The night before

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Geo: 37.9722, -81.1489

We drove out from Richmond the night before our rafting trip so we'd be good and rested for our adventure. The campground was pretty crowded, but the facilities were good. I'm not sure why the camp areas needed to be so close together given that land can't be that expensive there.

It was raining when we arrived. The forecast indicated that it would probably get worse rather than better, so we put up the tent in the rain: never fun. The kids stayed dry in the car. Luckily, we had already decided to eat out for the evening, so we did not need to cook in the rain. We did some research ahead of time and settled on Pies & Pints in nearby Fayetteville for dinner (piesandpints.net). They have a large selection of draft beers including some local craft brews. They are available by the glass or the pitcher. They also sell root beer by the pitcher, which pleased the kids greatly. The first pitcher of root was $6 and refills were $4, so we did pretty well. If I hadn't been so wet I would have had my camera with me. I'm sorry I don't have pictures of the pizzas. The crusts are thin and crisp. They seemed to be brushed with oil and garlic with cheese and toppings layered next. A fresh and vibrant tomato sauce was applied to the top in a spiral pattern. The overall effect was very attractive and very tasty. The Italian sausage was loose crumbles, not the little sausage nuggets that you see many places. Mike reported that the craft lager he tried was good, but he wasn't sure it was worth the $5 price tag compared with some of the national names on tap for a few dollars cheaper. The decor was modern and reminded us of a ski town pizza joint. The service was really, really good. Our waitress did an excellent job of reading the table and getting drinks refilled right on time.

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