Day 4 (Part 1)

We’re stopping for a quick bite to eat at Sonic’s just outside Des Moines, maybe Urbandale. And I am going to write about our fourth day of the journey. We woke up in the morning and drove to Niagara Falls and stopped for a couple of minutes to take some pictures and videos of the falls. We weren’t able to see the falls from the Canadian side because a few of our passports were expired. That was a bit disappointed considering that I’ve heard the Canadian side is a better view. Anyway, I was still very impressed with the enormous size and beauty of the falls. After taking a quick tourist stop, we decided to get some grub at a Quarter Steak and Lube. We each got the buffet which consisted of plates full of wings and riblets. After getting some food into our stomachs we were eager and ready to wash it down with some beers.






We found out that there was a local brewery in town where we stopped for lunch and set off to find it using Matt’s GPS. We punched in the address and turned off the main drag when the GPS began demanding that we turn right. Confused, Matt turned into a gas station and the GPS recalculated where we were suppose to go. He turned back onto the road we originally turned onto and keeps heading the same direction. At this point the GPS begins barking out, “When possible make a U-turn.” Matt makes one a few hundred yards up and looks at the GPS to see where the heck this brewery is. The GPS tells him, “Turn right.” So we end up in a cul-de-sac which confuses us even more. The end point is a bit to our left as we begin to turn around in this cul-de-sac and look for the street that this brewery is on. At this point, Matt stops and starts looking at the street names in the area on the GPS and trying to figure out where we are and where the GPS thinks we are. After a few minutes, we take a right a few yards before the last street we were on and find the brewery at the bottom of the hill. As we pull into the brewery, the GPS recalculates how to arrive at our destination. It begins talking again, “Turn left, then right, turn left.” At this point we’re laughing in the parking lot of Erie Brewing Company.

We walk into the small facility and find out that it’s not going to be possible to try any of the beers on tap because the brew tubing and tap system needs to be cleaned out. We tell the girl about our Beercation and convince her to let us try a couple of the beers that this brewery brews. A few samples later, we are ready to make the drive to Cleveland to visit Great Lakes Brewing Company. Thus far, this brewery has been one of my favorite stops along the way.

We arrive and find some parking a few blocks over from the brew pub. Walking up to the brew pub is are a few outside tables with people enjoying the extremely mugging weather. I think the temperature was around ninety degrees and by shirt was definitely sticking to my back as we entered into the gift shop. I ask if it’s okay to film a bit of the inside and told that the marketing and pub manager will stop by and speak with me. After we sit down at the bar and order a sampler of the beers on tap, the marketing manager stops by to speak with me. We tell her about our trip and how we are documenting via blog and video along the way. She lets me know that it won’t be a problem and tells me to speak with the restaurant manager and one of the bartenders. I have a great interview with the manager who was very sincere in explaining about the origins of the brewery, some of the legendary stories, and also about the beer. I’ll also try to get this online at the end of our trip. It’s a great interview, but I haven’t gotten a chance to listen to the audio. I’ll check that tomorrow when we are at our hotel. But the next interview I had was also a great one.

A bartender who has been working at the bar for fifteen years answers some more questions about how he came to the states, what’s it’s been like working at Great Lakes Brewing Company, and some of the stories he can share from years past. One night, half of the band Led Zeppelin came in and got drunk in the local fashion with Steve. As Steve recalls it was a great time that lasted well into the early hours of the morning. I thought partying with my friends in college led to a great times and great stories. While I had some great nights drinking, I think Steve’s night with Led Zeppelin tops any night of me partying in college. After talking to some interesting people at Great Lakes Brewing Company, we decided to push our driving to Ann Arbor and spend a night in the college town of University of Michigan. But Detroit is somewhat on the way, so we made a slight detour.

Ben had been texting his last boss of an art gallery in New York about our Beercation and mentioned being in Michigan. She let Ben know that there is a great BBQ restaurant with some great beers on tap. We spent quite some time trying to find this restaurant. While our GPS knew the fastest way to get there, it seemed like all the large roads and interstates in city of Detroit were under construction. About thirty minutes of driving through a familiar deserted and rundown area, we arrived at Slow’s BBQ. Apparently this place is in an up and coming neighborhood where a lot of hipsters live. If you don't know what a
hipster is, click the link shown.

It's the morning of day eight and we had a long drive from Wisconsin to Fort Collins, Colorado. We made it here and grabbed a bite to eat at Waffle House around 5:00 am this morning. Today we have the Colorado Brewer's Festival, which we are all looking forward to. We were able to get to the hotel that we are planning on staying at tonight and were able to sleep in the room we are staying in tonight for no extra cost. So we got the best nap of the trip in from about 5:45 am this morning to about 9:30 mountain time. I'm about to hop in the shower and get this day going. Hopefully I'll get a chance to finish to update the blog and hammer out a few more days of writing later today. Of course it will be after the beer festival, which lasts from 11:00 am mountain time til 6:00 pm. But seeing as I'm a bit smelly, it's time for a refreshing shower. Unfortunately, we didn't chill any beer this morning on the fridge in the hotel room. So a beer shower is out of the question. But I'm a happy camper just being able to get myself clean again.