Who's that Walking over my Bridge?

All right, the first day of class.  I have to say that I’m impressed with the subject matter, and I’m glad I’m here to learn.  We made it through the day, and Kevin wanted some time to work out, and since that is not my thing right now, I headed over to the Brouwer’s Café (http://brouwerscafe.blogspot.com/) to check it out.

First of all, what a great bar!  The beer selection was fantastic (how can you go wrong with 64 taps), the wait staff was knowledgeable, and they even had a Mannekin Pis statue in the entrance way.  I showed them my beer book and told them of my quest, and they immediately gave me a large class of water to stay hydrated (I said they were knowledgeable).  I started with the Silver City Fat Bastard scotch ale, followed by their 6^th anniversary commemorative beer, an imperial stout brewed by HUB.  To wrap up my selections, I tried the Sierra Nevada Black Vapor Steam beer.  All were fantastic.  They did do samplers, but they did provide samples.  Their bottle selection was equally as impressive (looks like they had some ties to the Bottleworks), and since they were relatively close to the hotel, there is a strong possibility that I’ll come back.

I picked up Kevin for dinner, and we headed over to Maritime Pacific (http://maritimebrewery.ypguides.net/).  This bar doesn’t look like much from the outside, but it specializes in IPAs and great food.  I got the braised beef with a cherry mole over black beans to go along with my sampler that had two cask ales.  I also chose to spice it up with their own habenero sauce (made my eyebrows sweat).  Their beers were offered in three varieties; regular, dry hopped (DH), and double dry hopped (DDH).  It was great to compare the versions, with the DDH quickly going over the top in bitterness.  Since it was a beautiful day (it doesn’t always rain out here), we went down to the Ballard Locks salmon ladder.  We got to see boats head in and out (the salmon fleet is harbored up river), and see the salmon swim upstream.  We also got to see an elusive otter, although he was too smart to let us catch a picture.  We wrapped up this excursion by heading over to Hale’s brewing (http://halesbrewery.com/), where I got to enjoy their Rudyard’s Rare Barleywine.  This place is the epitome of a brewpub with a taproom positioned in full view of their brew kettles. 

On the way back to the hotel we stopped at the Troll bridge.  This little (or not so little) statue is a favorite of mine since we’ve played a game called troll bridge with the kids for years.  I’d love to bring my kids here someday to show them that I didn’t completely make up the game.  - 5785/10959

"Praise day at even, a wife when dead, a weapon when tried, a maid when married, ice when 'tis crossed, and ale when 'tis drunk." - Old Norse Proverb