(Tannersville, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.)

My lawn bowling competition was being held at the Skytop Lodge in the Pocono Mountains – you can see the lodge in the photo at the very top of this post. It reminds me of the massive and ancient hotels in Canadian resort areas: the Banff Springs Hotel and the Manoir Richelieu in particular. They are like huge sports camps…albeit at a price. And that price hit especially hard with the strong American dollar.

So, even though it would have been more convenient to stay at the resort itself, we decided to stay at a nondescript hotel in Tannersville for economic reasons. It’s about 30 minutes away (on narrow and winding mountain roads) and, strangely, home to a massive “outlet” mall with 100+ stores. The scope of that mall is a little odd because Tannersville itself is little more than the intersection of two local highways near an Interstate highway. But it was very busy, even just before closing time.

Anyway, the Pocono Mountains are dotted with unique restaurants that you don’t typically find in such small communities. On our first night, we went to “Taste of Susan’s Grill House”. It specialized in food from the former Soviet republics. For my beverage, I had a shockingly luminescent green soft drink based on…tarragon!

For my main course, there was no doubt: I had to try the Uzbek Pilaf. How often does one get the chance to eat Uzbek food, particularly in rural America? I really liked the meal. In fact, we went back to Susan’s the next evening and I had the Uzbek Pilaf again. For a drink, though, I switched it up on the second night and had pear-flavoured “Georgian Lemonade” instead. And we also learned that the proprietor was from Armenia.

I’d like to tell you more about the Poconos but, to be fair, I spent most of my time practicing and playing at the Skytop Lodge. The grounds are beautiful and it is situated on a high plateau with nice views of the surrounding hills. The lawn bowling green was impressively manicured – maybe just a tad too lush (it wasn’t quite as fast as my favourite Ontario greens), but still a pleasure to play on. With the tranquil surroundings, it felt like being transported back in time about a hundred years.

As I really enjoyed the event, I will likely return in the future. And I *might* consider a splurge and stay at the Lodge itself (if only for a night or two). There are a lot of other sports activities available…and if you check the link, you will see that some of them (“Arrow Tag” and “Intro to Shotgun” come to mind) are likely not available at Canadian resorts such as Chateau Montebello.

We self-catered our lunches during the tournament, so we stocked up in a local supermarket. I know that grocery prices have been a real pain point for Canadians over the past couple of years. But prices seemed just as high in the U.S., and that was before accounting for the 30+% exchange rate. Canadians used to do a lot of cross-border shopping in the U.S., but (except perhaps for gas) I don’t think it is much of a deal anymore.

The grocery price pain was offset a little by the entertainment value on the shelves. Canadian grocery stores have more variety than ever, but this was at a different level altogether. Maybe I shop at the wrong stores, but I don’t recall seeing products such as “Liquid Death” flavoured water in Canada. While flavours such as “Cherry Obituary” and “Berry it Alive” were tempting, I decided to give them a pass.

As I had to play in a playoff match, the last day of the tournament ended a little later than anticipated . We had to drive all the way home that evening, which meant that we (1) couldn’t spent a lot of time looking for restaurants, (2) weren’t looking for an extended dining experience, and (3) would eat when it made the most sense from a driving perspective. And that is how we ended up at the “Friendly’s” restaurant in Cortland, New York! This American chain specializes in food like burgers…and dessert. My spicy grilled cheese was fine.