Reeling in the Last Good Times of 34

Tomorrow is a big event. The WL team is going to have the summer Corn Hole outing, aka Cornholooza. Lunch at the WL so Ane Lyn and The Cruise Director can have a few more beers. They are kind of in stop motion on the tour. A beer here, a beer there, but not significant progress.

At any rate, we are having two corn hole events. One at Ane Lyn's, then we are going to move on to the evening session at Hollow Leg's. The significant part of this event for me is that is it my last blast in my early 30s. I am going to be turning 35.

Where the heck did it go. I still remember waking up hung over when I turned 25 and thinking it was slipping away. Oh the beers I have drank between now and then. I had never even had a wheat beer - what was a dunkel. It was around that time I started to explore the world of beer - and ironically the world at large.

I had never been to Paris where I drank Kronenberg from a dirty glass in some little cafe. I had never been to Oktoberfest and partaken of the beers from Munchen's finest breweries while listening to Ompa Bands. I hadn't been to London and enjoyed glass after glass of John Smith's Extra Smooth and Boddingtons.

I had no idea the Smithwick's existed . . or that I would even need a break from the black gold I know as Guinness. I had never been to Switzerland . . I can't even remember what beer I drank there - probably something German.

I wasn't that green. I knew about Abita beers - only the turbo dog though. I discovered those on a trip to New Orleans (one of the greatest cities in the world). I had been to San Francisco and tried Anchor Steam.

I remember drinking the lovely beers from Left Handed Brewing in Longmont, Colorado - the Saw Tooth was very memorable - just ask the guy who has his pants down in a photo with me. Going to Boulder and checking out all the brew pubs there.

I guess you could say that I could trace my travels around the world with the beers I have enjoyed in those places. It is a universal thing.