Lazy days of summer

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.