Dec 26, 2016

We got up before the sun and quickly headed out of the hotel to find a spot along the water for sunrise. When the first place was unaccessible I headed a short distance away and found a great spot with a view of an offshore lighthouse that was just in front of the glowing sky. The sun rose perfectly behind the lighthouse and I got some great shots. It was incredibly cold out there and I couldn't feel my fingers for a good while after shooting. But it was worth it.

As the feeling slowly returned to my hands we drove into Maine and headed to Woodland Valley DGC. We went into the office and paid to play, where several other groups had already started out. Disc golf is amazingly popular on the day after Christmas at a snowy course in Maine. The course itself was pretty nice, with the snow packed down it didn't feel too different than regular play. I did, however, lose a disc after shooting a second shot and somehow it disappeared in the snow. After a long search we accepted defeat and moved on.

We had to cut the course just a little early to make the 40 minute drive to Portland in time for our Allagash tour. When we arrived we got our badges that all had punny phrases using the word "tour." Mine was TOURture. They gave us our first sample of House Beer and we milled around for a short time until the tour began. Disclaimer: The rest of this post will be very beer heavy, so if you're under 21, please look away.

Our tour guide was hilarious and good at describing the processes of brewing without being overly verbose. It was a big crowd and he handled it well. It was fun little tour starting in the brewhouse with a sample of Allagash White, moving on through the old facility, and ending in the barrel room where they age everything. This is also where we got our last three samples of the day and got to wander around. We took some photos for people, people took some photos of us, and we just had a good time. All the beers were good, with the Little Brett and Sixteen Counties being my favorites.

Maine is nice enough to have great breweries right across the street from each other so we walked over to Foundation where we did some flights of really good beer. Everything was great. The Zuurzing sour was the standout. The Ember IPA was incredible as well. Overall just a great little brewery with a nice vibe.

Around the corner was Austin Street so we walked over there and sampled the three beers they had on. Both pale ales were very good and the stout was also tasty. This is a pretty great place to spend a whole day drinking.

We were heading for the coffee shop and I forgot that rising tide is directly across the street so we stopped there on the way. We got one flight that was decent and then moved on. It wasn't as good as I remember and it was a little crowded.

We walked over to the Portland Coffee Roasters and I got a delicious cold brew and saw this coffee bean on the trash sign. Things I did.

We headed up the street to the HoneyMaker Meadery and when we walked in everyone turned around like we were in a movie and the bartender asked us if we were in the right place. It was an awkward start. There may as well have been a record scratch as the music went off. Anyway, misunderstanding diffused, we did our tasting. The lavender mead was quite good, but the lavender mead lemonade was even better. He saved the best for last as there was a Chai mead that Becca and I both immediately agreed we need to get a couple bottles of. The bartender told us about a barrel aged sour at Oxbow right behind their bar so we went back there and did a quick sampling of two beers. Not bad.

We got to Pleasant Hills DGC maybe 45 minutes before sunset and it was already cloudy so it made it even more dark. We played 8 holes on the icy snow before it was too dark to find our way, but this is a course I'd definitely like to come back to sometime. It was mostly open, yet they made most of the holes pretty interesting in some way. 

After stopping at a brewery called Earth Eagle and finding the beer list and the atmosphere to be not at all appealing, we headed to Stoneface Brewing for another quick flight. There it is. The beer was pretty good, but I'm starting to think the amount of things we tried over the day possibly skewed my reactions.

We got to our hotel outside of Boston and got an Uber to Night Shift Brewing. The guy drove us in silence the whole way and I used my "first ride" credit to pay for it. Nice. The place was packed because they were doing Geeks Who Drink trivia night. We jumped right into the game and eventually went up to get some flights.

It was a very strange night, and Becca went and made the executive decision to take chair that people were using just for the jackets and purses so we could also sit down. Pretty awesome. The game was hectic and hard to hear the host over the crappy speakers or microphone. It was a bit stressful, and we only got to taste our beers once in a while during a break. The beer was good though.

After the game we breathed a heavy sigh of relief, finished our last beers, and then got an Uber back to the hotel.

Aug 31, 2013

We began the day in Portsmouth, walking around, checking out the stores. It was a nice, quaint little town. It felt very New Hampshire, if that makes sense. We headed over to Smuttynose Brewing Co. in time for the first tour to begin. We didn't know you could make reservations, but we were able to get in anyway. Before the tour started they let us try a few beers. We had a great tour guide who was really funny. When referring to their hopping process he said, "Dry hopping: It's not as dirty as it sounds." It was a great first brewery tour for Joanna. One of the guys working there went to her high school too, so that was funny.

We got the full treatment, and saw some great little gems along the way including a sign saying, "Thing we need: New can opener. No lazy can openers or can't openers." The whole thing was just a fun tour. They had a lot of stuff aging in wine and bourbon barrels. Apparently they do a lot of barrel aging so I want to look into getting some of that or coming back. After a few more samples at the end, we headed out.

We went back to downtown Portsmouth to try out Portsmouth Brewery, Smuttynose's sister company. I like their logo. I also got a free beer ticket from Smuttynose so I had to use that. I tried the Bottle Rocket IPA and Murphy's Law Red. They were both pretty good. I felt like I got more beer than I really wanted/needed though. I had to work to finish them.

I thought of this while we were in the bar. I thought it was funny. You should too.

We headed up to Portland, Maine which is really close to Porstmouth, and went to Shipyard Brewing. Their tour is pretty basic: You watch a video, take a look over the railing at the brewing operation, and then come back to drink beer. They have fantastic beer. There really isn't anything they have that I don't like. I did learn that they contract brew for Sea Dog and a few other places. The Export and Chamberlain Pale Ale are probably my favorites they make. Their fruit beers are really good as well. They had a whiskey aged beer that was just way too boozy for me. Sometimes it goes too far. That was about it for our night. We headed back to NH to find a place to park and sleep for the night.

Aug 31, 2011

When we got up we went to the nearby trailhead for Acadia Mountain. The trail was a gradual slope most of the time and changed from rocky to wooded and back again.

The top was smooth, rounded rock with a great view of the bay leading out to the ocean. This was my favorite view last time I came and I think it still may be. The islands popping up out of the water makes a great scene. The weather was great as well.

We hiked down a bit and then the trail began to ascend again over wet soil with raised roots and old trees. We wrapped around the other side of the mountain and had a few more views of the bay from a lower overlook.

After making it to the top of St. Saveur Mountain we made our way back down over rain-soaked ground where there were a lot of muddy areas to traverse and avoid. It was a good morning hike before we left.

On our way out we stopped at a little shop that had jams and honeys and plenty of funny stickers. We tried some pumpkin spread and I got a thing of comb honey since I've always wanted it. It tastes waxy.

We drove west, stopping at a state park to look for a hike. We found a few that were part of the Appalachian Trail, but neither of us were really feeling like doing another strenuous hike so we decided against them and stopped at a little pie stand to get a wild blueberry pie and some Maple moon pie things that were delicious.

We spent too much time driving around the White Mountains trying to find a campsite. One was blocked off on a dirt road that we drove a long way down before finding out and then we had to come back down it and through town to find the other one. We had some delicious rice/vegan chicken stuff for dinner though and that made everything better.

Once we had the tent set up we got to bed with the nice sound of rushing water nearby.

Aug 30, 2011

Once we got up and dealt with the host of the campground we stayed at we drove the rest of the way into Acadia National Park and started with the Beehive Trail. This is the other iron rung trail similar to the Precipice but not nearly as long it seems.

The trail was pretty good, with a nice view the whole way up the side. It was a lot shorter on the way up than I thought. It was steep, just less obstacles than I hoped for.

The descent trail was wooded and rocky at times; a pretty simple and easy route. The shade was nice and it was good to go downhill for a while.

We went out to the rocks along the ocean when we got back. We started walking along them and climbing around, following the shore.

We had to climb at some parts and try to avoid the waves as they crashed into the rocks. This is me not doing that. My shoes got soaked here, but it was a lot of fun doing it so I was fine with it.

We found a ball on the shore and a stick so we stopped to play baseball for a little while. After we each hit a few balls, and after I knocked it up into the trees, we moved along.

We ended our trek at Thunder Hole, where water pours in to a crevice in the rocks and sprays out water in large, thunderous bursts. I stood on the rocks for a while and got showered with the big blast of water a few times. The photo doesn't do it justice. Look it up.

We went into Bar Harbor for a short time, stopping at the Bar Harbor Brewing Co. to sample a little beer and some wine and then headed to the low-tide access to Bar Island. You can only get across this a few hours a day. We walked the bar to the other side on the rocky path and basically just turned around and headed back. It was just to say we did it.

We had rested a bit and were ready for another hike so we went to Long Pond to do the Perpendicular Trail. The name is misleading. It's more of a vertical hike. Lots of steps. It was rocky and a really beautiful forested area, just steep.

On top, we could see far out beyond the pond as the sun was setting behind Mansell Mountain, casting its shadow and a chill over the trail. We got moving again to warm up and get back down before sunset. The trail back was wooded and we spent a lot of time on the ridge of the mountain before descending down the other side and wrapping back to the parking area.

We went back to the car and had something to eat before heading to town for real food at the cafe. We got a pizza with delicious veggies on it; best of all, it had artichoke hearts. It was great.

We got down to the lighthouse while there was just a little bit of light left in the sky. It looked really nice, but the mosquitoes were ridiculous so we only stayed for a few minutes before we took off running up the stairs, finding bug bites all over our legs when we got back.

We went to the campground and set up the tent after sitting and listening to Stuff You Should Know for a while. It was another early night to bed.

Aug 29, 2011

I spent the morning packing things up and then bypassing the panicking Millvillians who were worried about the dam overflowing as I helped Jeff and Ali pack up stuff from his house and Sam's onto the truck and into my car. We took it up to his new place in Collingswood and made a few trips to get it all in the house. It's a really nice, big place! This is what the owner of a new apartment looks like.

After finishing up we went over to the Pop Shop, which Jeff is lucky enough to be two blocks from, for lunch. The grilled cheese I got was huge and delicious as always. My soda was not as good, and it was pointed out that I just made a Shirley Temple when I chose Sprite with cherry syrup. Oops.

I left from there to Joanna's, packed up her car and then got on the road north toward Maine. It wasn't the plan to leave so late, but that's what happened.

We were lucky enough not to hit much traffic, but it was still quite a long drive. Less than an hour from Bar Harbor we were too tired to keep going so we grabbed a campsite, put up the tent, and went to pass out.

Aug 8, 2011

We packed up our stuff in the morning and went in search of our hike for the day. We settle on the north trail to Cadillac Mountain. It's the highest point on the east coast or the northeast or something. After our usual breakfast of PBJ, we headed up the trail.

It started off somewhat steep on smooth rocks and then got more wooded with rocky step section. The terrain changes so often on all of the trails at Acadia. That's one of the things I really like about it. It wasn't overly strenuous. The trail was a moderate grade so it was nothing like the Precipice.

We had a nice view out over the water on the way up. A lot of open areas when we got past the treeline made it easy to keep checking out the island and boats. There was water flowing down the trail in several parts from the recent rain so that made it a little slippery at times.

Once we got to the top the view was totally obstructed by fog. This map shows what we might have seen if there were any visibility at all. I saw it last time and it's pretty amazing. It happens.

We started heading down the south route, which may have been more fun coming up. There were some steeper parts to climb down that we didn't have on the other trail. Most of the extra length was made up on the top of the mountain, staying along a mainly flat trail along the rock face.

We descended into a dense, wet forest on the way out. Many parts of the trail were flooded and somewhat treacherous to walk along. I almost slipped a few times. It was a little dangerous but really beautiful.

When we got out to the main road we had to walk to the park loop and then hang out and wait for the bus. While we waited, Alex did planks in the road and we considered how many buses there might be on the somewhat small loop in the park.

It was a lengthy ride on the bus, including a wait for a switchover at the Visitor Center. Once we got back to the car we went back to town to Poor Boy's Gourmet for dinner. They had and early bird special so I got some seafood bake with baby carrots. Tasty. And Alex had to get some coconut cake for dessert so I had to help eat that...

We got some sneaky showers at the KOA and then headed southeast out of Maine. We were on the road for a while before crossing into New Hampshire, passing quite a few different moose warning signs along the way.

We found a National Forest campground for a reasonable price right down the road from the next day's planned hike so we pitched a tent and called it a night.