Will Skip School For Food

Today, America’s school buses had a lot less passengers as children left their books at home and went out into the world to experience a different type of education. Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day is a pseudo career day giving youth the opportunity to discover not only what their parents do for a living, but also the opportunities that exist as they start to make decisions about their own futures.

I was thrilled to find out that my children had decided to spend the day with me this year instead of my husband. Can you blame them? Their options were:

a) sit in an office and take conference calls all day; or
b) go out and explore West Virginia.

In the words of my bright young children, “Duh!”

Each of them started the day with a role; Carlee, my 12 year old, was the photographer and Kyle, my nine year old, was the journalist. As we explored,  their job was to document and tell a story, both in pictures and prose.  I only had one question for them as we left the house, “if you could tell people about some places in West Virginia that you think are super special, what would you tell them about?” Here is what they had to say:

The Poky Dot Diner in Fairmont (Note from Kyle: check out my mom's article about the Poky Dot Diner in the Spring 2009 issue of WV Living Magazine.)

A gigantic hot chocolate smothered in chocolate syrup was just the nutrition they needed to start their adventure off right.

French Toast, off of the kids menu, included a garnish of cherry shoe string licorice.

We drove around for a while to enjoy the beautiful scenery and sunshine and before you knew it, it was lunch time!  We were off to The Country Club Bakery in Fairmont (rumored to be the home of the first pepperoni roll) for a perfect mid afternoon snack.

A sign on the side of Country Club Road in Fairmont let's you know that tucked in the back, that nondescript building is, in fact, the bakery.

They both thought it was "pretty cool," that Country Club Bakery was featured in the January 2007 issue of Gourmet Magazine.

Finally, something sweet to top off their tanks; their favorite detour in all of Morgantown, Tutto-Gelato on High Street where Kyle had a few questions for owner Sarah Straface.  

Kyle: How did Tutto Gelato get started?
Sarah: When we were in Italy we fell in love with Gelato and wanted to bring it home with us.

Kyle: What is your most popular flavor?
Sarah: Stracciatella, which is like a chocolate chip.

Kyle: Do you make or sell any other products?
Sarah: Yes, we sell coffee drinks, pastries, and other specialty beverages. We even have Mutt Licks (doggie ice cream).

Kyle: What is Gelato made of?
Sarah: That’s a good question! The fruit gelato is water based, so it’s like a sorbet with fruit. The others are milk based and include sugar and flavoring. And the best part is it’s all made right here in our store.

Kyle: Who started the company?
Sarah: My cousin Jenna Straface and myself.

Kyle: When did the company start? Sarah: We opened in June of 2007.

Tasty Tidbits: 

• Kyle’s favorite Tutto-gelato flavors are blood orange and lemon
  
• Carlee’s favorite Tutto-gelato flavors are blood orange and lemon
  
• Tutto-Gelato is on Facebook

Our day ended with a trip to WV Living Magazine's home office to tell publisher and editor Nikki Bowman about our kid friendly favorites.  And of course use it as a photo opportunity/shameless plug for our upcoming wedding issue, hitting stores in May!