A weekend on the Coast and the 6R Brewery

We had a lovely weekend in Brookings. It was a quick trip, but well worth it. The drive is absolutely beautiful and enjoyable (unlike the desolate wasteland that is the 5 freeway through California's Central Valley). My in-laws are in the process of building a home in Brookings, and it will be nice having them closer. We can visit whenever we have the opportunity! (We'll try not to wear out our welcome.)

We took a walk down to Mill Beach Friday and Saturday, the latter being prior to sunset. I saw something I have never seen before.....



Skunks on the beach! There were four of them and we gave them a wide berth! We also saw a fair amount of Black Tail Deer. They graze through the yards around town.

The sunset was lovely...



I think we'll be enjoying this view quite a bit in the future!

Though short, we had a great time. Brookings Harbor had a Kite Festival, but parking was a bear, and we didn't get to see it. But, from afar, it didn't look like there were all that many kites being flown. We had some good chowder, observed that the farmers market was more craft fair than fresh produce, and spent some quality time with two people we love very much.

On the way home, we stopped in McKinleyville so we could check out Six Rivers Brewery. This did not disappoint. We ordered a round of tasters, and this is what we got:



40 ounces of beer for $12. Kevin had me drinking most of it, since he was driving. Boy, did I find my happy place! The food was great, I had the Halibut Sandwich and Kevin had the Fish & Chips. A lot of food! Our two favorite beers were the Raspberry Lambic (awesome) and the Chili Ale (with a bit of a bite). This is my new favorite brew pub. I could drink that Lambic all day! This is definitely a must stop on our trips up North.

Eel River Brewery is not that far away, and we enjoy that pub as well. But, the brews they offer at 6R (as they refer to it) are more varied and unusual, and that's what we like. When Eel River has the Hazelnut Porter restocked, we'll stop there again.

Here is the beer menu -



6R isn't much to look at from the outside, but it has some distinction. That glass block is so retro!



At least the bar and dining area is open and airy. The brewery is back to the right of the bar, and there is a pool room as well. They have live music on the weekends.

Beer Me!

Heading up to Brookings for a weekend with the in-laws. An excellent opportunity to enjoy some refreshing beverage and tasty dishes. We stopped in Fortuna at a little gem we found a couple of years ago, Eel River Brewery.

Eel River is the first certified organic brewery in the US. We really liked their Hazelnut Porter, which we found out was a seasonal beer and not currently on tap. We bought our first growler from Eel River because of said porter. The food was good, as it was last time, and the tasters were tasty, but none quite worth getting a growler to take with us. Maybe next time. Here are some shots of the beer and bar....





I like their motto - Be natural, drink naked! I was tempted to buy a t-shirt. Kevin would wear it.

They sure have a lot of ribbons. I like ribbons.

Rare Happenings

We don't often have company. It seems our friends don't travel much, at least in our general vicinity. (LOL) My BFF visited this weekend!



Sun burnt from driving up here with the top down in his Mustang, Mr. Powers seems suited in this element. He looks a bit devilish in this photo. Chris, Kevin and I spent the day in Gold Country visiting San Andreas, Black Chasm Caverns in Volcano and finishing the day in Angel's Camp and Murphys.

In Murphys, we had dinner at Growler Craft Brewery. They share the space with a pizza place, and the combination was good. We enjoyed a round of tasters and then settled on individual pints. We all picked something different, which is fun. All of the beers were good, but nothing stood out as exceptional. My palate is becoming too refined! Over the last year I have been spoiled by the riches of micro brews we have tried. We ordered a half and half pizza, which was excellent.

Here are some more photo's from our day in Gold Country...



These were throughout Angel's Camp, but this one was in front of Growler's.



My Prince Charming kissing a frog.



Inside Black Chasm Caverns - this part of the cavern is "dead", there is no more water coming into it.



I love these formations!



It's hard to believe this is rock.



This is the entrance to the cavern. The stairs about killed me coming back up. My left knee just hates stairs.



Tranquil scene from the bridge in San Andreas.

It was a wonderful weekend, made more so by the company of a friend.

Weekend Adventures

We went to Boise for the weekend to attend my Sister-in-Law's wedding. As I posted on Facebook, it was a whirlwind 72 hours, 1200 mile road trip with an awesome celebration. I will post a picture of the happy couple later.

As we typically do now, Kevin drives and I knit/supervise the iPod/prepare and administer refreshments. This trip was dominated by one knitted item - my Faceted Rib Sock. I finished the first one several weeks ago and then got busy stitching. I was still on the leg of the second sock when we left home Thursday night. I worked on it on our way to Winnemucca.

Friday morning we headed out and passed through Oregon (posted speed limit 55 miles per hour in the middle of frakkin' nowhere and if you're in Nevada or Idaho, it's 70 or 65 respectively on the same damn freeway. Bastards. 2000 meandering sheep my ass.) We had rain almost the whole way, and I can say that this particular stretch of road is only slightly more interesting than I-40. In other words, other than changes to topography, this is a long stretch of ab-so-lute-ly n-o-t-h-i-n-g.

I knit on my sock.

We got to Boise, and we descended on the court house en masse. There were at least 20 people there to watch Kelli and Adam tie the knot. The judge even noted that this may have been his biggest audience. Afterwards, Kev and I went had some lunch at Goodwood BBQ with his mom and step-dad. Those were some of the best beef ribs I have had since the last time my Dad made them (in other words - forever).

We headed back over to Kelli and Adam's and made origami cranes for the BBQ reception decorations for Saturday. I discovered that paper folding is not my forte, so I strung them on fishing line. Then the ladies settled in and chatted while some of the guys were watching Iron Man. Adam was making cookies. Kevin and Larry went to see if they could find an old friend. I had the opportunity to knit on my sock.

The next day we were kind of lazy and got a late start. We had brunch at the Cracker Barrel. I haven't been to one of those in over 20 years. It was as good as I remember. I picked up small gifts for the girls at the office and 45 minutes later we were back with Sharon and Larry so they could get a bite to eat. Kevin and I had some dessert.

Headed back over to the Kelli and Adam's. We spent a lovely afternoon getting to know family and friends. The food was great! The rain held off for most of the afternoon, thankfully. We didn't stay too late, since we had to be on the road early the next morning. I'm so glad we decided to go. Spending time with family is priceless.

Sunday morning we're on the road by 6:30. The weather isn't too bad. We're in Winnemucca by 10:30 and had a bite to eat. By 3:00 pm, we're passing through Reno. We stop at Boomtown - and I'm done with the sock! Finished the toe while Kevin was pumping gas.

See...........



Not a great shot, but you get the idea. I've never knitted on one project while traveling through 4 states. That was kind of neat.

Anyway - road construction slowed us down and we lost about an hour. When we drove through Thursday night, we didn't see much snow on the ground. Not so by Sunday. The storm that went through dumped quite bit.



Again, not great, but I took it from the car and there's little contrast due to the clouds. But you get the point. It was strange to see all that fresh powder and no one on the slopes. The resorts closed last week or the week before.

We were back in Concord by 6:00 pm and had dinner out before heading home. What a weekend.

Here is a shot of the pair of Faceted Rib Socks by Charlene Schurch and Beth Parrott, from the Little Box of Socks. Yarn by Yarn Pirate in the colorway Patina.



This one certainly fulfills the moniker of traveling sock!

Not knitting related

There are those who visit for knitting, and there are those that don't. This is for the latter.

I've been going through some stuff that I'm trying to work out. Real world-upside-down stuff. So if my posts are a still shallow with content, it's because I'm feeling a little fragile right now. One day at a time, right?

I took this picture at the Exploratorium in San Francisco, the weekend Chris and his daughter were here. I moved the prisms around until I got an effect that I liked. I was happy that the camera picked it up. I like how the colors layer and intersect. I thought it was kind of cool.

What do you think?

Memorable Moments

There are days when I just want to get in the car and go to the beach. Since that is further away than it used to be, and with gas at nearly $4 a gallon, it's an expensive "just 'cause I feel like it" trip. So I have these picture to fall back on.

This is at Pfeiffer State Beach at Big Sur, a couple of hours drive south of Monterey. It's so beautiful. I always mean to spend a few more hours there, but it seems I arrive towards the end of the day, and I'm heading home or spending the night in Monterey. There's a mystique to Big Sur, an other-worldly feeling. The air is so clean, tinged with sea mist.

If you ever make it out to California, go there if you can. You'll understand why we put up with the living in other parts of the state!

30 posts for the month - still going strong on 365!

Here is the last one.



Our favorite and shortest stop - Victoria. We'll make it back there someday.

Two posts shy

Here's another one.



Resting in the Observation Lounge and taking in the view of the Columbia River.

Three posts shy for the month

Notebook gremlins really screwed up my posting while we were gone. I'm three shy for the month. I will post three pictures from my trip to make up for it.

Why we called it the Brews Cruise:



Cheers!

Fort George Brewpub, Astoria.

Really need to get back to that town someday.

Any place else but here

Coquille River Light, Oregon

I wish I were here today. I took this picture on a chilly November afternoon. We decided to drive to Idaho Falls via the Oregon Coast. No, we are not directionally challenged. It remains one of my favorite shots of that trip.

On a day like today, I really wish I could be out on the coast, trying to capture with my camera nature's beauty that we take for granted.

I wish I would just win the lottery already so I wouldn't have to deal with a job. More on that later. No reason to depress everyone.

Time to go knit and avoid thinking about things that really annoy me and stress me out.

Saturday Night Movie

Our first stop on our cruise was Astoria, Oregon. As the ship was getting ready to leave port, and we were on our way to the observation lounge, we heard the what sounded like a band. Low and behold, the brass section of the Astoria High School Band was seeing us off at dockside. The video isn't great, but I thought it would be fun to share. Honestly, how many times can you say that a band saw you off as your ship sailed away. Very nostalgic.



If you weren't able to make out the audio, they were playing Rock Lobster by the B-52's.

Brews Cruise '08 Slide Show

To view the slide show, with descriptions, please go here.



Brews Cruise ’08

By Request

These are the Pubs we visited, in order

Rogue Public House
Tasters included Double Dead Guy Ale and Barleywine Brew, plus two others I failed to write down. One was a red ale. The Kobe Sliders and Kobe Bleu Balls (as in Bleu Cheese) are excellent.

The Wet Dog Cafe
Tasters included Old Red Beard's Amber Ale, Volksweissen Bavaerina Wheat Ale, and Shark's Spit IPA. Beer brats and warm, fresh pretzels are an excellent accompaniment.

Fort George Brewery & Public House
Tasters included Quick Whit, Lovell Lager, Vortex, Cavatica Stout and Mango Wheat. Excellent fresh steak fries.

The Pike Brewery
Tasters included Pike Naughty Nellie, Pike Pale Ale, Pike IPA, Pike Kilt Lifter, Pike XXXXX Stout and Pike Tandem. The chowder was tasty and the Chicken Nachos were a great addition to the experience.

Granville Island Brewery
Tasters included Island Lager, Kitsilano Maple Cream Ale, Robson Street Hefeweizen and Gastown Amber Ale.

Steamworks Brewery
Tasters included Lions Gate Lager, Empress IPA, Signature Pale Ale, Heroica Oatmeal Stout, Nirvana Nut Brown Ale, a seasonal Pilsner, a seasonal Hefeweizen and a seasonal Belgian. The crab and cream cheese stuffed mushrooms were excellent. The beer soup is a must try.

The Swan Inn & Pub
Tasters included Pandora Pale Ale, Old Town Bavarian Lager, Buckerfield Bitter, Arctic Ale, Raspberry Ale, Appleton Brown Ale and Riley's Scotch Ale.

Canoe Brewing Company
Tasters included Siren's Song, Red Canoe Lager, Beaver Brown Ale, River Rock Bitter and Winter Gale Strong Ale (seasonal selection).

In total, we tried 42 beers in 4 days. However, when you consider that an average taster glass in 3 ounces, and the total is split between two people, that's about an average beer bottle per day. See, we're not lushes after all. And we only drank beer before noon once!

The Saga Continues - A Day At Sea

Our dinner companions - James and Emily to the left, Heather and Jacob to the right.

And yes I'm still playing catch-up.

Friday was spent at leisure. One thing that we enjoyed during the cruise was a set of lectures by Brent Nixon. He presented four lectures that were very entertaining and - dare I say it - educational. We went to all the lectures, and learned more about Orca's, Humpbacks, Otters and Dolphins than we could have imagined. I had the opportunity to speak with Brent and his wife during afternoon tea on Friday. Mary Amanda, his wife, was working on a piece of needlepoint and I was just too curious to stay away. I shared my crafting history with her and also let Brent know how much we enjoyed his presentations. I hope that we will run across them again in the future. A lovely couple.

Since we didn't have to be anywhere, I slept in. Dragged my lazy ass into the shower at 11 am. I wasn't going to start another morning as a ball of stress, so no battling with the laptop until after lunch and Brent's last lecture. While we sat in the Cafe that afternoon, Kevin reading one of the books we brought, I spent a little over 2 hours on the laptop, mentally preparing myself for what I had to come back too. I scratched the surface of what I needed to review, but at least I had a game plan for Monday.

So, what else on the cruise....the floor show wasn't great. The singers were good, the dancers were not well matched. There was one tall girl who was taller than the partner. It made for interesting lifts and combinations. It was awkward to look at. We went to the first show and didn't return for a repeat. But this is targeted to an older crowd, which I am sure thought was it nicely done. We also had two comedians, one appealed to the over 50 set and other didn't as much. Guess which one we liked? We went to all three comedy nights.

Celebrity jokes that Bingo is the official sport of cruising. I don't agree - it's eating. I had to laugh when I got home because I gained nothing! Nothing!! During the week I sit on my ass all day. The only exercise I get is what I'm doing now - typing. I walked so much last week that the calories didn't stand a chance. I also didn't eat a lot of empty carbs and sugar, which I'm sure also helped. I tried to make sure that I ate complex carbs, good proteins and as many veggie's as I could. Kevin wasn't as fortunate, and he worked out every day.

We had some charming dinner companions - James and Emily for Idaho and Heather and Jacob the Bay Area. Heather works in San Francisco too. This was the first time that we have been the "oldest" couple. Ouch. Emily graduated from the same high school as Kevin - and she was born when he was in college! Double ouch. Same world. Heather and Jacob were great to sit and chat with, and we shared an after dinner cocktail with them one evening. It was the only liquor we bought on the ship. They may sell duty free to take home, but I know of few bars on the mainland that charge those prices! We exchanged email addresses with the promise to get together for dinner in the near future.

And speaking of dinner, oh they were good. Filet Mignon, Prime Rib, Braised Beef, Lamb Shank, and Veal Cutlets perfectly cooked, perfectly paired and happily consumed. The portions were perfect. Kevin had fish five of the seven evenings, with roast turkey and roast chicken for the other two. They served chilled soups, escargot and frog legs. In addition to the sweet treats for desert, they had sugar free offerings and what I have come to love - cheese and fruit plate. I did deviate twice and enjoyed Baked Alaska and Poached Pears. Overall, I think I did well for working with my Diabetes and keeping my blood sugar near normal. I did well with the beer, which was a pleasant surprise. The night we had after dinner cocktails, I had a pretty good spike with the Scotch. Good to know.

It's getting late and I have to get up early. I still have catching up to do. Maybe I can squeeze in a couple of posts tomorrow.

By the way - we took over 700 pictures.

Oh

My

God.

A Day In Victoria

I might as well finish what I started....

This was our shortest time in port. We arrived at 7 am and left at 2 pm. Kevin and I both wished we had more time here. It is a beautiful city and we barely scratched the surface of what there was to experience. We passed a Worldmark resort (our timeshare company) on the way back to the ship. At least we have an inexpensive place to stay when we come back.

We started off at the information center to decide what we needed to do first and plan our strategy for maximum benefit of time. We determined we could squeeze in two breweries while we were here. There are about 7 or so to choose from. Because it was still so early, and we aren't lushes, we did the sight seeing thing first.



Did I mention this was the first day we had that started out sunny? Makes for lovely washed out photos. Anyhoo....we strolled around the Empress and then went in to check it out. Very cool place. It's celebrating it's 100 anniversary this year. I picked up a tea mug with the hotel's signature pattern, a tin of their signature tea and a couple of other souvenirs.

Next we headed across the street to the RC Museum. We didn't go in, because there simply wasn't time to do it justice. This was on the outside, however....



I love Native American crafted works. The Canadians call them First Nations. I think I like that title better. This is a place I have to come back to and spend some time. There was a house totem inside the museum that was representative of Raven- the beak was 30 feet long! It was over 100 years old and absolutely amazing.

We next stopped at the Legislature



and actually sat in on a live session for a bit. They were speaking of ethanol and the pro's and con's of production and how it impacted food supply. It was very interesting. I wish I had the opportunity to sit in on a session of Congress when I was in DC all those years ago. Next time.

It was 11 am by this point and we had to get back on the bus at 1 pm to get back to the ship in time. We ran off to find the beer. Our first stop was Swan's Inn and Pub.



We split 7 tasters here. Why do I have a pen in my hand? Because I am taking notes of what we are having - so we'll remember. Finished these off and then headed to Canoe's Brewing Company.



For ambiance, this place was great. We sat at the bar, had 5 more tasters and some peanuts. Of the two, we liked this one better overall and the beer was more to our liking here.

Last stop was Beehive Wool Shop. Now, you wouldn't think that my only yarn purchase would be in Seattle, would you?



This is half of the shop - that I spent maybe 15 minutes in. We had 20 minutes to get to the bus, and we were 14 or so blocks away. I don't walk fast and my feet hurt from days of walking. At least I can say I bought Fleece Artist in Canada. Yes, pictures will be up soon. I didn't take pictures of the swag yet.

We sailed away from Victoria shortly after 2pm. Kevin and I had a nice lunch on board the ship, since we really hadn't had the time to eat in town.

Next post I will cover what we did on the ship and a bit about the evening dining mates and the staff.

A Day In Vancouver

Technically, I’m writing this the next day. When I tried to boot up the laptop yesterday – immediate BSOD. Got it through recovery and didn’t have time to deal with it any further. Long-suffering husband has been very patient this week, but even he has his limits. I’ve been on the laptop when he’s working out and then getting ready for the day, or when he’s been in the gym in the afternoon. This trip was meant to spend some quality time together after all, and I don’t want to remind him of the 3+ hours he’s home before I get there Monday-Friday. Even trying to get this done today has been a b*&!h. Outlook is failing to send. As one kind person commented on this blog, it isn't Vista, it's Witless.

We had another long day in Port yesterday. We had arranged seats on the Hop-on, Hop-off Trolley that loops around Vancouver’s major points of interest. There is more we would have liked to have seen, but I can’t take as much as I used to. I was pretty exhausted coming into this, and with trying to keep up with what we had pre-arranged, getting some work done outside of the computer issues and 8:30 dinner seating (meaning we’re not in bed before midnight – can’t go to sleep on a full stomach), I’m getting a little less sleep than I was at home. We’re at sea tomorrow, so I will be sleeping in. I have managed to sneak in two naps since we set sail, but that’s not quite enough. But, I digress.

There were some pretty cool things to see around downtown. They’re getting ready for the 2010 Winter Olympics. The tour guide was less than thrilled with the construction – and costs. Stanley Park was quite lovely, but we wanted to spend some time on Granville Island, in Chinatown and then Gastown. Maybe next time.

Our stop on Granville Island allowed me to find some Olympic pins for my on-going Winter Olympic pin collection. I purchased a couple in Salt Lake, but other than that, the bulk of my acquisitions have been via eBay. I love eBay – but not so much now. I’ve gotten better – more discriminating – have less time for such things (No. 1 reason). We walked around and saw some interesting things. It used to be called Industrial Island, the City’s source of building materials and such. There are still some industrial businesses, such as a cement company and a foundry, but it’s now the home of the city’s farmer’s market, similar to Pike’s in Seattle, and Emily Carr Art Institute. There are also breweries. By now, you had to know this was coming.

Granville Island Brewing Company is located in the heart of the district. Unfortunately, there wasn’t room on the tour for us, but we enjoyed some tasters and ran into a brother and sister that were on our Ale Trail excursion the other day. After have our refreshments, we got back on the bus and headed over to Chinatown.

Vancouver’s Chinatown is very different from San Francisco’s, though I think it is bigger in actually land mass. The streets are wider, the businesses have larger spaces and there simply aren’t as many people. There were a number of markets that sold herbs, vegetables and traditional Chinese ingredients. From this aspect, it was really different. It reminded me a little of Oakland’s Chinatown, as far as the fresh food are concerned. We stopped at the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Chinese Garden and enjoyed the peaceful surroundings.

Hopping back on the Trolley, we headed over to Gastown and Steamworks Brewery. Very cool place. We’re used to asking for a flight of taster’s and typically this means 4-6 small glasses of beer. The glasses are usually between 2 to 3 ounces. Steamworks gave us 8 glasses and they were probably 3 oz. each. Holy intoxication, Batman. We decided to have some appetizers here, since we hadn’t had any food since early in the morning, so we ordered Tandoori Chicken Skewers, Mushrooms stuffed with cream cheese and snow crab, and Beer Soup. All of it was wonderful! We need to start checking out microbrews around the SF Bay Area and see if we can find a place as cool as this one. In the basement, they had pool tables and the bar had to at least 30 ft. long. Beautiful dark woods and a view of the Harbor. Excellent.

We were just a couple of blocks away from the Cruise Terminal at that point, so we headed back. Once we got on board, Kevin headed off to the gym and I slept for a while. I was done.

We had a comedian for the evenings’ entertainment, and we had to see him before dinner. He was on Home Improvement as an occasional character. His name was Jim Labriola and he was pretty funny. Off to dinner and then off to bed, because we arrive in Victoria at 7am and we leave again at 2pm – not a whole lotta time.

I’ll check in with today’s entry later. I have to get ready for our last formal night of the cruise. I hadn't planned on spending two hours downloading email and re-entering a blog entry.

TTFN.

A Day In Seattle

We are back onboard the ship. It’s cold and rainy. The morning started with some sun, but, it didn’t last.

As my last post revealed, I have had some issues with my laptop. When I start it up now, I fear it just not doing anything. After the lovely Windows icon and associated tune have loaded, the screen is black with a cursor. It stays that way for about 5 minutes. I fear the BSOD. So far, only twice today. Whoopee. My other choice is to log on to the internets in the iCafe, which is not time efficient – or economical. I prepaid for an access package that would give me 240 minutes. I subsequently won an additional 60 minutes. However, that means I’m getting Internet access for $0.38 per minute! If I go over, it’s $0.65 per minute! God, they give it to you for stuff like this onboard. They claim you can use your cell phones at see, but the satellite has been down. This also means no CNN or any type of live news feed. I feel like I’m on a deserted island. Add to that the gremlins also showing their snarky selves in my cell phone (charged it - turned it on - low battery) and SLR (light sensor is whacked, need to reset the defaults and start all over), it's been a perfectly stressed out mess. Tears were eminent as least half a dozen times today. I can be such a girl sometimes. I so hate that.

I am trying to use my Outlook program to take care of emails – and posts – because I can work offline. This will obviously save on connected time. It worked ok this morning. It had a few hiccups, but overall it did ok.

So, for our day in Seattle. Our first stop was So Much Yarn at the corner of First and Bell. Pretty little store. Nothing local, or stuff I haven’t seen. The clerk showed me a few new things in the store that she thought I may not have encountered, but dear husband commented when we left that her claim was more than likely way off the mark. It was. How well he knows me. I have to admit I was good – one skein of sock yarn and the latest issue of Vogue Knitting. The sock yarn will remind me of Seattle.

We then headed for Pioneer square, and the Underground Tour. Very cool. I would highly recommend it to anyone coming to town. Don’t have much time to go into detail, besides you can always Google it. Found a few cool souvenirs and then decided to head back to the ship.

I had to do the goofy thing – I bought a Carmel Macchiato at Starbucks. I also got some money at the ATM at WAMU. I bought a book about Seattle. I smooshed a souvenir penny. Ok – all tourist type things done.

On the way back, we stopped at The Pike Brewing Company for a snack and some tasters. It’s official, this has become the brew cruise, I picked up a book called the Pacific Northwest Passport to Beer. At least that way will we know where to drink in Vancouver and Victoria. This was discussed over tasters today – Pike’s Double Ale was the winner (malty with a tobacco and molasses finish). We must try beer in BC, eh.

After walking through Pike Place we got back on the ship. Kevin is up at the gym doing God knows what and working up a sweat. I am working away at the computer, occasionally asking it to be nice and not screw with me again. At lease the keyboard hasn’t stopped working – that happened this morning too.

I regret that my knitting has suffered. I remember all the time we had on the Alaskan Cruise, so I packed a bunch of stuff (socks, Mystic Light Shawl, etc.) and I haven’t even turned the heel on the sock I started on Saturday. I’m out of Sock Madness, that’s for sure.

Keep your fingers crossed that the gremlins find a new home. The Ale Trail continues tomorrow!

A Day In Astoria

We spent Monday in Astoria – it was cold and rainy when we started and it was cold and sunny when we left.

 

I’ll have to elaborate later, because yesterday and this morning my Compaq Presario V6000 Vista Enhanced piece of electronic crap crashed on me again, and again and again. Just what I wanted to do on my vacation – deal with the blue screen of death and recovery. Argh. I had planned on spending a couple of hours working, just to make sure certain things were handled, but that didn’t happen as I had planned on Monday. We’ll see if today is any better.

 

We did the Astoria Ale Trail, which meant we had beer! Our stops included Roque Ale, which is best known for Dead Guy’s Ale. We had three tasters and a free pint there, along with Kobe beef Sliders and Kobe Blue Cheese Balls. Mmm, mmm, good. Kevin had the artichoke dip, which he said was good.

 

Next stop was the Wet Dog Café, where we met the brew master, got free swag, and enjoyed 3 tasters and beer brats and warm pretzels. We liked this place a lot!

 

Last stop was Fort George Ale House, where we had 4 tasters and we liked these tasters a little bit better than Rogue. Not the Rogue is bad, they’re just more hoppy, and we like a higher malt ratio. The higher hop ratio causes some more bitterness, which is what we don’t like.

 

Well, I’m going to try to send emails again, which is what started this whole mess yesterday. I’ve been working on the laptop for about an hour getting the settings back to something Vista will work with. I do so hate the BSOD.

 

If this morning ends like yesterday, then we may have to find ourselves another Ale Trail.

 

Cheers!

 

 

Day 1 - At Sea

Greetings dear blog readers!

Yesterday, we sailed out of San Francisco on a 7-day cruise to the ports of Astoria, Seattle, Vancouver and Victoria British Columbia. The first full day on the ship is being spent at sea. We arrive in Astoria early Monday morning, where we have the morning to ourselves before joining a Microbrew tour of the town. Yes, we’re going pub hopping!

I thought I would give a quick update as we are enjoying afternoon snacks. Kevin is enjoying a sampling of European pastries while I had some finger sandwiches, including the all-time standard cucumber and watercress.

Tonight is formal night and we’re ready for it. Though not crazy about the stodgy formality on this type of cruise, we’ll play along. Of course, since our first cruise was with NCL, and their amazing freestyle cruising program spoiled us terribly, we are trying our best to follow the rules.

Our dinner companions are a couple from Redwood City (south of San Francisco) and one from Boise, ID. The wife of the Boise couple is originally from Pocatello, and had the choir teacher as Kevin. However, we had our “senior moment” in that she was born after Kevin had graduated from high school. Ouch. They spoke briefly of “choir tour” and that brought back some memories.

I leave you with a picture from our departure yesterday. Other than the ship, and endless ocean with grey cloudy skies, there isn’t all that much to share. Tomorrow will be different, however.

Memorable Moments

Some things just strike your funny bone, and this one did. Nacho Mamma, Garberville, CA.