Sunday, December 21, 2014

Three Beautiful Things 12/20/14: Christmas Errands, Lunch at Parabola, Intro to Slate Creek Brewery

1.  Today was Christmas errand day in Coeur d'Alene.  I picked up some pictures at Costco, got a hair cut, and eventually went to Michael's and got some frames.  I especially enjoyed talking with the guy at Hair Clips who cut my hair.  He was a guy who went back to college (NIC, LCSC) at age 48 and earned a degree to go to work in the medical field.  He cuts hair part time now after he did so for seventeen years and it was as if I were back in Eugene, at LCC, when I had many such conversations with older students who did similar things.

2.  Byrdman and I went on a mini-tour of Cd'A for lunch.  We ate at Paragon Brewing.  It used to be the Time Out Tavern and it's been handsomely remodeled and is a great neighborhood pub with excellent beers.  I had a tasty IPA from MickDuff's and a chocolate cherry stout from somewhere in the region. I seem to have forgotten where.  Our pub burger loaded with onion rings and blue cheese was superb and we both agreed the seasoned fries were the best we'd ever had.  Our session was made really superb by the sparkling work of Brittany, a very friendly, talkative, and knowledgeable bartender.

3.  Speaking of knowledgeable, there was Amanda at the neighborhood taproom/brewery, Slate Creek.  A guy came in to buy a growler and we got to yakking and it turned out he used to live in Eugene and was crazy about Hop Valley and their Citrus Mistress (me, too!) and when Amanda overheard us, she told us she had lived in Eugene, worked at Oakshire, and had been on the Eugene Beer Week Board.  This was really fun!  And the beer was good.  I enjoyed their 6 Weight IPA and Salmon Run Red Ale.

It was fun having a short crawl with Byrdman and, as always, for me, I really enjoy making the acquaintance of young people, like the guy at Slate Creek, and like Amanda and Brittany, who are enthused about beer, have lived in a bunch of other places, and enjoy gabbing about it.

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