Carl Hutzler’s Blog

There is something about dropping the kids off at Grandmother and Pop Pop’s house that makes you feel like you are back in college. Its likely not that complicated a feeling if you think about it for a few seconds. Rylan (my wife) and I were fortunate enough to get this opportunity last weekend.

We traveled up to Wilmington, DE and stayed at the Hotel Dupont. From there, we drove around the Brandywine River Valley which starts just a few miles from downtown Wilmington and continues into Pennsylvania. If you have never visited, its basically a lot of rolling hills, farms, horses, and some nice old houses. Its really worth a trip for a long weekend if you are within 2 hours of the area, which by my estimates is likely 30% of the population of the USA!

Anyway, on the first day we visited the amazing Longwood Gardens and saw the mums in full bloom. These aren’t mums you are used to. These are 20 feet of mums that grow out of “planters” hanging from the ceiling. Then there are the fountains, beautifully manicured landscaping, Japanese water garden, and so much more. We also got to see some Korean drummers/dancers based out of NYC. They were fantastic. We are thinking about stopping into Longwood on our drive up to NYC just after Christmas. They have a professional ice skating show on their outdoor rink along with lots of Christmas lighting set-up all around the gardens. Kids will like it.

On the way back to the hotel we stopped in Centerville, DE and ate at Buckley’s Tavern. Good beer and burgers, but they also have some creative dishes like chicken wings in a BBQ/Banana sauce that was great! Rylan had a pecan encrusted grouper which was also great.

That night we went to a local bar a few blocks from the hotel (don’t recall the name) and listened to some live music and had some drinks. I think its the first time Rylan and I have carried on a real conversation, not about the darn kids, in a while. Likely too long.

The next day (Sunday) it was raining. We first had brunch in the Hotel’s “Green Room” which was very fancy. I had my usual weird selection of smoked meets and fish, as well as the normal stuff you would expect at a great brunch.

After brunch we drove out to our new favorite restaurant, The Post House. This is a cheap, greasy spoon breakfast and lunch place. You sit at the counter and they have milkshakes that are too thick for a straw. ’nuff said.

We got back in the car and drove out the Brandywine River again and landed at the Brandywine River Museum. The museum is an old factory that is now an art museum with the original works of three generations of the Wyeth family. On display when we went was also art by Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat who were friends with Jamie Wyeth. And Jamie was even there and signing books.

We took off from there and happened upon the Simon Pearce glass factory in Chadds Ford, PA. We watched a couple of artisans blow glass and shape them into Christmas ornament and picked up a vase for the kid caretakers.

We left and drove to Rylan’s Aunt/Uncle’s house nearby and watched some Sunday football and played a game of Scrabble. I kicked some butt.

We left and went back to the hotel for the main event of the weekend, Lewis Black at the Grand Opera House. Lewis was fantastic. This was a present Rylan got for my birthday back in March. So it was a long time coming, but well worth it.

All in all, it was a great 3 day weekend. When we got back to Baltimore, the kids were happy to see us, as I am sure Grandmother and Pop Pop were. Thanks to them, Rylan and I had a great weekend away.

More pictures here under “Wilmington, DE”