Dan and I took a week-long vacation recently to visit family and friends in Maryland and Virginia. Of course, when we travel we try to do as much as possible unchained. On this trip we stayed with friends in Maryland and family in Virginia. When you stay with people who don’t always hold to your unchained values, we can run into some problems. Sort of like a vegetarian who travels. But we did the best we could and had some great unchained experiences.

Once of the best parts about traveling unchained, of course, is the fact that you meet the locals and get to know the flavor of the communities you are visiting. Over the next several posts I will be highlighting some of the towns and experiences we had on our trip – not necessarily in order of our visit.

I’m actually starting with a neat town that we had lunch in on our way from Maryland to family in Virginia – Staunton. The town is conveniently located off Interstate 81 – a major north/south route that many travel. We’d wanted to stop  in Staunton for quite a while, but never had the chance to.

The Beverly Restaurant, Staunton, Virginia

It was lunch time so we headed downtown past the strip malls with row after row of chains to where we knew the good local eateries would be. Wow – were we in for a treat! After parking our car we spotted a local tourism bureau and headed in to get the lay of the land and perhaps directions to a good place to eat in walking distance. The man at the counter was not only a wealth of information, he was a delight and funny to boot! We came away armed with a map leading us to a local restaurant that had been in business for the past 35 years and hadn’t changed, lots of info on Staunton, and huge smiles on our faces from the joke he’d just told. Boy, I hope the tourism bureau knows what a gem they have in this guy!

A view of my meal - catfish, applesauce, coleslaw - yum!

Staunton has a lovely vibrant downtown with lots of neat shops. We were dying to explore, but knew that we only had time for lunch and then a visit to the Frontier Culture Museum, which I’d wanted to see for years. We then had to head on to Dan’s brothers before nightfall. Lunch was at The Beverley Restaurant. If your looking for great Southern food with old fashioned atmosphere this is it! I’m so hungry just writing about it! I had a fried catfish plate with two sides of homemade applesauce which was the best I’ve ever had and homemade coleslaw which was equally good. Dan had the country ham plate (a bit too salty for my taste for lunch) but he loved it. We were dying to try the homemade desserts but were totally stuffed. The lemon meringue was amazing just to look at though – the meringue was a mile high. We rolled out the door totally stuffed and happy and rolled down the street to our car.

Jolly Ole England? Or Staunton, VA? You decide......

The good news was that we were able to walk it all off at the Frontier Culture Museum. What a neat museum! It’s an outdoor historic site with interpretors in historic dress. You visit the European and English homes of different cultures that immigrated to America and settled in the mountain area of Virginia. They include a 17th c. English yeoman’s home, a 17th c. Scotch/Irish tenant’s home, and a 17th c. German peasant’s home. They are in the process of building a home of an African to represent the slaves who were brought to America. On the other side of the museum you can visit an 18th c. cabin, an early 19th. c. home, and a later 19th . c. farmhouse to see the development of life in that area of Virginia.

Dan in front of his ancestral hearth - his family is from England as well!

We had some interesting conversations with the interpretors and learned quite a bit. I was particularly interested in the three homes and how they were interpreted as I have ancestors from all three areas – English Puritans who came over were yeoman farmers in 17th c. England, a 17th c. Scotch/Irish ancestor who was a weaver and came over as an indentured servant, and French/German Huguenot ancestors who came from Palatine Germany to found New Paltz, NY. It was great being able to see how my ancestors might have lived, worked, etc.

Yes, of course at the end of the tour we stopped in the museum store to see what we might purchase. We bought a stuffed duck for Faith our dog who is a lab mix and loves stuffed animals.  They had the usual books about the area, but one thing that did stand out was they sold the hand made items their black smith made in the Scotch-Irish Forge. That was pretty neat. They also sold pottery brought in from Northern Ireland.

While we didn’t spend the night in Staunton, our relatives have spent a weekend there and highly recommend the Stonewall Jackson Hotel in downtown. Built in 1924, this hotel has been recently renovated, and looks quite charming. And so nice to be able to walk to everything downtown! They went to Staunton specifically because of the American Shakespeare Center and their Blackfriar’s Playhouse. This group has recreated an Elizabethan playhouse and preform not only Shakespeare, but many other period plays that are never performed in any other theater. It looks like loads of fun and Dan and I are planning a long weekend soon to Staunton to check it all out more thoroughly.

For a look at all the things to do in Staunton check out their tourism website. Whether your planning a trip, or stopping along the way on the Interstate, Staunton is definitely a good unchained destination.

Wow! What a great concept. Between the dates of November 14 and November 21 if you shop  at the following locally owned stores in Cleveland you will not only get a discount on your purchase, but that discounted amount will be donated by the store to Montessori Kinder International School! Awesome! We all know how important it is buying local.  Your money stays in the community, rather than going to corporate headquarters. You’re keeping local people you know in business. And in this instance you’re supporting a local charity through your shopping. Buying local is the way to go.

Now I know first hand what great work our local Montessori does for children. This summer, the Museum Center where I work co-hosted a week-long Culture Camp with the local Mosaic Center and the folks who run the Montessori School. It was a wonderful week of cultural immersion of the fifty some children who attended. They learned the languages, foods, and customs of many countries in such a wonderfully supportive learning environment. And that is what Montessori is all about.

So now is your chance to help the local Montessori, support local businesses, and get a discount in the process. I’m there! Check out these great stores that are part of the Shop Local campaign!

To get your discount simply mention you wish to support the Cleveland Montessori and sign the merchant form at checkout. That’s all you have to do to shop local!
Shop Local Merchant’s List:

• The Wild Bird Center: 15% seed/20% Other
• The Wellness Store: 20% off reg.price items and gift certificates
• Creative Customs: 10%
• Scott’s Bicycle: 3-5%
• Café Roma Gift Certificate: $10 for $50 & $20 for $100
• The Bald Headed Bistro: Gift Certificates $20 for $100 & $50 for $200
• Perry’s Petals: 15%
• Capital Tires: $5 per tire michelin/ bf goodrich brands
• Stamper’s Furniture: 5%
• Happy Tails: $5 of Gift Certificate, 15%
• Orange Blossom Boutique: 10%
• Paisleys: 20%
• Guppies: 20%
• Studio D: 10%
• Annabelle Ink: 10%
• Caldwell Paving: negotiated at time of contract
• Accent Mark: 10%
• Berrywood Aesthetics: 10%
• Tako Yaki Restaurant: min. 15%
• Your Kids Closet: tba
• Baskin Robbins Ice Cream: min. 10%
• Yummy Restaurant: 35%
• Season’s Harvest Market tba
• Southern Traditions: tba
• Carrie Workman Photography: 50% of sessions fee booked 11/14 – 11/21