I love Facebook for the Actual Live and In-Person Connections!

I will admit it - at first I was not a fan of the idea of Facebook... then I got on it and realized that it's a pretty great way to share information and keep up with what is up in people's lives which is really helpful given how little time (sadly) we all have in life to make proper phone calls or visits to catch up. No Facebook will never replace real, live and in-person face to face time but it does help us stay connected... and sometimes it even leads to unexpected real, live and in-person face-to-face time. Let me explain...

Not once, not twice but 4 times now I have gotten to catch up with great friends in totally random places compliments of Facebook.

First instance we were in Scotland... had headed to the UK to do some space talks to schools with ISSET. At the beginning of it a few of us decided to make a stop in Scotland since we had never been. While we were there I noticed that our friends Vicki and Craig (who are from Australia and we had met in Fiji on our honeymoon) were posting about their travels and not only in the same country but were touring the same cities just 1 day ahead of us! Compliments of Facebook we were able to able to connect and meet up in person in London for dinner and a night out on the town. (Note that this picture is not from that meet-up but it is of us with Vicki & Craig!)

Next instance was probably the most bizarre of all. Last fall we were headed to Dublin to see the Navy vs. Notre Dame football game. Even though it was a heck of a trip for a weekend we were no kidding doing it in a weekend. I won't go into the gory details of how much United messed up on this one but since we had to connect in Frankfort we got stuck there for about 16 hours due to a strike by Lufthansa.  Needless to say I was a rather unhappy camper about that so I ranted about it a bit on Facebook. Boy am I glad I did... got a message back from some of our best buds Tonto & Swani that they were in Frankfort for their connection home from Russia. We did a little sweet-talking to get ourselves into the area that they were in and sat around the United Club (whatever the equivalent there was called) and caught up for a little over an hour until they had to fly to Houston.

The third instance happened in New York City. I was in NYC with my mom - Mom had never been there so I thought I would take her there for a new adventure. We had bought tickets to see "Kinky Boots" (which I still need to get off my butt and write a blog about too!) and as we were prepping to head there I saw my dear friend Gary post on Facebook a picture he'd taken and tagged as in New York City currently. I immediately shot off a text to ask if he really was in NYC to which he replied Yep! Knowing that time was of the essence I called to see what he was up to... unfortunately he was extremely busy with some Social Media Conference he was going to and was only in town for about 24 hours so sadly he wasn't going to be able to get together with us to hang out at all. It was further crazy that he was staying at the hotel that is my "usual" Times Square Hotel but we weren't staying there because by the time I had gotten around to deciding that we were going the hotel had gotten way too expensive. We ended the call both lamenting that it was too bad we were both in the same city but that our schedules just wouldn't cross. Not to be deterred I decided that I could manage to hoof it over to the bar Gary was sitting in and would have just about 5 minutes to do a Hug and run in order to get to the show on time. Gary was quite surprised when I showed up and it was great to be able to say Hi "live and in person" even if it was just a quick visit.

The latest instance just happened and it's funny because I was going to "publish" this blog before leaving for London but just never got around to writing the last of it. One of our favorite Ensigns (recent Naval Academy Graduate) was on leave and flying Space Available around Europe. Upon my arrival in London I had a Facebook message waiting for me that he too was going to be here! We had no idea!  So we managed to meet up with him at a London pub for a beer or 2! (Actually we were sad we were too busy to get to do more with him but C'est la vie!)

So while Facebook has helped me to keep up with so many people virtually perhaps what I love the most is that it's helped me connect in person with these dear friends who I might have missed seeing otherwise! Even Ken (who is seriously anti-Facebook) has to admit that it's pretty dang cool for that purpose!

Unplugging!!

It's been a long time since I've had a truly unplugged vacation. Yes we certainly are very fortunate to travel as much as we do. (This year alone we were in Australia, Mongolia, China, England, Ireland, Scotland - well I went there... Not to mention trips to Chicago, 2 drives from Houston to Annapolis, New Hampshire and I am sure there are others I am missing!!) Much of our travel is work related (again I emphasize how fortunate we are to get to do this!) but that means the mind is always working and you never
get to truly relax (even though we get to see some super cool things.)

We decided we needed a few days together unplugged where the biggest decisions we have to make is what drink we want and what we want to eat. We are headed to Sandals Antigua where it's all included and all we have to do is sit back and relax!!!

I've left my computer at home. I do have my phone and Ken does have his iPad because we do need to check on a few things once or twice during the time we are gone but we have sworn no more than 15 minutes a couple times.

Here's to unplugging... Relaxing... And just enjoying!!

I'll give you all a full report when I return!!

Race Calendar Ideas for Next Year (2013)

Okay so this was certainly not one of my "better" years as far as races go... to be honest by the time 2012 is done it's entirely possible that I may end up only having run 1 half marathon! Man does that put me behind in my goal for Half 2 Run.  (For those of you who don't know Half 2 Run is a group where you try and run a half marathon in half the 50 states. You know how I like a goal and to travel so this works well for me! Check them out! Half 2 Run Website)

I am signed up for the Annapolis Half in December of this year because I can literally walk to and from the finish line which is a total bonus!
http://www.annapolishalf.com/
It appears there are still spaces available if anyone wants to join me... I think Mel & BJ may be in...

I have decided that next year I am going to work to check off a couple states in my quest....

Nike Women's Marathon (& Half) is bringing their Half to Washington DC on April 28th. Apparently DC gets to count as a state so that's an added bonus :) There are very very few details out there about this race so far but here's what I can tell you... Mel & I have run the Nike Women's Half in San Francisco and there at the finish line instead of a regular medal you get a Tiffany Necklace (complete with little blue box and bag) handed to you by a man in a tux holding a silver platter full of the beautiful blue bags. THAT is enough to make me want to run this event in April. Here's the little bit of info that is available on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/NWM26.2/app_181997151935745
Those of you who know me know I DETEST Team in Training and many many of their runners (oh don't even get me started) but I am willing to tolerate that debacle of a headache at the race for the bling especially given that it's a true Tiffany Necklace. Sadly it is a lottery to get in so I will keep my fingers crossed.
A few pictures from when Mel and I did this run some years back...

In October I am strongly considering the Hershey Half Marathon though the date has yet to be announced..... I mean a half in Chocolate Town USA? Yes please!!
http://www.hersheyhalfmarathon.com/

There are some runs I am not wanting to do next year.....
I am still feeling bitter about my last Rock-N-Roll experience so I think perhaps I will wait til 2014 to foray back into that series.
We have a moratorium on Disney runs for another few years. We've done loads of them and have decided to wait a handful of years and then maybe go back and do a bunch of them again in the same year,,,,

States I want to accomplish before we move out of Annapolis (I am assuming we will be here for 3 years - this list changes if that changes.....)

• New York
• Considering the Diva Half but not next year because Navy plays Air Force at home
• http://www.runlikeadiva.com/
• Delaware
• There's one in Rehoboth (Hello Dogfish Head) but it's when it's likely cold... hmmmm...
• http://www.rbmarathon.com/
• And can't do it this year because that the day Navy will be beating Army in Philly ;)
• New Jersey
• Never been to Atlantic City so maybe...
• http://www.acmarathon.org/April_Fools/Event_Details.htm
• West Virginia
• Connecticut
• Pennsylvania
• Hershey Half as mentioned above
• West Virginia?
• DC - okay I know it's not a real state but it officially counts in the tally!

Of course there are many other states I really want to run like Hawaii and Alaska but the above list is what is easy striking distance from where we are currently living so it does make sense to really work on those while we are on the East Coast.... not saying I won't travel to other places because I certainly will!!

Other races that are of interest as well
The Land of Oz Marathon
       http://www.olathe.org/cvb/sports/Marathon/information_registatration.html
      but can't do it in 2013 due to other obligations....

The Flying Pirate
       http://www.obxmarathon.org/Top_Nav/Flying_Pirate_Half_Marathon.htm
       but can't do it in 2013 due to other obligations...


So does anyone have a race they are just itching to run? If so let me know and maybe I'll join you! I certainly intend to have more races on the calendar in 2013 than I've had in 2012! As you can perhaps tell we've had a little fun over the years racing together as friends :)

Cincinnati Flying Pig Half Marathon

Regular Disney Half Marathon

Rock-N-Roll New Orleans

Rock-N-Roll Chicago

Disney Wine & Dine (Inaugural)

Seattle Rock-N-Roll

Virginia Beach Rock-N-Roll

And for the record yes I do frequently run in a tutu! Just makes it more fun :) Here's a link to some great tutus if you want to join in the entertainment ;)Halloween Purple Organza Adult's Tutu (Google Affiliate Ad)

Disney Princess Half Marathon

The Hop - Days 3 & 4

Our last full day in Colorado we didn’t have GABF tickets so our plan was to just wander the city and enjoy the day, some football and some beer.

Denver Diner

We started the day with some much-needed breakfast at Stacey’s favorite place – Denver Diner. It is a great somewhat old-fashioned traditional diner. No frills just great food.  We all hungrily dove in and then afterwards decided it was nap time! So we headed back to the hotel J

Ken & I stayed lounging through the entire Navy vs. Air Force game. (What a game!) But Kev & Stacey headed off to GABF. After the football game I decided it was time to go and make our rounds of the breweries that we could walk to. I plotted out options and we set off.

Denver Beer Company

First stop was the one furthest away in the direction we needed to go overall for our meet-up with the Goods later that evening.  This is a new brewery and I was quite excited to try it out especially since I had just learned that their Graham Cracker Porter won a silver medal at GABF. The ambiance is good – very minimalist – but sadly they didn’t have much beer left on tap. As I said to Ken I thought it was quite possible they would need to close for 2 weeks after GABF to make more! I was able to try

• ·      Rise of the 5^th Horseman Saison (aka Pretty Peach Princess)
• ·      ATAK Buh-na-na Hefeweizen
• ·      Ichabod’s Revenge Pumpkin’d Ale
• ·      In da Hood Hop Swap IPA
• ·      A lime chili beer (can’t remember the name and it’s not on the board)

For as unique fun as their names are I have to say I was unimpressed with the beer itself. That’s not to say that I wouldn’t come back to try it again, I just wouldn’t put it at the top of my list.

~~~~~~~~~~~BEER COUNT: 81 +/-60!~~~~~

Wynkoop Brewery

Ken was not in such good shape at this point (I think I had overbeered him over the previous few days) so I was shocked when he offered up that we should hit up this brewery on our way to our final destination for the evening. He pointed out it was on the way pretty much (as if I needed convincing) so off we went! Wynkoop is a brewpub but we weren’t planning on getting any food so we grabbed a seat at a small table in the bar. It was fairly busy for a Saturday afternoon between lunch and dinner hours.  I am sure you will all be shocked to hear this but I ordered the sampler. It’s a total of 10 beers so the gal said she would bring them out 5 at a time. No problem! At this point Ken is looking very rough so I told him not to worry that I would “take one for the team” and take care of the sampler. 

He was a trooper though and said he would try to do his part.  The beers we got to try were Wixa Weiss, Two Guns Pilsner, Light Rail Ale, Patty’s Chili Beer, Rail Yard Ale, London Calling IPA, Mile HIPA, St. Charles ESB, B3K Schwarzbier (had just one a GABF medal) and Cowtown Milk Stout. All of the beers were excellent but my favorite by far was the Cowtown Milk Stout.

 It was possibly the best beer I had the entire trip!! I could have sat there and drank that ALL DAY LONG! But we had places to go and people to see so we had to head out. On the way out I just had to take a picture with the ape they had in the waiting area.

~~~~~~~~~~~BEER COUNT: 81 +/-60!~~~~~

OLD CHICAGO

We were meeting up with the Buenos (Okay the Goods but they are the Buenos to me!) after their daughter’s soccer game so we tried to pick somewhere that had food, good beer and TVs for the college football that we wanted to watch. Old Chicago was the suggestion from several folks so we went with it. This place has good pizza but they need not kid themselves… it’s not Chicago pizza at least not in the way of Giordanos or Eduardos…. But it is tasty. They have a good beer selection though the waitress we had was useless when it came to any beer questions at all. There are plenty of TVs so we did get to see Purdue get slaughtered by Notre Dame, which made Bueno pretty happy.  Ken rallied and had a great time! 

All in all it was a good evening and I even tried 2 new-to-me beers from Boulder Brewing. I can tell you that we were going to be sad to leave the next day….

THE END OF “THE HOP”

Sunday morning we woke up and decided to wander about and see the capital building as well as the mile high markers. 

I found it interesting that there were a few with different dates so obviously there is some elevation change happening! 

We were amused by the squirrels, which were plentiful and apparently hungry! 

After wandering a bit we tried to go to a diner for breakfast (a different one than the day before – this one was a Triple D) but it was packed so we opted to gather all our stuff and head out to one last beer drinking stop on our way to the airport.

The Bull & Bush Brewery           

We had seen these guys at GABF and Ken was jealous of their jackets so we decided to check them out and get some grub too. They had an extensive menu and we both ended up with a breakfast/brunch item (available since it was the weekend). The portions were HUGE! Oh we also had the cheese dip appetizer which I HIGHLY recommend. Beers tried here included Big Ben Brown, Man Beer,  a stout and a pilsner. I would say the beers were above average though not exceptional. That said this is a stop worth making!

After that it was homeward bound… this was an amazing weekend. We had great beer, great weather, great scenery, great friends to hang out with and an all-around great time! Ken said he doesn’t know if GABF is something he wants to do every year because he prefers to just pick one beer and stick with it. I on the other hand want to make this a yearly pilgrimage!

Final tally….

~BEER COUNT of different beers not beers total: 87 +/-60!~

The Hop - Day 3

Amazingly we weren’t doing too bad when we woke up the morning of Day 3 though we did have to wake up a little earlier than I probably would have liked :) We had an event to get to!

BEER FOR BOOBS BRUNCH

Ladies of Craft Beer sponsored a brunch called Beer for Boobs at Freshcraft to raise money for Breast Cancer Awareness & Research. With the cost of the ticket you got some breakfast as well as the opportunity to buy some interesting beers to try. 

The food was quite good – chicken & waffles, breakfast burritos and potatoes – and was perfect for the morning after a night at GABF! I tried the Beermosa from a Nevada brewery as well as a special Oskar Blues beer which I can’t remember the name of. But settled on a Left Hand Nitro Milk Stout because as far as I am concerned this could be breakfast!!! This event was fantastic and I wish Komen Houston would see how a “cheeky” event like this can be so good for the cause. Unfortunately my experience has been that the Houston office is a little too square for out of the box ideas like this. Here’s to hoping that the DC Chapter will be more open to these kinds of ideas!

~~~~~~~~~~~BEER COUNT: 56 +/- 30!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

GREAT DIVIDE

After the brunch we decided to continue our Denver Beer tour. We headed to Great Divide Brewery just a few blocks away but the taproom was beyond packed with a hell of a line (the tap room is quite small) but they had an outdoor area set-up where you could go and buy beer and sit and enjoy. That worked for us! We each had some beer and enjoyed the beautiful weather! Ken saved a bug from drowning in his beer and made friends with him... it was a very drunk bug! 

I look forward to going back to Colorado at a non-GABF time so I can check out their taproom!

~~~~~~~~~~~BEER COUNT: 58 +/- 30!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BRECKENRIDGE BREWERY – BALLPARK

Just around the corner was Breckenridge and I needed at least a snack to eat because I was hungry again. J You know I had to order the beer sampler and with that I got 2220 Red, 471 IPA, Ballpark Brown, Regal Pilsner, Thunder Stout and their seasonal Autumn Ale. I also asked if they could add on the Vanilla Porter and they were kind enough to indulge me J All the beers were good (I drank them all except the IPA which I naturally gave to Ken) but the most noteworthy to me was the Vanilla Porter because it was different than the average beer you find. I highly recommend giving it a try if you get the chance. I didn’t order a full meal but the chips and guac were very tasty!

After this Kevin, Stacey and Scott were headed off for more Brewery hopping because they didn’t have evening plans for GABF. (They were going to the Homebrew Members only session on Saturday.) Since Ken and I were heading to GABF that night we decided that we needed to go and get in a nap!!

~~~~~~~~~~~BEER COUNT: 65 +/- 30!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

GREAT AMERICAN BEER FEST DAY 2

One thing that Ken and I learned from the first day of GABF was that it was really rather pointless to wait in the long line (even though it moved fast) because we could show up 25 minutes after door opening time and just waltz in. The difference of 10 minutes inside was worth not waiting in line for an hour or more. So we showed up a little after 6 and walked right in.  It was definitely a very different feel than Thursday night. Thursday was more actual beer fiends who love beer whereas Friday was more younger kids who just wanted to get wasted as opposed to actually experiencing the beers. We went in “normal people” clothes this day but I think if I go 2 days next time perhaps a second beer related outfit might be in order! We did both wear Saint Arnold shirts in support of our good buddies!

I went into Day 2 with a list of beers that were must trys for me – even if they had a line. (Most of these were recommendations from others from brunch that morning.)

• ·      Banana Split Chocolate Stout from Thomas Creek – LOVED IT! It was dessert in a glass but not too overly sweet – just perfect!!!! I need to get me some more of this but can’t get it here!!! Grrrrrrrr!!
• ·   Oatmeal Raisin Cookie from Cigar City – They did have a big line but Stacey said it was worth it to wait so we did. Ken of course got some sort of IPA and I got the Oatmeal Raisin Cookie which no kidding tasted just like the cookie!
• ·      Bacon & Eggs Breakfast Coffee Imperial Porter from Pizza Port Ocean Beach – sadly they were out :(
• ·      Hopitoulas IPA from NOLA Breweing – obviously for Ken and he loved it!
• ·      Anything from Three Floyds in Munster – I tried the Munster Fest, a Marzen style beer, and was not over the moon about it. I found it average but apparently I don’t know what I am talking about because it won a medal in its category! Perhaps I just got a pour from a bad bottle….

Other breweries that I tried beers from included Hopworks Urban Brewery (Portland, OR), Pizza Port Ocean City (cracked me up their IPA is called “While the Wife’s Away), Shorts Brewing (Joyous Almond – a brown ale with lovely hints of almond, chocolate and coconut. It was a smooth well balanced beer that wasn’t too terribly sweet.), Snake River (again!), 512 (Austin) and FatHeads. I tried MANY MANY more than this but just didn’t take as many pictures this day so I don’t have documentation.

I also got into a very in-depth conversation with the guys from Goose Island. Being away from the area I did not realize that Goose Island had sold out to InBev until Kevin & Stacey told me. This infuriated me! How could a hometown brew sell out to the big evil conglomerate?!?! I was bound and determine to find out. So when Ken had to go to the bathroom (GABF is one of the only places I’ve been where the men’s line is soooooooo much longer than the women’s for the restrooms.) I headed to Goose Island to see what they had to say for themselves. I approached and there were 2 actual Goose Island guys there. (The reason I say this as if it’s noteworthy is frequently breweries have volunteers from the Denver area pouring beers.) I tried to be as nice as possible but flat out asked along the lines of “I no longer live in the area and sadly just found out that you sold out to InBev. What gives?!) The first guys was very confrontational and pissy. The second guy stepped in and was much more reasonable to talk to. Come to find out this guy is the head brewer. I won’t bore everyone with all the details (because many of you don’t give a rats rear about the evils of InBev and such) but if you want the full play-by-play let me know and I will be happy to share it with you. Bottom line is the guy admitted he was not happy about it. But he also said now he has more liberty (read money and ability to not be as efficient) to ply around and do “odd” and/or trendy things such as sours.  Oh heck… I’m going to write an entire blog entry on this Goose Island issue just as soon as I finish my trip reports because I am so bothered by the whole InBev – Goose Island thing! So hold on for that one and I’ll give you this whole story in its entirety plus some additional background on the issue.

On a happier note I got to meet Zane Lamprey and he is exactly like he is on his show J I do have to say I prefer “Three Sheets” to “Drinking Made Easy” though…

After GABF we decided that was all we had in us for the night so off to the hotel we went…. We had another day of brewery hopping ahead of us….

~~~~~~~~~~~BEER COUNT: 76 +/- 60!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Hop - Day 2

We awoke in Fort Collins and just loved the weather so much that we simply had to go for a run! I know crazy right after a night of brewery hopping! Plus we had to make more room in our tummies for more beer!

After the run we headed out and about to purchase advance lift tickets for our Thanksgiving trip to Winter Park. If you are in Colorado before ski season Christy Sports has a great deal for 4 days of lift tickets (any 4 days not consecutive or 4 of 5) for $159. Catch is you have to be there to have your photo taken to have put on the pass. And I should say the prices I just quoted are for Winter Park – they have deals for other slopes in Colorado too!

SNARF’S

We debated and debated about what we wanted for lunch. Finally we decided on this sandwich shop based on the recommendation of someone at Christy Sports. To us it is a traditional type of sandwich shop you'd find in the North. Excellent food - no frills but extremely tasty!

ODELL BREWING COMPANY

First stop of the day for beer – Odell Brewing Company. This was the most recommended brewery in Fort Collins so naturally we had to stop by there. We lucked out and they were running extra tours for the day since it was GABF time. We snuck into a non-publicized tour as the last 2 attendees. Woo hoo! The tour itself is much less “formal” shall we say than the New Belgium one. But you literally walk right on the floor there and production is going on so it’s loud and you couldn’t hear the gal talking.  But we did get to see their brewing area, bottling line, cellar, kegging line and their centrifuge, which is a new technique. 

We also got to sample their Isolation Ale (their Winter seasonal) that hadn’t actually been released for the year yet. As I mentioned before I love winter ales so this was right up my alley! Perhaps what was most impressive was when we got out of the tour we were chatting with the gal there about which sampler we should purchase since there were 3 options. There were so many beers to choose from! No kidding between 15-20. She gave us free tasters of 2 of her favorites and then recommended we try the pilot and the classic samplers. (She was so sweet the 2 beers she gave us weren’t on the samplers. Apparently she could tell I like to try it all!!!) The samplers were quite impressive and included

·      CLASSIC:  Easy Street (Wheat Beer), Levity (Amber Ale), 5 Barrel Pale Ale, 90 Schilling (considered their Flagship – I HIGHLY recommend!),  IPA (I was not a fan but then again I don’t like IPAs. Since Ken loves IPA he’s the one to ask about that one and I am pretty sure he was a fan.) & Cutthroat Porter

·      PILOT:  Bird Seed Blonde, OomPah Oktoberfest, Nitro 5 Barrel, Town Pump Pail Ail, Fir Na Tine, Nitro Cutthroat Porter

Honestly all of the beers were very good and I would recommend trying any and all of them! You’ll notice I’ve quit describing the beers in depth and I apologize for that. Given the number of beers I tasted this weekend it’s hard for me to articulate on most of them anymore. I can tell you what I like and what I don’t like however!! I promise to try and do better in the future!

The brewery/tap house at Odell was quite nice to just lounge about as well. Lots of tables inside as well as quite a few outside. They have some small snacks (popcorn, crackers, chocolate etc.) and you can borrow their games to play as long as you are willing to give them your credit card as collateral. Given their amazing selection of beer and the “funness” of the place I could absolutely see us hanging out there on a regular basis if we lived nearby! Worth noting – here you could buy full pints in addition to the tasters. I forgot to mention about New Belgium that you can’t buy pints there – actually you can’t buy any beer to consume it’s only the tour beers that you can get.

~~~~~~~~~~~BEER COUNT: 26~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I decided at this point I wanted to start counting how many different beers I tried. Worth noting what is considered in this number is any beer that I tried in a sampler, pint or even just tasted off of Ken’s pint.

It as time to get on the road to head to Denver but since we lucked into an early tour at Odell we had a little bit of time to spare so…. Where to next was the thought on our minds?

LEFT HAND BREWING

Longmont, Colorado just so happened to pretty much be on the way to Denver and I am a fan of Left Hand so we decided to stop there on route. The brewery and Taproom is about 8 miles off the main highway. We arrived and noticed that the parking lot was pretty full. Walking in sadly it became clear that the staff there was not prepared for the onslaught of people that were there compliments of GABF being “in the general neighborhood.” (To be fair – all breweries in Colorado were probably slammed because since people come from all over the world for GABF any brewery within 2 hours of Denver was “in the general neighborhood.”) There were only 2 people working the taproom and they were beyond struggling to keep up. After about 10 minutes I managed to wrangle one of them to pour us a sampler. The taproom was nowhere near as big as Odell – about 4 tables inside, plus a bunch of seats at the bar (all full at this point) and a few tables outside. (Though it seemed like there was another room full of tables off to the back that wasn’t in use – why it wasn’t is beyond me.) We chose to site outside and enjoy our choices.  Samplers were quite reasonable - $1 per taster which was good size. Unfortunately the Double IPA that Ken wanted to try was out so instead we got:

·      Milk Stout on Nitro – cream stout with roasted malt served on Nitrogen; DELICIOUS! This drink is like a meal in a glass or could be a great substitute for breakfast! They use actual cream in there to give the beer it’s depth

·      Good Juju – Light Ale brewed with Ginger; Very interesting and light but I couldn’t drink too much of it because I am not a huge ginger fan (that said of course we emptied all our glasses here!)

·      400 Pound Monkey – IPA; As usual Ken was a fan I was not

·      Wake Up Dead – Russian Imperial Stout; Very big beer, very complex, enjoyed a bit of it but couldn’t drink a whole pint I don’t think

Since service was so difficult to get we decided that instead of trying to get a few more beers it was time to head to Denver and get checked into our hotel

~~~~~~~~~~~BEER COUNT: 30 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

CROWNE PLAZA HOTEL – DOWNTOWN DENVER

This hotel is perfect for GABF because it’s literally a half a block away from the convention center where GABF is held and it is very close to 16^th where LOADS of restaurants and bars etc. are located. I am a very loyal Intercontinental Hotels Group customer (IHG is Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza, Intercontinental, Staybridge Suites,  Candlewood Suites and Indigo Suites.)  With all the travel we do by being a loyal customer I have found that we frequently get complimentary upgrades and this time was no exception. We got a lovely suite that had a separate sitting room with an extra bathroom. Since there are such a variety of hotels in the chain I highly recommend joining their loyalty club called Priority Club.

GREAT AMERICAN BEER FEST DAY 1!!!

Wow – where to start?

Walking into the Hall I felt like a kid in a candy store.  So many beers so many breweries…. This is Mecca for Beer Lovers.  Ken and I had to enter through a different line than Kevin, Stacey and Scott because they are Homebrew Association Members and we are not but we quickly met up with them.  Kevin, Stacey, Ken and myself decided to dress the part and wore our Oktoberfest garb. (Well to be fair – Stacey and I decided and told the husbands that they were going to!) I have to say that this added to the fun of the evening because we got lots of compliments and even some overpours as a result. You may be wondering what’s the point of the pretzel necklaces… the purpose is two-fold 1) as a palate cleanser and 2) to assist you in hopefully not getting too drunk too fast! You’ll see LOTS of people walking around with them at GABF. Many thanks to Stacey and Kev for this key tip to us newbies!

How GABF works for anyone who hasn’t been… there are breweries from all over the country in booths pouring various selections of their beers. You get a taster cup when you come in the door that has a 1oz pour line marked on it. That is all they are allowed to pour but let me tell you… you can still drink A LOT of beer that way! Throughout the festival you’ll hear large collective groans and ooohhhhhh kind of noises throughout the convention hall. This means some silly person has dropped their cup. They better hope it doesn’t break because they won’t replace it for you if it does :(

Some fun facts about this year’s GABF (according to my t-shirt that I bought there):

3 Days

472 Breweries

2,375 Beers

3,940 Beers in the Competition

2,900 volunteers

32,000 people

30 years – and still going strong

0 Larger Festivals in the Nation

You’ll notice a discrepancy between beers and beers in the competition. Many breweries will bring a special beer to be judged for the competition that they aren’t pouring because they simply don’t have enough of it. Medals – gold, silver and bronze – are awarded in a variety of categories. To win one of these is a HUGE achievement in the beer world.

I can’t even begin to tell you all the beers I tasted. Here’s where my beer count falls apart…. I would say I tasted 75 beers this night with an error factor of +/- 30… I drank a few from Sierra Nevada that I have not seen in the bottle before and they were quite good (Sierra Nevada also had some nice swag – posters, carabineer keychains, beer tasting booklets and pens). Other breweries I made at least 1 taste at include Figure Eight (Out of Valpariso, IN – right down the way from where I grew up. I can assure you I will be checking them out on my next trip back to Northwest Indiana), Lakefront Brewery (Milwaukee),  Metropolitan Brewing (Chicago), Goose Island (Chicago – but more about them in the bit about my second day of GABF),  Laughing Dog Brewing (ask Ken about the Laughing Dog tattoo application),  Napa Smith Brewery (A beer called Lost Dog – Stacey and I tended to gravitate towards beers and breweries that  had dog names when we saw them… I am sure you are all so shocked about that!), Oskar Blues Brewery (they also had some great beer can “necklaces” that held your taster glass quite nicely that they were giving away), Firestone Walker (They had a beer that had Ken’s favorite name! Of course he had to try that one!!!! What was even more hilarious was the gal pouring had no idea what it meant!!),  Uncle Billy’s Brew & Que (Austin), Snake River Brewing (Had their beers when we were in Jackson Hole before as well – I told the guys at the table that they saved my life because that was the trip I learned to snowboard and I was soooooooooo in need of beer when I got off them mountain and their brewpub was right there for me!),  Trinity Brewing Company (Colorado Springs; Our friend Brock – the owner of Saint Arnold – recommended that this was the one place we absolutely had to try. Ken loved “Slap your Mammy” a huge double IPA. On Brock’s recommendation I tried “The Flavor” a very complex and interesting black kriek as well as “Brain of the Turtle” which was a sour with some coffee and cheery notes. This is where I started to come around to the idea of sours.), Boulder Beer, Bull & Bush,  Pub Dog (Westminister, MD), Icicle (Washington State), Il Vicino Brewery (Albuquerque), Flossmoor Station Brewing Company (Illinois)… and definitely more. These are just the ones that I took pictures of the banners etc. And I know I did not take pictures of every banner where I drank beer. Are you getting the picture that there is a bit of beer at GABF? :)

I mentioned our friend Brock – he perhaps had the toughest ;) job… he was not only there representing Saint Arnold, he was also a judge. So he had to start drinking at 9:30am! I have to be honest – I wouldn’t want that job. There are so many great beers that I would have a heck of a time picking what beers were best! We did go by the Saint Arnold area and said Hello to our buddy Lennie. We were quite happy to see that many people were coming by to enjoy their beer. I’ve been telling Ken that when we move to Annapolis every extra inch of space in our cars will be stuffed with Saint Arnold since I have become so fond of it and we won’t be able to get it in Maryland!

Perhaps a highlight of the evening was that I got to meet Sam Calagione the Dogfish Head Founder & President. If you are a beer fan and you have not watched the movie “Beer Wars” you really need to. You will never buy a beer from one of the major crappy beer companies again. Sam is in this and quite the character. Was glad when I met him that he was just as I expected :) And a really nice guy!

At 9:45 after 4 hours and 15 minutes they hollered at us all that it was last call :( While it was a sad moment it was probably just as well! We got our last taster from the Pro-Am area (there’s a competition where a professional brewery partners with an amateur home brewer and enters a beer into a competition. Some of them were fantastic!) and headed out.

We need a bit of food so we trued to go to The Yard House but it was PACKED so we wandered further and ended up at a better non-chain place…

THE PARAMOUNT CAFÉ

Fantastic service, good food and a great beer selection. In fact they had a specialty list that the server was trying to sell 1 of all 4 bottles (because if he did he would get to go on a trip to a local brewery for work) so we helped him out by ordering 1. I had the bison burger which was quite excellent. At this point we all started to crater because we were tired…. So after we finished our chow we headed back to our hotel to get some sleep so we could get up and continue our beer festivities again….

~~~~~~~~~~~BEER COUNT: 53 +/- 30!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Stay tuned for Day 3 of The Hop......

Beer Pilgrimage - Day 1 Recap & Reviews

Ken has decided that we should call this trip “The Hop” since individuals making the Pilgrimage to Mecca call their trip “The Haj.” I am on board with this thought because having a name for what I would like to see become a fairly regular trip adds to the entertainment value!

DAY 1

We arrived in Denver and had decided to go to Fort Collins for an evening to check out that scene. We checked into our hotel room before heading out in search of beer.

HOLIDAY INN EXPRESS – FORT COLLINS

Decent location. Great room rate! Nice rooms. Free breakfast in the morning and cookies at night. The staff was very friendly. For Priority Club members you got to try and toss a few ping pong balls into some cups to win various things (like free water, extra points, a candy bar, room upgrade) which I thought was a really cute idea. Apparently I need to work on my beer pong skills though because I didn’t sink either of my 2 balls so I gave the last 2 to Ken and he didn’t either. Oh well!

We headed out to make a stop at the grocery store to pick up a case of water and some pretzels (more explanation on the pretzels later) and then went straight away towards our first stop. Driving through the city of Fort Collins we were struck by how much there seems to be to do there. It’s somewhat quaint but also very happening at the same time. Off to our first stop…

NEW BELGIUM BREWERY

Since this brewery is so well-known and so popular reservations are a must. (Since it was GABF week I made my reservations about a month prior and boy was I glad I did since it was super busy!) Upon arrival you check-in and get a “token” that you can turn in for a beer at the bar while you wait. We enjoyed our beers while wandering the taproom area and taking a look at the various bicycle part furniture and such.  The tour begins with a history of Fat Tire. (As well as a beer sample!) It’s a great story and I’ll give you an abbreviated version – the founder went on a bicycle tour across Belgium on a bike that had a little bit fatter of a tire than the usual road bike. On this trip he decided he wanted to brew Belgian beers and New Belgium Brewery was born. The first beer that was brewed by New Belgium was the Abbey Ale, the second was Fat Tire and the third was the Wedding Wit (brewed for his wedding of course) but the name was later changed to Sunshine because having a beer called wedding in a college town just didn’t seem like it would work so well!

We got a very in-depth tour of the brewery, which is quite a large facility. The brewery was founded on 3 principles

1.     Good Beer

2.     Sustainability

3.     Whimsy

The idea of sustainability is that they are trying to have as little environmental impact as possible and to give back to the community. New Belgium was “Green” before green became the new trend. They have the largest private solar farm in either the state or the country (sorry can’t remember which), they trap their methane off-gassing to re-use, all of their trim and doors are made from beetle killed pine and a whole bunch of other environmentally friendly stuff. Perhaps the neatest is that on your first year anniversary of employment you get a Fat Tire Bike. And you can tell that many (if not most of the employees do ride their bikes to work.

We got to see the bottling line in work and it’s quite an impressive operation. While at the bottling facility they brought out some bottle of freshly bottled “Snow Day” a winter warmer beer that will be replacing “Two Below” for the next few years.  TASTY! I personally enjoy winter type beers so I don’t mind when they are big and heavy but this beer is not overpowering so I think it is one that everyone could enjoy.

Along the way we also got to pour our own beer from the taps and then the last beer of the day was something that has become the new “thing” in craft beers – sours. New Belgium has been experimenting with this new sour beer trend and we all got to try this. I think it’s telling that they offered us all samples of this considering that they make no money on these sour beers even when they sell them – they basically break even on it. The beer is called La Folie. The beer flavor is just like you would think – sour but there is complexity to it and it hits you in different parts of your mouth. Ken was not a fan and I was on the fence on this. (I later found out that this sour was a bit heavier than some other sours so as the weekend progressed I tasted some of the other sours at various places and they are definitely growing on me!)

To finish out the tour we got the chance to partake in the whimsy part of the brewery foundation. The crew at New Belgium believes that you should always have fun and you can see this throughout the brewery. The last stop on our tour was a twisty slide that we were all invited to slide down. Naturally I was all over that!

While I will give you that New Belgium Beers tend to be good beers but rarely outstanding and different I love that they are consistently good beers. And this brewery tour was perhaps the best actual brewery tour I have ever been on so I highly recommend it!

GRAVITY TEN TWENTY & FORT COLLINS BREWERY

There is certainly no shortage of breweries in Fort Collins but I was in need of some food after our New Belgium tour since I hadn’t had a proper meal all day long and it was already a little past 6pm.  Practically a stone’s throw away was the Fort Collins Brewery and attached restaurant (the restaurant had come highly recommended). We got there a little too late to go into the Fort Collins taproom but luckily the restaurant was more than happy to help me out with a sampler. I can’t remember if I’ve said this before but in case I haven’t… I love beer samplers! I love to be able to try a variety of beers to see what each place has come up with!

I ordered the beer cheese soup that comes with some beer bread and butter. The soup was delicious – very cheesy with hints of ale and the addition of a little bacon on top was a great touch! The bread was phenomenal but not as phenomenal as the stout butter that it came with. This butter was so delicious that it almost tasted liked ice cream!! DELISH! Ken got a Cuban and I had a taste for a burger so that’s what I got. Both were very good. Beer-wise… I would not rank Fort Collins beers near the top of the pack but they were average. I had the Red Banshee (Red Ale), Z Lager (Smoked Lager) – this also happens to be what the beer cheese soup was made with, Chocolate Stout (Dry Stout) and the Doppel Bock.  Bottom line is DEFINITELY go for the food. If you are pressed for time and are trying to figure out which breweries to go to and can’t hit them all don’t put this brewery to the top of your list. (But if you’re eating there anyway then try the beers out!)

THE MAYOR

We had asked around at New Belgium and also asked our server at dinner where we should consider going for our last stop of the night since by the time we were done the brewery tap rooms were obviously closed. The suggestion from everyone was a new bar called The Mayor where they have 100 beers on tap. We went in for just 1 beer and were quite impressed with their selection. They have the taps organized by style and there is a computer projection on the wall above to tell you all the beers available. Didn’t check out any food but I have the feeling we will be back sometime!

So ends day 1…..

The Pilgrimage

Some people make a pilgrimage to where there family originated, some make a pilgrimage for religious reasons, while some others go on a pilgrimage to a site of history that has always fascinated (for example ask my mom about her trip to Dallas for JFK!)… our pilgrimage this weekend is based in something slightly different – BEER! We are headed to the Great American Beer Festival (GABF) in Denver for several days of amazing craft beer.

Most of you know me well enough to know my love of beer but for anyone new to the party let me fill you in. I thought I hated beer when I was in college and a few years after that. What I didn’t know was that I just hated lousy beer. All I had ever been offered to drink was disgusting liquids that shouldn’t even be called beer such as PBR, Busch Light, Natty Lite, Bud, Coors Miller etc. BLECH!!!! Imagine my amazement upon moving to Houston and someone insisting that I try the local brew Saint Arnold’s.  I was literally dumfounded – I actually loved this stuff! The dorky engineer mind that I have had to analyze why would I like this stuff but not the others. Well that analysis didn’t take long to say the least because the answer was obvious. Craft beer - and I’ll stretch that to say good beer in general (this term does not apply to Miller Bud Coors EVER!) - has great taste (no not “Great Taste Less Filling” like the stupid crap beer commercial) and often times fantastic complexity (not that dissimilar to a wine).  Suddenly I couldn’t get my hands on enough different craft beers. I started with the whole line of Saint Arnold’s and discovered with the exception of super hoppy beers (IPAs generally) I like a wide variety of beers. After discovering that I would now be providing Brock (the owner of Saint Arnold’s) with a significant amount of my paycheck every year I started to also branch out into other breweries. I go into Spec’s (our local liquor store) looking for what’s new and different because I just have to try them all once!

When Ken and I started dating he was a Miller Lite drinker. It didn’t take long for me to inform him that that shit would never be allowed in my house under any circumstances. I introduced him to craft beers – specifically Saint Arnold’s to start! – and  to my amazement found that he is a total Hop Head and he just didn’t know it! He loves IPAS – the hoppier the better. What a switch huh?!

When Ken and I would travel my first stop on the Internet once we selected a destination was to find what breweries and brewpubs were in the area.  Google search and MapQuest and lots of printouts of directions! Thanks to my buddy Kevin I no longer have to do that. He told me about this awesome App on the iPhone called Find Craft Beer that will use your GPS to tell you what breweries are nearby…. PRICELESS! I have frequently joked that Ken married me for 2 reasons – beer & baseball. To be honest it’s only half joking ;)

I am a beer snob. I will admit it. If the only beers being offered are inferior ones I won’t drink. The only exception to this rule is that after the Rock N Roll Marathons (Well Half marathons for me) Michelob Ultra is a sponsor so you get 2 free beers at the finish line. To me these are like “Making love in a canoe” so I find it almost palatable to drink those as a rehydration drink then and only then. (By the way if you don’t know what I mean by my canoe statement you might be offended by me explaining it to you!)

So let the Beer Pilgrimage begin… First stop on the tour will be a day in Fort Collins and then it’s down to Denver for the full on GABF festivities. I can’t promise that I will be capable of blogging in the next few days but will give you a full run-down after it’s all done!

PROST! SLAINTE! CHEERS!

Oh what the heck - let's give this a go....

I’ve had several people suggest that because I travel so much I should blog about it… I’ve had people suggest the same thing because of the running in various places that I do… Plus I miss writing (just haven’t really had the time to do it since college)…So I decided to give it a shot…

What can I tell you about my blog? Well I can assure you it will be a random mix of a variety of things… pretty much all over the board (like I am!)… It will certainly feature travel, running, beer, wine, chocolate, food & restaurants, musings about space (as in outer space!) and whatever else is on my mind or I think you might find interesting.

I can also assure you that many times it will be politically incorrect. I do not in any way believe in political correctness so there is no way that this blog will be. I will do my best to start at the beginning of an entry with a disclaimer if it will be a particularly over-the-top entry but bottom line is this point of this is to give you my thoughts generally unfiltered.

I will do my best to write up tidbits of advice for the places I visit as well as reviews for the places I eat, stay, drink etc.

Some days it may be useless information like how darn adorable my dog Guinness is and honestly I am not so sure that’s useless information! I mean, heck a doggie modeling agent might get a hold of this blog and decide to sign him up and then I can live the life of luxury being his well-taken-care-of mom J

I’ll leave you with this thought… how many of you have seen the Hamster Kia Soul commercial? The one where they sing and dance? I LOVE that commercial (and can often be seen doing the dance of the hamsters in the tutus… I think of this blog in that musical fashion (Sing this to the tune of that song on the commercial) “A little bit of this…. A little bit of that…. A little bit of this…. A little bit of that….”

Stay tuned…