Text 35784, 90 rader
Skriven 2013-04-06 15:39:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: field trip 388
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Our next adventure took us to historic Boalsburg, an hour and
change south down by Penn State, with Mike and Jill. We came
provisioned with coolers ostensibly to bring back ice cream
but actually packed with beer, which we drank on the way -
apparently though open container is illegal, practically
speaking, if there's no reason for a stop, they won't stop
you, and if they do, all is okay if the driver blows clean.
This brought back manufactured memories of college: in real
life I would never have dared to do something like this in
college and still have mild anxieties when drinking in the
car in the south (it's actually legal in some states down
there).

As Mike and Jill don't get an early start, it was time for
lunch when we pulled into the Boalsburg Inn (also known as
Duffy's Tavern). We sat in the more formal dining area,
which dates from the mid-18th century and parts of which
hark back to the day when a Scotch-Irish guy called Boal
started this establishment and founded an eminent family.

Annie looked over the menu, pronounced it too waspy, and
ordered a taco salad, which actually is a pretty waspy dish.
It came in a flour tortilla bowl that was so hard that she
wondered if it could be reused. Not much meat, lots of
lettuce. I'm glad I didn't order it, but she ate most of
the order.

Mike's Reuben got no complaint, and he ate it all. On the
other hand he didn't complain about his lamb dish the
other night either.

Jill and I both ordered the prime rib sandwich, hers rare
and mine extra rare. Hers came medium, mine came actually
kind of rare. The place is known for prime rib on weekends,
and this was obviously leftover roast seared on the griddle
and plopped on pretty good baguettelike bread (funny triangular
shape, as if made to hold prime rib, though). The meat was
quite respectable if a bit fatty (I ate the fat off Jill's
plate, which made her grimace). On the side you get potato
salad, pretty standard but made with diced dill pickle, or
cole slaw (I didn't see any of this). Or for a buck fifty,
fries, of which I tasted one of Jill's: these are okay,
nothing more, not worth the premium. A surprise - the smoked
horseradish mayo that came with the sandwiches was excellent,
and I don't know why this isn't a more prevalent offering.

A standard commercial beer list with a few Pennsylvania
products, of which I had a Victory Porter, made a couple
hundred miles down the road. It had I thought blast-your-
head-off hops, considering how Porters generally aren't that
way. Might have been my taste buds that day, though.

Next stop, the Boal Mansion, where we were greeted by a sign
that said "open May 1 or by appointment." Whoops. There was
a pleasant lady standing outside, and we fell into conversation.
Turns out she was waiting for the director to give her some
docent instruction so she could work the place in season.
Perfect. Christopher Lee, who appears to be a grandson of the
Blair Lee who was governor of Maryland when that Mandel guy
abdicated and thus a great-great-grandson of Senator Blair
Lee and thus a 6x-great-grandson of Richard Lee the signer
of the Declaration of Independence. Now Blair Lee the gov
married Mathilde, granddaughter of the Colon girl who became
a Boal and brought her Colon knickknacks to central
Pennsylvania, more on which later. Chris is a pretty amiable
teacher and seemed to know an impressive amount of stuff,
which became clear when we found he lived upstairs and was
talking about his own family. Highlights of the collection
were tons of art, including 17th to 19th century paintings of
eminences of the Colon, Boal, and Lee families and the kind
of still lifes that you'd expect a wealthy household to have
in its house. Also a collection of keyboard instruments, from
a Knabe square grand and a Steinway to the piano that Dolley
Madison had had in the White House and that Bully Theodore
Roosevelt had sold off as useless. And then there was what
Chris claimed was the most interesting room in Pennsylvania,
and I am inclined to believe him. It's crammed full of American
historical items - letters between Andrew Jackson and a member
of the family, a photo presented to Blair Lee by Neil Armstrong
and Buzz Aldrin, that sort of thing; and memorabilia of other
branches of the family, the European members of which were
related not only to Colon but to the Napoleons (so a lock of
Napoleon's hair, and lots of stuff given by Napoleon III) and
assorted other figures such as the St. Bernard for whom the
dogs are named and whose descendants I was proudly told will
be coming to Boalsburg this summer to learn English. Enough?

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