Jon and I are in flew out to Washington State today for some concerts here at Washington State University and in Oregon.
The weather was suprisingly mild (especially compared to the last tour up in -12 below MN and Midwest!) and I enjoyed the sunshine on all the rolling snow covered hills on the drive from the Spokane airport to Pullman. Besides the rolling hills and sunshine, one thing I always enjoy finding when we travel out West, is this very unique beer called "Fat Tire' New Belguim Brewing. I've never found it in our home town, and today in the corner market I picked up a new brew called "1554 Enlightened Black Ale" an it's brewed w/ real chocolate and caramel in addition to the malt. They say it's from named after the oldest dated reference to the recipe for the dark brew. Wow! Back to the year 1554. I imagine plenty of scholars, artists, musicians (well lots of different people) have been inspired by it before me! Don't they say that Beethoven's favorite meal was Mac'&Cheese w/ Dark Beer. Hmm...might be mine too w/ this beer.
I'd like more folks to enjoy this great beer and maybe help me bring it to the South! Check out the website for New Belgium Brewing in Fort Collins, CO:

http://www.newbelgium.com/index.php



Maybe if I help the company get it's beers popular in the South, I can get a free T-Shirt from them!
Cheers!
Jenn

Somehwere along an Iowa road, the LoNg-Shortbus finally landed:

ATL to Minneapolis to start the tour. The weather has been COLD. This is easily the coldest day to day weather we've ever experienced. Temps have been as low as -15. Here are some pics: