Sweetwater Tavern

Type: Chain Brewery

Location: 7861 Center St, McLean, VA 22102

Website: http://sweetwaterbrew.com

Cost: Reasonably priced Menu

Visit Date: 07/21/2013

Beers: Naked River Light

           Great American Restaurants Pale Ale

           Barking Frog Ale

           Wit's End Ale

           A new IPA not yet recognized by the state of Virginia

Nearby: DC? A mall.  Short drive to a murky diving lake.  Slightly less short drive to skyline drive.  A bunch of government stuff and contracting companies in McLean.  Some of my favorite people live nearby too.  Touristy? ehhhh.

Notes: I really liked this spot.  The decor was fantastic and the Portabello Fajitas were awesome.  I shouldn't have eaten everything in front of me but I did, and it was delicious.  Huge and delicious, The beers were pretty solid too.  I came here with my friends after our final checkout dive to get PADI open water certified (woohoo!), and our instructor, another classmate and divemaster showed up. Good times.  

So diving was pretty awesome but if you have crappy skin like me, get some tape and wrap up your fingers before trying to put on a wetsuit.  I don't remember such difficulty with the wetsuit I used surfing in Cali.  I'm guessing it was thinner, we used 7-5 wetsuits for this class.  Surfing, not a clue but the pacific water was COLD.  I'd get into surfing if my knees didn't suck.  But, diving was fun.  Putting on the wetsuit sucked.  Hardcore.

Particularly, tape those fingers if you have monster calves and no upper body.  Bad combination for a thick wetsuit.  If you're squeemish it'd be a good time to close your eyes as you scroll.  I peeled off the tape and these were the fingers which, the morning after, I could not uncurl for the life of me.

Both hands looked like this. They're actually healing up pretty well, but I was afraid they wouldn't.  

Big baby? Maybe.

But WTF is wrong with my skin?  Cracks open and bleeds in the winter, burns off from gripping a little neoprene.  It's a good thing I had tape.  

Really glad though, that my friends suggested learning to dive.  Unexpected, it seems like most people take lessons when they're planning a trip, but it just seemed like something cool to do.  Well for me at least.  They just just back from the trip of a lifetime and discovered diving should be on their list of things they can do.  For me, now I can say I did *something* this summer.  Something other than study or work that is.

Gordon Biersch

Type: Chain Brewery

Location: 7861 Center St, McLean, VA 22102

Website: http://www.gordonbiersch.com/locations/mclean?action=view

Cost: Reasonably priced Menu

Visit Date: 07/14/2013

Beers: Golden Export

           Hefeweizen

           Czech Pilsener

           Marzen

           Schwarzbier

           Blonde Bock

Nearby: DC? A mall.  Short drive to a murky diving lake.  Slightly less short drive to skyline drive.  A bunch of government stuff and contracting companies in McLean.  Some of my favorite people live nearby too.  Touristy? ehhhh.

Notes: Either Gordon Biersch locations vary a lot or I have a bad memory and variable impressions.  The Miami location seemed very upscale.  Fancy food.  The DC location was a tad disappointing.  The Tyson's location was just what I needed, and the garlic fries were to die for.  It was a pretty nice looking spot for being in a mall, too.

I stopped here with a good friend (and old roomie) and her husband after scuba diving.  We were all tired and hungry.  I ordered veggie tacos, I don't remember what they ordered but both of them got garlic fries with their orders.  I stole some and promptly placed an order for more.  Fries isn't something I do often, but these were worth it.  The tacos were good too, although the rice and beans were bland.  The schwarzbier was my favorite.  I know; I'm predictable.

Cigar City Brewing

Type: Brewpub/Brewery

Location: Tampa Airport, Terminal C

Website: http://www.cigarcitybrewing.com

Cost: Reasonably priced Menu

Visit Date: 07/14/2013

Beers: Helles Lager,

           Tony Janno's Pale Ale

           Maduro Brown

           Belgian White

Nearby: Departing AirTran Flights

Notes: I guess I'll be flying AirTran again.  The first time I went to a Cigar City location, we stopped at the brewery off Dale Mabry and had to order three sampler trays to try everything.  Everything was great.  This stop was a surprise.  My flight home from visiting my parents was delayed by a couple hours and I  needed dinner.  Lucky coincidence, there was a Cigar City!  Sorry Continental, guess I'll be choosing Terminal C next time.

The selection was smaller, but they had the Brown, that's what's important.  The food was unremarkable but I slept like a baby on my flight.

Catskill 3500 Club

I finally framed my Catskill 3500 Club Certificates and patches.  It took so long because I needed to order new copies.  Somebody else is in possession of the originals.  Why would you keep something like that??

I can still be proud of the accomplishment, even if it's mixed feelings about some of the memories.  There's a fine line between adventurous and reckless.  

My final weekend, and only solo trips, I had to tape the shit out of my feet to get anywhere after the week before: crying, in pain the last mile, I expected to see bone when I took my socks off.  I survived, and there were many worthwhile experiences, but we could have been smarter.  Nevermind the battles through bush on trail-less peaks only to reach a summit with no view.  What good is a summit, without a view?

I'm good for complaints, but it was worth doing.

I suppose this is Africa after all

We spent our time in South Africa with white Africans.  I'll spare you my feelings on the complicated race relations in Africa.  People are not their grandparents but it's not that simple.  Learning from their past, in 1994, the new South Africa made sweeping anti-discrimination laws.  They were the fifth nation, and first african nation to legalize same sex marriage.  I'm not going to say that everything is fine on a personal level between every individual, but things are improving.

All that said, traveling with white Africans provided a unique tourism experience.

In short, it didn't always feel like we were in Africa.

I understand why people in Johannesburg are cautious.  And I can definitely empathize with lingering hurt and anger.  Crime is high, fear is not illogical.  But hiding behind 12 foot concrete fences with electric wire at night was a new experience.  Within those walls, we could have been in the States, or anywhere in Europe.  We started the trip with a safari, which was cool.  The camp was beautiful.  We braai'd at night and saw Elephants and Rhino during the day (and a leopard shortly before sundown!), it was all very posh and lovely.

Genuine, I suppose for a white African experience.   I'm trying not to sound disdainful.  Nice is nice.

After the game drives, we went to a casino (and found some amazing Indian food) and went on a Elephant back Safari.

Posh and fancy.  The elephants were rescued from Zimbabwe.  They'd been destined for the circus.  Now white people pay to ride them.  

Unique perspective here, and don't get me wrong, they were great people.  The hospitality of my friends family was great, they were so nice; and funny, and accommodating.  And really wanted us to enjoy their country.  But, and I can appreciate their concern, the trip felt so very sheltered.  You can pay to ride an elephant, but when you dip your feet in the hot tub at night, and barely see a black person, or a black person not cleaning something, or cooking something.  Well, it took some time to feel like we were in Africa.  But this is South Africa - a complicated place, and the experience was, in actuality, as genuine as it could be.

The moment we realized we were actually in Africa came unexpectedly.

After the Safari, most of the family flew to Cape Town, we piled in the car with my friends dad, towing a trailer full of suitcases.  I was hoping to see the African countryside, and there were some pretty sights along the way, but we mostly just drove.  We spent a night with her grandmother in Still Baai, and I'll tell you, it was refreshing to see homes without walls.  While I understand the fear because the anger is warranted, I'm conflicted.  I grew up knowing that people are just people.  Of course, where I live, you don't need to hire private security because the police are corrupt.   People got shot where I grew up, but I still never felt fear after dark, maybe I was just too young.  I think I started out saying I wasn't going into this.

We did end up seeing a lot of the Western Cape.  We explored Cape Town on foot.  Visited a vineyard, Climbed Table Mountain and explored the gardens on the far side, visited Robben Island and several museums, saw a colony of seals on a boat, and Jackass Penguins on a Boulders Beach.

But the moment I knew we were in Africa came shortly after we arrived in Cape Town.  My friends dad was exhausted from the drive and we were restless from riding in the car.  We wanted to see and explore!  We're in Africa, come on, we can't sit in the house!  Begrudgingly he agreed to see what we could find.  First stop: liquor store for some $4 wine and Namibian beer.  Everywhere we went, we seemed to crack open a beer "welcome to Africa!"

I'm not sure what he was expecting when he pulled into the power plant.  But it was something, and it was something that appeared to be open to the public.  I guess a car full of engineers might find this entertaining?

The agreement with the government was that if they built a power plant on the beach, they had to open the land to the public and build trails.  I'm pretty sure he discovered that only after parking and finding a sign.  We were in luck, we grabbed a few bottles and started walking.

Yeah, I wasn't exactly expecting to just stumble across Zebra.

But, we did.  At a power plant.  Zebra.



And that's a springbok.

It's not so much Zebras in Africa that is so cool.  It's random Zebra's in Africa.  Like deer in New Jersey.  Ordinary.  Only Zebra.  Along a random trail.  In a random park that was really just land dedicated as park by a power plant.  Zebras.  Yep.  I guess this was Africa alright.

On the subject of South Africa and Race, however, two books I highly recommend: My Traitors Heart and Khayelitsha