EVE: Eve’s Vidalia Experience

My Big Birthday Celebration for the entire month of June started in Vidalia, GA! Why Vidalia? There is a simple explanation – Skye Estroff and the Foodie Road Trip turned us on to many enticing eating establishments which we wanted to visit. We also knew the riding in the area was good because we had come through the area during the Bike Ride Across Georgia (BRAG) back in 2000. As an interesting side note, twenty-two years ago, our hotel room cost $46 a night at the Holiday Inn Express.

They are extremely proud of their onions!

Our first stop in the sweet onion city was with some of the city Elders, Anita and Donald who are lifelong residents. They invited us over for drinks and onion dip. The delicious dip was served in this amazing container.

With Donald and Anita, the company was as good as the dip!

The next day was my birthday and the tiara proves it!

We did a ride on Friday while waiting for Mitzi and John to drive down to Vidalia. We ate lunch at Big Al’s which featured some of the best fried chicken we’ve ever had!

Chicken, twice fried taters, cone (fried corn bread) and coleslaw

Friday night birthday dinner was at Rialto (italian) and I was advised to have the wine slushie. This was excellent advice!

The fried food fest continued with calamari, fried ravioli and chicken parmigana.

Dessert was a light and delicious coconut cake.

On Saturday we set out to ride 65 kilometers to mark the momentous event! We had bucolic scenes, rolling hills and very light traffic.

With John and Mitzi, in our fave jerseys!

After the ride we had some tasty BBQ at Papa Buck’s. Not an onion in sight! Buck’s is famous for the Pigzilla, a sandwich with three pounds of pulled pork on a one pound bun. We were hungry, but not THAT hungry.

This $50 sandwich is free if one person eats it in 45 minutes.

Ribs with fried okra and mac and cheese.

After lunch, we had some time to go sightseeing. The onion fountain is certainly a crowd pleaser!

Next up some meat and (fried) potatoes at Benton Lee’s Steakhouse. It’s situated beside the Altamaha River in Uvalda, GA which makes it around 15 miles south of Vidalia. It was worth the drive.

There was also ice cream at a Scoops in the next town over.

It was a great day of celebration and there was a lot of rain in the area which allowed for a stunning rainbow that lasted for quite a while!

Sunday came too fast, but it was a beautiful morning ride followed by a visit to Bill’s Donuts. Lesson learned though, if you get to Bill’s in the last hour before they close, your choices are extremely limited.

The celebration will continue as we make our way north to ride in the Amish Country of Ohio and Pennsylvania. Then it’ll be on to the Eastern Tandem Rally (ETR).

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