Happy Anniversary!

Jenn and I celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary today, and even though this has been a “beer trip”, I wanted Jenn to know that this day is special to me. We’ve always tried to do something special on our anniversary, and this year was no exception. We were together, our kids were in good hands, and it had decided not to rain today. We had breakfast at the Black Rabbit restaurant (http://www.mcmenamins.com/index.php?loc=114) at Edgefield, and I couldn’t think of a better way to start the day. I ordered the homemade corned beef hash and eggs, along with a McMenamin Black Rabbit Porter, and Jenn had (you guessed it) Eggs Benedict.

We got on the road to explore the waterfalls of the Columbia River Gorge. There’re tons of them, and it was neat to be able to hike and explore a few. The most notable were the Bridal Veil and Multnomah Falls, two examples of the beauty that the gorge had to offer. Bridal Veil required a bit of a hike, but there was no one there and the seclusion was very romantic (nice job Jeff). Multnomah Falls was larger, closer to the road, and more touristy. These falls, along with Haystack rock, are the most photographed locations in Oregon. And even though they were set up for tourist, which meant that there was a gift shop on the premises also. Next it was over the Bridge of the Gods (didn’t understand the name or the fascination) and driving along the Washington side of the river. This gave us a nice look at the Oregon mountains, and it reminded us quite a bit of Norway. Unfortunately, Mt. Hood was fogged in (we found out later that a foot of snow fell the night before). We crossed back over to the south side at Hood River and went to lunch at Full Sail brewing (http://www.fullsailbrewing.com/default.cfm?CFID=1954815&CFTOKEN=68005466). Full Sail is one of the original big Oregon microbreweries, and their flagship beer was their Amber. I had the Ploughman’s lunch, as well as another sampler. I really enjoyed their Pale Ale on cask, as well as the Slipknot IPA. The biggest surprise was that one of the original 47 worker/owners offered to give us a brewery tour. It was much better than the Rogue tour (although there wasn’t a new beer for us to try), and we got a pair of souvenir glasses as a gift.

We drove back to Edgefield (how far can you go on a tank of gas?), and hung out for the afternoon. It was nice to relax, and not be running all over the place. We got ready for our nice, romantic, anniversary dinner at, you guessed it, a brewpub. We went downtown to the Widmer brewery (http://www.widmer.com/Default.aspx) for some beer and German food. Widmer is known for their Hefe-Weizen, but I got a sampler of course. 13 different 4 oz beers for less than 10 bucks. They had a really nice Altbier called Altimate, and an IPA seasoned with hops from New Zealand cald the Half Nelson IPA. I had chicken schnitzel and spaetzle, and we both had a wonderful time. We then went to the Bridgeport Alehouse for dessert where Jenn tried a berry dessert and I sampled several cask ales, including their Blue Heron Pale Ale. We made an early night of it since we needed to be at the airport at 5AM. We both couldn’t believe that our few days in Oregon was wrapping up.

The flight home was an adventure since American Airlines was cancelling flights due to concerns with electrical wiring. The line at the counter was over 300 people long, and although being stranded in Oregon would have some benefits (I can’t begin to tell you how many brewpubs that I skipped), Jenn and I were both anxious to get home and see the kids. Two months earlier American had been screwing around with our connection times for the return flight, first through Dallas and then Chicago. I opted to travel on Alaskan Airlines, which had a direct flight back to Boston. No hassles, no problems, no traffic after landing and we made it home in time to put Jacob and Jessica in bed. God is good.

It was nice to get away. I need to still learn to not be so tied to a schedule, but that is hard for me. I got to try over 100 beers, check out some of the most famous beer places in the country, and spend some time with my wife. And as nice as it was to be away, it was even better to get home. - 4584

"A night of good drinking is worth a year’s thinking." – Charles Cotton