On the second day of our visit to Baltimore, The Wife and I took the train down to Washington D.C. to stroll around a bit and meet up with my good friend, Mr. Wilson.  The day after that, Mr. Wilson took a train up to Baltimore to keep me company (a.k.a. bar hop with me) while The Wife was in her conference all day.  That pretty much explains the string of pictures below.

Union Station has some beautiful spaces

A different view of The Capitol

Not bad for behind thick glass

Stopped for a moment to smell the flowers

Finally some shade for a moment

Head just inside the door and go to your right . . .

and bring your reading glasses for the beer list!

I must pause to make a more prominent mention of The Brickskeller, where we stopped in D.C. for lunch (and beer).  Having a list of 1000 bottles of beer to choose from can be a very difficult situation.  Usually I gravitate towards the draft list, which will narrow my selection down a bit before I really put any effort into a decision.  I did not have that option, so that day I focused on American breweries.  I do enjoy beer from many other places, but there is so much good craft beer in the United States to choose from that I have much work to do just to try half of it.  So after that, I looked for breweries that I don’t see here in Florida.  It just so happened that I landed at what was actually the first beer on the list and a 21^st Amendment Brew Free or Die.  It was a pretty IPA heavy weekend all in all.

21st Amendment - Brew Free or Die

How would you tackle such a big list of beer options?

Mr. Wilson come to Baltimore via Penn Station

Keeping me company at Koopers

I do love me some good beer in a can.

How sad . . . no really.

There are so many more pictures to get to.  Maybe I will give Baltimore and D.C. another feature sometime soon.

Until then . . .

Heavenly truffle popcorn with parmesan

Sweetbreads with gnocchi

Beef shortrib ravioli

A short stop by Orlando Brewing to try the goods.

A bit of window shopping in Daytona.

This one was a bit different.

Available in all sizes.

Stopping by the speedway before the crowds arrive.

Soon to be filled.

Soon to be littered with trash.

Taking in some nature.

Another visit to see our manatee friends.

The rains kept us inside at Redlight Redlight

Passing the time with a Brooklyn Cookie Jar Porter and board games before friends arrive.

Enjoying a Saturday afternoon with a good friend.

Surely there are a few stops along the way that didn’t make it into today’s post, but we do occasionally give the camera a rest during our travels.  Looking back, there are a few pictures that I wish were taken, but that only means that a return visit is in order!

• Here is another update on the Anheuser-Busch InBev situation overseas.  Beer shortages have already tapped the supplies of smaller shops and supermarkets are soon to run out as well.

• There is a bit of a brew-ha-ha going on in Ontario that may result in beer being pulled from the shelves.

• Many thanks to my Twitter friend @MelissaMangs and to The Father-in-law for passing along a good piece on Ebenezer’s in Maine.  You can also take a look at the recap from The Brother-in-law after his visit.

• A new Winter Beer Festival coming up in Atlanta.  Certainly would be interesting and worth attending if you are going to be in the area.

Ebenezer's Pub (via http://www.boston.com/)

Kampai!