Jun 19, 2012

We were up a little early for the Ben & Jerry's tour so we did some of our own touring of the area. We stopped at Cabot and tried way too many cheeses for any time of the day, but even worse because it was morning. So many good ones. We went to the chocolatier next door and had some small samples. They aren't stupid; they don't give away so many. Then we went to the little general store market where they have mustards and jams. We got a sample of freshly pressed apple cider as we watched the press at work.

Not a bad morning already, but then we went over to the Ben & Jerry's factory tour. It's always interesting even if I know what they do. We got our tasty sample at the end of the tour and then went out to the Scoop Shop to get some more samples before heading out.

Since The Alchemist doesn't exist as a brew pub anymore we went to their brewery/cannery where they brew one beer: Heady Topper. This is constantly trading places with Pliny the Elder as the number one IPA in the world. It's pretty good. I'm not sure why I didn't get a six pack.

Our next stop was Magic Hat's silly, circus brewery. We did the self-tour and then went down to the bar for a few samples of things we hadn't had. For lunch, it was to the Vermont Pub for a beer and a sandwich before heading to Zero Gravity brewing. There are so many on the passport that it gets hard to follow them all.

One of my favorite little places we stopped was Fiddlehead Brewery. It was off the beaten path-ish, and they were really friendly. While we sampled, the bartender offered to let me try a pickled fiddlehead. I accepted, of course, and it was really good. Most pickled things are, but it was nice little quirky thing.

We took a break from beer and hit a couple of wineries since there were a few in the area. We got plenty of small samples, being sure to keep our BAL up while we were off the beer trail, I guess.

Our last Vermont brew stop was Otter Creek. This place has a huge selection of amazing beers. It's probably good we finished here. We got a bunch of samples and some more food to soak it up. We hung out here for a while before heading out.

On our way home we stopped at Willow Park DGC before we left the state. It was mostly open with a few wooded holes. Only 9 holes and none of them too extraordinary, but it was nice getting out of the car and enjoying the weather for a while before sitting in the car for several more hours.

We drove through Albany on the way back, and we couldn't pass up the Albany Pump Station Brewery for dinner and another flight. We were almost burnt out on beer, but they had a good flight and some good food as well.

The rest of the drive home was long and a little sleepy, but we made it back.

Jun 10, 2012

Kate and I went out for a winery tour for the day. We started at Valenzano, which had a really nice grounds. I ended up getting a mead because I don't see them often. We moved along to some other places in the area as Kate got more stamps on her passport.

We went to DiMatteo's, Tomasello, and Amalthea Cellars among others. Some were bigger, but some were very small. We sampled more at some than others, depending on the cost and selection. I always like seeing the fields of grapes. It was a really nice day for walking around outside with a glass of wine.

I went down to Belleplain Lake with Jess later to take some photos. We hung out on the dock for a while as it got dark and she took some cool photos of the dock after she drew a heart on it with chalk. I really like her creativity with things like that.

Once it got dark we started doing long exposures along the shore. I was going for stars and some of the creepy camp lights from across the water. There were crazy sounding insects that sounded like small children screaming at the top of their lungs. It was quite strange. We got some decent shots.

I need to work on more long exposure shots to capture stars so I get better at it. 

May 27, 2012

Kate and I decided to go on a South Jersey wine tour for the afternoon and we started out at Heritage in Glassboro. We tried a few good wines there and then moved on to Wagonhouse down the road. They had some amazing wines. I like almost all of them. The Fallen Quaker was probably my favorite of the day though, with chocolate and coffee flavors. So good.

We went to four others somehow. Some were definitely better than others. Coda Rossa was great as we were the only ones there and the guy pouring for us was really friendly and he basically let us sample all of their wine. And they had a lot! Belleview also had great hosts that were very nice to let us stay and try wine even though we got there just before they were going to close. All in all a really fun time.

We stopped at Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner and then went to Christie's brother's house for a bonfire. We got a nice fire started using some of the neighbors' wood (shhh) and then had some beers sitting outside on a beautiful night. Eventually we got the iHome working so we had music too!

Tracy, Mike, and Tina showed up eventually as well and, after we sat around talking for an hour or so we finally got in the pool!

I love night swimming. Even though it was an above ground pool it was still fun. We didn't stay in for too long, but the water was really nice and we went to stand around the fire again for a bit after that.

Quite a fun day and nice getting to see people for a while. Gotta go to more wineries soon.

Jan 14, 2012

After a run along the river trail in the morning Kate, Shannon, and I went down to Cape May Brewery in the morning to check out what they had. It was much smaller and much more crowded than I expected. They had three beers on tap and we each got a glass and got in line to sample them.

We all enjoyed all three of the beers. The Honey Porter and Hefeweizen were really good. I talked to Ryan, one of the brewers/owners, for my blog and he let me sample the two versions of their IPA. Everyone there was amazingly friendly and enthusiastic.

After we left we headed back up 47 to Natali Vineyards where they were having a little winter wine festival. They had a bunch of wine out for samples. We sampled most of their offerings, but the fruit wines like the banana and the strawberry were really fantastic! Quite a few of the wines were very good and stood out among the average ones. It was a lot of fun.

After packing up Kate's car and getting our stuff together we headed up the Turnpike and through New York on our way toward Boston. There wasn't too much traffic all the way up.

We stopped in Providence for the night and went to Trinity Brewery downtown. The place was pretty packed and had quite a nice selection to check out. After we each got a pint and stood off to the side talking for a while, we managed to grab a seat at the bar.

We ordered the sampler and got some barbecue pork nachos to go with it. The nachos were so good! The Wolf's Breath was the best beer we tried. I think it was a barleywine, but it was really sweet with a great aftertaste.

After finishing our sampler and hanging out there for a while longer we came back across the street and parked in the empty parking lot and took to the back of the car to set up a bed. We had plenty of blankets to keep us warm, and it was a good things since it was freezing. It was only mildly uncomfortable, but we made it work.

Aug 7, 2011

We got up early enough to see the sun rising over the bay by the docks I really like. Unfortunately it was a little later than I wanted to be out there, but it still looked nice.

We headed over to the Precipice trailhead as it started to rain. We had some PBJ sandwiches and waited it out for a short time, eventually deciding we should just go for it.

We stepped carefully up the steeper sections that were wet. It was a little slippery, but we didn't have much of a problem. By the time we got to the rock scramble it had stopped raining.

Alex wasn't sure what to expect and she handled the climb well. There were a couple of difficult spots and she took them without hesitation.

The iron rung part of the hike was a little unnerving at times as they were still wet. There were more of them than I recalled from last year. Still a lot of fun.

After a few more sections of precarious maneuvering and careful stepping on the iron bars, we had made it to the final section.

We climbed to the top and took a seat on the rocks to rest and have some water. The climb wasn't really strenuous in the traditional sense so we just enjoyed the sit for a short time.

There wasn't much of a view with the fog that was still rolling through on top of the mountain. We could see the islands in the water through a few clear spots, but mostly we couldn't see far in front of us.

We took a trail down the other side of the mountain which put us just outside the park entrance. We walked in and grabbed the first shuttle that came by that took us back to our car.

We drove into town and went to the Bar Harbor Brewing Company store. We tasted some wines and then went around the corner to get lunch at a Chinese place. The food was okay, but it cleansed our palates to come back to the store to sample their four beers on tap. The Cadillac Mountain Stout was my favorite by far.

We were given directions to their actual brew facility a few miles up the road and headed right there. We got to sample all of those beers, along with an entertaining explanation of all of them from our host. Many good brews, along with a taste of their root beer and the amazing blueberry soda. It was so good! Also, since we had a small group, we were allowed to taste some of their special limited edition brews. All really good. We picked up a six pack and some big bottles for the night.

There was one more stop at the winery before we were done. There, we tried about ten different wines, from whites to reds to dessert wines to their ice wine. There were quite a few unique and delicious wines in there. The Rising Tide Riesling was my favorite wine. The Black Currant dessert wine was amazing and very different from anything I'd had before.

When we got back to camp after showering at the general store, we tried to figure out what we should do. There wasn't much going on as it was raining and getting dark. We ended up going to a cafe in town for clam chowder and BYOB. Lucking we had our own B. We stayed there for a couple of hours, talking and laughing with the big group that sat next to us while we drank our beers. It was a lot of fun, and I learned some things from the hilarious guy from Gibraltar. It was a really good time.

We went back to the camp and stayed in the car as it continued to rain and drank more of our beers while listening to music. The Scottish Ale was really good. And we only spilled it twice..

Once we finished all the beer (which was not the plan) we called it a night and went to the tent. Nothing like drunkenness and the tapping of rain on the roof of a tent to put you to sleep.

May 20, 2011

We got up around dawn and started breaking down our tent, greeted by the only other person awake at the campground who informed me about the reticulated woodpecker she's been on the lookout for in the trees. We headed right for the nearest Waffle House for our planned pajama breakfast. It's a great place. We split waffles and hash browns and had the cheap and delicious egg biscuits.

After several attempts we found a place to shower and then, refreshed, took back to the road looking for something to do. We saw signs for Shenandoah Vineyards so we decided to go for it. We were their first customers of the day and the pleasant woman behind the counter promptly got us some glasses and started pouring! Gotta love free wine. And it was all really good wine to boot. There were several that I wanted to have bottles of, including the Rebel Red and a dessert wine that I can't recall the name of.

We took a self-guided tour of the vineyard and took some photos while I mulled over my wine choice. When we came back in I had settled on the Sweet Serenade. It was between that and Rebel Red and I'm still not sure I chose the right one. Should have gotten both.

We took to the road once more and headed north into familiar territory.. and familiar traffic. Once we got near D.C. we slowed to a crawl for a lot of the beltway. We looked for more wineries with free tastings, but it seemed that our luck was only good for one. Either way it was a great one to stop if we only got one.

When we got home it was pouring as we unloaded Alex's car and I got my stuff back into mine. I bid her adieu after our five days together and then headed home to veg out and nap before vegging out and sleeping.