For blogging that is. Damn I have been lazy in my writing here. I have been in and around LA for almost two weeks and I still haven't finished put down anything about my drive back from Chicago. Guh.
Well here goes nothing. I left Chicago on a Monday morning and started to drive west on I-90. Which conveniently takes me through Madison, WI. At a rest stop on the way I was able to get an Autie Anne's hot pretzel, one of my favorite random food items and one I have been without for several years I think. In Madison I stopped at a beer store that came highly recommended on Beer Advocate. This was a very good stop for me as I was able to pick up whole cases of New Glarus fruit beers, along with a nice grab bag of midwest beers including a four pack of Devil Over a Barrel from Tyranena and a Bell's Hopslam, which I had failed to pick up on my last trip through the midwest.
Upon departing Madison I took a detour up to Minneapolis on I-94 solely to visit the Minneapolis Town Hall Brewery. MTH makes Masala Mama IPA one of the last beers in the top 15 or so on BA that had escaped me. I hadn't had time to really check, but I had my fingers crossed, that not only would the Pub be open since I was getting there at almost 9pm but that I would be able to have a glass of Masala Mama. I didn't know whether it was a seasonal release or something that was available year round. I was reassured immediately as I approached the bar on foot, because the place was hopping. I mean really hopping there must have been about 30 tables in a courtyard outside, and they were pretty much all full of people eating and drinking. I went inside and found myself a place at the bar where I was even more delighted to discover that they not only had Masala Mama available they had it on cask. On top of that they had a mango infused version of it called Mango Mama. I had both of these and they were both excellent. They went well with the cajun chicken ceasar salad I had for dinner too. I struck up conversation with two gentlemen next to me who both appeared to be real beer enthusiasts, one of them was even a writer for a local midwest brewing newsletter. After finishing my beers and sobering up a little I purchased a growler of Masala Mama to go and got back on the road.
I got myself an energy drink around 11:00 so I was awake enough to keep driving until 2:00am. I was able to get myself back on to I-90 and within about 70 miles of South Dakota before I decided to pull over and sleep at a rest stop. This is the only time I have done this and it didn't work out too badly but the short amount of sleep I did get caught up with me a couple days later.
Whoa that is a lot of words about half a day. So I will continue this saga later. I might get in another installment today, but if not it will have to wait until after the weekend as I am heading back to Black Mountain for some more bouldering. But before I do, today I am going to see the new batman movie, should be good.
Friday, July 18, 2008
Friday, July 11, 2008
California Dreamin'
I guess. I have made it back to LA after a fun trip from Chicago to Cali. I guess last time I posted I was in Rapid City, SD. However, I failed to mention anything that had happened in Chicago or anywhere else on the route. Ugh. I guess I have a lot of catching up to do. Well, before I launch off with a lot of text describing my beer drinking and hiking here are the links to the pictures I took in Wyoming which is apparently the only state where I pulled out my camera. Click on the pictures below to go to my web albums with captioned photos.
Well, now that the important stuff is out of the way, the last post updating my status was from Boulder, CO. Upon leaving Boulder I hustled on across to Chicago, leaving Boulder around 5pm and getting in to the Greater Chicagoland area around 3pm the next with a stop in Nebraska for some bandit camping. Well, I would have payed for it if I could have figured out how. I called Pete when I got into the area, but ti appeared that he was busy that after noon so I tool the time to head down to Flossmoor Station, a brewpub built in a train station in Flossmoor, IL. I got their huge sampler and an order of crappy chicken wings. The sample was all 11 of their beers on tap in 4oz tasters. There were certainly a lot of pretty good beers there, but definitely some that I did not care for. The bigger beers seemed to be quite a bit better than the standards. I know that I like bigger beers in general, but I can still tell when I lighter beers is of good quality. In any case I drank a fair bit of my sampler (but not too much) and then I got a nice little tour with the assistant brewer. They seem to be doing some interesting things there and I am sure I would frequent the place if I lived in the area.
I then drove on up to the North side of Chicago to have dinner with Pete and Sheila, Pete's parents, and Sheila's mom (also named Sheila). We went of to a place that I think was called the Fire Station, mostly b/c it was in an old fire station house. The food was pretty good, but the best part to my mind was that they had Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald Porter on their beer list. It was great, by far the best and most drinkable porter I have had. It was nice to see Pete's parents as it has been a while. Usually I see them around Christmas at Pete's house, but this past year Pete went to Chicago with Sheila for the holidays.
The next day, Pete and I picked up the tuxes, moved his parents to the downtown hotel from where they had been staying in Evanston, met up with Amy and Alex, and headed out to go to a Cubs game with a crew of around 25. This was my first experience at Wrigley Field and I thought it was fantastic. It certainly could use some updating, I have been to plenty of parks that are far nicer, but there is definitely a certain classic feel to the place that I love. I had few Old Style beers, which did not suck much to my surprise. I mean the Old Style was not good, but it didn't have the nasty smell or horrible aftertaste I had been afraid off coming from and American lager. After the game I went to The Hopleaf with Meghan where we met up with a few of her friends (Josh didn't get in to town until later that evening). I got a couple Goose Island beers, a Matilda on tap and a Bourbon County Stout out of a bottle. Ahh, I love me some Bourbon County Stout. I bugged out a bit early to go have dinner with Amy and Alex at a German place downtown. The food there was a tad over priced, but they did have a bit of almost genuine German food which was rather tasty.
Needless to say that was a big day (Thursday). On Friday I took the "L" down to the Goose Island Brewpub to investigate the special beers they had on tap that are not available in bottles. I gave Josh a call on the way down to see what he was up to that day and it turned out that he and Meghan and the friends they were staying with were on their way to Goose Island too. So when I got there I swung by their table to say hi. However, I had brought my computer to write my toast for Pete's wedding the next day, and I found a table to do that by myself. I was able to have a class of the Midway IPA on cask (very very good), the bourbon barrel aged Aviator Dopplebock (quite nice), and I think also the oak aged saison, but I can't remember for sure. I got my toast written and then hopped back on the L in time to go to the wedding rehearsal. The rehearsal went will although the priest was indeed slightly confused by Amy's presence as a female groomsperson. The rehearsal dinner was also fairly fun, and ended early enough so that Amy and Alex and I could get Pete over to the Hopleaf to meet up with Joe and Melanie and Amy's parents. Amanda also managed to find her way from the airport to hangout with us and Pete brought his cousin along so we had a good group of about 10 in the back courtyard of the Hopleaf.
Another big day, and the biggest of all was Saturday, the wedding. It was fun, everyone looked great, Pete and Sheila got married, my toast went well, and I learned a lesson or two. Yes, take away bottles of champagne from guys who are spraying it over the dance floor, No, do not drink that bottle of champagne. Ah well. certainly a good day nonetheless.
The next day Amanda and I managed to get our selves put together again and then head over to Michigan to visit the Livery. I was able to try a few new beers and drop off some stuff from Russian river for Steve the brewer and the bar tenders Dixie and Tim. Amanda and I also had some pretty good sandwiches with our beer. Steve loaded me up with growlers to take back to CA and told me he would hook me up with some beer in bottles when they get put together in the next few weeks. I got back to Pete's place in time to say good bye before he and Sheila headed to bed, since they were getting up very early the next morning to fly to Costa Rica for their honeymoon.
On Monday, I had breakfast with Josh and Meghan, before grabbing my remaining beer out of Sheila's mom's house and hitting the road back to CA. And at this point it looks like the trip back will have to go in another post since this one has already taken too long. Enjoy the photos and I will explain them in couple day with a new post.
Well, now that the important stuff is out of the way, the last post updating my status was from Boulder, CO. Upon leaving Boulder I hustled on across to Chicago, leaving Boulder around 5pm and getting in to the Greater Chicagoland area around 3pm the next with a stop in Nebraska for some bandit camping. Well, I would have payed for it if I could have figured out how. I called Pete when I got into the area, but ti appeared that he was busy that after noon so I tool the time to head down to Flossmoor Station, a brewpub built in a train station in Flossmoor, IL. I got their huge sampler and an order of crappy chicken wings. The sample was all 11 of their beers on tap in 4oz tasters. There were certainly a lot of pretty good beers there, but definitely some that I did not care for. The bigger beers seemed to be quite a bit better than the standards. I know that I like bigger beers in general, but I can still tell when I lighter beers is of good quality. In any case I drank a fair bit of my sampler (but not too much) and then I got a nice little tour with the assistant brewer. They seem to be doing some interesting things there and I am sure I would frequent the place if I lived in the area.
I then drove on up to the North side of Chicago to have dinner with Pete and Sheila, Pete's parents, and Sheila's mom (also named Sheila). We went of to a place that I think was called the Fire Station, mostly b/c it was in an old fire station house. The food was pretty good, but the best part to my mind was that they had Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald Porter on their beer list. It was great, by far the best and most drinkable porter I have had. It was nice to see Pete's parents as it has been a while. Usually I see them around Christmas at Pete's house, but this past year Pete went to Chicago with Sheila for the holidays.
The next day, Pete and I picked up the tuxes, moved his parents to the downtown hotel from where they had been staying in Evanston, met up with Amy and Alex, and headed out to go to a Cubs game with a crew of around 25. This was my first experience at Wrigley Field and I thought it was fantastic. It certainly could use some updating, I have been to plenty of parks that are far nicer, but there is definitely a certain classic feel to the place that I love. I had few Old Style beers, which did not suck much to my surprise. I mean the Old Style was not good, but it didn't have the nasty smell or horrible aftertaste I had been afraid off coming from and American lager. After the game I went to The Hopleaf with Meghan where we met up with a few of her friends (Josh didn't get in to town until later that evening). I got a couple Goose Island beers, a Matilda on tap and a Bourbon County Stout out of a bottle. Ahh, I love me some Bourbon County Stout. I bugged out a bit early to go have dinner with Amy and Alex at a German place downtown. The food there was a tad over priced, but they did have a bit of almost genuine German food which was rather tasty.
Needless to say that was a big day (Thursday). On Friday I took the "L" down to the Goose Island Brewpub to investigate the special beers they had on tap that are not available in bottles. I gave Josh a call on the way down to see what he was up to that day and it turned out that he and Meghan and the friends they were staying with were on their way to Goose Island too. So when I got there I swung by their table to say hi. However, I had brought my computer to write my toast for Pete's wedding the next day, and I found a table to do that by myself. I was able to have a class of the Midway IPA on cask (very very good), the bourbon barrel aged Aviator Dopplebock (quite nice), and I think also the oak aged saison, but I can't remember for sure. I got my toast written and then hopped back on the L in time to go to the wedding rehearsal. The rehearsal went will although the priest was indeed slightly confused by Amy's presence as a female groomsperson. The rehearsal dinner was also fairly fun, and ended early enough so that Amy and Alex and I could get Pete over to the Hopleaf to meet up with Joe and Melanie and Amy's parents. Amanda also managed to find her way from the airport to hangout with us and Pete brought his cousin along so we had a good group of about 10 in the back courtyard of the Hopleaf.
Another big day, and the biggest of all was Saturday, the wedding. It was fun, everyone looked great, Pete and Sheila got married, my toast went well, and I learned a lesson or two. Yes, take away bottles of champagne from guys who are spraying it over the dance floor, No, do not drink that bottle of champagne. Ah well. certainly a good day nonetheless.
The next day Amanda and I managed to get our selves put together again and then head over to Michigan to visit the Livery. I was able to try a few new beers and drop off some stuff from Russian river for Steve the brewer and the bar tenders Dixie and Tim. Amanda and I also had some pretty good sandwiches with our beer. Steve loaded me up with growlers to take back to CA and told me he would hook me up with some beer in bottles when they get put together in the next few weeks. I got back to Pete's place in time to say good bye before he and Sheila headed to bed, since they were getting up very early the next morning to fly to Costa Rica for their honeymoon.
On Monday, I had breakfast with Josh and Meghan, before grabbing my remaining beer out of Sheila's mom's house and hitting the road back to CA. And at this point it looks like the trip back will have to go in another post since this one has already taken too long. Enjoy the photos and I will explain them in couple day with a new post.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
The Note
Okay, After various requests here is the text from the note. I had planned to post a photo of the actual note, but my camera's battery is dead, and I want to get this up before anyone gets too upset.
So I went for my hike of about 12 miles and I talked to various people on the trail as I always do. Upon returning to my car I found a note on the windshield that said:
"If you don't break into a camera career, you should try porn, you've got the looks for it.
-Your two admirers on the trail"
I read this and laughed. Understandably so I think. But then I thought another second or two and realized that the only people to which I had mentioned a possible camera career and the only two people who would have been able to identify which car was mine, were to gentlemen in their 60's. And then I laughed all the harder.
So I went for my hike of about 12 miles and I talked to various people on the trail as I always do. Upon returning to my car I found a note on the windshield that said:
"If you don't break into a camera career, you should try porn, you've got the looks for it.
-Your two admirers on the trail"
I read this and laughed. Understandably so I think. But then I thought another second or two and realized that the only people to which I had mentioned a possible camera career and the only two people who would have been able to identify which car was mine, were to gentlemen in their 60's. And then I laughed all the harder.
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