In late June, we made our annual pilgrimage to Panama City Beach, Florida with Laura’s parents, sister, and her brother and his family.  The trip mainly consists of hanging out at the beach and pool and eating, so it’ll be an abbreviated report with pictures of the highlights!

Sunday June 23

We got up early and flew down to Panama City Beach on Delta.  We had lunch at The Craft Bar, which has one of my favorite salads (seared tuna), and always a good tap list. Once arriving to the condo and greeting all of Laura’s family, the afternoon and evening were spend at the pool and on the beach.  We got family photos as the sun was starting to set.

Monday June 24

After a four mile walk on the beach and hanging out with the family a bit, I headed over to Hunt’s Oyster Bar in Panama City for a couple dozen raw and fried green tomatoes. Tasty meal!  We hung out on the beach and at the pool most of the afternoon, and had pizza for dinner.  We also celebrated Linley’s birthday, who turned six that day.  We had cupcakes and she opened gifts.  We ended the day with a nighttime beach walk.

Tuesday June 25

I started out early driving around a bit, and had a delicious and healthy smoothie bowl and one of my favorite places in town, Finn’s Island Grub.  After that, I headed to St Andrew’s State Park, where I rented a kayak for a couple hours.  I first paddled around in the lagoon, but soon headed out toward the gulf after seeing sharks in the lagoon!  Lunch was dumplings and gimbap (similar to sushi) at a Korean place I’d visited previously.  After a quick beer pickup at a local store, I spent the rest of the day with the family back at the condo, and finished with a grilled tuna BLT and a couple tasty beers at Fish Ale Taphouse with the whole gang.

Wednesday June 26

Not much happened this day besides napping and eating.  Lunch was solo at Holi Indian Grill in Panama City, where I had lamb samosas and gobi Manchurian (fried cauliflower with spicy sauce).  Dinner was Red Robin with just our family, and as I napped plenty, I was up late and went out after everyone was in bed for a late night meal at Waffle House and beers at The Corner Pocket & Craft Beer Emporium in Panama City.

Thursday June 27

After a lazy morning and lunch in the condo, I ventured out solo to the best brewery in the area, Idyll Hounds, about 30 minutes away.  As soon as I returned, the whole gang headed to J Michael’s for an early dinner.  It’s a very popular seafood joint that we all like that, as do many other people, so getting there early meant no wait.  I had a fried seafood platter which was delicious.  We got some obligatory annual pictures of the girls (and me) being eaten by the shark outside.  After a stop for ice cream for the girls on the way home, we spent the rest of the evening at the condo.

Friday June 28

Laura’s dad had wanted to take Nala to a nearby zoo – ZooWorld Zoological and Botanical Conservatory, to pet a sloth, one of her many obsessions.  So he, Laura, myself, and all three girls headed there, a few minutes from the condo, after breakfast.  They all had a great time seeing all the animals, and Nala was thrilled with having a close encounter with the sloth.  For lunch, I grabbed a seared tuna crunch wrap and ceviche to pair with a beer back at the condo, and spend the afternoon on the beach with the girl, who got to go on a scavenger hunt that Laura and her sister set up.   We spent the evening packing up for our departure the next morning.

Saturday June 29

Not a year goes by that we don’t have trouble either getting to or from Florida, and this year was no exception.  There weren’t enough seats on the first flight to Atlanta for us, but we had lunch while waiting for the second and all got seats on it.  Flight to Indy had gone to the crapper, so we ended up flying to Louisville and renting a car to get home.  Positives that came out of this was that it was a beautiful evening, we passed a car on I-65 that had a Santa in both the driver’s and passenger’s seat, and we stopped at one of our favorite places for beer and pizza, 450 North Brewing in Columbus, Indiana.  Overall, not a bad trip, but maybe next year we’ll buy tickets.

 

Because we had to forgo out usual spring break trip this year, we agreed that we’d try to get a few weekend trips in prior to our annual trip to Florida with Laura’s family in June.  We all had Memorial Day off, so a long weekend trip made sense.  I spent all week looking at a few destination possibilities, and settled on Spokane via Salt Lake City on Delta, departing Saturday morning and returning Monday evening.  As of Friday morning there were 24 open seats on the second leg, and by that evening it was down to 1.  However, Salt Lake City was still looking fine, so we decided to check it out!  We’d connected in SLC before, and once drove from there to Bryce Canyon and Zion and back, but had never spent any time in the city.

We had no problem getting on the flight out there, though started out with 10B, 11A/B, and 12A/B.  When the man sitting in 11C saw that he was sitting next to two little girls (the older two) whose dad was a row up, even though it was a middle seat (right behind first with tons of leg room), he offered to switch, which was awesome!  Luckily Delta still has TVs at every seat on almost if not all their mainline aircraft, so the girls were able to watch movies on the way, and I did a bit of reading and napping.  The oldest, being almost 8, can pretty easily keep herself entertained, though the newly 4 year old and almost 6 year old are still not quite at the maturity level to not get fussy about silly stuff, so long story short, the flight could have been a bit better.

Getting off the plane, through the terminal, and grabbing our car seats took all of maybe 10 minutes, but the 45ish minute wait at the Thrifty counter negated all of that.  I’d put in for a standard SUV, but by the time we got there, they were a bit short, so we ended up with a Jeep Wrangler, which actually ended up being pretty fun.  The girls got a kick out of that.  Everyone was getting a bit hangry at that point, so I found a good looking Mediterranean spot off of I-80 on the way to Park City, our first destination on the trip.  It was in a neighborhood called Sugar House, and located in a courtyard of a large shopping center, and had an outdoor patio, which was perfect for a late morning meal with sunny weather in the mid-60s.  We were very impressed with the wraps that we got, and the girls enjoyed their sweet potato fries.  I also liked that they had draft beer, and that per Utah law, all drafts were 4%, meaning I could have one before our drive to Park City!

We left around 1215, and within about 25 minutes, we were at Utah Olympic Park where some events for the 2002 Winter Olympics were held, including the ski jumps and bobsled/luge track.  We took a walk through the ski museum there, and found that there was a virtual reality setup that 4 people at a time could do, so the ladies all took about a 4 minute “ride” on a virtual trip down a mountain on skis (a 4 wide ski-lift looking contraption that moved around to match what’s happening on the screen).  After that, we all tried our hand at a virtual ski jump, which everyone enjoyed.  After getting a few pics of the girls in a bobsled and on a luge, we headed outside where we found that a skier was going down one of the jumps into a large pool, which was entertaining to watch for a while. I’m not sure what surface type was being used, but given that it was almost summer, there wasn’t any snow for the skier to glide on.

We were intent on finding a place in Park City to hike, though it was difficult to determine a good place to park to find a trail.  After a few minutes of driving, all but Linley had fallen asleep, and while we almost just drove back to Salt Lake, she was adamant on hiking.  We found a trail system on the east end of town, and luckily found a short trail that she and I could do while the others rested and slept in the car.  I’d been wanting to check out High West distillery, whose whiskeys I’ve had on occasion, so I cozied up to the busy bar at the saloon in downtown Park City for a cocktail and a pour of the spring seasonal bourbon, along with a huge pretzel with mustard and beer cheese.

Everyone had woken up by the time I got back to the car, and we headed back west on 70 through the mountain passes to SLC.  After relaxing in the room for a bit, with the adults attempting naps, we headed out for pizza at a divey place a few blocks away called Pie Hole.  The crowd was an interesting mix of folks, and the pizza names and toppings matched. I had a slice each of Flamagra, Street Fighter, and Bill Gates, while Laura had a Yosemite, and the girls all had cheese.  We walked back to the hotel and hopped in the car for a trip to the local Trader Joe’s to pick up snacks for the next day and the flight home.  The girls weren’t in the best moods so we got in and out as quickly as possible, and got them back to the hotel and away from the general public.

They were all ready for bed, so I headed out for some local flavor.  I had a great time sampling beers at Epic Brewing, where I met a father and daughter from Boise who own a salon with other members of the family.  They were finishing up a several state tour of breweries, so I was jealous!  I stopped in a local joint called the Bayou, which while pretty dead, had a New Orleans style jazz band playing, and plenty of excellent local taps.  After a quick walk back to the hotel, I found everyone else asleep, and wasn’t far behind.

We woke up a cool morning with clear skies, with a forecasted high for the day around 70.  We had some time to kill before our first stop of the day, so we drove around the Capitol building and some local neighborhoods, and drove through downtown where we saw the headquarters of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  It’s a really nice and clean downtown, and the surrounding mountain view didn’t disappoint.

We had kept our destination for the morning under wraps, and the girls were very excited when we got to the Tracy Aviary in Liberty Park.  Nala loves birds, so she was especially excited.  We had an awesome time spending about two hours wandering the aviary and seeing dozens of species of birds.  Highlights were the peacock wandering freely, and the owls.

My friend Lucas who I previously worked with had flown into Salt Lake to drive up to Jackson Hole, and coincidentally, was passing back through town before flying home to Dallas that evening.  Both being avid travelers and foodies, eating at Red Iguana was the obvious choice.  We finished at the aviary just as he was rolling into town, so we met there, and were able to get a table before the place became packed with the Sunday lunch crowd.  We were most excited about the moles that they’re famous for, so he and I each ordered a different type and split them.  We had the traditional Mole Negro (made with dried chilies, Mexican chocolate, raisins, peanuts, walnuts, and banana) and the Mole Amarillo (made with golden raisins, yellow tomatoes, yellow zucchini, and chilis).  Both exceeded expectations, and we were stuffed upon finishing.  Somehow we still managed to help Laura finish her huge plate of nachos.

Laura and I were exhausted after the early morning and the big meal, so we again retired to the hotel to nap a bit.  After resting up, we headed north just under an hour to check out Antelope Island State Park.  While we would love to have explored it more, during the one hike we did, we were bombarded by tiny biting gnats the entire time.  The girls had a blast climbing around on the rocks, but we ended the hike early to escape back to the safety of the car.  We drove around a bit, where we saw a few buffalo that are part of the large herd in the park.  We were all getting hungry, so headed back to Salt Lake for dinner.

After a stop at a gas station to clean all the dead gnats off the windshield and fill the gas tank, we parked behind Red Rock brewing, and got a table.  Our server was very friendly and attentive, and was kind enough to split up the girl’s entrees so there was no fussing, and brought their food out first.  He was also excellent at keeping my beer glass full.  All beer on tap is 4% abv per state law, so I was able to sample several.  Laura and I split a burger along with the Superfood Salad, which was a delicious combination of kale, arugula, roasted beets, avocado, blueberries, grapefruit, pistachios, goat cheese, and balsamic.  After dinner we got in about 20 minutes of swimming at the indoor/outdoor pool on the 3^rd floor roof of the hotel, and headed back to the room to pack up and get to bed.

Because the only nonstop flight back home would get it in after 10pm, we opted to fly through Minneapolis, leaving at 9am, and arriving back in Indy around 5pm after a two hour time change.  It was a pretty uneventful trip home.  Overall, we really enjoyed our time in Salt Lake, and were impressed with the area overall.  We’ll certainly be back when we need another weekend mountain getaway.

My friends James (who works for another airline) and Andy (who is on his flight benefits) had talked for a while about a trip to Brussels.  I’d been once before with James, and another time with Laura, but Andy had not yet been.  It’s one of the most beer-centric cities in the world, and the three of us are all fans of the brews from the country.  Timing, flights, and everything else worked out for us all to get there for a few days in April.  As the girls are in school and Laura worked, and because we spent time slowly sipping our way through the Brussels beer scene, it was more or less a “guy’s trip.”

The best option for getting to Brussels looked like taking Delta through New York’s JFK, as both legs had plenty of seats, though not a good change for an upgrade on the second flight.  I happened to find a very short connection to an Amsterdam flight with a better, though not guaranteed, chance at an upgrade, though it would likely be a 15 minute very fast walk between terminals, and timing would have to be perfect to even make the flight.  Luck was in my favor, as we changed arrival terminals, and parked 2 gates away from the AMS flight.  The agents were clearing standbys when I got to the gate, and heard my name called almost immediately, and was given 17G, having missed the upgrade by one.  I took my seat in Economy Comfort next to a very tall Dutch man, and tried to settle in the best I could for the ride across the Atlantic.  A few minutes before departure, I saw the agent come back down the aisle with a piece of paper in his hand, and stopped by my row.  It must have been someone’s unlucky day in that they missed the flight, meaning that it was good luck for me, as I got upgraded!

Service in Delta One was excellent as usual.  As always, the soup (spring carrot) was delicious, and the shrimp and salad were fine.  I had the Maryland crab cake for dinner, along with my favorite combination for dessert: cherry vanilla ice cream sundae with banana caramel sauce and brown sugar crumble, plus the cheese plate, along with port.    I watch a bit of the movie Vice before passing out for a few hours, and woke up just in time for breakfast.  While they’d run out of the Greek Yogurt option that sounded good, the baked eggs satisfied just fine.

We arrived almost a half hour early, so I considered trying to hop on a flight to Brussels that departed in about an hour, but decided I’d rather relax a bit instead of rushing, especially considering that the other guys wouldn’t get in to BRU until around the same time as the next flight from AMS to BRU.  I made use of the Priority Pass lounge that was very close to my inbound gate, where I grabbed a quick snack, and sat down for a bit.  While there, I listed myself standby on the KLM flight to BRU, and was then able to go through passport control and transfer to the terminal that houses inter-European flights.  I still had a couple hours to kill, so it only made sense to check out the other Priority Pass lounge, which was mostly dead at this time of morning.  After a bit more of snacking, a couple Heinekens (time doesn’t matter in an airport), and some work on the Washington DC entry of the blog, I headed to the gate for BRU.  The KLM staff was extremely friendly, and gave me a seat in the row behind first class with no one else in the row. Boarding started soon after, and within 30 minutes we were already touching down in BRU. The timing was perfect, as within 10 minutes of my walking from my terminal in BRU to baggage claim, the guys cleared customs and we easily found each other.

The agents at AMS had me check my bag prior to boarding, though there ended up being plenty of room for it, but with that we had to wait a bit for it to come down the shoot.  After a bit of a debacle of leaving the terminal and not being let in, we found a way to the train station, bought tickets, hopped on the train, and made it to our hotel by Midi Station within 30 minutes.  While we weren’t able to check in yet, we were able to leave our bags in the bell closet.  Our first destination was the same as on our first trip there, Cantillon Brewing, which is one of the most famous and sought-after breweries in the world.  We all three took the self-guided tour through the very old and fairly small brewery, and headed to the upstairs bar for our two samples that come with the tour.  The bar hadn’t been built the last time we were there, and it was very nice.  After our samples, we bought a couple of bottles to share, and savored every sip.  Between the travel, lack of sleep, and beer in our brains, we were ready for a nap, and got to the hotel right at check-in time.

While I’d looked at possibly needing to get a hotel for both nights as they had a room with two twin beds, housekeeping was able to put a third bed in the room, essentially allowing me to stay for free, which was very welcome news.  We settled in, got showers, and took a couple hour nap.  We all agreed that curry sounded good, so after so research on Yelp, decided an Indian restaurant near Grand Place, which we also agreed was a must-stop on the way.  The weather was sunny, mild, and breeze, so perfect for the mile walk into the center of the city.  After taking a stroll through Grand Place, we headed to Namaste, where both outdoor tables along the sidewalk were open, as it was only about 530pm.  We ordered veggie samosas, paneer pakora, and onions bhajee to split as appetizers, and the vegetarian thali, a meal consisting of small portions of four dishes along with raita, rice, and gulab jamun for desert.  We all agreed it was excellent and hit the spot.

From there we walked a few blocks to Moeder Lambic, one of the more famous beer bars in the city and in the world, which I visited with James my first trip, and with Laura on my second, and which we all agree is spectacular.  We scored a good table on the patio, watched the sun go down, had a few beers each over the course of a few hours, and enjoyed the cheese plate, which is a must on every visit.  We were still pretty tired from the travel, so headed back fairly early, but not after a stop at a corner store to pick up a few bottles of very cheap (relative to the US) bottles of Belgian beer to split.  After enjoying those on our tiny balcony at the room, we all passed out easily, marking the end of our first day.

We let ourselves sleep in a bit, and were up around nine.  After another round of showers, we took the three minute walk from the Novotel to the train station, bought tickets along with a croissant and coffee for each of us, and hopped on the train.  After about a 25 minute ride and a 5 minute walk, we were at one of the other more famous breweries in the country, Drie Fountaine (Three Fountains).  The setting is rural and beautiful, and it was another perfect day with morning temperatures in the low 60s, again with lots of sun and a light breeze.  Both the interior and exterior of the brewery are a sight to behold, and at this time of day, we almost had the place to ourselves.  The exception to that was two guys who ordered a bottle at the bar ahead of us, and who invited us to join at their picnic table as soon as we walked outside to enjoy our bottle.  One was German and visiting from Berlin, and the other was an American who now lived in Brussels, but was from Texas (as is James) and who lived in Indy a few years ago, and has a few mutual friends in the Indy beer scene.  Small world.

We sat and enjoyed the weather, beer, and scenery for a while, and then Rich (the American) offered to take us to a small pub with excellent beer a bit further south from Brussels, out in the country.  We went with him and were amazed at how beautiful the area was, and had a great time chatting at the pub (café de Kluis).  He then took us back up to Brussels, where he dropped off his bag at his apartment, and we all Ubered back to Cantillon, where just before entering, we ran into the brewer/owner’s son (unbeknownst to us at the time) who knew Rich, who was heading to the brewery’s storage building a few blocks away, which we were able to tour.  I’m sure very few people have the opportunity to see it, so it was pretty cool to have that chance.  We headed back to the brewery and up to the bar, where we had another bottle, and set out to find some late lunch.

On James’ previous trip, he’d found a very popular sandwich shop by the name of Tonton Garby, which is also the name of the owner.  We found a line of about 20 people ahead of us, though soon realized that the owner took several minutes to talk to each patron, and a few more minutes to make each sandwich.  James took off when we were nearing the entrance to get some frites to have with the sandwiches, though it was about 45 minutes later that Andy and I were finally almost to the point of ordering, at which point I told James to eat the frites before they got cold.  Being the great guy that he was, he was standing outside the shop with three cans of cold Heineken to help brighten us up after a very long wait, having barely eaten that day.  We walked the few minute to Grand Place to enjoy our beer and sandwiches, and enjoyed the people watching while there.  We were ready to freshen up by that point, so we headed to the Metro station, found that they was no way to pay at the station, so hopped on the train to the stop by the hotel, only to find that we were expected to have a ticket to exit.  After about 10 minutes of trying to figure out how to get out, and almost taking the train back and walking the whole way, we found a police officer who was nice enough to take pity on the naïve tourists and let us out free of charge.

After lying around a while, we headed back out again around 7pm, and walked to Brussels Beer Project, which had a really cool outdoor setup in an alley, and seating inside.  It was a nice change of pace to have some IPAs and stouts after a couple days of lambics, and of course we again got a meat and cheese plate.  They also had an awesome looking old school Range Rover that I’d like to own.

As it was my last night in town, we decided to head back to our favorite haunt, Moeder Lambic, which always seems to be a daily stop on all my trips to Brussels.  After a couple there, we walked over to Delirium Café, which is a pretty famous beer spot in the city.  We wanted to show Andy, who’d never been before, but unfortunately it takes on a night club atmosphere at night and was ridiculously crowded, so we decided to pass.  With the help of Yelp, we found another nice spot nearby that was pretty interesting.  The entrance was down a narrow alley, and at the end of the alley by the entrance were some outdoor tables, which was nice, as the weather was perfect. We ended up talking to a couple of really nice guys from the UK, and myself and one of them may or may not found it a good idea to buy light-up Minnie Mouse ears from a guy walking around to the bars selling them.  James and Andy ended up hanging out with the two guys the next day.

Around 10 we decided it was time to finally get some frites after an earlier failed attempt, so each got a delicious cone covered in aioli.  It was then time to hit the sack, so we headed back to the hotel, though I ran into a falafel shop by the hotel for a snack prior to going to bed.  I got packed up prior to falling asleep so I could leave without making a sound the next morning.

I’d done some research the night before, and decided it was worth the money to take a train straight from the station by the hotel down to Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, then take the direct flight home that got me in mid-afternoon, as opposed to taking a train to Brussels airport, connecting in New York, and getting home late.  It would cost a bit more, but would save me a lot of running around, connecting, etc.  I’d spied a Thai style bagel sandwich in the station a day prior, so grabbed that for my ride on the train.  Finding the train to CDG was painless, as was boarding, and scanning my ticket with the agent on the train.  The train was mostly empty half the journey, but filled up about halfway there, but still wasn’t bad.  After about an hour and a half, we were at CDG airport.  I was again able to easily obtain my seat request card at a kiosk by the train station, which was printed with Delta One, which again allowed me to use the Sky Priority passport control and security line.  I was a bit worried for a few minutes as the immigration officer was a bit skeptical of my passport, which went through the washer a few years ago.  Finally he was convinced it wasn’t forged, and sent me on through security.  The whole process took about half an hour, which while isn’t bad considering, was considerably more than the last two times I’d been through the process in the last year there.

I had several hours to kill, so walked around a bit looking for the shop that sold baguettes and croissants so I could get some for the girls, but didn’t have any luck.  I did end up getting them a box of macarons.  I was hot from walking around, so on a whim, decided to try to see if my seat request would get me into the Air France lounge one floor down.  Luck was on my side, as they let me waltz right in.  I was pleasantly surprised to find free showers, and though I’d taken one at the hotel a couple hours prior, decided to get another after my journey.  Unfortunately the lounge and shower rooms were a bit warm, so the shower wasn’t really very helpful.  I had some eggs, cheese, and wine for breakfast.  After hanging out for a while listening to music, I guessed that breakfast might have changed over to lunch, and was happy to find some fresh quiche, roasted potatoes, mashed peas, and a beef dish on the serving line.  I didn’t really need more food, but when it’s free, I show no restraint.  I arrived at the gate over an hour prior to boarding, and was assigned a window seat in Delta One as boarding started, giving me plenty of time to settle in and enjoy some champagne.

The flight home was relaxing, the food was just fine, and the Indy based crew were very personable, professional, and hospitable.  I wasn’t terrible hungry, but still managed to eat the appetizer salmon, salad, and parsnip soup, along with roasted chicken for lunch (the two options I wanted ran out, though I won’t complain at all as a nonrev).  I found that I’m a big fan of Kleine Zalze Chenin Blanc, and had a couple glasses with my meal.  And for desert, I of course finished with a really nice selection of European cheeses along with port.  I slept a few hours and woke up with 2 hours of the 9 hour flight remaining.  Upon waking up, I watched the movie Room, which was pretty good.  Lunch was a salad of greens, chicken, apricots, goat cheese, tomato, and walnuts.  Arriving in Indy was incredibly quick and painless.  I was one of the first off the plane, cleared customs using Global Entry in less than 3 minutes, was at my car in the employee lot 10 minutes later, and home 14 later, for a grand total of 27 minutes total, which I think is awesome considering I’d just flown in on an international flight.

Overall, this was a really fun trip, and relatively inexpensive, considering I didn’t need to pay for or use points for a hotel.  It was also fun showing Andy around Brussels, though I’m jealous that they went on to Munich for a few days and had a blast.  While I like exploring new places, it’s also nice to visit somewhere enough times to get to know the layout and how things work there.  I’d like to get back and do some day trips to other places in the country at some point, but there will be opportunities.  Overall, no complaints, and nice to get some time with the guys.