I know this was over 3 weeks ago, but I wanted to write about it. It was so much fun. Oct. 10-14, Mike and I went to Denver, CO for the
Great American Beer Festival (GABF). Ithaca Beer Co. paid for Mike to go and I got a pretty sweet deal too. We went there with Dan, the owner of Ithaca Beer Co., Chief (the other brewer), and Eric (the sales rep). Chief was the only one of us who had gone before, so he was helpful with showing us around. The first night we were there, we went to an opening private party at
Wynkoop Brewing Company. That place was amazing! It was so big - I think it was 3 stories, the top floor had over 20 pool tables, plus a full bar on each level. All the food and beer you could eat/drink for a few hours. It was really nice. Afterwards we headed a few blocks over to Falling Rock, which is a cool tap room/bar. We ended up spending a lot of time there - when the festival wasn't going on, it seemed to be the prime gathering spot. The actual fest ran Thurs, Fri, & Sat nights and an afternoon session on Sat. too. Each session lasted 4 hours and there was something like 400 breweries and over 1800 different beers available for sampling. It was held at the Colorado Convention Center - and it was HUGE! I guess they said over 46,000 people attended - the biggest turn-out yet. I'm pretty sure they sold out each session.
Anyway - it was a great time all together. We also got to visit
Great Divide,
Flying Dog, and Coors Field. We made some new friends and experienced the biggest brew fest in the world. It was a strain on the body, going through such intense sampling :) and being a mile above sea level, and traveling, but I think we will definitely be returning in the future.
Here's a couple of pictures - I even bought a disposable camera since ours is STILL being worked on. Just to get this out - we pretty much HATE (that's a mean word, maybe it's more that we're very upset and disappointed with) Best Buy right now. They keep saying they are going to fix our camera, then send it away to their "shop" and two weeks later we get it back fixed, but only for about 4 pictures. They say that nothing is wrong with it, yet it doesn't work and somehow they figure out how to fix it (temporarily). Thank goodness we have a warranty on it, but we have been doing this dance with them for over 3 months now. And this last time, we took it back for the 4th time with the SAME problem, they sent it away again, and now are almost refusing to send it back, saying that there is nothing wrong with it but they can't fix it and we can't get a replacement. The actual store says that they can't do anything for us until they have the camera in their possession, but it's been away for almost 5 weeks when it should only be away for 2 weeks at the max. The good news is that when and if the camera comes back, they are going to refund our money or at least give us a new camera, but right now we feel as though we are getting so messed with. So after this experience, I'm going to make it a priority to never go to Best Buy again! I was trying to stay positive and not spew all that out, but I had to get it off my chest - sorry for the rant!
Anyway - here are the pictures from my phone and junk camera which really took horrible pictures too. Oh well - what can I do?
This just reminds me of papercutting - I like :)
Mike and Chief outside Falling Rock
Inside Falling Rock - this wall had taps going the whole way across, I have no idea how many they had - tons!
Here we all are at the booth. It was my first time being able to actually "work" a festival. I got to give people drinks and get people excited about our beers. It was great - I think I could really get into doing this more. (Chief, Dan, Me, Mike, Eric)
We also ran into our old friend Josh from DE. He used to work at Dogfish too but now lives in Milwaukee and works at Miller.
People get pretty silly at these fests. I learned a new trick (not really trick, but something that people often do at the fest) is walk around with pretzel necklaces. I was seeing so many of them and thought they were for sale somewhere, but when I asked someone, they said that they brought it from home. Hundreds of people walking around with these things - just a string with pretzels strung on it, tied around their necks. An instant snack with no hands needed. Although I never made it to the store to create my own, I discovered that most people were pretty open to sharing their necklaces, so it worked out nicely. This pretzel hat was quite crafty!
The guys working hard. They got such great reactions from people. I think the beer was viewed as quite tasty.
Don't I look so natural?
And Miss Janet, a friend of mine from DE, celebrated her birthday today too! 
So long blurry pictures -we are back in business! 
The teacher that I work with mainly is the Tin Man next to me. She is so nice - all the teachers are really great that I work with.
These are both of Taughannock Falls State Park
Buttermilk Falls State Park
A beautiful sunrise last week
Taughannock
On the drive home to State College two weeks ago
And Miss Myra. We're back to the meds for her. A couple of weeks ago I noticed that she was sneezing again really bad. And as I was calling the vet to get a refill of meds (I had let them run out a few weeks ago to see if she would be ok) I noticed snot on the bathroom sink with blood in it. So I took her back to the vet to get a new analysis. They put her on two different meds - both she takes orally twice a day. I'm getting better about giving it to her, but she just hates it so much. I hate doing it to her (were back to quarentening her into the bathroom, wrapping her in a towel and shoving a syringe down her throat - twice now - and then she spits half of it out) but it really makes such a difference. When I took her almost 1.5 weeks ago, she could barely breathe out of her nose. You could watch her lips puff out every time she breathed out. But when I took her back yesterday for a check-up, she was pretty much back to normal. But now they want us to keep giving her these meds for another 3 weeks and put her on a special diet and then go back for another check-up. I'm so glad that she is getting better, but all this is so stressful to her. I just hate it, but I have to remember that it's for her health, and she deserves to be able to breathe - I can definitely empathize with her after going through so many allergy attacks myself. I just can't imagine having to do this to her for the rest of her life. I think after months of this, her spirit would be really dampened. Just hopefully the diet is the answer and she can come off these prescriptions soon.
Here is Lin & Dan
CJ, another brewery worker, played guitar during the ceremony. He's really good and has a great voice. I guess he's in a couple bands, we'll have to get out and see some more of his work!
Fun games were also allowed, like "Catch Zach and give him a mohawk!" The bride had the honors, but it only ended up being a couple of strands. Zach was pretty scared all the same - funny stuff.
Dan & Zach
CJ playing a saw with a bow. I had never seen such a thing, but it actually sounded pretty good!
This is the papercutting that I did for them. The picture isn't great, but if you blow it up you can see "LOVE" on top, Lin & Dan, and the date. The design is modeled after their wedding invitation.
This is a papercutting that I made for the special occasion. I was pretty happy with how it came out. 
We got to spend some quality time with the nephews too. Here is Evan in his Halloween costume that Jeannie made. It was so cute!
Conell trying on the dino hat.
This just reminds me of papercutting - I like :)
Mike and Chief outside Falling Rock
Inside Falling Rock - this wall had taps going the whole way across, I have no idea how many they had - tons!
Here we all are at the booth. It was my first time being able to actually "work" a festival. I got to give people drinks and get people excited about our beers. It was great - I think I could really get into doing this more. (Chief, Dan, Me, Mike, Eric)
We also ran into our old friend Josh from DE. He used to work at Dogfish too but now lives in Milwaukee and works at Miller. 
People get pretty silly at these fests. I learned a new trick (not really trick, but something that people often do at the fest) is walk around with pretzel necklaces. I was seeing so many of them and thought they were for sale somewhere, but when I asked someone, they said that they brought it from home. Hundreds of people walking around with these things - just a string with pretzels strung on it, tied around their necks. An instant snack with no hands needed. Although I never made it to the store to create my own, I discovered that most people were pretty open to sharing their necklaces, so it worked out nicely. This pretzel hat was quite crafty!
The guys working hard. They got such great reactions from people. I think the beer was viewed as quite tasty.
Don't I look so natural?
This is hiking up Lickbrook. It was a pretty steep climb, just look at Ryan!
Towards the end of the hike, we were coming around a bend in Buttermilk when all of a sudden a great blue heron came flying around and was only about 15 feet from us! It landed right on top of these falls. It was so neat. There are a ton of herons in Delaware, but it's much harder to come by them here.
Here we are at the end. Since it was such a large group, it took really long. I think it was supposed to be 5 hours but ended up being closer to 7! But most everyone stuck it out and had a good time. 
Here she is at Ithaca Falls, and then later at Sarah's work in downtown Ithaca with Mike. 
Another great reason for coming to Ithaca was to see a band that she really loves: Michael Franti and Spearhead. This was such an amazing show and I would encourage anyone to go experience such a show. He is an amazing performer and sings about current, real issues. He really sends a beautiful message of peace out. 
