Myles To Go Before I Sleep

I was back in Walton last weekend to meet the 20 pounds of fat in a 10 pound bag that is my new nephew Myles. Seriously his eyes look like they're ready to pop out of their sockets due to the intense pressure by his chubby cheeks. Chubby, chubby cheeks.

Of course my cheeks are probably a little chubby now too since the other thing I did that weekend was eat. B & K, Sycamore, Bruno's, Haps, huge early Easter feast. I'm getting full again just typing this out. I gotta go take a nap...

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On Shifts, Lupulin Threshold and Decadal

I'm a little late in posting this, but I'm not going to just let it past since you all have been begging to hear about it. Well that and I don't want to miss a chance to remind Erik that he is really, really super old. So, Erik, listen up... You're really, really super old.

Erik decided to cash in his "I'm turning 30" chip in for a weekend in Santa Rosa for the release of Pliny The Younger, or P The Y as it is affectionately known. P The Y is an uber rare, triple IPA and also happens to be the world's perfect beverage. Unfortunately it is only brewed once a year in limited quantities. Last year Jeff and I did a 15-hour road trip to bring some back to the southland, but due to some greedy jerks selling it on electronic bay.com last year, it was only being made for serving at the brewery bistro this year (no takeaways). On the bright side, we didn't have to drive the 15 hours all in one day, and we got to spend a beautiful weekend in NorCal making fun of how old Erik is.

We did still want to make it there for the opening, so we still left insanely early Friday morning anyway. But it was worth it to be there for the first serving of the world's best beer (and they're not kidding Buddy The Elf). Saturday we went into San Francisco during the day for sandwiches and chocolates before heading back to Russian River for afternoon and dinner.

P The Y release is becoming one of my favorite weekends of the year, and February can't come again soon enough. Hope to see you all there next year. Imagine how old Erik will be then.

a beautiful thing

Molinari Special's by the Golden Gate

Erik doing what Erik does on road trips;
don't wake up the old man - it's his birthday

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A Yabba Dabba Doo Time

A gay old time indeed. Apart from that first night when Kelsey burned her hand on the skillet, and I thought we would have to go to the hospital. But the rest of the time was total bliss... OK, maybe when the wind kicked up to 60 mph whipping the tent around and making it bitter cold. But really, other than those two times... Well there was that time when that tarantula crawled inside my pants... All right, so that last one never happened. And the first two weren't all that bad anyway. It was a really, really great time.

Kelsey and I went out to Joshua Tree for a couple nights of camping the last weekend of her spring break. It's a wonderful place, so unique... well, because of the Joshua Trees and all. Perhaps not creatively named, but unique nonetheless. It's east of LA in the high desert and famous for rock climbing, Joshua Trees (duh), and rock stars staying in sleazy motels and doing all sorts of drugs. Also it can get really really cold, really really hot, or really really windy. Though Kelsey may tell you it got really really cold, that was not the one (of three) extremity it reached. It did get windy, but only for about 15% of the time we were there. And mostly at night. Which isn't so bad, but it's hard to sleep when your tent is doing this:

Thankfully the second night was dead calm and the sleeping was easy. And though Kelsey did burn her hand, it was for a good cause: my dinner. I'm sure the potatoes would have tasted just as good with or without seared human skin, but I digress. The new cast iron cookware was the bomb, as the kids say, or "le bomb," as the French kids say. So thanks to the parents Brown for those.

Other than eating, we drove around seeing the sights (tried out the 4-wheel, yee haw!), scrambled around on the rocks, took a couple very cool hikes (to some abandoned mines and the best sounding mountain I ever heard of), and enjoyed the scenery and diversity the national park has to offer. Can't wait to do it again!

Bedrock

Desert Queen Mines

meat and potatoes

hike up Ryan Mtn.

Ryan Mtn. hike log

Kelsey at Arch Rock

night falls at Belle Camp

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