Dinner So Good It'll Make You Cry.

Most, if not nearly all, readers of this blog, are sighthound owners; and as such, will have reason sometime in their lives to have to travel to Wheeling, WV. When that unlucky event happens, do not... I repeat, DO NOT.. leave Wheeling without eating here: The Metropolitan Citi Grill, on the corner of Chaplin and 12th, in the heart of downtown, right across the street from the Federal Courthouse.

While Rally was recovering from her ligament replacement surgery at Town & Country Animal Hospital, we went out to dinner with her well known surgeon and his wife. In the past, we'd always go to the River City Brewery & Pub... a very good place, with very good beer and food. But the Metropolitan Citi Grill had opened since our last overnight visit to Wheeling, and I must say, our brewpub days are probably over.

Simply put, this is the best food I've eaten in years... possibly ever! Seriously. Try Balsamic marinated Filets Mignon over bowtie pasta with some kind of really great sauce. And it didn't just taste good. The presentation almost made it too pretty to eat. And everything Margaret and Jim and Judy had was met with many satisfying noises. Normal conversation was generally replaced for a good half hour with "Mmmmmmm", and "Oooooh". I wish I could remember what they all had, but nobody was complaining. I'm trying to get the good doctor to send me a menu so I can do the place a little more justice.

Till then, this place will remain a big secret.. really. They have no website. There are no posts to ChefMoz or Chowhounds. I couldn't find a single newspaper review, and I even checked the Pittsburgh papers.

Anyway, take it from me. And from Margaret. And from Dr. Jim and Judy. This place is awesome. Especially if someone else buys. Next trip, it's on us... and I hope it's just a social call.

Potpourri

Schedule- coming up:

This weekend, Silkenfest; I hear tell they've got 48 pre-entries for their race meet on Sunday. Memorial Day Weekend will find us in Shawnee, OK for Indian Nations Basenji Club's AKC trials, followed by the ASFA II in Minnesota, and then the Saluki Club of America specialty in Lexington, KY. We've got some heavy travel in our future...

I also need to do a quick writeup on one of the best restaurants we've ever eaten at - in Wheeling, West Virginia!!! - and an update on Rally's foot surgery. The two are sort of related... . That will come after I figure out how to digitize her post-op X-ray. It's quite impressive. Maybe tomorrow.

The Dragon

We came..

We drove..

We bought the T-Shirt.

The Deerhound Specialty being over, we finally had to time to explore America's Number 1 motorcycle and sportscar destination.. The Tail of the Dragon. That's the portion of US129 that runs from Deal's Gap, NC north into Tennessee for 11 miles. In those 11 miles, the road has 318 curves! And all as smooth as a baby's butt, as you can see above. And all up and down, no flat places.

We took a few pictures, which you can see at the the Shot On Site website , but for the best images from the Dragon go to Killboy.com. That's "Killboy" (aka Darryl Cannon) on the right in the image below.. we had a chance to stop and chat on Sunday. Note that he's not the one with the camera. I can only hope that our business is so successful someday that we can hire associates to do the shooting for us. ;)

All kidding aside, Darryl was on his way to shoot at another curve, so we were lucky to find him here. There is always someone from Killboy.com at the Dragon... every day. If you go to his site, you'll probably even see us buzzing by!

This week, there are over 500 Mini Coopers there. Like I said, a serious driving destination. It was by far the most fun I've ever had driving the Escape, and Margaret only told me to slow down once in 22 miles!

Something Earth Shattering...

Scottish Deerhound Club of America, National Specialty Show.. Veteran Dogs, 9 yrs and over. This is the lineup. (5 were originally entered, so I thought, "OK, you're going to win something.")

At 10 years, 8 1/2 months old, Randir was the oldest dog in the lineup by 2 months. He still moves great. We had a lot of supporters ringside... when I trotted him down and back there was a lot of cheering.

The judge said, "You've got a lot of friends." I said, "I guess so." She then moved him up to second! My boy's having a hell of a specialty! Now I have to give money to another photographer!

These images by Margaret.

Scary Image of the Day

Fontana Dam. Part of the TVA system, and the highest dam east of the Mississippi. This is the view from our campsite!

First Brag...

Not a lot of time, but in Monday's LGRA race meet at the SDCA specialty, my old boy managed to win the Turtle! (For the uninitiated, that's the dog with the lowest score who finishes - in a racing manner- all three of their races. It's a very coveted award). He also won the award for being the oldest (10 years, 8 months) to do the same. Cool!

Hiatus.

Posting has been light lately. No particular reason, other than we've been cursed over the last couple of weeks with poor internet signals, which is the case today. We're at the Escapees Racoon Valley RV park north of Knoxville. We'll continue on our way to the deerhound specialty on Sunday. That will be a week-long event, and if anything earth shattering happens we'll be able to post on it, from our location on the southern edge of the Great Smoky Mountains. (Earth shattering to be defined by how well Randir does in the show ring in veterans!)

Might as well show the schedule for the next couple of weeks. Following the specialty, (and a trip to Wheeling to have Rally's hock repaired), we will be at...

May 5-6 OKIGO AKC trial Fairborn, OH
May 12-13 MGA ASFA trial Gibralter, MI
May 20 Silken Windhound Purina Farms
May 26-28 INBC AKC trials Shawnee, OK
June 2-3 ASFA II Farmington, MN
June 5-8 SCOA specialty Lexington, KY
June 16-17 Open weekend
June 23-24 LCLC ASFA trial Youngstown, NY
June 30 July 1 MGA ASFA trial Metamora, MI
July 7-8 BGCC ASFA trial Columbia, KY
July 21-22 Open weekend
July 27-29 Ridgeback Rodeo Conneautville, PA

Updates to follow...