations, but they just fell short.

Assateague  – Although camping on the beach sounds romantic and relaxing – think: falling asleep to the sound of the waves and taking an early morning swim — the reality is that you are camping in a hostile environment. Sand is everywhere, mosquitoes swarm and the sun beats down without mercy.  I wanted to love Assateague. But Assateague didn’t love me.  After a weekend of being eaten, burnt and drenched, I submitted. See our post here.

Asheville – Maybe it was the rain, but this southern city let us down. It wasn’t nearly as outdoorsy or hippified as I hoped it would be. Although, West Asheville had a food co-op, coffee shops and dive bars, downtown was too upscale. How many boutiques does one tiny town need?  I think we missed Asheville’s heyday.  See our post.

Best beers

Saison Dupont from Brasserie Dupont: This is a truly world class beer.  If you want an introduction to the style called Saison, this is the beer to try.  My favorite brew, at my favorite restaurants with my favorite person; it doesn’t get better than that. Find it at Annabell Lee Tavern, Baltimore MD

Grand Wazoo Batch 2 at Jackie O’s Brewery: A bourbon barrel-aged sour dark ale with raspberries, definitely a one-of-a-kind beer.  This brew really showed off the range and diversity of the beverage.  It’s flavors are probably more in line with a wine than any beer most people have tasted. Had at: Jackie O’s Brewpub, Athens OH

Dale’s Pale Ale from Oskar Blues:  Our go-to summer beer.  Dale’s is a very tasty IPA that comes in a can.  Naturally, makes it perfect for camping, tubing, and backyard barbeques.   Had at: just about every trip that involved a cooler.

The Trans Allegeny Luntic Asylum has a gift shop, which sells t-shirts. On one side of the shirts is a photo of the building; on the back is a list of reason patients could be admitted to the hospital in the 1860s-1880s. Part of it reads: ”Laziness, Egotism, Disappointed Love, Women, Female Disease, Mental Excitement, Cold, Snuff, Greediness, Imaginary Female trouble, Gathering in the head, Exposure and Quackery, Jealousy and Religion, Asthma.” That’s just the start. It was a fitting beginning to a creepy tour into the eventful history of the building.

The Trans Allegeny Lunitic Asylum offers and array of tours. The historical “Heritage Tours” either tour the first floor ($10) or all four floors ($30). The “Ghost Tours” run at night – from 10:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. — and cover the hottest spots of the building. Many of the dates near Halloween are already sold out.  The asylum will also operate a haunted house for the month of October.

We opted for the tamest tour — the “Heritage Tour.” I, ever squeemish, found that the meer history of the building disturbing enough.

The hour and a half tour covered the first floor. With the heat switched off for the past several years, the buidling had quickly decayed. At points, water from cracked pipes ran down the walls. The air was as humid as in a shower house, and mold grew on the drywall. The metal pipes running vertical against the walls were dented where the patients kicked and hit them.

The appearence of the asylum wasn’t the only creepy part. The tour had it’s gruesome stories — a record number of labotomies preformed there, people dumped at the asylum by realitives looking for a way to snatch their money, higher-functioning patients abusing the lower-functioning ones.

Like any look in to the history of medicine, the tour left me very glad to be a citizen of the 21st — not 19th — century. I think I’ll skip the haunted house: this visit was disturbing enough for me.

Google Maps recommended the curving route up 270 to 86; Rt. 50 cut directly across West Virginia — all switchbacks and hairpin turns. Even though, I wouldn’t get near California, I had to try.

Route 50

Route 50 is famous for more than dividing Arlington into south and north and transforming into the DC’s traffic-clogged New York Avenue. The DC route is hardly homegrown. It spans the country, stretching 3,000 miles from Ocean City, Maryland, to West Sacramento, California. (Once upon a time, it reached the Pacific Ocean at San Francisco).

Crossing West Virginia

The part of 50 that passes through Nevada, where it crosses barren dessert, has been nicknamed the “Loneliest Road in America.” The section of 50 that spans eastern WV should be called the “Road that’s still trapped in the 1970s.”

We came a half gallon from running out of gas on this isolated road. Motoring up and down the mountains drained my tank. Each time we surged up another incline, my meter dipped down into the red.  I started looking out for gas stations. We flew past trailers, mountains crests, streams and white washed churches, but there were no gas stations.  At last, we pulled into a one street town. To our left was a small store. Out front was a single gas pump — the mechanical style with the placards that turn inside the machine to show how much gas had pumped.

I parked and walked inside. The gas station didn’t take credit cards.  Greg and I pulled our cash — $8 total — and bought three gallons hoping that would see us to the next town. I snapped some photos, and we pulled out.

The next town we arrived at had another gas station. I sighed with relief. But as we pulled into the lot, I noticed that this place was even more of a throwback: It was full service only.

Another half an hour of driving brought us to civilization. We filled up at Sheetz, the part gas station part junk food Mecca that served sugary coffee drinks and sandwiches made to order. I looked out into the strip center. Across the street was McDonald’s. The restaurant had a huge sign across the top: “Introducing McCafe coffees.” Espresso had come to rural West Virginia — only about a year after those drinks appeared in Northern Va. franchises. Welcome to 2007, WV.

Tubing Reviews:

Butt’s Tubes – If you want a big dose of drunken revelry with your tubing, try Butt’s Tubes. The company caters to rowdy groups and their cooler tubes brimming with Natty Light. Located right outside of Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, it’s about 1.5 hours northwest (take 270 north and hang a left after Frederick) of DC.

Pros:
-The scenery is beautiful.  You’ll float by rolling mountains and craggy cliffs.
-Harper’s Ferry is a nice place to grab some food before or after your voyage.
-There are rapids and mini waterfalls throughout the river, which adds a little excitement.

Cons:
-Butt’s Tube must give discounts to Greek organizations, because beer swilling, frat boys overrun their trips.
-It’s pricey. A tube for yourself and an additional “cooler tube” costs $45.

River Riders: Also in Harpers Ferry, WV, this tubing company is the anti-Butts Tubes.  It caters to families and offers a “flat water” (read: good for children) option.

Pros:
-It offers a full day trip that breaks the ride into two parts — a flat water cruise in the morning followed by lunch and a float down the rockier part of the river. You also can do the first or second part only. The second is the same section that Butts follows.

- At $29 for a weekend trip, it’s cheaper than Butts.

Cons:
- You still have to share the river with the Butts partiers. But now you are also cruising along with little kids and vacationing families.

- Neither half of the full day ride seems long enough.  Just as you are getting into the drift of the river, it’s time to haul your tube back onto dry land.

Front Royal Canoe: Front Royal Canoe is located at the Western end of route 66 in Front Royal, Virginia. It is also about 1.5 hours from DC. This option is the cheapest of the three: one tube plus a cooler tube costs $16.

Pros:
-The clientele is generally pretty low-key, making for a very relaxing day of tubing.
- It’s cheap.

Cons:
-There’s no rapids or waterfalls. The creek is maddeningly slow. In August last year, the water lever was so low that we spent half the trip banging our butts on the algae covered stones at the bottom.

The Best Beer for the Trip

River tubing is not complete without beer.  The problem is most good beers comes in bottles, which you definitely don’t want to bring.  Bottles take up too much room. Mainly, though, they are heavy and the can shatter into hundreds of foot-cutting, tube-slashing pieces.

The answer is Oskar Blues.  This brewery, based in Boulder Colorado, packages all of its beers in cans.  I recommend Dale’s Pale Ale or Mama’s Little Yella Pills.  Both beers are flavorful and light, perfect options for a hot, humid summer day.  Here is a list of stores that carry Oskar Blues beer.

Helvetia is Epcot Center meets the Amish. The villagers make their own honey (see photo below), sausages, bread, sauerkraut, dandelion preserves and a dozen other quaint dishes. They did make their own cheese, but currently the shop is closed. The rumor is that that government shut down operations because the villagers weren’t complying with pasteurization regulations. Nevertheless, the town’s cuisine is apparently strange enough to earn them an episode on the Travel Channel’s Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern. It will air on Tuesday, May 5.

We ate lunch at The Hutte, a local restaurant where the service was so slow the staff must have grown, harvested and shucked the wheat for our bread before serving us. However, the humble food — I had an apple cobbler and sausage sandwich — was excellent and the decoration charming. The place was piled with books, family photos, an old telephone switch board and masks (see photo below). The Helvetia residents use these every year in the Fasnacht celebration to scare off Old Man Winter.

1. Assateague Island: We attempted to camp at this National Seashore in Maryland last year. However, the place was booked up through October by the time I thought to plan the trip. So this year, I made reservations in January for a campsite in June. If you are interested in beach front camping and wild horses, go to the National Park Service site and reserve a camping spot now.

2. Philadelphia: Every time I drive up to New York, I pass by Philadelphia. I’ve never bothered to stop. This summer, I plan to change that.

3. Tubing: Tubing at Harper’s Ferry was my favorite day trip of last summer. We rented tubes from Butts Tubes and spent the afternoon floating down the Potomac, tipping over mini rapids and diving off rocks — all while towing a cooler of beer. (This year, I’ll remember to bring cans not bottles.) I want to expand my hunt for the best tubing in the region. I’m hoping to find somewhere as scenic as Harper’s Ferry W Va. but without the crowds of frat boys.

4. Tangier Island: Cheap seafood and weird accents are two of my favorite things in life. This Virginia island in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay has both. Just be forewarned, no alcohol can be purchased on the island. Bring your own.

5. The Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum: I read about this unusual destination in Weston, WV, in the Washington Post travel section this winter. It closed to patients in 1994, and now — from April to Nov. — it’s open to tourists. I’m getting creeped out just looking at the photos.

Comment with your top travel plans and suggestions.

Click on the map below for a do-it-yourself guide to this road trip:

[googlemaps West Virginia Map]

This humble grocery is home to the best pepperoni rolls in Elkins, WV.

<a rel=”attachment wp-att-285″><img class=”alignright size-medium” title=”Pepperoni pit stop” src=”http://wereoutofhere.wordpress.com/files/2009/02/_mg_3918.jpg?w=300″ alt=”Pepperoni pit stop” width=”300″ height=”199″ /></a>

Elkin’s train station

Originally uploaded by WeAreOutOfHere

West Virginia is as isolated as an eastern state can get. With its untamed mountains and twisty two-lane roads, it seems to exist in an earlier time: a time when strip malls and chain restaurants were a novelty. In WV, a Sheetz is a major landmark and nowhere serves espresso (you have to make do with watery refills of diner coffee). I actually missed Starbucks.

Elkins is the middle of West Virginia nowhere. (This photo is of its train station, now a tourist attraction.) With a Walmart, a Kroger, an Applebees, a McDonalds and a Taco Bell, the city is the hub of the Appalachian one-horse-towns that surround it. Residents are a mix of hippies and hillybillies. Everyone conforms to their stereotypes. The hippies make their own mead, shop at the organic food store and listen to local bluegrass. The hillbillies have gotten fat on pepperoni roles (a local specialty available in every gas station and grocery store) and store broken down cars in their front lawn.