January's Small Towns

Well, I didn't take any pictures on this trip, and I'm not sure why. A combination of managing Genna and forgetting the thing in the car, I imagine.

Attica was a booming town. Population approx. 75. Featured on a website about Ghost Towns. Kin Folks was good, but not as good as I was expecting after reading several reviews about its awesomeness. I did like how the ordering counter was set up - just basically a smorgasboard of meat for you to pick from. The sides were a bit disappointing, though, and the meats were good, but not outstanding.

Columbia's McCorkle Hardware was an interesting place. Lots of dust. Lots of stuff. Just kind of crammed all in on vaguely organized shelves. They seemed to carry a lot of varied stuff, some at really good prices, and some not so much. I got the coveralls that I had been looking for - a kids size XL, and only about $35. Yay!

The meat locker in Melcher-Dallas (pop 1237) was a total bust, but the grocery store gave me the opportunity to pick up the dish soap I'd forgotten to get the day before, so it wasn't all a loss.

We hung out at Smokey Row in Pleasantville for a while. They had two root beers that Randy and I hadn't tried before -



Also, Wally had a cookie as big as his head:



And Genna drank my coffee (decaf).

The day took significantly less time than we had anticipated! We headed back to the Glann's house for some hanging out and pizza for dinner! (Actually, the pizza was really quite good!)

January 2010 Small Town: Attica, Melcher-Dallas, Columbia and Pleasantville

There was not a whole lot to do in any of these. We ate at Kinfolks (apparently the original) in Attica, which was not bad, but not the greatest barbecue/smokehouse ever. The smoked catfish and potato salad were pretty good, and the ice cream was homemade, as were the cobblers, which were also very good. We ordered the six eat plates which were more than enough, with a couple extra sides and rolls. The tea is also brewed-a requirement. Then we headed to Columbia to do some shopping at one of the best farm apparel places in the area, McCorkle's Hardware. Sarah ended up with some coveralls and I got a new winter coat. That took only about 35 minutes, then we headed to Melcher-Dallas. I had seen a meat locker there, but Northcote meats ended up being more of a retailer than an actual processing locker. I was hoping to try what they had on hand for jerky or bacon. The grocery store in that town, though, was really pretty nice for a small town. It had a little cafe, and suprisingly good selection of items on hand, including natural dish liquid. Following that we stopped in Pleasantville at the original Smokey Row. I have been to all of them, the Reids still have the Pella one left. We had some sweets, coffee and root beer, and then went to our place. Randy napped, Andrew surfed the net, Sarah and I plotted future towns to torture and the kids played the wii. Pretty uneventful. We did order in Checkerboard from Pleasantville for dinner. I have to say their food was probably better than I've had from there in a long time (Italian Sausage Pizza, pepperoni pizza, chicken strips, rings and their awesome house ranch). Definitely not one of our more exciting days, it is always nice to have days out with friends!

At Kinfolks:

 

 

  

  

  

  

  

  

 

McCorkle's in Columbia

 

  

Melcher-Dallas

 

  

  

Smokey Row in Pleasantville

 

  

  

  

  

  

  

Back at our place