Pining for the Fjords

We've now been living in the greater LA area for over a year, which means we spent part of last month participating in our second LA Beer Week!  Huzzah! Like last year, we used Beer Week 2017 to make our way to several breweries we hadn't heard of before as well as took it as a chance to visit some of our local favorites.  We started out on the first Saturday of Beer Week, 6/17, with an afternoon visit to Angry Horse Brewing in Montebello, a city around 25 minutes northeast of us (Chris passes right through this area on his way to and from work each weekday).  We were intrigued by Angry Horse, as we hadn't visited there before, and their logo is pretty outstanding: The work of one very angry horse. In addition to good beer, Angry Horse was having a pop-up food event with a local Chef, Steven Ruiz, and we were excited to try the normal brews (plus Hooligan, an English IPA being tapped that evening) along with Chef Ruiz's delicious tacos and tortas.

On the last blog , Chris, Mom and I enjoyed a day of sipping tea and wandering around nearby San Pedro, acting out scenes from The Usual Suspects .  The next morning, we all set alarms to wake up at a reasonable time, got ourselves dressed, packed up the truck, and headed south for our eventual location, Little Italy in San Diego.  When Mom booked her trip, the fares were best flying here on a Wednesday and back home on a Tuesday; since we normally can't spend quite that much time together without wanting to murder one another, and I couldn't take that many days off work, Mom rented an AirBnB for two nights in San Diego and flew home from there, taking time to explore the city on her own.  While she initially mentioned taking the Amtrak down, we were happy to drive her ourselves, and it allowed us to explore the coast in between the cities a bit further. We started out heading for a brunch/lunch date at the Bagby Beer Company, an hour and a half from Long Beach in the city of

When last I blogged , Mom was in town, and Chris and I had the chance to take her around our nearby beach cities for scenery and snacks.  The next morning, Chris was off on a bike ride while I hit the gym and Mom slept in; once I got back home and cleaned up, she and I hopped in the car to do our weekly Trader Joe's/grocery store run (hey, it's not all exciting when you visit our house).  Once we were all back and cleaned up, it was time to hit up Elise's Tea Room, a local Bixby Knolls institution (and the location for my monthly book club meeting).  Mom and I had tea at Elise's the first time she visited, and Chris was happy to join us this time. Time for tea! We enjoyed a relaxing time at Elise's, eating their delicious scones and sammys, as well as drinking their unique blends of tea.  After tea, it was back to the house to get in less fancy clothes and head through the port area to nearby San Pedro (pronounced Pee-dro - it has a large Italian immig

On the last blog , Mom, Chris, and I finished up our evening at home in Long Beach, eating steak and veg.  We stayed up late drinking wine and chatting, so no one got a terribly early start the next day (except for Kaylee - Kaylee always gets an early start).  Chris went out for a run, and as he returned, Mom and I headed out the door to walk to our breakfast selection, the Blackbird Cafe, where Chris met us with the car.  By this point, breakfast had merged somewhat into lunch, but since our plans for the day included staying fairly local, we just chilled out and enjoyed the weather, the company, and the delicious food. After the Blackbird, we hopped in the car and headed straight up to the highest point around, Signal Hill.  Signal Hill is actually a tiny city on its own completely surrounded by the city limits of Long Beach, and as the oil derricks in the area can attest, it is fairly well funded.  The city has a lot of cute little parks, and most of them have incredible views.  C