Hail Deer

Depending on whether it takes deer longer to eat dinner than it takes our family, we saw between 48 and 66 deer tonight. You see, having lost the past two deer counting games by guessing way too low (20), I went into this game with the highest deer count of the family (45). Not coincidentally, this year the car (with me at the helm) took an unorthodox route that went past Big Meadows (dining spot of a large number of deer) both on the way to dinner and on the way home. We saw 18 deer in the meadow area on the way to dinner and well over 20 on the way home. It's not entirely clear how many of those seen on the way home were just the same slow eaters we saw on the way in, hence the controversy between 48 and 66 deer. Either way my 45 deer guess was the closest...

EXCEPT that in a completely unprecedented move, my father (whose day we were belatedly celebrating) used his celebratory powers to award Mimsi a second guess (as a purported bonus for having spotted the first deer) and so at dinner she revised her initial guess of 20 up to the winning guess of 50. I am filing a protest.

The family is also filing a protest against Aramark which is attempting to ruin this family tradition by drastically reducing the quality of our dinner (I'll save the full review for the notes). Although I haven't figured out how yet, I also believe Aramark is responsible for the intense hail storm that forced us to pull off the Drive for a few minutes. Their plan was foiled however when the weather cleared up by the most important point of the trip when we stop to say hello to our grandparents at Cresent Rock overlook. And as you can see from the count, the hail certainly didn't scare the deer away...

Notes to Jon:

• Deer Game Results
  
• Mimsi (20)
• Mom (33)
• Dad (41) ... and 2 bears
  
• Jon (45)
• Mimsi #2(!) (50)*
• Actual (48 to 66) ... and zero bears (sorry Dad).
  

• Even more controversy on the deer count when Mom and Mimsi tried to include deers 67 and 68 which we saw just outside the entrance for Skyline Drive. As stated last year, deer outside the park do not count. For clarity that statement needs to be revised to "Deer outside of Skyline Drive do not count" since technically the park doesn't end until a sign at the bottom of the mountain, even though the game (in my mind at least) has always ended once we pass the Ranger station.
  

• For the second year in a row we have been noticeably unimpressed with the food at Big Meadows. They have taken the menu and price upscale, while the serving size and (most importantly) taste has gone downhill. Worst of all they are starting to run out of things, including the most important dish of all: their Blackberry Ice Cream Pie. They were also out of the gumbo I ordered. The Brunswick Stew was a small $20 crock which consisted mostly of a large dry chicken leg. The Sheppard's Pie had an unusual flavor, but not necessarily in a good way. My Ratatouille was decent and the New Deal Turkey which my mom always orders was smaller and with less stuffing than usual (but at least it was still on the menu). They reminded me that I hated the Creme Brule there, so I tried the Bread Pudding which was ok, and probably a bigger hit than the Blackberry Ice Cream sundaes. Next trip we'll try Skyland for dinner. On the bright side, we got a seat by the window for the first time :-)