Heaven in a Glass

Went to Lincoln Filling station on Friday night to pick up a growler of beer. I didn't realize it but a "tap takeover" was going on by New Belgium and 3 Taverns breweries. I was initially thinking of getting and IPA but when I saw all the new beers on tap from these breweries I took a look and the New Belgium Hop Stout caught my eye so I asked for a taste. It was delicious and I instantly knew I would be enjoying this draught beer on my stone patio for this beautiful Fall weekend.

Enjoying the Hop Stout in my signed glass

When they handed me the full growler they also gave me a New Belgium glass which I was not expecting. Maybe that is normal during tap take overs - not sure. Then Brad says you want to Master Brewer to sign that for you? I was like - sweet, I sure do. I don't know if he came all the way from Colorado just for this but he was at the Filling Station for the event. He signed my glass, I shook his hand, and I was on my way home to enjoy the weekend!

Winery Dogs

On Columbus day, after Diane and I got back from our hike/ride, Michael and I went to see the Winery Dogs at the Variety Playhouse.  We saw them a couple years ago after their debut alum and it was great. This show was in support of their sophomore release called Hot Streak which is getting great reviews and just came out a couple weeks ago. I bought the new CD at the show. I almost bought the signed LP but decided to save a little money and I can listen to the CD in my jeep.

Billy Sheehan solo time

Billy Sheehan solo time

It was a great show once again. All three of them are just great musicians and fun to watch. I tried to take more pictures but I just couldn't seem to get good shots with all the lights moving and changing. The opening act, Kicking Harold, was also a trio and put on a great show. They had a female bass player who was quite attractive and looked like she was having a blast jamming up there. They (Kicking Harold) hung out after the show to meet fans. We didn't stop to meet them....probably should have. Oh well. I'll check out some more of their tunes on Spotify.

Alex and Diane Fall Ride -2015

Diane and I decided to go on a little motorcycle ride and hike last Monday (Columbus Day). I have a book on day hikes in north Georgia and decided a trip to Chenocetah mountain would be fun. It looked relatively close and it has the only stone fire tower in Georgia. For the ride up we decided to stay off the highways and instead traveled through some small towns like Winder, Jefferson, Commerce, Homer, and finally Cornelia. It was a nice ride up but a bit cool and quite foggy at times. We ate lunch at around 11 am in downtown Cornelia in a historic building. At first we couldn't find anyone in the place and we were worried they weren't open. I didn't expect much but we both ended really enjoying our lunch.

Our lunch stop. Randomly selected but cool place and good food.

View of Lake Russell from top of the mountain

The fire tower

We did a 5.4 mile hike down to Lake Russell and back up. The hike down was quite nice except the trail is not well kept and we had to climb over or under about 20 trees. The hike back up was another story. We started to get hot and tired....and lost. Our book which had good details and markers listed about the trail for the most part, failed us on the hike back up when we were supposed to rejoin the loop and head back up the mountain. But it all worked out and we found the road. When we popped out of the woods onto the road a woman saw us an said " oh, you must the ones with the motorcycle." We were so excited she knew where it was and could direct us back :)
I think we did the whole hike in a little over 2 hours. We were kind of on a tight schedule to get back home so we didn't stop much. I think that is about as much ground we could cover in one of our day trip ride/hikes. Diane was really sore the next day.

There is a camp ground at the bottom by the lake which looked pretty nice. Might be a nice place to come back with the kids.

My cute wife

We look happy because we haven't started the hike back up yet :)

We had to speed up our ride home so that I could go see the Winery Dogs with Michael. So we decided to take the highway. It is faster but definitely not as enjoyable. But it got the job done and we had another safe and fun trip.