Onions and Peppers Smothered Round Steak, courtesy of Emeril. Throw some grilled artichokes and some brussels in there I tell you what!!

Knockin Me Out With Those American Chicken Thighs….

Enjoy. And my recently re-potted plants are doing great. Thank you for asking.

Today is Repotting Saturday. I have two plants that are getting too big for their britches. So now they get new homes.  Looking back, I should have gotten an even bigger pot for the red plant.

Day 2 of our trip: We got up and had a leisurely breakfast at The Stove. We then went to the ski shop and rented not only skis and boots but cross country skis and boots. 

We had some great runs. We crushed the green runs. The weather was perfect and not too crowded. My first day of skiing was a blast. I definitely fell many, many times. The boots are not comfortable. But I got the hang of it by the end of the day. 

We are heading out right now to go cross country skiing. We are bringing camera, tripod, beer, hot chocolate and schnapps, and Turtle the mascot.  It’s a day of firsts! skiing and XC skiing. 

We are spending the night at a friend’s house in Convict Lake. Pictures and updates to follow.

Mary and I will be leaving to go on a fantastic West Coast road trip for 10 days. This is a vacation for Mary and I but we are also semi scouting out possible places to move in a couple of years. Our first stop will be in Mammoth Lakes, CA which currently has more snow than any other place on Earth!! We are staying with an old friend of mine, Leslie O’Berry. Leslie and I used to sell lift tickets in Canyon Lodge together in the winter of ‘01-‘02.  Mary has never been to Mammoth so I am excited to show her one of my favorite places to be.

Our next stop will be South Lake Tahoe for a weekend with Dena Thompson. Dena and I used to be raft guides together on the West Branch of the Penobscot River. We are going to get some riding in at Heavenly, possibly do some hiking if the weather is nice. Once we leave Tahoe, we will be driving through Redding and Shasta Lake in Northern California.

We will make our way into Oregon with our first stop at Bend. We have looked up some great restaurants and bars to go to. We are also bringing our bikes so we can get totally wasted and not have to worry about driving back to our five star hotel penthouse. Once we leave Bend, Eugene will be our next stop. We will be in Eugene right after the National Championship game, so if Oregon wins, that town is going to be bonkers. I can’t wait to see the Oregon campus as I have been told it is very nice. I wish Phil Knight graduated from my college.

We will be heading south from Eugene, going through Grant’s Pass and getting on the Northern California coast. We plan on camping in the Redwoods and possibly Point Reyes National Seashore. We might go through Berkeley and grab a pizza at Fat Slice.

Santa Cruz is next on our list. Then the Aquarium at Monterey Bay. From here we are going to bounce down the Central Coast, camping in San Simeon and touring the Hearst Castle, former home of the fascist yellow journalist William Randolph Hearst.

Then home we will be.

This is our route. Enjoy.

I leave tomorrow morning! Friday,  July 30th at 4am.  I will be heading out to Bozeman, Montana to spend a week with Jeff and Lindsay Spurlock. We will be doing some whitewater kayaking in Beartrap Canyon on the Madison River. We will also be hitting up the Gallatin river, home of the World Famous House Rock and Mad Mile, and possibly even the Alberton Gorge section of the Clark Fork River. I finally get to try out my Jackson Kayak Happy Feet Foot Bag! When we aren’t kayaking, we are gonna be fishing, hiking, making magic happen in the kitchen, and building a concrete platform for a jacuzzi in the back yard.

From Bozeman, I will be traveling to Wilson, Wyoming (via a beautiful drive through Yellowstone) to see and old friend, Justin Mcallister.  Justin and I used to be raft guides together in Maine. Only in Wilson for a day, I will then leave to drop into South Lake Tahoe, CA to visit another former raft guide buddy, Dena Thompson. I haven’t seen Justin and Dena since 2004, so it’s going to be a long overdue visit.

Once I leave Tahoe, I will be on the home stretch through the huge, expansive, and fertile land known as the Great Central Valley of California.  Mary is in Europe for three weeks (which is why I got the travel bug in the first place) so I am going to have to wait forever to see her. But I will get to see my little pooch Chester once I get home.

Here is a map of my course:

Home to Bozeman: 1100 miles/16 hours

Bozeman to Wilson: 215 miles/3.5 hours

Wilson to Lake Tahoe: 750 miles/12 hours

Lake Tahoe to Home: 518 miles/8 hours

A total of 2,583 miles and almost 40 hours of driving!!

Give me a call tomorrow. I have all the time in the world to talk. I will be on the road from 4am PST to (hopefully) 9pm MST.

Cheers,

Mike

Basil

Sage

Thyme

Tobacco. Just kidding. It’s a Sunflower.

Mandevilla

Some weird CA Native

Squash

King Tut Papyrus

Rosemary

Yellow Pear Heirloom Tomatoes

Red Plum Tomatoes

Red Cherry Tomatoes

Weird Freaky Mutant Multiple Sunflower Sunflower

Jalapeños Rojos

In anticipation of my upcoming trip to Montana, I thought I would hop in my pool and knock the dust off my roll.  Still got it!! And I still can’t cartwheel (whitewater term).

I’m talking about Victory Prima Pils.  We serve this at my restaurant Vine and it is awesome! Pilsners are in the “Lager” family. While I am talking about it, there are only two types of beer on the planet: Lagers and Ales. Anyone that tells you differently, tell them to suck it.

Pilsner beer was developed in the town of Pilsen, Czech Republic.  This is the same town where Pilsner Urquell is brewed. All American made lagers are red headed stepchildren of Pilsners.

Victory Prima Pils

beeradvocate.com says:

“Pours a hazy sunshine yellow with champagne like bubbles. The head recedes from a half finger white head to a thin solid covering.

Lemon zest, skunk, yeast, grass appear in the nose. Nothing dominating, all of the smells blend together.

The first taste is that of a grassy nature. This blends into lemon and a bit of yeast. The aftertaste resembles the bitterness of grapefruit with grass. Plenty of hops hold the pils in place.

The bubbles play games while it rests in my mouth. It is relatively thin, but normal for a pilsner. The aftertaste is clean and crisp, quite refreshing.”

I would pair this beer with any seafood dish or a nice bbq chicken sandwich.

Cheers,

Mike