From Zane's Trace to Outer Space: A Journey into Muskingum County

An original and somewhat worse-for-wear National Road
mileage marker located outside the National Road
and Zane Grey Museum in Norwich, OH

The long road trip test isn’t always recommended for potential relationship testing, but it will almost always give you a definitive answer about viability of a partnership after a single experience. Our first road trip together covered at least 500 miles over a several day period. Our second trip was even longer, including a 350-mile circuit of Oregon in one day that started and ended in Bend, but in between included an 8-mile hike on Mt Hood, donuts in Portland, and dinner with relatives in Tigard.

An off-the-cuff trip recently into Muskingum County proved to be a fairly short jaunt by those standards, but the sites we visited for the most part were all about the longer journey, including one instance which covered approximately 75,000 miles.

Triple-Hopped: On The Ohio Summer Brewery Prowl

Despite signs of slowing growth, craft breweries are most certainly still a thing. According to an article in USA Today, the craft beer industry surpassed the 7,000 operating breweries by the end of 2018, according to the Brewers Association. Furthermore, the Association expects another thousand or so breweries will join the fray by the end of 2019. And while Ohio may not match the sheer numbers of craft breweries found in other states, they are more than holding their own in volume, ranking fourth in the country according to the Brewers Association.

These sheer numbers have made it more important than ever to tune in to their surrounding community. If you can’t draw the locals in on a regular basis, your chance to achieve that next level of destination brewery pretty much rates as nil.

In many ways, that had changed way of writing about the breweries from here on out. A few select ones are going to be just plain outstanding and likewise a few select ones are going to just plain terrible. Most are going to fall in that big bell curve area in the middle, and as long as they’re keeping the locals happy, they can be quite successful.

Stuck in the Middle With You: Keystone State Travels

Even Abe Lincoln will tell you there's a lot to explore in the state of
Pennsylvania between the cities of Pittsburgh and Pennsylvania

Leaving Pittsburgh and traveling eastward through Pennsylvania, we firmly had several National Parks in our sights as our main destinations. When it comes to the United States, the amount of and virtual age of this history tends to grow as you trek toward the Atlantic Ocean.

On this trip, we ended up spanning the historical timeline, from an unexpected find related to a conflict barely covered in the lower grade levels (the French-Indian War) to an event which has become a modern time "Day of Infamy" in the terrorist attacks of 09/11/2001.

Viewing nature's beauty was also prime on the docket, as we dropped by a state park with plenty of outdoor charms and a world-renowned architectural work whose best quality just might lie in how it blends in with the natural flora and fauna surrounding it.

Everyone needs a little curveball to break up the routine, and for us, that came in the form of a minor league baseball game and craft beer on an evening which scared away many due to the weather.

Three Days in the Land of Three Rivers

The Point State Park Fountain, located at the confluence of rivers that gave
Pittsburgh's former Three Rivers Stadium its name. Heinz Field, current home of
NFL's Pittsburgh Steelers, lies across the Allegheny River in the background

Pittsburgh, like many Midwest cities, finds itself in the long-term quest of reinventing itself

A city traditionally known for its bustling steel industry and a blue-collar reputation, Pittsburgh has used a multi-pronged effort in the fields of education, industry and government to diversify its job mix and economic base, trying to stem the tide of population loss that has turned the once tenth largest city by population in the country in 1940 to 64th in 2019.

Tourism is also a vital part of boosting the city's fortunes. There was a day where I wouldn't have even considered traveling for pleasure to a place like Pittsburgh, but that just shows how times change and how the spirit to explore is indeed a good one. And thus, our most recent road trip adventures took us into the Keystone State of Pennsylvania, with our first days spent in the Steel City.

Five Years in the Books

Filipino Halo Halo is but one of the culinary treats you can get at
Columbus's Asian Festival, held annually during Memorial Day weekend

Columbus’s Asian Festival, set again for Memorial Day Weekend this year on May 25th and 26th, represents a couple of important reference points for yours truly. One was finding out how truly few of folks like me were here during my first visit: the city where I grew up in California, despite having numerous times less folks than Central Ohio's population, has roughly eight times more folks with my background.

The second is it marks off another notch on the years I’ve been doing this blog. With this upcoming weekend, that will have been five in the book, the furthest I’ve ever taken a blog.

There are hundred of ways I could branch off from here, but I thought I’d just leave it simple. Thanks to all of you who have followed along, and I hope I can keep you entertained by our ventures and my writing as we go into year six.

Noc Noc Noc-ing at Powell's Door: Nocterra Brewing

Funkwerks, circa our 2015 trip to Colorado. Like Fort Collins, Columbus'
beer scene is one where new breweries have increasingly to prove
their wares are worthy to the public early on or risk being left behind

Craft beer fans know that Colorado's breweries rate as some of the country's best. That fact did not escape our mind during our 2015 trip to visit my spouse's brother and his family in the Denver area. Thankfully, her brother (like most of the family) has been into craft beer for quite awhile - in fact, during his years in Columbus, his first homebrew kit came from the Clintonville's Winemaker's Shop from none other than Angelo Signorino, the longtime head brewer at the venerable Barley's Brewing Company.

For a day, her brother graciously chauffeured us to some of Fort Collins' finest breweries. During our journey, he mentioned that breweries there just simply couldn't open up and expect to be successful; they had to have at least a couple years planned out to even have a chance to make it in what was and still is a competitive beer scene.

Back then, that was nowhere near the case with Columbus, a beer scene that was still growing and evolving. Not so much anymore, though - in my mind, Central Ohio's scene has reached a point where a new brewery's chance to establish their footing has shrunk considerably. Indeed, many of the newer arrivals, including but not exclusive to Combustion, Somewhere in Particular, and Pretentious, have been received favorably fairly quickly by the locals. This notion was tucked in the back of my mind when my spouse and I dropped by to one of the area's newest in Powell's Nocterra Brewing for a sneak preview.

One Latte, One Lunch, One Beer - 2018 California Travel Wrap-Up

Well, the recap of a wonderful tour of California comes to an end with this blogpost. As usual, there were places that didn't quite conveniently fit in with any of our previous posts, but are definitely worthy of your consideration if you're in the neighborhood. And now, without further adieu...

Spearhead Coffee: Opened up a couple years after our first visit to Paso Robles, Spearhead Coffee has provided locals an elevated cup of coffee for their day's duties since 2015. Similar to many spaces with that modern industrial look, the interior of Spearhead used plenty of reclaimed materials from around the area as well as from space itself in its initial construction.

Two Do Right: Firestone Walker and Russian River Brewing

The welcoming fronts of Russian River Brewing's Santa Rosa, CA brewpub
and Firestone Walker's Barrelworks facility in Buellton, CA

Those who have read my blog before know that we are huge fans of two well-known California breweries in Firestone Walker and Russian River Brewing.  With the former, we had visited their two co-joined facilities in Buellton (their taproom and then their sour-focused Barrelworks facility - this blogpost details how we ended up visiting each separately), and for the latter, their iconic Santa Rosa brewpub seems is something of a mandatory stop when we're in the area, even if it is just to buy a couple of bottles of Pliny The Elder or one of their lovely sours to bring back to Ohio.

One would think that we're traversing over well-trod ground by writing about these two breweries again, but two recent developments for each brewery offered an opportunity to explore some new ground for us, and we were only more than happy to venture in again.

Return to California (aka The More Things Change...)

The courtyard of Vallejo's version of Seafood City, a Filipino-focused
supermarket sporting seven locations in Northern California and
30 total locations in the United States and Canada

Our return to California this year to visit my home of some three decades revealed some inescapable trends that I've noticed in the last few visits. In terms of this blog, the Bay Area and California in general has really transformed in my mind into much more tourist destination than a former home. I experienced a bit of this feeling driving through San Francisco last year, but this year it became even more prominent. 

Familiar landmarks were now gone (most prominently the grandstands of the horse racing facility of the Solano County Fairgrounds), businesses I grew up with were now closed (like Country Creamery, which never had the best ice cream but made up for it by charging a buck per scoop), and the ongoing development of the Springs area just outside of Sonoma. Even the still familiar, as in the Seafood City pictured above, sported some changes, including the closing of a store in which we bought our first Christmas parol.

Goetta Gets You Stuff: Return Travels to Cincy (Pt. 1)

Who knew that going down for Goetta would lead to nice surprise

Several months ago, we made a jaunt for the heck of it a couple hours to the south for a quick little weekend in the Cincinnati area. Suffice it to say, we had a pretty lovely time of it, with our first samplings of an area staple Goetta at Goettafest, visits to The Findlay Market and the American Sign Museum, and some Queen City brewery hopping.

We weren't exactly planning on returning this year (as they say, plenty of places to go, so little time), but it turned out (unknowingly) at the time that a friendly little hashtag on one of my social media got the attention of the folks of the Cincinnati Convention and Visitors Bureau, enough so that they picked us for a lovely little travel package back to come back to the Queen City. Suffice it to say, we were very happy to be picked as winners, and we decided the holiday season would be a great time to come back for a quick pre-Christmas vacation.

Worth a Time Out: Van Ness's Time Out Sports Bar (Fremont, OH)

The happy unexpected is always something my spouse and I appreciate on our travels, especially when it comes to food. The Firefly Grill In Effingham, IL (which I wrote about here) definitely qualifies, as does Sandusky’s Small City Taphouse and its combo of sushi and craft beer.

As a matter of course, I have gotten familiar with the usual haunts my wife’s side of the family frequents on a regular basis. It’s easy to expect the typical with any eatery out in the rural parts of Ohio, but when it comes to Fremont, the seat of Sandusky County, a nice surprise awaits if you drop by Van Ness’s Time Out Sports Bar.

Black Friday Libations Tour: Ohio's Last Craft Beer Frontier

You can go miles in 419 area code country between signs of civilization
but even out in the country they'll give you a holiday greeting

This year's family Black Friday Libations Tour would prove different from previous years' versions. During our last three excursions, we explored areas that were all fairly established from a craft beer perspective.  This was not the case this year; in fact, if you were immersed in the developing Columbus area craft beer scene from roughly 2012 to 2014, you’d have a good approximation of where the area we explored, Toledo and the surrounding areas reside at the moment craft beer-wise.

In fact, one can easily argue that this historical home for the 419 area code easily qualifies as the last large region in Ohio that is really ripe for a craft beer boom. And it's not like this area hasn't had a prominent brewing presence: Toledo's prime location next to Lake Erie and the Maumee River allowed pre-Prohibition breweries like the original Buckeye Brewing, Finlay, Maumee, and Huebner-Toledo to thrive.

Having some time to absorb the whole experience, I went with a more nuanced look on this blogpost at the four breweries we visited to try to paint a picture of where the 419 craft beer scene stands now, and where it could go.  Not that we didn't find any great beer during our travels (one of the best beers my wife and I have had this year was drank on this tour), but the scene's best days are most decidedly geared toward the future.

Columbus Pizza-politan Adventures: Near the Banks of the O-Hi-O

First Responders Park in Hilliard, Ohio, which is also home of the only Central
Ohio location of a unique entry in the pizza pie sweepstakes

Well, there are some changes that are due to my pizza map, including a new location of Harvest Pizzeria in Grandview, the closure of Nidovi Pizza in Dublin, a new Gionino's Pizza in Pickerington, and the impending move of OH Pizza and Brew into the old Stack'd space in Downtown.  When the latter happens, I'll make those changes.

As for the November segment of my Columbus Pizza-politan Adventures, we look out to the (near) east to two franchises which have roots close to the state's namesake river, including perhaps one of the more divisive regional pizza styles around.

Temple of the Dog: Dirty Frank's Hot Dog Palace

Even the Swedish have learned the value of the venerable hot dog, offering
a dining enticement to those stop by the IKEA Columbus location

Growing up, I thought of hot dogs as something you got at baseball games or at picnics.  It wasn't until later in my life when I thought of it as a regular lunch/fast food option (via Der Weinerschnitzel or the Bay Area's Casper's Hot Dogs mini-chain), and even much later when I discovered of even larger sausages in a bread roll (Polish dogs? Uh, yes please.)

But when it comes down to it, I generally go simple with my hot dogs (mustard for sure, and onions and relish if available). When the mood strikes, the basic hot dog cart (Downtown Columbus sports its own regulars) works perfectly, and I'll always grab a dog whenever I get out to the ballpark.  Occasionally, though, I'll want a little bit of the wild and unpredictable, and that's where an original member of the Columbus Food League of restaurants comes in handy.

Indy In Threes: Fiber Hugs, Small Pugs, and Big Lugs

The unique Indianapolis Cultural Trail provides a convenient way for
people to travel to the city's cultural districts without an automobile

Many of our destinations on our recent trip to Indianapolis ended up near either the Monon or the Cultural Trails. The Monon Trail is not too unlike Columbus’s longer bike trails like the Olentangy or Alum Creek, providing people a chance to bike or run/walk between different parts of the city or different cities altogether.

However, the Indy Cultural Trail was the one that really caught our eye as an eight-mile-long wide connector between some of Indy’s most popular and significant districts and attractions. This trail essentially borrowed a lane from existing roads to create a more-or-less separate but easily accessible route for bicyclists, pedestrians and other non-automobile users to travel between the city's major districts. While we did not ourselves ride it, the sight of numerous folks zooming by on this trail was a constant, and it is something my spouse and I would love to test out next time in town.

As it turned out, Rook (which we wrote about on the last blog post) is right on the trail, as was our “fiber hugs” source in the Mass Ave Knit Shop.

Indy In Threes: Beer and Wine and a Voice Divine

Midtown Carmel, located to the north of Indianapolis. Not unlike Columbus,
parts of this city are undergoing a massive redevelopment effort

Indianapolis, the state capital of Indiana, has been a city that we have dabbled in on previous journeys, but have rarely dug in as deeply as we might like. With our current status of having to having to stick a little closer to home due to job-related duties, easy weekend jaunts to places like Indy (in this case, a mere straight three hours west on I-70) have a very high desirability factor.

This first post of this mini-series is composed of highlights, but only in the sense that these three destinations either inspired our trip to Indiana's capital city in the first place or stuck out in our minds immediately as definite must visits. As it turned out, we found much more to keep us entertained during our stay, with the realization that we’ve only begun to scratch the surface of things to do here.

Columbus Pizza-politan Adventures: Ohio Pizza Cage Match! (Pt. 2)

Cincinnati's Dewey's Pizza sports a decent inventory of craft beer,
including seasonal selections from various Ohio breweries

This first of this two part "Ohio Pizza Cage Match" mini-series of blog posts started off by looking at two area locals, both long-time purveyors of the Columbus-style pizza in Donatos and Massey's (for a look at that previous post, please take a look at this link.)

Their opponents, if you will, are the out-of-towners, originating from opposite ends of Interstate 75 on the west side of the state and sporting decidedly different styles of pizza.  While they don't have the combined experience of their Columbus counterparts, they do bring it in terms of enjoyable pies.

Pretty Fly for a Walleye: A Day in Port Clinton, Ohio

Marblehead Lighthouse, just one of the many attractions located in or along
Lake Erie near the town of Port Clinton, Ohio

With the Labor Day weekend at hand, millions of folks around the country will be getting in their last summertime vacation jaunts. For many in Ohio, this means a trip up to Lake Erie to ride the coasters at Cedar Point Amusement Park in Sandusky or to enjoy the leisurely lake life on South Bass Island and Put-In-Bay.

Chances are if you're driving through here, you'll pass through the proclaimed "Walleye Capital of The World" in Port Clinton, Ohio. Lest you think that nickname is just a cute saying, community members back that up annually when they brave often windy and frigid temperatures on New Year's Eve to experience the Walleye Drop, a tradition that celebrates its 20th anniversary this year.  But that's not all this town of just under 6,000 has to offer the visitor though, as we found out recently.

Cincy Travels Pt. 4: A Fifty-Fifty Brewposition

Just one of the several photographs one can find of famed highway US 50
at Fifty West Brewing, located on the eastern outskirts of Cincinnati

When it comes to US highways, Route 66 generally has the most ballyhoo and mythos attached to it as this country's ultimate road trip experience.  But based on my travels, I think US Route 50 might be the more satisfying road trip route.  Once stretching coast-to-coast, US 50 still meanders just over 3,000 miles through the middle of the United States, offering all manner of towns and cities of all sizes and just about every prominent geographical feature that this land has to offer, including a section in Nevada dubbed "The Loneliest Road in America."

Unlike the major Interstates, US 50 in Ohio is a pretty affair, playing tag with the Ohio River through Cincinnati. Once out of the Queen City, the route winds through forests and over rolling hills into the college town of Athens and then beyond, finally crossing over the river proper into Parkersburg in West Virginia.  Perhaps unsurprisingly, one can launch into a pretty fair tour of breweries nestled on this route, and we figured a visit to a couple of them would be a perfect coda for our Cincinnati weekend.

Cincy Travels Pt. 3: The Mmmm's Have it

This sign for Yost Pharmacy, which has served the residents of Mason since
1945, might be a future candidate for Cincinnati's American Sign Museum

Our trip to Cincinnati was an anomaly for us: other than the Cincy Brew Bus tour, all other places were either in the "possible" category or visited completely on the whim. This led to a mild bit of meandering as we explored the northern reaches of the area with stops in Middletown and Mason and knocked off a lot more stuff than we had even figured we would.