Wednesday, November 3, 2010

The Dockside Restauraunt leaves much to be desired

Oct. 23

Today was a day of Civil War Battlefields, red hot ginger ale, and probably the worst restaurant I've been to in my life.

As usual, our continental "breakfast" left a lot to be desired. To stave off starvation until lunch, we went to a convenience store on route. This convenience store, unfortunately, served mostly beer and candy, so Peanut M & Ms was once again the "food" of choice. Nicole also saw some vintage Ginger Ale, and I spotted what looked like a knockoff coke--only the label on the bottle said the company had been brewing its trademark soda since 1913. It seemed like a mildly exciting way to add some sugar fuel up for the day ahead.

My soda looked and tasted very much like a Cherry Coke, but Nicole's Ginger Ale was something to get excited about. This beverage was so strong on the ginger that it left a burning aftertaste, first in your throat, then all the way down through your esophagus. You could still feel the flavor, so to speak, once it "settled" in your stomach, but Nicole just thought it was her insides burning. "Since 1885" the bottle proudly proclaimed. It seemed like a pro-temperance substitute for Whiskey.


Fire in the Hole!
Shortly after our cola/ginger ale fiasco we toured the battlefield of Malvern Hill, where, one year to the day after Gettysburg, Grant decisively defeated Lee. Incredibly, the war lasted one more year.

Unlike Fredericksburg, the whole field is a National Park, the landscape unchanged over the last 150 years. Once again, we felt the same power of humility and understanding of sacrifice as we stood on a field where so many brave soldiers fell.

Our journey continued as we pedaled on towards the James River. Our continental breakfast and subsequent search for food had left us hungry and frustrated, but once we got to the bridge, we were hopeful. There was a restaurant on the other side, and by the looks of this majestic, wide-mouthed river, I was certain that whatever food they served would be good.

This certainty quickly morphed into doubt once we arrived at the glorious Dockside Restaurant. When we sat down, we had a long time to look at the menu. It wasn't too far off from My Cousin Vinny. We could have Breakfast, Lunch, or Dinner!

How can you tell it's a vulture? If it acts like the vultures from the Disney movie The Jungle Book.
Actually, it was a little more varied than that, but not much. Pretty much everything on the menu was some kind of fried fish or meat, but once we ordered, we noticed that it all looked at tasted exactly the same. It was as if the Dockside Restaurant had taken local fish off the menu and went straight to serving local water instead. The waitress was also pretty flustered with the concept of customers: she served everybody one at a time. People who had arrived only moments after we did had already paid and left before we got our main course.

Before we left, the lone waitress apologized for the chaos.

"I'm so sorry," she said frantically. "It was so busy."

"That's okay," reassured Nicole.

"It's like this every day," said the flustered waitress. "It's slow and then all these people come, I don't know what to do!"
Riding through one of the many vast soybean fields of Virgina.

Since we had lost so much valuable daylight for such bad food, I didn't bother to stick around and tell her the answer. Nicole and I didn't have much time to travel further before it was almost dusk. With her knee hurting and us miles from any sort legitimate lodging, we camped out behind a nearby school. Good thing it was Saturday!

NOTE:
Be sure to check old blog postings as well. We have added some great photos!

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