New England States

Since we were married twenty plus years ago we have been lucky enough to have visited every state except the New England states. Many of the states were checked off our list on this trip. We’ve been to NYC for a visit and had a conference in NJ once but we’ve never really been able to explore much. We are very excited to spend the next few weeks doing just that!

After crossing Delaware off our list, we spent some time in DC with our friends Marisa and her family and Suzy Booma, both old co-workers of Libby’s. DC is such a great city! If only it wasn’t so humid! We forgot to take a photo with Suzy!

We drove through Baltimore in the pouring rain! Our idea was to get out and do something fun but the lightening and the thunder convinced us otherwise.

Our next planned stop was Kula Cafe in Asbury Park, NJ. They are not a pay-what-you-can cafe but do a job training program for neighborhood youth. It was in the main floor of a senior center and was a very modern and inviting space. There messaging on their menu was informative and helpful since we really weren’t sure how they were in the list of community cafes.

There is a greenhouse and a small farm plot right next door to the cafe and you could tell the greens in Libby’s salad were fresh from the garden.

We spent the day hiking and exploring the area. Asbury Park and Tom’s River are both very compact urban spaces pretty close to water. Tom’s River has an affluent community located on a peninsula with gorgeous seaside mansions. Then on the mainland, there is every fast food chain followed by gas stations and grocery stores and thrift store.

JBJ Soul Kitchen is located in a strip mall on the mainland of Tom’s River. They have a food pantry right next door to the restaurant. It looks exactly the same as it’s Red Bank location which we were able to visit the last time we were in NJ for a conference. There are beautiful signs on the walls explaining the mission of the restaurant. The space is modern and well crafted. The kitchen is not open but has a service window that faces the dining room. The tables are covered in white table clothes and you have a server. The menu is set and the suggested price is $20 per person. If you want to volunteer for a meal, you have to work that out ahead of time with the staff.

It was interesting to see the food pantry set up right next door. You actually enter the restaurant and the food pantry through the same set of doors. It was a bit confusing at first and maybe that was the reason why there were no diners eating at the cafe. We ended our night in Tom’s River with a famous local frozen custard treat.

Our bikes haven’t gotten as much use as we would have liked on this trip. It is often too hot to leave the dogs in the car for a long stretch of time. We were really hoping that the dogs would love the backpack carriers we bought for them but they just don’t. They don’t mind being in them when we are hiking but they hate being in those packs when we are on bikes. This day was finally cool enough for us to leave them in the van and go for a ride.

After getting our bikes all geared up, it started to drizzle. We didn’t let that stop us! We were determined to get a ride in. We found a paved path outside of Brick, NJ and proceeded to get wet. Although Libby hates getting wet, she was a trooper and it was a great ride.

Another former co-worker of Libby’s lives in this area and we were able to have dinner with her and catch up. Again – we forgot to take a photo!

Our next adventure included a muddy hike in a beautiful park. The park included a memorial to 9/11 and had a beautiful view of the NYC skyline. It was humbling to be there and see all the names etched into that wall.

The list of community cafes had a cafe listed in Beacon, NY. Their website said that they hosted one meal a month on the last Sunday. We knew we were getting close to the end of the month so we plotted our course to include that town.

In addition to that we realized that Beacon, NY is close to Hyde Park where the Culinary Institute of America is located. One of our first vacations while we ran SAME Cafe was to CA and we were lucky enough to visit the campus of the CIA there.

We headed North from Newark to the Hudson Valley area to explore the CIA campus and have lunch with Fareground Community Cafe in Beacon.

Our trip got a little sidetracked when Libby realized she was supposed to report for jury duty on Monday. She sent off a quick email to let them know she wouldn’t be in Denver on Monday. Let’s hope that enough to keep her out of prison.

Once back on track, we spent the afternoon at the brewery on the campus of the CIA and then had a meal in the Tavern. Both experiences introduced us to new flavor combinations that were unique. We had a peach and basil gose beer that was interesting and for dinner a salad with duck confit and scallops among many other wonderful treats!

Sunday began with a crazy hike up Beacon Mountain. We wanted to get some exercise before lunch. Exercise we got!! It was straight uphill for a mile to a former wheel house that at one time was used to pull a trolley up the hill. We got a little lost on our way back down and made our hike a little longer. Leo and Gemi were covered in mud and sand as we walked through a shallow stream bed pretty much the whole way. The view from the top was incredible.

As we finished hiking and cleaned up we began to look for directions to where Fareground Cafe was hosting their monthly pop-up. As we traveled through town we noticed that there was some sort of festival happening – streets were closed and we noticed parade floats on side streets. We thought it odd that they would host a community meal on the same day as a parade but didn’t think too much of it. Until we pulled up to the center. There was absolutely nothing happening at the location. Instantly, we realized something was up. After doing some more intense research, we found that they hadn’t updated the website in many years! Ugh! This is why the community cafe list online needs to be updated! So instead, we walked downtown and joined the fun of the Spirit of Beacon days!

To Brevard and beyond…

Brad’s mom and her friend Cindy happened to be visiting the area simultaneous to our trip. We drove a couple of hours to the waterfall capital of the US and got to spend a couple days with them.

Bob and Val were such nice hosts. We made pasta from scratch, went hiking and drank good wine and beer. Brad’s mom and Cindy were staying to see Chihuly glass at the Biltmore but we moved on to visit another community cafe.

We made a stop along the way to check out Wythville’s future community cafe. Some folks from that cafe were in Boone at the conference and were talking about their soon to open space. We did a quick drive-by as construction workers were busy getting the space ready for a mid-October opening.

South Charleston, WV is home to Cafe Appalachia. Cheryl has been working for a year on a multiple program approach including a cafe. The space is beautiful and they are working on figuring everything out. They opened mid July and are moving right along. We were happy to listen to her challenges and give advice when we could.

After our visit and a few local beers we headed towards Staunton where a high school friend of Brad’s lives. We got to go to the local farmers’ market and have lunch with Sally and J- the most well behaved two year old on the planet.

Norfolk, VA was a great stop for lunch. We were happy to get to see Stephanie and her boys. Steph is Libby’s cousin who we missed on our last trip through this part of the world. We had met the two older boys before, but hadn’t met her youngest son who is another well behaved, hilarious youngster.

The next part of the journey was through Ocean City and on to Lewes, Delaware. We planned to hang out there for a bit but it rained almost the entire time. We glimpsed the ocean but that was it. This area is supposed to be great for biking but we didn’t stick around to find out. We did have some amazing coffee and some crazy local pastry before heading out. At least we got to take another state off of our list. We are getting so close to getting all 50 states!!

Conference during a hurricane!

Sunday and Monday were predicted to be the worst days in Boone due to Hurricane Florence. The first regional conference was scheduled for the exact same time. Knowing that most of the participants were still interested in coming, the conference was held as planned.

Folks from four different areas attended this conference even though it was pouring rain. They came from Shelby, NC, Wythville, VA Elizabethton, TN and TCU. It was an interesting mix of cafes stages as well. Some groups were in the research and planning stages, some were doing pop-ups and one is planning to open late October. Most of our conversations were around how to successfully open and operate a community cafe.

Our favorite parts of the training days were the hands-on experiences of participants and our in depth conversations about why they want to do this work. Because F.A.R.M. Cafe was open for regular business on Monday (even though the college cancelled classes again Monday and Tuesday) all the participants got to see a cafe in action and help out. They were able to see the concept come to life. They washed dishes, spoke with customers, served, and prepared food. It was a day in the life of a cafe. This kind of experience is invaluable.

The most moving part was hearing the stories of each participant about why they wanted to be a part of a community cafe. Often times, our gatherings are so focused on the nitty gritty of running a cafe that we forget to honor the spirit behind each of these amazing spaces. It really boils down to being human. These spaces are places of radical inclusion. It’s where we can practice taking care of each other and valuing the dignity of human beings. They are what we wish the rest of the world looked like.

We talk a lot about food access and food insecurity in each of these cafes but our real purpose is to build community – food is just our vehicle.

All are welcome except Florence

Our week in Boone started with a hike along the Greenway Trail. It is a beautiful spot right in town that connects to miles and miles of paved trail. There were ruins of a former hydroelectric power plant – one of the first in the area – that supplied Boone with its first bit of electricity. There was also a lot of wildlife to see along this path. This deer was devouring all the apples that had already fallen. After our hike, we added another brewery to our list, Lost Provence. This was a perfect first day in Boone.

We spent each weekday working at F.A.R.M. Cafe. F.A.R.M. stands for feed all regardless of means. Tommy, one of their key employees, helped us orient to our roles and we got right back in the grove of restaurant life. Although, that first day wore us out! We haven’t worked that hard in a while 😉 On Wednesday, we were the guest chefs for the day and made pizza! It turned out delicious! Libby was a little nervous because her cookie dough didn’t turn out exactly as she was hoping – she is a little out of practice. She has mentioned on more than one occasion that one of the challenges of road life is not being able to bake.

Everyone here is worrying about Hurricane Florence. The local college even cancelled classes on Thursday and Friday. It seemed a little premature as it was beautiful both Thursday and Friday here. We even got a couple hikes in – this picture is of Beacon Heights.

Saturday turned a little cloudy and we did get rained on but it’s not hurricane weather yet. We will see what Sunday and Monday bring as we are staying in Boone to help with a regional conference of pay-what-you-can cafes.

On our way back to Boone

We left IL and headed toward Boone, NC. Our first stop on this journey was Shelbyville, KY. It’s a great pit stopping place and it’s always good to see family- even though we were just with them. We made it in time for Libby to attend one of Nel’s Jazzercise classes and finally got to try the local street tacos.

We made a pit stop in Versailles, KY to see the progress of our friends at Spark Cafe! They are coming right along!

Next, we hit Knoxville again. If you’ve been reading our blog from the beginning, you know that our good friends Mary, Josh and Emory live here. They relocated from Denver and we were so excited to get to see them again. It’s almost like they never left Denver! Each time we visit, we get to see another part of this adorable town. If it wasn’t so hot and humid here, we might relocate too!

Our plan from there was to head to our favorite lake that we discovered the last time through this area; however, we had to make a pit stop in Johnson City for a brewery. We found out this was a great weekend to be in JC and decided to stay. We hit the farmers market, One Acre Cafe (which was supposed to be closed but we hit it just right), two breweries, the town-wide garage sales and the Umoja Festival. We also went for a hike and got monsooned on!

#timmermannstietheknot

Our time in IL has come to an end. Aly and Parker’s wedding was a beautiful celebration of love. It’s hard to believe it is over already!

We started our time in IL visiting with the Birky’s for the weekend and trying to avoid the heat and humidity that has finally found us. On Monday night, we visited with the Steinkoenig’s (friends of our from our IL days) and adding another brewery to our list. Obed & Isaac’s microbrewery is located in an old historic church not that far from the hospital where Aly had her heart surgery when she was a little one. That seems like such a long time ago and an interesting way to start our week of celebrating. We sat and visited for such a long time. It was great to catch up with them.

The rest of the week was filled with wedding preparations. Aly directed us in the art of floral arranging and we helped as best we could. This might be the one wedding that had a higher floral budget than anything else!

We even got to hear our favorite local singer, Dan Hubbard. It was like he planned to perform a special concert just for Aly’s wedding week.

The girls did get a chance to hang out with just the sisters a bit before the big day. This is the location where the older sisters spent a lot of time as youngsters. Our Uncle Bill used to run a bar in this location. It was sentimental to have dinner together here before the big day. We hadn’t really planned it but it worked out perfectly.

The rehearsal and wedding were perfect! Aly was focusing on the memories and trying not to freak out about it being perfect (which she did a great job!) but it turned out perfect anyway! Here are a few of the highlights from the day. The girls started the day with a yoga instructor coming to lead us. We walked over to the tennis courts because it was dry to practice. It was a great way to begin the day. The boys were getting ready at the Timmermann’s house.

Next, the girls got hair and make-up done and enjoyed breakfast together. Pictures were outside – thankfully it wasn’t the hottest day we had experienced in IL. Although – it was still VERY warm.

The ceremony itself was very special. Aly created her bouquet by receiving individual stems of flowers from important people in her life as she walked down the aisle. She and my parents assembled the bouquet by wrapping the arrangement with a wrap made by the sisters from sections of our wedding dresses. Fr. Bart (a family friend from college) celebrated the mass and gave a beautiful homily specific to Aly ad Parker.

Family and friends from all over celebrated with us. The music played late into the night and we danced the night away. Our nephew Joey was the Man of Honor. He gave a great toast explaining his attire and reminded Aly that due to a bet they had made when they were children, she was going to have to wear a bikini to his wedding, because he held up his end of the bargain- which was wearing a pink tux to her wedding. The three older sisters made a golf themed toast which was heartfelt and challenging but they got through it.

We were honored to celebrate this gorgeous bride and groom! Cheers Team Timmermann!