Jamie Thingelstad

Travel

Detailed travel logs and trip journals live here. Expect day‑by‑day itineraries (e.g., our Switzerland & Italy trip) with weather notes, meals and family anecdotes, plus posts on museum visits, road‑trips and cruises.

Two Drummer’s Smokehouse

Tammy found Two Drummer’s Smokehouse, this middle-of-nowhere place, when researching Williamsburg and we stopped in for dinner on the way into town. The meat was delicious. The ribs were fall of the bone and delicious. The pulled pork was juicy and full of flavor. The brisket was delightful. Probably the weakest showing on the plate was the cornbread.

Illuminated roadside sign for a BBQ smokehouse with drum imagery, beside a small cottage-style restaurant with a white porch and an Open sign. BBQ platter with ribs, sliced brisket, and pulled pork alongside bowls of mac and cheese and baked beans with a slice of cornbread

Boylan-Heights has good burgers with a focus on sustainability and grass-fed happy burgers. The burgers tasted a little different though which I think was the result of them using dry aging with the meat. Tater tots were ridiculous good!

Boylan Heights Burger Bar logo with winged heraldic shield in yellow and white with red ribbon banner

Tammy found The Urban Farmhouse for breakfast in Richmond just down the street from the Residence Inn we spent the night at. They do a weekend brunch with a very, very tiny kitchen. More like a coffee shop that makes a run at making waffles and such on the weekend. They seem to do it all without a normal flat cooktop since everything was cooked in some sort of an iron or skillet. Food was tasty and the pastries were really good as well.

Young blonde boy grinning widely at a wooden table inside a cafe with large windows overlooking a city street

Family field trip to Big Lake on the Northstar Train. We talked to the conductor at the end and found out it was his last day before retiring. I asked if they would mind a photo with Tyler and we’re happy to do that.

Two uniformed train conductors in caps and ties pose with a young boy in the open doorway of a Northstar commuter train.