Feb 22, 2014

I headed to Valley Forge in the morning to meet Joanna for a long bike ride to Manayunk and back. After we got on our bikes and headed to the trailhead we found it covered in snow and ice still. People on mountain bikes were having trouble with it. So after standing there staring at it for a while in disbelief we went back to the car and tried to regroup. Disc golf! But oh-- the course we wanted to play is closed only on Saturdays. Makes sense. I should probably just drink beer. Not even good beer as it turned out. I went to McKenzie's and tried their sampler. Some of them were average, but mostly not so good. I'm not even sure what it was.

We decided to go to Wissahickon Creek. Surely one of the more popular hiking, biking, and running trails very close to the city must be clear by now. Or it's still a solid sheet of ice with some developing puddles. Well then.

More beer it is. We went to The Abbaye, the one place that can't disappoint! I got a couple beers, we split the vegan lasagna, which was awesome, and then I had peanut butter pie for dessert. Jorge was even there to serve us! And I got the pie for free because they were out of ice cream.

There was still a while until I wanted to go into Union Transfer for the show so I sat in the car and listened to a podcast while almost falling asleep at times until I actually did go in. The World is a Beautiful Place and I'm No Longer Afraid to Die was really good. I think I'd like to check out their recorded music. Into It. Over It. was up next and they were phenomenal. This is the first time I've seen them since I knew the songs so it was even better than last time. 

I was directly up front singing along and it was great except not being able to hear the vocals sometimes. Evan was really funny and played most of the songs from Proper. I didn't leave wanting much. I already can't wait to see them again.

Mar 17, 2012

To celebrate St. Patrick's Day, Kate, Chuck, and I took a day to visit a bunch of local breweries. We started with the Iron Hill in Phoenixville. We actually had to wait for them to open but not too long. We got samplers of all of their styles and some food. They had a Roggenbier that was fantastic and a chardonnay barrel-aged tripel that was phenomenal. I would like more of that, please.

Next up was Sly Fox. We went in with high hopes, but we did a couple of flights and weren't overly impressed with anything on their lineup. We went over to McKenzie Brew House next, which is a big restaurant and bar that seemed like it wouldn't have a great selection. They ended up having a bunch of great beers and even better bartenders. They talked to us the whole time; I talked to them about SLR cameras and at the end of our visit we asked for the check and they said, "oh, we can't find it. I guess it's free!" with a smirk. Slightly confused but very gracious, we left a big tip and thanked them.

We headed back to the city next to go to Yards. We hopped on their first tour, where we were given samples of the Pale Ale and shown around the whole facility. It was a little long but interesting. We went out to the bar after the tour for a couple of flights of their offerings, including variations on the Love Stout. So good.

We headed over to Nodding Head, where they were already packed for St. Patrick's Day celebrations, so we just got a beer each instead of trying to get a sampler in that mess. They have some really good beer. We finished out the day by going to the Abbaye for at least one more beer and a great dinner. Always a great way to end the day.