ok, so we stayed in the poconos longer than anticipated.
we went to the boulder field as planned [ win ], & intended to go straight back to the house to pack & hit the road, but on the way back from said boulder field we spotted an irish pub on the side of the highway &, you know, had to stop [ as you do ].
picture this: we've been driving & climbing over boulders & its 25 degrees outside & we have a thirst on. we're on our way home, but it's still early [ about 2:30 ] so we're in no rush. we spot mc ginty's irish pub ahead on the right. we look at each other. as we come closer to the pub we recall that our friend mike had mentioned it was a 'laid back' place, so we pull into the parking lot. once parked, we hop out of the van & walk in to what we expect is going to be an 'irish pub' [ you know the type ]. but, no, wait, holy shit. it's not an 'irish pub', it's an irish pub. i mean, it even smelled like an irish pub [ luke's description, & he knows what he's talking about ]. &, much to our delight, all but two of the bar stools are taken.
as we make our way to the end of the bar, the bartender calls out a very friendly 'hi!'. we reciprocate & sit down, still in awe. we chat to him about the taps & the bar & the area. we tell him we love the place, that it's right up our alley. he asks where we're from & we tell him, 'canada'. & then the magic happens. turns out he lived in toronto for four years & loves canadians. & when the women sitting on the stools beside us hear that, they join in the conversation. turns out they lived in quebec for years & they love canadians. & if friendly conversation with locals isn't enough, a 20 ounce beer is only $2.50. and if that's not enough, it's game day. not gameS day, game day. as in, pheasant fingers, moose chili, venison & dumplings. & it's all free. & then - & this is the best part - the bartender tells us that in all the years they've had game day [ & it's been a lot of years ], it has always been in february. except for this year. this year it was postponed. to this day. the very day we [ two van dwelling canadians on a budget ] walk into the bar. i mean, come on.
needless to say, we were there for a while. we ate our fill of game [ we had so many pheasant fingers we thought we'd burst. the gentleman cooking them insisted we help finish them off & we just couldn't say no ], chatted with the locals [ we bit our tongues more than once. not surprisingly, we have completely different political & social views ], sipped cold beer & laughed our arses off - the bartender [ a 'molly malone', as he stated more than once ] was a riot.
the next morning we visited split rock [ as suggested by the locals ], stopped at the historic jim thorpe town [ as suggested by the bartender ] & drove the four hours to alexandria, virginia. [ i use the word 'we' very loosely - luke has done ALL of the driving up to now. he. is. a. rockstar ]. photos to follow.
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we went to the boulder field as planned [ win ], & intended to go straight back to the house to pack & hit the road, but on the way back from said boulder field we spotted an irish pub on the side of the highway &, you know, had to stop [ as you do ].
picture this: we've been driving & climbing over boulders & its 25 degrees outside & we have a thirst on. we're on our way home, but it's still early [ about 2:30 ] so we're in no rush. we spot mc ginty's irish pub ahead on the right. we look at each other. as we come closer to the pub we recall that our friend mike had mentioned it was a 'laid back' place, so we pull into the parking lot. once parked, we hop out of the van & walk in to what we expect is going to be an 'irish pub' [ you know the type ]. but, no, wait, holy shit. it's not an 'irish pub', it's an irish pub. i mean, it even smelled like an irish pub [ luke's description, & he knows what he's talking about ]. &, much to our delight, all but two of the bar stools are taken.
as we make our way to the end of the bar, the bartender calls out a very friendly 'hi!'. we reciprocate & sit down, still in awe. we chat to him about the taps & the bar & the area. we tell him we love the place, that it's right up our alley. he asks where we're from & we tell him, 'canada'. & then the magic happens. turns out he lived in toronto for four years & loves canadians. & when the women sitting on the stools beside us hear that, they join in the conversation. turns out they lived in quebec for years & they love canadians. & if friendly conversation with locals isn't enough, a 20 ounce beer is only $2.50. and if that's not enough, it's game day. not gameS day, game day. as in, pheasant fingers, moose chili, venison & dumplings. & it's all free. & then - & this is the best part - the bartender tells us that in all the years they've had game day [ & it's been a lot of years ], it has always been in february. except for this year. this year it was postponed. to this day. the very day we [ two van dwelling canadians on a budget ] walk into the bar. i mean, come on.
needless to say, we were there for a while. we ate our fill of game [ we had so many pheasant fingers we thought we'd burst. the gentleman cooking them insisted we help finish them off & we just couldn't say no ], chatted with the locals [ we bit our tongues more than once. not surprisingly, we have completely different political & social views ], sipped cold beer & laughed our arses off - the bartender [ a 'molly malone', as he stated more than once ] was a riot.
the next morning we visited split rock [ as suggested by the locals ], stopped at the historic jim thorpe town [ as suggested by the bartender ] & drove the four hours to alexandria, virginia. [ i use the word 'we' very loosely - luke has done ALL of the driving up to now. he. is. a. rockstar ]. photos to follow.
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Regular openheartsopenroad follower here from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Just wondering if you've named the van yet. Is there a short list? Have you gone with Vanna? Gus? Ralph?
ReplyDeleteno name as of yet mr. willing, but we are open to suggestions.
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