KoMo KoMo Korean

While grocery shopping at one of our fave local stores: Kroger, we finally timed it right to go to the KoMo KoMo Korean restaurant next door. (They have annoying hours.)

Not quite what we were expecting: it has a nice "date-night" atmosphere with the lighting down low, however, the chairs are un-padded hard wood, so you won't want to sit around too long. It wasn't crowded at all, and the service was very nice.

Among the typical Korean offerings there were a number of vegetarian options. We ordered the Rice Bowl (BiBimBop), and the Asian Noodle Salad. Both were very good. Perfectly substantial entrees, although not enough for leftovers to take home.

We'll definitely be returning to this establishment, but not quite as often as we'd like, since the prices are significantly higher than other local options.

Low lighting = grainy pictures.

Jake's Wayback Burgers

Who says you can't find vegetarian fast food?

Finding ourselves in a hurry (read that as: shopping emergency), we just wanted a quick and cheap bite to eat.

Normally, we would've ignored a place named "Jake's Wayback Burgers" on our Google Maps search, but they have a decent website which claims they can serve a veggie burger.

We've survived the fast food veg burgers at Burger King and SubWay, so figured we'd likely survive Jake's as well.

We were correct!

Just the standard greasy burgers & fries (the onion rings were extra greasy). If you really hate yourself, they also do yummy-looking milkshakes.

So, yes, if you want the true "fast-food experience", Jake's Wayback Burgers is perfectly acceptable for vegetarian food. (We're not officially giving this one a thumbs up or down though.)

Morrow Mountain State Park

This weekend is the 50th anniversary celebration of the federal Wilderness Act, and the 30th anniversary of North Carolina's Wilderness Act. So we signed up with the local Sierra Club and had a celebration at Morrow Mtn SP, just outside Uwharrie National Forest.

It's an easy 2-hour drive from Raleigh to the group camps at Morrow Mtn.
The group camps have minimal facilities and aren't spread out very much, but they are quite inexpensive to register.

We took a tour of the Kron house and grounds and were treated to a park history lesson from Ranger Ron Anundson. The (now restored) buildings date back to the early 1800's. Ron was to-date the most knowledgeable and friendly park ranger I've ever met. I'd say he can rival any college professor with his knowledge of local geology, anthropology and historic cultural events. We learned quite a few interesting facts dating back 12,000+ years ago when native americans inhabited the area.

Then we drove to the top of Morrow Mountain and took the easy .2 mile hike around the peak. Some decent views of the relatively flat countryside, but the most interesting aspect of this trail is that there are tons of remains of stone chips from Paleo-era quarry activity here. (We looked for points, spear heads, but didn't find any.) This is the definite "must do" hiking trail of the park.

The next day we went on another short & quick hike around Quarry trail (.4 miles), and saw a much smaller quarry area.

Lastly, since everyone told us that "the Rocks Trail is the most scenic hike in the park," we figured we had to try it. This is the most disappointing hike I've been on in quite some time. Even the perfect weather didn't make up for this abysmal trail: nothing but downed trees and burned vegetation from a previous forest fire. After a 2+ mile hike (some of it on a boring bridle trail) we finally got to the end: a 30 yard scrabble down some rocks to get to a decent overlook of the Yadkin River.

Meh. Nice view, but certainly not a "scenic trail". I recommend skipping this trail and spending extra time at the top of Morrow Mtn.


All in all, Morrow Mtn SP was ok, but the history is far more interesting than the actual hiking trails.

On the way back we had to eat a veggie patty at SubWay since there were no decent restaurants open in the town of Troy on Sundays.  

Thai Spices & Sushi of Cary

This is becomming a regular dinner location for us. Conveniently-located for grocery shopping, Thai Spices & Sushi is a good vegetarian-friendly restaurant.
The staff is very nice & attentive. They have the usual minimal veg-friendly sushi options, and the usual Thai tofu options. Some dishes are spicy, but there are others that are only flavorful.

This time, we tried the crispy tofu appetizer with sweet peanut sauce (yum), an avocado roll, a veg-sushi roll, and the sweet & sour tofu. All were great, at a fair price. We were a little over-stuffed since we didn't want to deal with leftovers.

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We went back a few weeks later and just got the crispy tofu appetizer, one roll of veg-sushi, and the cashew tofu entree. We were still full, but not overly so. Next time we might forgo the appetizer and try a dessert...

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Update: On our next trip back we tried something completely different. Mostly.

Praram is named after a Hindu god (it's complicated).
"Sautéed and served with steamed spinach and broccoli, topped with peanut sauce."
We'll have to remember the name of this guy.

The manager kept telling us how "Nobody ever orders this dish."
Okay... But it was still very yummy and healthy-tasting.

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March 18, 2015:

Tried a different appetizer on our latest visit. Quite good, but judging on volume, maybe not quite worth the price.

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July 28, 2015:

Another very happy visit.
Ginger cashew tofu, and Pad Thai. Both excellent.

Last Day in Linville

We knew we would be a little tired out this morning, so we planned on taking it easy and staying around the cabin.
It's only a short 15 minute drive this Sunday morning to eat breakfast at the River Dog Cafe. Some yummy light fare and good coffee, but also a little touristy. Looks like they have some decent lunch options as well.

Since we'd already driven all the way in to town, we figured we'd grab another quick geocache or two.
Back to the same Riverwalk, we explored just a bit farther.

One last find on the short drive back to the cabin. A nice roadside waterfall park. More than meets the eye from the road.

<sigh> Our vacation is over.
On the drive back, we passed through Greensboro around noon, so we just had to go to The Boba House. Sadly, they're closed on Labor Day.
So then we decided to check teh inernets and found a nearby burger joint that claimed to have 3 kinds of veggie burgers.
Hops Burger Bar actually now only has two different veggie patties: mushroom cauliflower & nutty patty. Both of which are surprisingly great! Even more surprising is that their "side salads" are rather large and awesomely fresh. We would've ordered a second salad instead of fries if we'd known.

These burgers make Red Robin look like fast food. :D
And the beer selection here is quite impressive too.
Our only complaint: the Hawaiian pineapple burger with "sweet" chili sauce was a bit too hot for our taste.