The Intentional Travelers

Tony’s in Cedar Key, Florida

Main Street in Cedar Key Florida on a summer afternoon

A Review

If you travel west on Florida State Road 24 from Gainesville to where the road literally ends, you find yourself in a bit of old Florida. Out in the middle of nowhere on Florida’s northwest coast is the little village of Cedar Key with its’ population of around 700. At the corner of D and 2nd is Tony’s Seafood Restaurant which is home to what many claim is the world’s best clam chowder.

An Update: For those that do not the time to go all the way up to Cedar Key, Tony has opened a second restaurant closer to Central Florida. Tony’s Chowder House in downtown Mount Dora opened in February 2019. Chef Tony opened this small restaurant with a throwback old “Chowder House” theme and, of course, featuring his championship clam chowder.

The Great Chowder Cook-Off is an annual event that has been held at the Newport Yachting Center in Newport, Rhode Island, for thirty-three years. It ranks right up there with the Terlingua International Championship Chili Cookoff or the Texas Championship BBQ Cookoff. All these American classic foods have passionate followers by the millions, hero’s by the score with reputations to protect and profit from.

On Saturday June 6, 2009 Tony’s Cedar Key Clam Chowder won the 28th Annual Great Chowder Cook-off and claimed the title, Clam Chowder World Champion.

Back for another title hunt in New England, Tony’s took to the field again on June 5, 2010 and for the second consecutive year won the 29th Annual Great Chowder Cook-off claiming another Clam Chowder World Championship.

At stake on June 4, 2011 was a third title and a chance for the recipe to be retired into the Cook-Off Hall of Fame. Not even a Grand Champion Chowder from New Jersey could deny Tony’s a third world championship. For the third year in a row Tony’s Cedar Key Clam Chowder captured the title and did so with impressive style in another landslide victory.

With Tony’s third title in three years and the recipe retired into the Great Chowder Cook-off Hall of Fame, the future is still bright for what many fans call the “King of Chowder”.

On our visit to Cedar Key that was where we went for our first meal and we were not disappointed. Some people come to this tiny town for the fishing and some come for the art galleries and crafts shops but we came for the chowder and all I can offer is it was worth the drive. If you are looking for white tablecloths and atmosphere you’re probably going to be disappointed but you won’t be in the food and specifically their world champion chowder.

If out of the way Cedar Key is way too far to go for a bowl of chowder don’t despair you can mail order some, as they have a very successful canning and shipping operation as well.

A Savannah Evening and the Chart House

Just this past week we spent a night in Savannah on our way home from our two week mountain trip. Savannah, Georgia is near the top of our list of favorite American cities and heading south on interstate 95 we just couldn’t pass up a night in this fabulous place. Our hotel was only a couple of blocks from the river and one of our favorite Chart House restaurants. Happy hour wine, prime rib sliders and mini crab cakes with a stroll around old Savannah were the perfect antidote to a five hundred mile drive.

River Street is an interesting experience with large ships moving along the river, a dozen or more good restaurants spaced out with T-shirt shops, gift shops and another favorite indulgence – Savannah confection shops – turtles, gophers pralines and …

For a very long while we have had a fondness for Chart House restaurants. They have a simple business model – great food in great locations and often the views with your dinner are worth the price of the meal. These upscale restaurants come with the expected price tag ($$$$) but for the money they have never disappointed us. Often we are in the habit of stopping by for happy hour or a late night dessert in the bar rather than a full dinner.

We have spent a large number of evenings in sitting in the open-air bar sipping a drink and. We have visited Chart House restaurants all over the map from Christiansted in the Virgin Islands, Alexandria, Virginia, Vail, Colorado to Ft. Lauderdale and we cannot ever remember ever being disappointed.

Years ago we spent a lot of time in the Caribbean and there was a great Chart House in Christiansted, St. Croix right on the harbor boardwalk. Finishing an evening there with Jamaican Coffee and Mud Pie was a tradition with us as we watched the sailboats bob at anchor in the harbor. Today the Chart House still serves that Mud Pie, so our night in Savannah ended with Mud Pie.

Besides the Chart House Restaurant in St. Croix there was one in Frenchtown, St. Thomas and Old San Juan but they all closed in 1999 – I think the hurricanes were too much for the chain. The staff and landlord tried to continue operating the one in Frenchtown under the name Harborside but on our last trip to St. Thomas it to was gone.

We’ve also been to Chart House restaurants in Vale, Colorado, Scottsdale, Arizona, Ft. Lauderdale and Alexandria, Virginia and have never been disappointed. In the Spring of 2002 the chains 39 restaurants were acquired by the Landry’s Inc. hospitality organization and as far as we can tell they’ve been smart enough to have left them much the same.

Blue Ridge Hiking At Peaks of Otter

One of the first tourist centers in the Blue Ridge Parkway was The Peaks of Otter dating back to the mid nineteenth century. Today it includes camping, a hotel, restaurant and Visitors Center with a number of interesting trails to hike.

One, the Johnson Farm Trail takes you past a restored mid-1800s farm. The Johnson Family homestead includes the farmhouse, a barn, a spring house, antique farm equipment, a garden and orchard. While the grounds are always open for those hiking the trail, if you go during operating hours, park volunteers are on hand to answer questions and give tours of the farmhouse. Ask at the Visitor Center about current hours.

There are a number of hiking trails at Peaks of Otter but The Johnson Farm Trail is a favorite because of the farm and because it connects to the Harkening Trail which passes Balance Rock. If you stop at the Peaks of Otter Visitor Center (MP 85.9) a .3-mile connector trail leads to the start of the Johnson Farm Loop Trail. But starting there adds an extra .6-mile, round trip, to that hike. To save that half mile park at the lower lot of the Peaks of Otter Lodge, which is just a half mile north of the Visitor Center. From there look for a paved path that leads through a tunnel under the Blue Ridge Parkway. You will find the start of this trail on the other side. You can also access the Abbott Lake Loop Trail from this parking lot but instead of crossing under the Parkway, keep walking along the paved path for this easy, 1-mile hike that circles the lake.

Because The Johnson Farm Trail is a loop, you can hike either a clockwise or counterclockwise direction, but if you want to have less steep uphill climbing, hike in the counterclockwise direction, which is the way the trail sign is pointing. The farm is a reasonably moderate .75 mile hike up the trail, which is near the halfway point on this hike. If you continue on past the farm on the loop trail there is a fork off to the right that is the Harkening Hill Trail that will will take you to Balance Rock which is about a mile one way. Taking the entire Harkening Loop Trail back to your start will be an additional 3.6 miles.

Shortly after starting the Johnson Farm Trail counterclockwise, the trail forks and you need stay on the left fork. Soon after that you will find yourself crossing an expanse of meadow and passing the site of the old Hotel Mons which dates back to the mid-1800s.

In 1857, a father and son named Benjamin and Leyburn Wilkes purchased the land, including the mountains around the Peaks of Otter area. They had been running a small boarding house since 1849 and believed that tourism was the future. The same year they purchased the land, they began construction on the first true hotel in the area, the Otter Peaks Hotel. Up until then, any lodging for tourists was done in private homes or small boarding houses. The most popular was run by Polly Wood, widow of Jeremiah Wood who was a grandson of the original settler of Peaks of Otter, Thomas Wood. The inn was known as Polly Wood’s Ordinary, and it still stands today on the shore of Abbott Lake near the Peaks of Otter Picnic Area. Polly Wood’s ordinary closed in the early 1850s not being able to compete with the new hotel.

Peaks of Otter Hiking Trails

Sharp Top Trail (1.5 miles to the summit) Strenuous 3 hours

Originates at the Nature Center across the Parkway from the Visitor Center. This is a steep route and you should be in good health. There is no drinking water on the trail, so take water with you. The summit offers an impressive 360-degree view of the Peaks of Otter area, the Piedmont to the east, and the Shenandoah Valley with the Allegheny mountains to the west. Add an extra half-hour to take spur trail to Buzzard’s Roost, large rock formations offering good views of the area. Note: There is concession-operated bus service (one-way or round trip) to within 0.25 mile of the top seasonally.

Elk Run Loop (0.8 mile) Moderate to strenuous 1 hour

Begins behind the visitor center. It is a moderately strenuous trail and is self-guiding with written displays describing the forest environment.

Harkening Hill Loop Trail (3.3 miles)Moderate 5+ hours

Begins behind the visitor center and across from the amphitheater. This woodland trail climbs to a ridge with good views. A spur trail near the summit leads to Balance Rock, an immense boulder balanced on a small rock. Connects to Johnson Farm Loop Trail.

Johnson Farm Trails (1.8+ miles)Moderate 2+ hours

A loop trail, approximately two miles long, which follows a section of the Harkening Hill loop trail. Beginning at the north end of the visitor center parking area, the trail leads 1.1 miles to the Johnson Farm, originally built in the 1850s.

Flat Top & Fallingwater Cascades Trails (6.5 mile) Moderate to strenuous

Was designated a continuous National Recreation Trail in April 1982. Flat Top rises to an elevation of 4,004 feet with many scattered rock outcrops. On this trail, hikers climb and descend 1,600 feet from the Parkway trail heads. Fallingwater Cascades Trail is a loop trail which takes hikers along cascades on Fallingwater Creek with its huge rock outcrops with rhododendron and hemlock forest. This trail descends 260 feet from the Fallingwater Trail Parking Area and experiencing this mountain cascade is well worth the effort.

Abbott Lake Trail (1 mile) Easy under 1 hour

The least difficult of Peaks of Otter trails, is a one-mile loop around Abbott Lake. The trail through a woodland forest and open field, offering close-up views of the lake. Trail is ADA Accessible.

Autumn In The Blue Ridge Mountains

A two minutes of video of the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina and Virginia. Featured are scenes of the Mabry Mill , Mingo Falls, the Linville River and Linville Falls.

Enjoy the Zen of the moment…

Elk In The Appalachians • An Encounter

It’s been some time since I read anything about the reintroduction of elk into the North Carolina mountains and I hadn’t given it any thought when planning our Blue Ridge Parkway trip. It was an unexpected encounter when we found elk in the forest.

Reintroduction of elk into Great Smoky Mountains National Park began in 2001 when 25 elk were brought from the Land Between the Lakes National Area of Tennessee. In 2002, the National Park Service imported another 27 animals.

So far the elk seem to be improving the mountain forest environment as the elks’ grazing is active enough to stimulate good plant regrowth. They keep fields clear by keeping the grasses shorter and make it easier to navigate for smaller animals, such as rabbit or turkey, and also make it easier for birds of prey to search through the shorter grasses. They are also adding to the network of game trails in the forest. However the elk have been missing from this environment for over a hundred years and researchers are still studying the impact of their reintroduction watching for signs of stress.

After our surprise at finding the elk grazing near the Oconaluftee Visitors Center on our first evening in the mountains we returned to hike a nearby forest trail early the next morning.

As we got to the Visitors Center there were again a number of elk cows in the meadow and within a half hour on the trail we could hear bull elk calls and vocalizations across the river. As we approached the Oconaluftee river a cow approached along with three calves and began to ford the river.

Within minutes a bull came out of the forest calling to the cow.

What an amazing beginning to our Appalachian expedition!

Two Military History Museums

Most country’s histories are, to a significant extent, defined by war and in that regard the history of their military is an integral part of the nations story. On two recent trips we’ve taken the time to visit some remarkable museums. Both are incredible facilities that don’t just recount history but do it in a thoroughly engaging way.

Just this week on our return from our Blue Ridge Mountain exploration we spent the night in Fayetteville, North Carolina and took a couple of hours to visit the U.S. Army Airborne & Special Operations Museum at Fort Bragg – 100 Bragg Blvd, Fayetteville, NC 28301 (910 643-2778).

This fascinating museum tells the story of the various Army specialized warfare elements and the battles they were involved in. The exhibits cover the birth of Army Airborne, Rangers and Special Forces from World War II to the War On Terror. There are detailed exhibits on the key people involved in planning, creation and deployment of Army Special Operations forces along with large displays of men and equipment in the field.

Not long ago we also visited The National Infantry Museum at Ft. Benning, Georgia – 1775 Legacy Way, Columbus, Georgia 31903 (706 685 5800)

Very similar in size and scope to the Ft. Bragg museum, the infantry museum looks at the Army’s infantry divisions, the leaders and soldiers and their stories throughout America’s history.