Part Time Vagabond

GoPro underwater footage at Tumbledown Mountain, Maine

ChrisCavs — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 18:47:32 +0000

And here’s a photo of Tumbldown Pond above water:

Tumbledown Pond (photo courtesy Josh Christie)

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Postcard From Bali – video by Stephen Kot

ChrisCavs — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 14:14:30 +0000

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From The West: My Family Visits the General

hokie — Fri, 20 May 2011 14:00:00 +0000

Roughly a month ago, my family flew 3,000+ miles from Maine to visit me in sunny California. My mother, step-father and brother landed in Sacramento and headed south on I-80 West. Once they settled into their hotel, we met up for a post-arrival, pre-travel-induced-passing-out dinner.

Over various Italian foods, we caught up and discussed what it was we were to do for their nine day stay. Having recently left my job, I was free to do whatever they’d like. Aside from the normal San Francisco sightseeing, it was determined that we should do our best to break in the black 2011 Ford Fusion they had rented.

And what better to do way to do this but drive 270ish miles to Sequoia National Park? After viewing really big trees, we decided we’d head another 190 miles north to Yosemite National Park. From there, we’d complete the loop and head home. This plan sounded great! Though it did dawn on me that the last time I had spend five hours in a car with my family was 11 years prior, while driving from Maine to Pennsylvania. But really, how bad could it be?

After a few days of stuffing our faces, gazing at the Golden Gate Bridge and walking around Golden Gate Park, we prepped ourselves to head south. After many rounds of Angry Birds, some potato chips, sunflower seeds, beef jerkey, and good conversation, we started the ascent into the National Forest.

Since we had left early, we got to Sequoia National Park by early afternoon. It being mid-April, the lower valley’s landscape was a lush green and the views were exceptionally beautiful. Once we got our fill of the vistas, we aimed the Fusion at the real attraction, the Giant Forest. Having made it this far, we couldn’t leave without a glimpse of the General.

For those of you asking, “What in the sweet hell are you talking about?”, I’m talking about the General Sherman. As Wikipedia explains:

General Sherman is a Giant Sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum) with a height of 83.8 metres (275 ft). As of 2002, the volume of its trunk measured about 1,487 cubic metres (52,513 cu ft), making it the largest known non-clonal tree by volume.

At six-thousand feet in elevation, the roads were flanked by large banks of snow, giving the car ride a bobsled vibe. Once we arrive at the General’s parking lot, we quickly hit the trail to see ol’ Shermy. To be honest, I can’t really describe the tree beyond saying it’s really, really, really [expletive] big. I simply do not trust my vocabulary. It is something that needs to be seen in person to fully appreciate.

After spending some time admiring Mother Nature’s large-scale handy work, we piled back into the car and started north to Kings Canyon National Park. As we neared the entrance, we stopped at a trading post to inquire about hotels on the way to Yosemite. Along with some great suggestions, we also learned that the road to Kings Canyon was still closed to due to snow. Oh well. We spun around and headed back to route 99.

As we passed through Fresno, we debated if it was time for dinner, or if we should drive straight to Yosemite. We decided it wise to grab dinner, and stopped just north of Fresno. Our decision was validated when we looked at the map. The area between Fresno and Yosemite is sparsely populated at best. After a delicious meal, and quickly descending into food comas, we decided to stay put and find a hotel room nearby.

The next morning we hit the road bright and early, zipping up route 41 to Yosemite National Park. While the season’s tremendous snow fall didn’t allow a peak at Kings Canyon, it did provide spectacular waterfalls in Yosemite. In fact, as we walked around, we repeatedly heard tour guides mention that this was the best time of the year to visit.

Entering the park from the south, we realized that though Yosemite is known for its falls of the same name, there are several other majestic cascades. Included are Ribbon Falls and Bridalveil Fall. Other great features are El Capitan and Half Dome, both well known in rock climbing culture. As mentioned before, I simply don’t trust my writing to properly describe the sights found in Yosemite. What I can do is highly recommend visiting the Park in the early spring season. You won’t be disappointed.

It is true that I had originally questioned my ability to survive a two day road trip with my family. In the end, I made it unscathed and had an amazing time. I consider myself very lucky to have had the opportunity to share such a great experience.

Do you think you could manage several days in a beautiful part of the country with the people closest to you? Have you tried?

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Roll that Beautiful Fly Fishing Footage!

ChrisCavs — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 19:44:17 +0000

I just love this video shot by some dudes in Switzerland. Gorgeous footage, cool music…enjoy.

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From the West: How to Get Cheap Lodging on Your Next Trip

hokie — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 14:00:00 +0000

In late December of 2010, I happily took on the task of planning a bachelor party. The bachelor is a very good friend of mine from college. In preliminary discussions, it was determined that since all the gents who were going to be attending lived all over the country, we’d pick a single destination and let everyone figure out how to get there. After about thirty seconds of deliberation, we had picked the spot:

Ski Town U.S.A. (a.k.a. Steamboat Springs, Co.)

Background story detour…

While college graduation approached, I had made up my mind that I was not going to into the full time job realm. Instead, a mutual friend of the bachelor and I composed a list of ski resorts around the country that we’d like to live post-grad. Several weeks of being back home, living with our familes, got us vigorously hunting for jobs. In fairly short order, my friend and I each got solid offers in Steamboat. While we prepared for our departure west, the aforementioned bachelor called us and asked if we had room for a third. Luckily we did, and the three of us packed up my ’92 Ford Explorer and hit the road…

This history made the ‘Boat a natural choice. It also didn’t hurt that, while said bachelor and I had left Steamboat years earlier, our friend still calls it home.

Now the real planning began and all the usual wrinkles had to be ironed out. Who would be invited, where would we get cheap lift tickets and, most importantly, where the hell would we sleep? Our friend kindly offered to let us stay at his house, but as our group’s number climbed to ten, we politely declined. May I note that our refusal was much to his female roommates’ relief.

As I began pricing out hotel rooms, a conversation from earlier that summer popped into my head. The letters V, R, B and O, were all I could really remember from a thick, beer induced fog. A quick search on the Google brought the rest of the discussion back in a snap.

If you haven’t heard of it yet, VRBO is short for Vacation Rentals By Owner. And while most of the properties are still brokered by agents, the rates are way, way cheaper than anything you’d find in a hotel. Plus, you’re in a house or condo!

After a bit more intertube traveling, I found that Steamboat Springs was well represented on VRBO. I did a search with the dates we were going to be in town. From there, I looked for units that could sleep the number of people and had the price ranges we could afford. Within minutes, I had a comprehensive list of our lodging options. I plopped a list of links into an email and sent it to the guys who were attending. In a day or so, we had collectively made up our mind on which place to rent.

From there, I submitted an inquiry through the same website. Within the same day, I got a reply from a rental agent confirming that the unit was still available and explaining how payment would proceed. All I had to do was send two separate checks to their office. One for the full sum of the stay, and another for a security deposit. They would then send the checks to the property’s owner. Once the owner got the checks, and deposited the first check, he or she would send me information on how to get into the townhouse.

Though I was a little apprehensive about the Byzantine path my checks would have to take, all went according to plan. Within a few weeks of mailing my checks, I got an informative email from the owner regarding everything I’d need to know for my stay. The security check was held until we checked out and a cleaning person verified that nothing beyond normal cleaning was needed.

Once the long weekend arrived, everything went off without a hitch. The townhouse was as nice and as close to the mountain as advertised. Ullr graced us with fourteen inches of fresh powder for the first day, and he continued the flurries through to the second. Per usual, the vacation went entirely too fast, but it was really an excellent time.

I would highly recommend utilizing the VRBO service if you’re planning a trip. With the high amount prices of real estate on the market, owners are looking for any way to help pay the mortgage (or taxes for that matter). In the end, it’s infinitely cheaper than staying in a hotel, and you can save a bit more money by cooking in a night or two. If you have any questions, feel free to message me on twitter, @h0ke.

P.S. If you can find New Belgian Brewing’s new-ish beer, Ranger IPA, I HIGHLY recommend it. That is all.

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3 Beer Apps for Your Smartphone

ChrisCavs — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 18:00:00 +0000

For people like you and me, the craft beer scene is a walk in the park. But for those new to the world of bubbly goodness, finding a good beer is an overwhelmingly daunting task. I should know, since I was a newbie only a couple of years ago. There is a glut of beers on the market, and regional availability, price, and quality varies. With the popularity of smartphones rising, it was only a matter of time before the craft beer nerds got their hands on one and started writing apps for it. Here are three apps that I’ve used on many an alcohol, malt, and hops infused evening. *Note: I use an Android powered device, so I’m not sure if some of these apps are available for iPhone. It should be pretty simple to find out.

Beer

Beer is essentially a beer tasting notebook, with entries for brewer, beer name, a rating, and even photos (paid version only). It’s database is decently appointed, but the app’s interface left something to be desired. It did offer a backup of your personal beer entries to their servers, but when I would try to retrieve my beers after a reinstall, the app couldn’t find my account. There’s a lot of data entry you have to do yourself, which as we all know, after a few brews can be pretty damn tricky. On the plus side, it has a barcode scanner built in, but that doesn’t always work, and the information is never put into the correct fields. You can do a bulk barcode scan, and export your list to csv as well, but you have to remember to backup on a regular basis. You know, as I’m reading this, there are a lot of “buts.” Maybe avoid this one.

Beerby

Beerby (rhymes with nearby) is a nice little app that adds a cool social element to your beer drinking. Um, you know, more than the social element that usually comes with drinking beer. The interface is simple, with tabs for searching, places, contacts, and your own tab. Simply type in the beer’s name and wait for it to come up, check-in to the beer, and you can share on Twitter and Facebook. The app will automatically post to those social networks so people can see what you’re drinking. One cool feature is that you can have the app check in to Foursquare as well, so your drinking buddies can find you and harass you for being a nerd. To add to the game, you can earn badges for how many beers you drink, how often, and in how many different places.

Untappd

Untappd is very similar to Beerby, except that it doesn’t sit on your phone as an app. Instead, this social beer sharing service works as a mobile web site. The advantage over the other apps is that Untappd takes up zero space on your smartphone, leaving you room for other useless apps. Untappd has many of the same features as Beerby, including Twitter and Facebook integration, easy search function, badge earning, and Foursquare check-ins. You can also go to the Untappd website using your home computer and have a look at your “Tab” to see what you’ve had to drink and what badges you’ve earned, scan “The Pub” to track what other users are drinking, and find what businesses (mostly bars) that people are checking into. And I just found out that there’s a brand new feature where you can check in to Untappd using the regular web interface as well, though you can’t check in with Foursquare integration (duh). No more phone only check-ins!

Overall, I think Untappd has pulled ahead of the other apps in terms of ease of use and functionality. The other apps are ok, but Untappd clearly has the advantage with its much better social media integration and fun interface. While there are dozens of other beer apps out there—some more useful than others—these three are pretty near the top. But that all depends on what you want to do with them. Check them out and have fun. Cheers!

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Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

ChrisCavs — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 13:21:13 +0000

In honor of St. Patrick’s Day, here’s a Green Rock Worm fly tied by my former colleague Alan Gregory. Slàinte!

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My Favorite Blogs

ChrisCavs — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 20:00:00 +0000

Sometimes, you just have to blow the horn for other people. Today, I thought I’d give you a taste of some of the blogs I’m reading and why I love them. Enjoy.

Outdoors

Any of the feeds from Backpacker.com – Read up on useful, fun, and sometimes hilarious posts by the people who are out in the wilderness more than they’re stuck in an office.
The Keen Blog – One of the few companies who are doing capitalism and social responsibility right. Keen doesn’t just sell shoes (and socks, and bags), but also a way of life that makes sure we take responsibility for the role our lives play in the world. And they’re awesome too.
Epicurean Cyclist - Russ Roca of the Path Less Pedaled might be called a bike snob, but he’s ok with that. Which is why he created Epicurean Cyclist, a blog he updates with only the best bike related accessories he’s used during his extensive bike touring experience.

Travel

Twenty-something Travel - A blog for the young and the young at heart. Stephanie is a twenty-something (see what she did there?) hard core traveler who not only takes us along on her sojourns into unfamiliar territory, but tells us the how, why, where, and when too.
Gadling – an all around travel information explosion spews forth daily on Gadling. If you’re into travel of just about any kind, this is where you get your news.
American Road Magazine – This one’s not really a blog, but there are hundreds of American Road trips on here (and I’ve yet to find a really good road trip blog) and their Twitter account auto posts random road trips.

Beer

Brews and Books – Friend and occasional PTV contributor Josh Christie pens this gem of a blog. It’s seems strange to pair a beer with a book, but Josh manages to combine his love of beer with his passion for selling and reading books. It’s an odd match, but it works really well.
BeerNews.org – The main reason I watch this blog is simply for the labels. BeerNews is always posting the newly approved bottle and can labels from around the country. Of course, they are a top notch craft beer news site as well.
CraftBeer.com – Pretty straightforward news from the craft beer industry, but the real gem here is the food/beer pairings. So. Good.

Fly Fishing

MidCurrent.com – Kind of the big boy of fly fishing news, Midcurrent is the place to get your fly fishing fix. From videos to blogs to step-by-steps, it’s like the encyclopedia of fly fishing you always wanted.
OrvisNews.com – The official fly fishing blog from the Orvis fly fishing company, OrvisNews.com provides up to date news and info about the fly fishing world in a very accessible way. Check out the Orvis Fly Fishing Guide Podcast with Tom Rosenbauer as well. A great way to learn the sport or hone your skills.
Small Stream Reflections – In my limited experience, most fly fisherman dream of landing huge slabs of chrome in steelhead salmon rivers or trophy browns on famed trout streams. The idea of fishing a tiny little stream to land a wild brookie that might top out at 8 inches almost never crosses the mind of most. People like “BRK TRT” bring us back to the pure joys of fly fishing through his fantastic writing and beautiful photos of small water.

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Granola Bar Adventure!

AMunier — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 17:00:00 +0000

I’m a freestyler. In general, I like to make my own rules, wander off the trail… But there is one place that this lust for spontaneity consistently gets me into trouble- the kitchen. It is because of this that I greatly prefer cooking to baking. At least with cooking, recipes have a bit more wiggle room for experimental efforts with less disastrous results. But baking is such a science, one missing ½ teaspoon of baking powder and the whole thing goes tits up. With cooking, you can continue to tweak ingredients and flavors until you get them right. But again with baking, a failed attempt can rarely be saved as anything other than paperweights or possibly a door stop depending on the size pan you are using.

So you can imagine when Chris asked me to do a piece on making granola bars, I was a bit nervous. Cookies I have done, muffins even, but granola bars seemed complicated and mysterious. Also, I traditionally despise many of the ingredients that go into granola bars (my greatest foe being raisins), and I was nervous about even finding a recipe that had elements that appealed to me (or that was at least uncomplicated enough for me to feel comfortable tweaking). Cooks.com alone has 160 different recipes! But then I found it- EASY GRANOLA BARS on allrecipes.com.

How easy you ask? Well, 3 ingredients easy. Basically it’s just oats, butter, and sweetened condensed milk and whatever other stuff you want to put into it. I chose slivered almonds with dried cranberries & apricots because I like a granola bar that has a little tartness, but I just as easily could have thrown down crunched up pretzles and peanut butter chips, or cashews and dried pineapple with chili powder.

It occurred to me as I was combining my chosen ingredients that this would be a really good recipe to make with kids. Because really, deciding what you’re going to put in them is the toughest/most fun part. Other than that, you just mix everything up into a big bowl, press it into a greased up (this is important) sheet pan and then bake it (longer if you want crunchy, shorter if you want chewy).

No, the end product was absolutely nothing like a Quaker Chewy granola bar. They were a bit heavier, less sweet, and were a far more substantial foil for my hunger. They felt like actual food! I packed them in a Tupperware container, and they tasted fresh all the way through the end of the month. I actually unearthed a stale one today, and though much crunchier, still totally delicious. Now that I’ve broken the seal, I am still very curious to try out some other granola bar recipes (maybe something with honey?), but I will most definitely be coming back to this one again.

Value-wise I also feel like I did quite well. I bought my add-ins from the bulk bins at the grocery store (only exactly as much as I needed), and the cost of remaining ingredients was quite minimal (work those coupons!). I got 24 bars out of the deal, and still have enough oatmeal to make another batch and a half. The only question that remains is what to put in them!

Any recommendations?

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From the West: A Barleywine Fest

hokie — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 20:00:00 +0000

The time had finally come, the month of February. I had been waiting patiently, knowing that after about two months of non-stop work, there was indeed a light at the end of the tunnel.

That light was Strong Beer Month.

21st Amendment Brewery and Magnolia Pub and Brewery team up every year to offer up a whole smörgåsbord of strong beers. Ranging from Imperial Stouts to classic Barley Wines, this isn’t a month-long event for the weak of heart. As an added bonus, in the midst of this hallowed month, the city of San Francisco holds their annual Beer Week. Luckily, it’s not celebrated only in the city, but spread all around the Bay Area. As the month sped by, I swung by a few events dotted around the East Bay. One lucky Sunday, I even happened upon a reserve keg of Pliny the Younger. That was a very good day.

In usual Hoke style, I waited until the last day of the SF Beer Week to take a look at the schedule. That said, the options were still plenty on this fateful Sunday. I decided that I’d head over to Magnolia Pub and Brewery for the Pre-Barley Wine Festival Brunch and then, when all filled up, move on over to Toronado Pub for the previously mentioned barley wine shindig.

I cruised into San Francisco on BART, got off at Powell Street and caught the bus up and over to the Lower Haight. Watching the bus eek its way up the hills on Haight St. made me glad I had decided to take the bus, versus the previously considered self locomotion.

Upon entering Magnolia, I was pleased to see it was rather quiet. In retrospect, it was 10:50 in the morning, but I had envisioned having to fight my way to the bar. Instead, I sauntered up to the bar, took a seat and gave the menu a once over. Today’s brunch had a theme, and it was sausage. The three items listed were your standard German schnitzel affair. I had all but placed my order when the barkeep casually mentioned, “I almost forgot, we have ONE more rabbit sausage left, if you’re interested.”

Was I interested? Having recently come off a several month vegetarian diet experiment, and knowing their quality of food, I hopped at the offer.

Hah. Get it? I hopped. Anyway…

The sausage, packed with rosemary and fennel, came on a bed of braised pinquito beans mixed with a medley of sautéed peppers. The house mustard was a wonderful mixture of spice and smoke with a serious bitter after taste. The hot sauce of choice was “Youk’s Hot Sauce“, the product of a certain first baseman with chin muff to spare. As though he knew my plans for the day, an entire carafe of water was also set in front me.

I enjoyed several bites before deciding what to couple this meal with. The board was filled with a good share of… well… very strong beer. I’m not sure if it was the time of day, or the desire to taste my meal, but I opted for Ruby’s Red Mild on hand pump. With a serious 3.97 ABV and an IBU of 15, this slightly bitter session ale was a perfect cleanser and pair. Being from cask, it had a smooth, creamy mouth feel and its finish was lightly sweet.

As I wrapped up my brunch, I jotted some notes, swigged the last of my red mild, and settled up. As I debated making the walk to Toronado, the 71 bus came over the hill and made my decision for me. Several stops later and I was standing in front of Toronado Pub, peering into a dim, awesomely loud beer bar. In regards to pubs, the energy of Toronado is like none other I’ve ever experienced. Equal parts anger, disdain and respect mixed with a love of beer, I knew straight away I’d found a new favorite.

This was the 18th Annual Barley Wine Fest and it showed. Though this year’s festival list was only half of last year’s, it still totaled 28. Since there are so many options, Toronado has a strict ordering policy. In fact, the employee’s shirts have the rules on the back, “Order by size and number.” My first attempt was almost a complete failure when I asked for a “3oz. #21 and a 3oz. #8″ The bartender looked me straight in the eyes and said, “You mean a small #21 and a small #8?” “Tough crowd,” I thought to myself.

I tackled Magnolia’s Old Thunderpussy ’09 (#8) first. The reddish-brown brew had a very sweet nose with a hint of banana. It was full bodied, a good combination of malt and bitter in taste and had a super clean finish. The next beer was Lower De Boom (#21), from 21st Amendment Brewing. The nose was hop-floral with a mild malt undertone. That hop aroma carried through the sweet taste and finished mildly bitter and dry. It had a noticeably thin body for a barley wine.

The first two choices, despite their top notch names, were not overly impressive. This was undoubtedly due to my love of strong, malty barley wines. Neither beer was bad, just not really to my liking. From this point forward however, things only got better.

My next beverage was the crystal clear, orangish-red John Barleycorn ’10 (#28) from Mad River. One sniff and I knew that this beer was legit. My mouth rejoiced at the well balanced mix of alcohol, malty goodness and a slightly bitter backbone which carried all the way through the finish. Had I stopped at three, this would have been my favorite, but the next on the list outshone them all.

Recommended by a father and daughter duo who had been attending the fest for a decade, I bellied up to the bar and properly ordered a “small #19.” Simply called Barleywine, this offering from Mill Valley Beerworks was simply outstanding. Having been aged in Pinot Barrels, the nose and flavor was comprised of vanilla, oak and malt. In combination with the heat from the alcohol, my mind immediately detected hints of minty goodness, which wrapped up with a quickly fading bitterness. As I tipped my stemmed glass back, straining for the last drop, warmth from the previously imbibed drinks slowly crept into the skin of my face and neck. Looking at my notes and then the time, I figured stopping at an even number like four would be horrible luck and headed back to the bar.

Having thoroughly enjoyed the last barreled barley wine, I decided to finish off with an Old Dipsea ’08 (#18). Aged in a bourbon barrel, this beer from Marin Brewing Company had an oaky nose and provided a good blend of malt, smoke and booze. The mouth was thin and creamy, and was followed by a dry and sweet finish. Taking my time with my final charge, I walked around the rowdy crowd, had a random chat with the dishwasher and found a flat surface to round out my notes.

Moments later, I was standing in another bus, heading north. I had slated a round of disc golf in Golden Gate Park, but the clouds were rolling into the sky (my head) and there looked to be a severe chance of showers (Tecate with an old friend). I ultimately decided physical activity was over rated and made my way to Broadway and Hyde. Several hours later, I woke up as the train I was on pulled into my stop. I slowly got up and made my way out of the train smiling. Leave it to rabbit sausage and a few good barley wines to make for an excellent day.