Saturday Trip to Eustis Turns into Another Day of Serendipity!

Mike Gagne and I decided we'd take a ride to Cathedral Pines Campground of Flagstaff Lake in Eustis this past Saturday. Marie-Anne, Michelle and Evan (my wife, daughter and grandson) were camping there with family, some of the Mike's, and friends.

It was a beautiful day for a ride and, after we got our breakfast at China's Dunkin Donuts, we were on our way north!

Cathedral Pines is a beautiful campground with huge sites available for any size temt, camper or motor home. Full electric hook-ups with water are available and prime waterfront sites are available, too. To get those, you almost need to be in line just after midnight on January 1st when they start taking reservations.

We had a great visit with the people we came to see. I even met a listener, Denise, who works in the office there.

Our visit included some shooting in a nearby pit. Marie-Anne, friend Tony Loiko, by little buddy, Evan and Mike joined me for a little gunpowder therapy. Shortly after that, we said our goodbyes and Mike and I hit the road to go home.

Where to eat? That was the next question. Food has always been a highlight of our road trips, which we've been doing for years.

We passed a couple of restaurants, one in Carabasset that seemed a little fancy for what we wanted. Same thing in downtown Kingfield.

I remembered passing a sign between the two restaurants. The only word I saw on that sign was, "tavern."

I said could go for a good tavern burger. Mike was game. I turned around and we backtracked a couple of miles to the corner of Rt. 27 and Commercial Road in Kingfield. There it was. The sign. "Nostalgia Tavern." The arrow pointed down Commercial Road so I followed.

The place had 4 or 5 cars and didn't look like much from outside. Yup. This was more appealing than the touristy places we'd considered previously. Then, when I opened the door, the food smelled "taverny" and good.

We sat at the bar and met our waitress, Celena, who hails from nearby New Vinyard.

We both ordered burgers (mine, the 5-alarm version with jalapeños, hot sauce and blue cheese dressing). Hand cut fries went with it. Delicious.

Celena was great. The food was great. The atmosphere, for our tastes, was fantastic. Dimly lit with booths, tables and a large, horseshoe shaped bar. 5 Stars.

Finding a place like this, which is off the beaten path, is the definition of serendipity.

We have a favorite place in every town we go to. We hadn't picked one in Kingfield until Saturday. Now, we have a place to hang on our way to get useless in Eustis!