canyonwalker (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
canyonwalker) wrote2024-11-08 09:33 am
canyonwalker) wrote2024-11-08 09:33 am
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An Impromptu Dinner Stop on Memory Lane
PA Anniversary Trip Journal #2
Arlington, VA - Thu, 7 Nov 2024, 7:30pm
This evening we're en route to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to visit my inlaws for their 60th anniversary. We landed at DCA airport just before 6pm. From there it'd be just a bit over 2 hours of driving to my inlaws' house— if we went straight there. Instead we did a smidge of shopping in Arlington, Virginia near the airport. Then, since we'd had no time for lunch today as our first flight arrived late and we had to run through the terminal at MDW airport to catch our connecting flight, we decided to stop for dinner sooner rather than later.
Where to eat? In built-up Arlington there are tons of choices. First we agreed we were in the mood for Tex-Mex. Then we Yelped the choices and... found a curious choice wasn't too far out of our way.
The Rio Grande Cafe in the Ballston neighborhood of Arlington is an old favorite. And by old I mean old. This is the first actual Mexican/Tex-Mex restaurant I ever ate at, 33 years ago! Prior to that I'd only ever had those shitty Old El Paso hard taco shells from a box with that packet of seasoning to stir into ground beef. I'd never had an enchilada; I'd never had a proper, freshly made salsa; I'd never had guacamole. Yes, I grew up in a very white-bread family, a cultural impairment I overcame very swiftly in college. I ate here weekly with colleagues 30+ years ago when I worked a few blocks away on a college internship.
This restaurant also holds special significance to us, as a couple. It's where Hawk and I met in person for the first time! That was just over 30 years ago. How ironically apropos that while driving to our parents' 60th anniversary we found a spur-of-the-moment stop that aligns with the 30th anniversary of a milestone in our own lives.
Arlington, VA - Thu, 7 Nov 2024, 7:30pm
This evening we're en route to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to visit my inlaws for their 60th anniversary. We landed at DCA airport just before 6pm. From there it'd be just a bit over 2 hours of driving to my inlaws' house— if we went straight there. Instead we did a smidge of shopping in Arlington, Virginia near the airport. Then, since we'd had no time for lunch today as our first flight arrived late and we had to run through the terminal at MDW airport to catch our connecting flight, we decided to stop for dinner sooner rather than later.
Where to eat? In built-up Arlington there are tons of choices. First we agreed we were in the mood for Tex-Mex. Then we Yelped the choices and... found a curious choice wasn't too far out of our way.
The Rio Grande Cafe in the Ballston neighborhood of Arlington is an old favorite. And by old I mean old. This is the first actual Mexican/Tex-Mex restaurant I ever ate at, 33 years ago! Prior to that I'd only ever had those shitty Old El Paso hard taco shells from a box with that packet of seasoning to stir into ground beef. I'd never had an enchilada; I'd never had a proper, freshly made salsa; I'd never had guacamole. Yes, I grew up in a very white-bread family, a cultural impairment I overcame very swiftly in college. I ate here weekly with colleagues 30+ years ago when I worked a few blocks away on a college internship.
This restaurant also holds special significance to us, as a couple. It's where Hawk and I met in person for the first time! That was just over 30 years ago. How ironically apropos that while driving to our parents' 60th anniversary we found a spur-of-the-moment stop that aligns with the 30th anniversary of a milestone in our own lives.