Oyster Festival Time!!

For the third year in a row, David and I went to the St. Mary's County Oyster Festival.  The Festival is home to the national oyster cook off and the national oyster shucking championship.  The first year we went, we made a weekend of it and spent Friday and Saturday nights at the Brome Howard Inn.  Last year we were only able to go for an afternoon because David was on stand by at work for the Farm Bill.  This year we were joined by our friends, Al and Lyndsie.  We spent two nights at the Brome Howard Inn and two days at the Festival.  It was an extra special weekend because Lyndsie and Al were celebrating their first wedding anniversary!  They even brought the top tier of the wedding cake and shared it with us at dinner at the Inn on Saturday night. 

We arrived in St. Mary's in time to check in before heading to dinner at The Tides Restaurant. 

We really loved this place when we went two years ago.  It seems our expectations were set a little too high and were kind of disappointed by the food.  It was good, but not great.  The next morning we had a nice breakfast and then headed for the Festival.  We visited the livestock -- goats, cows, pigs, and sheep -- then checked out the cook off before diving into the oysters.  Any way you can think of to eat an oyster, they've got it.  There's raw, steamed, fried, grilled, oyster soup, and oyster shooters.  We tried them all except for the shooters.  I'm not much an oyster fan, but these oysters are so fresh that you can't help but like them.  A little cocktail sauce helps, though.  David's favorite are the raw oysters.  We were happy that at the end of festival day two, we were able to negotiate a good deal -- two dozen for the price of one.

We also enjoyed the grilled oysters.  They were cooked with butter and

garlic so it's hard not to like those.  And they were huge!   The weather was a little chilly, but it was a beautiful fall day.  Watching the oyster shucking in the late afternoon was almost too cold.  One of these years I'm going to remember that and bring a blanket with me.  This year was especially interesting at the shucking competition because the men's champion also won it last year AND just returned from winning the world oyster shucking championship in Ireland.  Who knew shucking was such a world-wide phenomenon? 

An interesting angle on our trip this year was the destruction of our "secret" festival weekend thanks to Washingtonian Magazine.  They did a fall issue about weekend trips and festivals.  Not only did they feature the St. Mary's Oyster Festival, but they also announced that THE place to stay is the Brome Howard Inn.  The weird thing was that the inn keepers and at least one of the Festival guys (member of the sponsoring rotary club) didn't know about the article!  The innkeeper said that explained all the phone calls she'd been getting!  We already reserved our room for the festival weekend next year when David plans to compete in the oyster cook off.  It's going to be great! 

The last time we stayed at the Inn the restaurant was closed so it was nice to be able to eat there.  The food was great and the atmosphere was perfect.  There was warm fire glowing next to our table and we enjoyed an evening of good fun with friends.  We were all pleasantly surprised to discover that Lyndsie and Al's year-old wedding cake still tasted good!  The icing wasn't so great, but the cake was really yummy!  Hopefully the Uns will join us again for oyster weekend.  We had a great time! 

On our way home from the festival on Sunday, we stopped at a farm to go through a corn maze.  I was disappointed that it wasn't even remotely challenging, but it was a beautiful fall evening so we had fun.  We also got to feed the goats and cause quite a stir in the barn as they clamored for the food.  We also talked with the farmer and David got to hear a little bit about the frustrations he has with USDA.  For more than a year now David has worked there and will continue to do so in his new position.  The farmer told us that he doesn't do a whole lot of farming any more because agri-tourism is much more profitable for him.  That struck me as kind of sad. 

I love fall.  It's the absolute best time of the year.