Delaware Day 1 - Backyards, Beaches, and Beers
I started today getting coffee at the Cobblestone Cafe in Dover. It was a cute little cafe that really was on a cobblestone street. The coffee was really good and really cheap, and I had a fun long chat with the older middle-eastern woman working at the register. She didn't have any jokes for me, but I was glad I asked because we did have a nice conversation and she gave me some good tips for things to see around Dover.
From there I drove to a place called Slaughter Beach just because I thought the name was hilarious. The two biggest theories on where the name comes from was that it might have been named after a notable general who lived there, or it could be that it's named for the hundreds of horseshoe crabs that wash up and die on the shore. There isn't a whole lot there, but the beach is lovely (besides the tons of dead horseshoe crabs) and there's a wildlife preserve which is pretty cool.
From there I went to Milton. I saw a statue of the town's namesake, John "Paradise Lost" Milton (his wrestling name). Apparently it's a local town tradition to dress him up in season appropriate clothing, but because it was pretty nice today he was just sorta chilling in his Monday best.
I got lunch in Milton at a restaurant called the Backyard. At my server's recommendation I got a sandwich called the trucker, which featured bbq pulled pork and mac'n'cheese. It was amazing. When she brought it to my table, my server said "silverware and extra napkins are required for this sandwich." She wasn't kidding. It was big and delicious, and each ingredient complimented each other well. Even the bread was perfectly buttered and toasted. The restaurant was great too, with succulents on the table and little funny signs everywhere. They also had a bakery with some cookies I might have to come back for when I'm not stuffed with cheesy carbs and meat.
After lunch, I went to the Dogfish Head Brewery, also in Milton. There seemed to be some charity bocci tournament going on while I was there. Teams were dressed up in eccentric get ups and a live band was playing a country version of Gin and Juice. It was fun, but since I hadn't prepped a bocci team I just went into the tap room and had a flight which was completely free. I got four beers: the Midas Touch, a golden ale; Puddin' Wine, a barleywine; Workbench, a table beer light IPA; and a port barrel aged special ale just available in house. I liked them all, but I think the Midas Touch was my favorite. It was light, but full bodied and had a hint of honey that really made it stand out. I also ordered a non-alcoholic birch beer, which was one of the best sodas I've ever had. It had a a dash of rosemary flavor which was really strange, but in a good way.
At one point, the bartender made an announcement that Tom Petty had died and the entire bar raised their glasses, which was cool but bittersweet moment to be a part of. I never really knew much of Tom Petty's work outside of the big hit singles, but I saw a group of punk kids in a mosh pit go nuts for a cover of American Girl onc,e which was one of my favorite concert going experiences so I will always be thankful to him for that.
The other big draw of the Dogfish Head Brewery is a giant steampunk treehouse which was unfortunately not open to the public today, but is sometimes.
After the brewery, I went to scenic Rehobeth beach. I walked along the boardwalk, got coffee at the Mug & Spoon, and got ice cream at The Ice Cream Store. The Ice Cream Store is known for having over 100 flavors many of which have vaguely risque flavors ( Booger, Better than Sex, I Don't Give a Fork to name a few). I sampled the Olive Oil (which was bizarre but tasty), I Don't Give a Fork (which had a little bit of everything, cookie dough, oreos, and fudge), Crabula (cherry chunks), and Almond Joy. I ended up getting the Netflix and Chill, which was vanilla ice cream dyed red with fudge, m&m's, and kit kats. It was a delicious, and I think kit kats might be the most underrated ice cream topping.
After that I went to a tiny little microbrewery called Revelation Brewing, just outside of the main beach area. It was small but there was a big selection of good beers. I got a flight with with a cask aged cranberry sour, a mamajuana brown ale (aged in mamajuana wood not marijuana which I imagine would make for a very different beer), a coffee dark ale, and a smores porter. The porter was definitely my favorite which is no surprise, but everything was good and had a lot more interesting flavors than your craft-less beers. I ended up talking for a while with a couple from outside Philadelphia who had recently moved to Delaware, and they also loaded me up with good suggestions for places to eat and drink.
When I got back to Dover, I noticed the beach was starting to get into the Halloween Spirit so I decided to do so as well and I watched the Texas Chainsaw Massacre II to honor the late great Tobe Hooper. While the original is stillone of the scariest horror movies of all time the sequel leans more into the black humor and gore that were used more sparingly before (sort of a less family friendly version of the Gremlins/Gremlins 2 dynamic). I think it's interesting how much both horror and comedy rely on a sense of the absurd happening in the everyday, but generally speaking horror is scarier when the absurd element is closer to reality and comedy is usually more broadly successful when the absurd element is really big. I don't know what to make of that, but there's my big observation for the day.
Favorite Random Sightings: Parradee Financial; Sharkey's Bail Bonds; "Spelling is a Lossed Art"; A sign on the highway that said "Delaware Fire Deaths: Last Year 9 This Year 6" (I'm glad the number's down, but it doesn't make for the most comforting road signage); Crabby Dick's
Regional Observation: So far Delaware has the cheapest gas, and the most crab related advertising I have seen thus far.
Albums Listened To: Dull Blue Lights by the Dull Blue Lights (formerly known as the Snails, one of my favorite Philly garage/soul/reggae bands); Dying Music for a Dying Scene by various artists (just Long Road Home by Stray Bullets); E.S.P by Miles Davis; the Early Years by Tom Waits; Earthquake Weather by Joe Strummer (underrated first solo album by the Clash front-man. The reviews were bad out of spite for the Clash ending and it would be almost a decade before he had the courage to go back to making a full length album)
People's Favorite Jokes:
What's brown and sticky? A Stick (two for that one)
What blue and smells like red pain? Blue Paint
Song of the Day:
