2nd Annual Beer Trip ‘ Beer Odyssey 2006
Thursday January 12
I actually made it to MM’s place on time even though I stayed up a tad late and hadn’t packed till I woke up that morning. Even in the rush I did pretty well and only forgot the maps of Oregon and Northern California, but someone had an Atlas of the Pacific Northwest so it worked out fine. As hooked as I am on WoW I logged on while we waited for the rest of the group to join us and had my gnome working on getting the dwarves to like her better so she can buy a sheep to ride someday. I also managed to buy an engineering schematic for her really cheap and I got a recipe for my main character that I’ve been wanting for half the normal price which was a happy surprise.
Our group called that they were running an hour behind so we got on the road around 10:30. We managed to hit our goal of going over Grant’s Pass before dark. I was sorta half asleep most of the ride up, but when I was fully awake the drive was beautiful. There was a lot of fog draping itself between and over rich green hills covered with evergreens and moss covered oaks.
Our first stop of the trip was in the city of Grant’s Pass before going through the pass itself at the Wild River Brewery. I think they were unimpressed with the beers there, and the waitress forgot to bring me their root beer. The pizza was really good though, and they humored me and we got pepperoni, avocado, artichoke hearts and carmalized onions. The strange thing was that it was a round pizza but it was cut in little cubes.
Up in the pass there was snow on the ground and patches of thick fog that closed off the world. Seeing even the bare trees still bright green with moss was such a nice contrast to the brown of California’s summers and winters.
I fell asleep for a while again and went for the teasing ‘Are we there yet?’ immediately when I woke up. Their response? ‘We’re in Washington!’ I thought they were teasing till they explained we’d missed our exit and ended up going over the river and into Washington. We did finally find the Lucky Labrador Brewery in Portland and stopped for some food and beer. Their root beer had a very strong sassafras flavor to it, and I had a really good salad there. Their bread was really good and they just grabbed me some slices when I asked if I could buy some. They had all sorts of pictures of dogs or people and their dogs on the wall of the entry hallway and paintings of labs on the main walls. I think the guys like the Blue Dog best of the ones they tried there. And I actually liked the taste of their pear cider.
The best part of the stop was on the way out’ I noticed a picture of a guy on the wall on a bench, and behind him was a sign for the Annual Montana Testicle Festival (Since 1982) The Testyfesty. We were all cracking up about it and the group around the corner playing darts heard us and had to come see too. Then MM asked if he could borrow a dart and try throwing it up over the bar with the lights on it to arch back down to the dartboard. He got it over the bar all right’ way up high on the wall. The tall guys couldn’t even reach it jumping and he ended up having to grab me around the knees and lift me up to grab it, and even then I barely got it with my fingertips. It was good for a laugh for everyone though. After that we just got a room at the Days Inn and crashed.
We started the day off with breakfast at some random nearby diner called Elmer’s. The food was actually pretty good though my waffle was a bit overdone. We all stuffed ourselves and then headed off. Our first stop was at Amnesia, a bit of a hole in the wall place that was in a place that used to be an ornamental iron shop. They weren’t impressed with any of the beers there though. They had some interesting photos on the walls, all black and whites, and played Johnny Cash and lots of old music. I talked with a cute guy at the bar some, but he was fairly negative (Seattle sucks, California sucks, blah, blah) so I had no desire to stay when they finished up.
The guys at the Lucky Lab had told them the night before about another brewery down the street, but we didn’t manage to find it till much later that night when we realized it was Bridgeport that we had on our list and we’d only been two blocks short of. While we were in that area though we stopped at some antique shops in the area and browsed around. I got a couple cute hats including a really cute little pink corduroy number. Everyone was trying it on later and it seems to be one of those hats that look good on most people.
After the shopping detour we made it to Widmer Brothers Brewing, which looked like a big operation with a very classy restaurant area. We’d just missed the last daily tour by about 20 minutes sadly. The food was really good though and they REALLY loved some of the beers. Mostly the Wildberry, the Drop Top, and the Snow Plow. We actually stopped at Safeway afterwards to pick those up to take back. The Safeways in CA don’t carry those varieties, and the brewery wasn’t technically a brewpub, so they couldn’t sell less than three cases (something like five gallons?). I had their potato soup which was really thin, but very tasty, and I tried some of someone’s pretzel that was yum too. They also had the best root beer so far. It was smooth and sweet. It tasted a lot like my favorite Henry Weinhard’s only with much less carbonation, so it was much softer and easier to drink. Funny enough, our waitress was from the Bay Area as well. And Heather met woman from another group doing the same kind of trip to various breweries in the bathroom and they gave us some directions and recommendations.
Next stop was Rogue Ales. MM really liked that all their beers were really different, and I think their Dead Guy Ale was almost good enough for me to want more than just a sip. They liked almost everything from Rogue, though nothing as much as those few from Widmer. The root beer was good too, but the sassafras was a touch stonger. I got a shirt and mug and bottle for J&SP since JP’s main WoW character was originally a rogue, and they both like the New Orlean’s Cajun style Day of the Dead type stuff, so the Dead Guy Ale bottle and glass looked just like something they’d enjoy, and it was the good beer so hopefully they’ll enjoy drinking it too. We also met up with JP’s old coworker who’d moved up here back in April. This was also the first place we’d come across with people smoking inside, which put a bit of a dent in my ‘Wow this town is neat’ feeling some. The guys ordered calamari, one of their traditional beer trip snacks as this was the first place with it on the menu. They weren’t really cooked as well as they could have been though.
After that we all headed to Bridgeport, which we’d been so close to earlier that day. It actually worked out though since they had really nice food so most of us got something to eat. They had a nice variant of a French Onion Soup using their Black Strap Stout as a base. It wasn’t the best I’ve ever had, but it was much better than many. Heather also enjoyed a buckwheat beer they had.
We didn’t have time to hit Roots or Full Sail or Tugboat, so hopefully those we can get in next year. Roots is a fully organic one and Tugboat we were told had a great funky arty atmosphere.
After Bridgeport we headed to my step-brother’s house and unloaded our stuff. We managed to get my step-sister-in-law to walk with us down to the local pub for some drinks. I ended up having a couple shots and a mixed drink since I’d been designated driver all day and they wanted to get me drunk too. It wasn’t what we were expecting but it was actually pretty neat. The life music was Mikey’s Irish Jam Session. They had drums and various wind instruments and even an accordian. We all kept mentioning wanting to get and do a jig.
We actually stayed up chatting for quite a while too once we got back. My steo-brother showed us his workshop in the basement where he’s building a craftsman bed. He’d made the bathroom medicine cabinet and the gorgeous wooden kitchen table and benches that were all fitted, no nails or glue or anything. We finally went to bed around 1am. I was so tired I forgot to take my meds and stuff, which worked out since it let me wake up much earlier and have more time to hang out and meet my new niece and nephew.
We chatted a bunch and I showed them pictures of my cats. My nephew showed off the stilts he designed that his dad made for him, then pulled out his violin to perform, followed by quizzing me on the names of the violin parts, about half of which I could guess from knowing the guitar equivalents. My step-brother made us this awesome French toast with bacon and applesauce on the side and some really good fresh coffee (mocha for me) with beautiful decorations using whipped cream. After breakfast we all got in on the performing with my niece singing and then playing for us with her mom on the piano. Then my nephew and I sang Do Re Mi while he played the Glockenspiel. We made JP play the piano and sing one of his compositions while my niece got her violin ready. Then all of the girls sang Amazing Grace together which sounded awesome. My nephew wanted to sing just with his family so he and his sister and their mom did America the Beautiful together that was great. My stepbrother also accompanied his daughter on the piano for another violin performance. They also had a beautiful white cat and an adorable little Shi-tzu who looked like a little Ewok till he yawned and made me think of Fizz-gig from The Dark Crystal. Finally they dragged me off to get back on the road again around 11. I can’t wait to get more of a chance to hang out with them though, they’re really friendly and fun and the kids were just so cute.
We’ve been driving by green fields full of fluffy white and black sheep, and hills covered with ‘enchanted forest’ as some of my friends have said. The clouds are covering the sky and tendrils are reaching down to coil among the trees on the hilltops. On the way up we were comparing things to the English countryside, but now with the dark mossy trees it’s making me think of the Bavarian forests in Europe.
Saturday was a long drive back to California. We hit the Humboldt Brewery, but found out that they no longer had a brewer’s license and just sold three so-so beers from another local brewery. JL did bust out with the word of the trip here though, saying we needed to get ‘wiggity-ild.’
From there we headed to Arcata’s Lost Coast Brewery founded by a lesbian couple. What that has to do with anything I’m not sure, just random trivia I guess. We checked in at a hotel just a couple blocks away and walked back to the brewery. We all got food and I tried their rootbeer, though I was sad they had an orange cream soda on the menu but they no longer made it. The group got the sampler and the fruit beers were really nice and fruity, and with a bunch of lemon I actually liked the taste of the Heff, unlike most which I only appreciated the aftertaste of. I’m starting to learn to recognize things by smell though and get an idea of what others will like. They think I’m on my way to starting to like beers, but really it’s like with wines and other drinks. I keep trying them, but the ones I don’t like at first I don’t learn to like. I just keep trying new ones to see if I can find one I like.
We found out that 101 might be closed, and on the way back MM started ragging on mother nature’.. only to have the sky open up and start pouring down rain on us. We all blamed it on him and his smack talk of course. Then the toilet which had been draining slowly decided to not drain and overflow. The hotel lady wasn’t really helpful, instead of coming and taking care if it, she gave us a plunger which hardly worked and a bunch more towels and I had to ask for disinfectant spray to clean up with. We didn’t really complain though since she’d given us the big room for the small room price, and there were five of us instead of four like we said. When she came to deal with the stuff one girl went to hide in the car and in the rush no one showed her the right button for the alarm so that got triggered so JL had to run out and turn it off. So really it was quite an adventure, but I think we were all happy to see the last of that place.
We grabbed coffee and gas on the way out and I got a tasty Mexican hot chocolate from Gold Rush Coffee, a cute place next to the Chevron. The next stop was only 20-30 minutes down the road in Fortuna. The Eel River Brewery. They didn’t want to take in their coffees so I wandered over to enjoy the river. I managed to slip on a rock I was climbing up for a better view to make sure it was worth the walk but I didn’t scratch myself up too bad. The river was so beautiful though, softly burbling even though it was really large and sparkling in the early light. Little birds jumped among the branches of the plants on the embankment and there was anise everywhere all soft and scented and green.
They mostly had appetizers, but the Garden Gulch Salad looked really good so I got that. The guys both got their favorite from Eel River from last year, a Hazelnut Porter that even the other girls were enjoying. Then it was back on the road again down 101/1 over rivers and through redwoods and other forests. Fluffy clouds filled the sunny sky and shone through the trees.
To be continued.