Wander the West: Ted - Viewing Profile

Made a quick weekend getaway to Yosemite. Mrs Magellan was taking photos of Half Dome in the fading light when she caught an unusual event - a large patch of snow broke away from the snowfield on top and fell down the face.

I'm a big fan of Pliney the Elder, a Double IPA with high ratings on several beer websites, and have mentioned it a number of times. It is in limited production and can be very hard to get.
Even more highly rated and more difficult to get is Pliney the Younger. Russian River Brewing Company only makes one batch of this Triple IPA a year, releasing it on the first Friday of February. That would be February 1 this year. It is available only on tap at the brewery and a select few on their distribution list. The line at the brewpub can be literally two blocks long for lunch or dinner during this time. You are limited to two small glasses and it sells out within two weeks.
Combined that with Superbowl weekend and a local team participating, this weekend will be crazy. I'm betting on Monday being a little slower. Got my DD lined up. Let the boss know I won't be in Monday.

Finally finding the time to do a TR for our Alaska trip. We are not retired so don’t have the time to make the trip in our own camper. So we flew to Anchorage, rented an RV and drove around for a couple of weeks, took a cruise from Anchorage to Vancouver, then flew home. For those of you with limited time off like us, I highly recommend the RV rental route. We will definitely do it again. We used Great Alaskan Holidays and were very happy with the rental and company.
An RV rental is a popular way to visit Alaska. We saw hundreds, from trucks with campers to diesel pushers. Ours was a 25’ Winnebago, a reasonable compromise. Being used to our camper, the room it provided was luxurious yet we were still able to get into nice campsites.






Going in at the end of the tourist season in September had advantages and disadvantages. The good: plenty of camping available even in the popular areas, almost no mosquitoes, fantastic Fall colors, all souvenirs half off. The not so good: Caribou had already migrated so missed them, moose hunting season so they were all hiding.
Fall colors in Alaska are impressive. We are used to patches of Aspens providing the color from our usual eastern Sierras trips. In Alaska the color comes from much more of the vegetation, sometimes reaching for miles over entire hillsides.

Westvleteren 12 Belgian ale by Trappist monks. Probably the hardest beer to get in the world. Normally only sold by appointment at the abbey in extremely limited amounts. Got in on the one and only distribution to the U.S. Six packs are already on Ebay with bids above $300. Even empty bottles are going for $15. Crazy.

Sure, there is the sightings thread. But I see other campers all the time. How many of you can sight yourself?

Ever been driving down the road and seen a car going the other way with a funny contraption above it? Something like a cross between a disco ball and a camera. That is a vehicle filming the views you see on Google Maps' Street View. I saw one a while back and checked the location where I saw it. Sure as heck...