1. I gassed up the Sube and rocketed west to the CdA, the Lake City, swung by Byrdman's house, and we headed out to spend a few hours in Post Falls, ID. Our first stop was Capone's for sandwiches and a beer. Neither of us had been to Capone's West before and it was fun to see that it's built, like the mothership CdA Capones, with dedication to neighborly atmosphere, tons of sports memorabilia, more beer taps than tables, and basic food: sandwiches, burgers, pizza, and appetizers.
2. When Byrdman and I arrived at Downdraft Brewing, it had just opened for the day and none of the Friday crowd had begun to stream in. We were served by the owner and brewer herself, Ginger, and it turned out that she is married to Josh Cantamessa, son of the late Jeff Cantamessa who was at the center of much that is alive and vital in Wallace. Byrdman's wife, Steph, is from Wallace and has been friends with the Cantamessas for many, many years and it was a blast talking with Ginger about Wallace and the Cantamessa family, as well as absorbing her beer expertise. She took us back to the brewing area and gave us a brief tour and, while in the tasting room, we talked about the different beer styles she brews and how business is going at Downdraft. Downdraft had closed back in November and Ginger and Josh reopened it as the new owners in January. It's my favorite kind of brewery: small operation, excellent beer, innovative beer ambitions, cozy, and very friendly. I look forward to returning.
3. Every 4-6 weeks, a bunch of us guys who graduated from Kellogg High School meet up at Corby's in Post Falls for a couple of beers and to see the owner, Dave Corbeil (KHS, Class of 67). Today, Lars, Stu, Byrdman, and I met and Dave (Pappy) Corbeil came in later. He'd been to the funeral of former CdA Viking basketball coach, Dean Lundblad. He told us about some of the CdA basketball players who attended the funeral and the reception at the CaddyShack. This led to some great yakkin' about high school basketball in North Idaho fifty years ago and, at one point, the conversation circled around to how much better Kellogg's teams could have been if guys like Bob and John Pegg or Jack Morris or quite a few others hadn't moved from Kellogg to CdA or Spokane. It's sure fun to think back and relive times when we were kids, played a ton of basketball at the Y, and played other sports around the neighborhood, monitoring ourselves, organizing the games ourselves, and not relying solely on Little League or other organized leagues in order to get some games together. I guess the closest we come to doing that now is to organize get togethers like this evening's and talk about the playing we used to do!
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