Our first Bank Holiday after the critical transition administration has been done, and after Christmas, was
Martin Luther King Jr's birthday (and Nottingham's own Sarah Clark). It was sunny but cold, we climbed into the Subaru and went on a road trip; first we found a random Mexican restaurant come grocery store - it looked down at heal but we are trying hard to avoid the chains. A well-stocked grocery section had all the variants of beans and refried beans a Mexophile could ever desire, flour and corn tortilla and more chilli peppers than I've seen in a single day, tinned, frozen, pickled and dried.
Through the shop is a servery countertop with a worryingly faded menu display of dishes in Spanish and lacking detail (we found an English translation menu) and ordered a Fajitas, Tacos and Green Salsa. I had a protracted conversation with a non-english speaking cook to ensure the refried beans contained no lard, they normally do in the USA. We really need to step-up our Spanish learning, M is most proficient, however counting to twelve only gets one so far in a conversation. We've also identified our source of Pinatas for J's third birthday and we'll be sending M to buy, "Uno Pinata".
After lunch we drove on to Pocahontas State Park. M knows the movie and had high expectations, including possibly meeting the legendary heroine. The walk we took lead to an ice covered lake and all fancy commercialism was forgotten with the simple joy of throwing twigs and then logs (!) onto the frozen surface, breaking ice with a large stick and finally a mini picnic on a pontoon built for boat rental in the months when our family, a jogger and a cyclist aren't the only visitors to the park.
Home surprisingly in just 20 minutes, less of a road trip than it felt.
La Milpa (the corn)
Pocahontas State Park
