Idaho, it's good to be home

Vacation is always an adventure and it doesn't have to be extravagant to be enjoyable.  Living the simple life, spending time with family and friends and enjoying good food and great beer is what it's all about.  After 11 days, 8 breweries, 1,250 miles and several 1,000 calories it is nice to be home.  The Basecamp WAS all it was cracked up to be.  I slept like a baby and who knows, I may just go sleep in the driveway again.

First and foremost, I have to give a special kudos to my wife for deep cleaning the house before we left, it is so nice to walk in the door after driving most of the day and having a clean house.  There is nothing worse than unfolding oneself from a vehicle you've been traveling in all day with kids and opening the door to find what looks like nuclear holocaust, only to recall the frantic rush in which you originally left for vacation.  So, for that, I'll raise my glass to my beautiful bride.

I'm fairly certain that we had the wildest spring break weather I can remember.  We left with snowfall, drove to Corvallis with snowfall, arrived to two days of snowfall, (in a place that hasn't seen snow in 3 years) got a couple days of 60 - 70 degrees, rain, snow, clear skies in Bend and all the way home.  I truly love the Northwest in the spring, the weather keeps things interesting.

We only had the opportunity to visit 4 of the 18 breweries now in Bend (which happens to be the highest per capita of any city in the US).  With that being said, I will be back and soon.  Boise has a real treat headed their way in 10 Barrel Brewing Co.   The pub fare was great and the beer, all of which came in under 7% ABV, could have kept me captive for a long period of time.  They will be a great addition to the Boise market.  Bend and the beer revolution taking place there is proof positive that competition makes everyone better.

They say there's no place like home.  For the moment, I'll take it, confident however, I could live in either city I just spent time in.  For now, I'm thankful for what I have and for what I have the opportunity to do.

Cheers

Room and board, aka the Basecamp

Get ready Boise

Good to great? Of course.

Up until all hours of the night, I find myself searching YouTube for the most inspiring, most motivational song, performance or auditions, etc.  It's no wonder that shows like America's Got Talent, X Factor or The Voice are so wildly popular.  There is a little bit of hope and dream in all of us that we can be great.

If only we could get on stage and sing like them, command a crowd woo the audience.  Surely the judges would pick us.  We all desire to do amazing things.  What most of us don't realize is that we already are.  Everyone of us has a motivating and inspiring performance inside of us.  It may be our ability to communicate with people, it may be building a house or painting a portrait, but we all have an amazing gift.

As our spring break officially will come to a close, I'm searching for my motivation.  I have many mountains to climb in my new venture and as many of these aspiring artists, my greatest performance is yet to come!

Cheers

An interesting thought

With the recent changes in our lives it's interesting to think that for the first time we've actually come to the realization that we could move anywhere.  There is truly nothing holding us to a place where I've lived all my life.  Let me catch myself in that last sentence.  We have family close, great friends and a wonderful school for our kids, outside of those very wonderful items there is nothing holding us there.

Have you ever considered such a move?  Spin the globe, drop a finger in a given point and say, interesting?  I'm in no way stating that is our plan, set in stone but it's an interesting thought that I've never really allowed myself before.  It places within me thoughts of, what if?  Allows for the dreams of a new adventure and a next chapter and encourages us to think outside of the box yet again.

Tonight, we find ourselves in Bend, Oregon.  Spring break is coming to a close.  Time with family has been so fulfilling.  Despite the hand sanitizer, constant washing of hands and intervenes of vitamin C, I'm now enjoying all the symptoms of the kids.  With that being said, there is only one explanation as to why I came down with the cold, I didn't sample enough of Oregon's phenomenal craft beer.  Fortunately, I have that nice little parting gift in the back of the car.

This evening, we enjoyed one of the forefathers of craft beer in Oregon, Deschutes Brewery.  The recent expansion has more than doubled the capacity of the Downtown Public House, which was much needed. Deschutes has so many recognizable names in Black Butte Porter, Mirror Pond Pale Ale, Obsidian Stout, Red Chair NWPA, JubelAle, Abyss, the list could continue.  And so, we toasted the end of a great spring break.

Here's to enjoyment on your spring break vacation and all that it has to offer you.

Cheers

Corvallis

Are you ever just drawn to a certain place that you visit?  You get there, do a little exploration, see what there is to offer and then determine that, maybe, just maybe, you don't want to leave.

Corvallis, Oregon may just be one of those places for me.  There is so much to do in this small university town which doesn't have the feel of the roughly 55,000 population.  It's situated about an hour and a half south of Portland and it is one of the greenest places I've ever been.  The craft beer scene is alive and well here too with 5 brew houses.

The tree lined streets around the university are reflective of the East Coast Ivy League campuses.  The downtown core has that tight-knit feel with its numerous, small, family owned businesses.  In fact, it's rare to see a big box store here or even franchises that I'm so used to seeing, and that is refreshing.

It feels like home.  Sitting here at Block 15 Brewery with the family drinking quite possibly one of the best imperial stouts I've ever had, the Super Nebula, I can see myself living here.  Sure, family has alot to do with it, but this is a great place.

I'm going to enjoy my weekend and have a beer and time with family and I hope you find the time to do the same.

Cheers

Family

Here's a revealing post for the day.  It's in no way intended to throw anyone under the bus, it's intended to be an explanation.  All families have a different dynamic.  Some I've found are very close, my wife's family for example has always spent alot of time with each other, from dinners, annual trips, afternoons, etc.  My family on the other hand, was extremely independent, generally spent time each doing our own things and consequently had less and less in common as we grew older.

So, now that I've set the stage in the most diplomatic form possible (that's a wink and a nudge to both sides of the family) the vacation has begun.  I am not used to having children around me.  Quite frankly, it used to make me uncomfortable.  I didn't feel like I knew what to do around kids (I have had a difficult time learning what to do to entertain my own) and to engage them.

Consequently, my idea of vacation is not 4 adults and 5 children in 1,000 square feet for a week.  Well, welcome spring break 2012 because that's exactly what we're doing.  That's right, I'm out of my comfort zone yet again.  So, at the moment, this germophobe, obsessive compulsive, neat freak, inherently selfish individual is at the house by myself watching all 5 kids, half of which are coughing without covering their mouths, by myself on vacation.

This may seem like an average day to some, it may be an expectation to others, but to me, this is huge.  I've always said the worst place to be is comfortable, so I'll embrace my current discomfort, set down the computer and figure out something I've never done and play with 5 kids.  Time to bust out a living room tent.

I wonder if this may be the second reason that beer saved my life?

Cheers

White knuckle

There's nothing quite as enjoyable as a 7 hour drive with a white-knuckle grip on the wheel to challenge your patience to the core.  Three and a half hours of snow-covered roads and three and a half hours of gale-force headwinds.  Fortunately my family travels extremely well.

I certainly enjoy breaking up the trip with a stop at Full Sail Brewery.  After several hours of high desert and sage brush, it's very refreshing to pull around the bend in the Columbia River Gorge and see the brewery poking out of the center of town.  It's become a favorite family stop!

After a fine crafted Cascadian Dark Ale and a bite to eat I find myself pondering againat the ripe old age of 34 that a majority of the failures I've set up my family are inherently done in part by me.  To be short, a majority of the time, it's my own stress, frustration or irritability that are the leading cause of uncomfortable situations.

 I guess I'm still learning to let go of these things.  Yes, I remember my profound moment, at the end of the day everything is ultimately out of my control.

Cheers

Technical difficulties

Experiencing technical difficulties, post to follow.  Apologies