Leo's Steak Shop - Folcroft PA

 On my way to NY from my Maryland I decided I needed to get some Philly Cheese Steak! I was initially planning to hit up Pat's and Gino's but after reading some reviews I decided to check out  Leo's instead.

Leo's!

Leo's is a pretty small cheese steak place with no indoor seating. Usually that would not be a problem since they have ample seating outdoors but when it's cold and rainy like the day I visited it's a bit of a bummer.

One of the many plaques of awards on the walls.

The whole place smelled pretty amazing. I ordered a large mushroom cheese steak with hot peppers.

A large cheese steak wrapped up in 2 sections! That's a lot of Philly Cheese Steak!

The cheese steak was pretty tasty but the cheese was not mingled in with the meat. Since the meat is not seasoned I recommend that you order extra cheese to make sure you can have cheese in ever bite. Is it the best of Philly? I can't say but it is pretty tasty.

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Restful, relaxing and fun times in Virginia and Maryland!

I just wanted to say thanks to all the wonderful people in Virgina and Maryland that has made my trip pretty awesome. Thank you!

McAfee's Knob - Crag Beta!

 Mickey Mouse Boulder

Location:
McAfee's Knob is located approximately 20 minutes north west of Roanoke VA. Here is the turn by turn directions from Mountain Project.com
"From I-81 take exit for Rt. 311 just south of Roanoke. Follow 311 S and park at the top of Catawba mountain, where the AT crosses the road. There is a large gravel lot on the left."

 The parking lot on the left

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Access:
There is currently no access issue.

Snow!

Approach:
Just park your car in the parking lot, start heading down the hill to the left until you see a gated fire road. The Roadside Boulder should be visible on top of the hill and if you keep heading down the fire road it should lead you to the rest of the problems. Since most of the problems can only be accessed after 3.5 miles of hiking so comfortable shoes are recommended. 

Guidebooks:
To my knowledge the only guide book available for the area is the Dr. Topo guide. The guide is still accessible from Dr. Topo's website. -link-

Where to Stay:
I stayed at a friend's place in Roanoke but if you are looking for camping options according to rockclimbing.com:
"There is camping on the main trail on the way up there. Camping at the very top is prohibited. Otherwise camping is allowed anywhere on the Appalacian Trail."

Food:
There are many food options in Roanoke. If you are craving a biscuit or two Tudor's Biscuit World is the place to go.

Wi-Fi:
There are many cafe's in Roanoke that have wi-fi access. Tudor's Biscuit World also has wi-fi access.

Links:
drtopo.com
rockclimbing.com
mountainproject.com

McAfee's Knob - Bouldering!

My back was still not 100% but we still decided to finally get some more bouldering in. We decided to go to a spot near Roanoke VA called McAfee's Knob.

Jennifer getting ready for a climb!

We started our day at the Roadside Boulder which has a very short approach. The rock is visible from the road!

Jennifer on Flake Problem V0

Since it was Jennifer's first time bouldering outdoors and since my back was still not 100% we decided to hop on Flake Problem V0. I flashed the problem but I found it to be a pretty stiff V0 with the sit start. The crux is the sit down start and the top out. I also climbed Roadside Arete V2. The trick to the climb is to keep both hands on the right and move your right hand further to the right for better holds. There were many other climbs that looked like fun but I decided that it was probably better to play it safe rather than risk messing my back up any more.

I think that this photo is of me on the same problem...

The next cluster of problems was located 1 mile up the road. The boulder was called Mickey Mouse Boulder and once you see it you'll know why it's named Mickey Mouse Boulders.

Flashing the Mickey Mouse Left V3 on the Mickey Mouse Boulder.

The boulder really does look like Mickey Mouse! Needless to say I was all giddy when I saw the rock. Both the Mickey Mouse Right V2 and Mickey Mouse Left was a lot of fun even if the Mickey Mouse left's top out was a bit scary.

Jennifer worked the climb right below the left ear of Mickey Mouse called the Tornado V1. After some tries she got it! And it's definitely not an easy V1!
After the Tornado we started running out of time but there was one more climb I really wanted to do. I have been eying it ever since we got to the MM boulders, a V3 dyno called the Flake Dyno. A dyno is probably not the best thing for a injured back but I couldn't resist.

Look ma! No feets!

The climb was the perfect Dyno. Very solid starting hand hold, decent foot holds and a reachy and fairly decent hand hold to latch onto. Since Dynoing is not my strong suit it took me a while before I was utilizing my body well enough to really launch for it. I pushed hard with my legs, pulled my body close to the rock and let the feet cut loose. It took me many tries but I got it! What an awesome way to end a bouldering day!

Tudor's Biscuit World - Roanoke VA

For breakfast we decided to head on over to the Tudor's Biscuit World.

 I decided to order 2 biscuits, a standard sausage biscuit and a biscuit called the Cavalier. Both were pretty tasty but the Cavalier was the clear winner. The Cavalier's crunchy hash brown, tasty sausage combined with the cheese was a sure fire win.

  Perhaps not the healthiest of breakfast but it is delicious! Also they have wi-fi access which makes it a great breakfast stop.

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Henry's Memphis BBQ - Salem VA

After the puppies and a decent amount of driving we were getting mighty hungry. Luckily for us there was a BBQ joint right off the road!

 Henry's Memphis BBQ!

On this trip I have been eating a lot of BBQ and I was unsure how well a small bbq place in Salem VA would hold up to the other big hitters. I must say it wasn't the tastiest BBQ by any means but it grew on me very quickly.

  Mmmm~ Meat~~

I ordered the memphis dry rub with brunswick stew and fried okra. The meat could be a bit more tender and the dry rub seems to have been rubbed on after the rib was cooked and not before. I usually like my memphis dry rub without any additional sauces but this time around the ribs were tastier with sauces. They have 4 different sauces available and all of them tasty pretty good but I think the ribs goes best with the south carolina sauce.

 I would not recommend you go out of your way for the ribs but if you are near Salem, VA this might be a good place to stock up on your meat quota.

Grayson Highlands State Park - No Bouldering!

We were not initially planning to go to Grayson Highlands State Park but were not too far so we decided to go check it out. The park is not open during the winter and as you can see in the photos below there was a bit too much snow on the ground to do some climbing.

None Shall Pass!!

But the detour was not a loss! We were driving back when we saw something we could not resist, big fluffy great great pyrenees!

The puppies were only 5 months old and they are already huge!

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwww~~~!

The nice lady who owned the dogs let us pet the puppies! If the lady was willing to part with any of them we were ready to make room in the car to take one of them home with us! Even without any bouldering this detour was so worth it! It just goes to show that sometimes the unplanned portion of your trip can be just as awesome as your planned portion.