I-P-A RIVER: A SUPERIOR Close to the Summer

Just get to the flop...
#ROBHANDSTOREMEMBER

8/1 thru 8/6 - I started a week of sitting with a new pooch in Hermitage today named Everdeen. She's a big, friendly goof and so it's an easy gig.

8/2 - I went to see the international friendly game between NSC and the Premier League's, Aston Villa FC, tonight at Geodis Park in Nashville. Thanks to my pal, Nate, for the seat and to his wife, Ginny, more for not being able to go!! We fought back from a 2-0 hole in the second half and came away with a pretty impressive 2-2 tie against a respected PL team. We also had chances to win it outright too. Well done, boys!!

Beforehand, Nate and I met up with Ashlee and my pal, Curtis, at East Nashville Beer Works - Wilson County to partake in the start of their 2025 Augustfest. I had their brand new Augustfest with Chocolate that was decent, and then their also-new Mango/Habanero Coastless IPA which was excellent. They released several other aged brews the rest of the day, but I will have to come back to try some of those.

I parked for free for the game at Broadcast Brewing and had a repeat of theirs called Waveform - a nice cream ale. But then I walked to the game with a "travelin' beer" in hand from there (in a red solo cup, of course). It was from a guest tap from their neighbor across the Geodis Park way, Fait La Force Brewing. Their brand-new Land Breeze IPA is excellent and a perfect brew to toast International Beer Day 2025! Salute!

8/3 - While checking out a showing of the hilarious Cat Video Fest 2025 at the Belcourt Theaters this afternoon, I enjoyed a newly brewed, but classic, Two Hearted IPA (2025) from Bell's Brewing (MI).

8/4 - After work, I met my beer pal, Nate, at East Nashville Beer Works - Wilson County to sample another of their Augustfest barrel-aged releases. They are only having one on tap a week due to limited amounts, so tonight it was the Strawberry Double Miro Miel blonde ale which was excellent. With my tasty watermelon arugula salad with chicken for dinner, I also had their very good and new IPA called Home Studio and their delicious Blood Orange/Vanilla Cumberland Punch fruit beer.

8/6 - I got a nice NLHE turbo progressive bounty tournament win tonight on Global Poker vs. 125 other players. Along with my 14 knockouts, I made just 2,900% ROI!!

8/7 thru 8/10 - After one night back at home, I went straight to another pet-sitting gig today with my favorite Watertown pit bulls yet again through the long weekend making for nine nights away from home but, hey, $$$ is $$$.

I got a small NLCP tournament win tonight on Global Poker vs. 19 other players for an ROI of just under 900%!
I also got another small NLHE turbo bounty tournament win vs. just 7 other players, but with four knockouts, I got an ROI of over 300%!

8/9 - Salute!! A great day for the real king of beers! I earned this UNTAPPD badge with a pool-float check-in today of the excellent DIPA called Juice Trials # 1 from Around the Bend Brewing (Chicago). It came out of my recent BeerBox delivery.

#WINNING - Ashlee and I sported our new Oakley bucket hats in the pool today that we won with our team last night in a local trivia contest. I also checked in another selection from my recent BeerBox delivery. The tart, but satisfying, Raspberry Hefeweizen from Schlafly Brewing (St. Louis).

8/12 - I checked out the new "Alien Earth" series that started streaming today. Let's see how do with one of my favorite franchises out there. Their show art has been great so far.

Well, it's awesome! Great story, good acting and banger production design!

8/13 - I got a nice NLCP progressive bounty turbo tournament win tonight on Global Poker vs. 32 other players. With my 11 KO's, I picked up an ROI of right at 1,500%!! I was able to cash out $75 of profit afterwards!

8/14 - I started an easy little week-long cat-care gig around the corner from the house today with my old pal, Foxy. Just daily drop-ins, so easy money.

I also did a little morning dog-sitting today with my dog pal, Teddy, again while working remote here in Lebanon. More easy money! (Thanks to CrAIyon.com for the free artwork pictured above)

8/16 - We had a great time tonight at Zanies Comedy Club in Nashville seeing the headliner, Craig Robinson, of "The Office" fame, but thought his first opener and host, Matt Richards aka "Chocolate Trump" stole the show. During the show I had a Laughing Guy Lager from Tennessee Brew Works here in Nashville made special for Zanies to celebrate their 40th anniversary back in 2023. It was smooth and easy drinking. Beforehand, while getting some pool time, I had a can of the flavor-racked Spicy Pickle Sour Beer from DESTIHL Brewing (IL). It was the last new-to-me beer from my last Beer Box order.

8/17 - More great show art from the new streaming series, "Alien Earth." I can't wait for Episode 3 coming this week!!

I got small buy-in NLHE turbo progressive bounty tournament win on Global Poker today (entirely on my phone while chilling in the pool) vs. 112 other players with 15 knockouts for a total ROI of just over 3,000%!! It was a great comeback from an earlier cooler that left me with about three big blinds.

8/18 - TROPHY TIME!! (well, probably in about six months it will arrive). I won the GC (play money) Event # 3-L of this year's Micro Thunder Series on Global Poker tonight vs. 204 other players! This will my third trophy and 4th series event win (no hardware, just swag, for the Turbo Series event win - boo!!).

Over on the real money side I won basically a sit-n-go NLCP vs. just 6 other players, but, hey, it was about 600% ROI at least since only the winner cashed.

8/22 - It was kind of a hybrid G.A.M.E. group outing tonight to see the Titans in their only pre-season game at home at Nissan Stadium against the Minnesota Vikings.   I got seven $14 nosebleed seats off of StubHub, and all but two who went are in the G.A.M.E. group. We parked at Hoppin' River North for some pregame libations. I had tasters of the very solid Raisin' Helles on Keysburg Rd from BS Brew Works in nearby Springfield; the super-sweet but enjoyable (in small amounts) Rocket Pop Bebop fruited sour from Xul Beer Co. in Knoxville; and the excellent dark lager from Fait la Force Brewing here in Nashville called Imperial Menace.

At the game - which the Titans won 23-13! - I had a can of the (repeat) Drinking Buddy blonde ale from Jackalope Brewing that the make for Hattie B's hot chicken (since there was no line to get it) and I also checked in my first (at least on UNTAPP) Coors Banquet lager that my buddy, Curtis, bought me in exchange for his ticket. It was a beautiful night for a game and there was even a decent crowd. TITAN UP!!

8/23 - My August BeerBox order arrived today and right off I didn't see any repeats that I recall. There's a sour ale, a couple IPAs, a pale ale, a nitro stout, a blonde ale, a radler and a blueberry wheat ale. Can't wait to dig in!!

And dig in it I did later today while hanging out in the pool, I cracked open a nice Begyle Blonde ale from Begyle Brewing (Chicago). My buddy, Curtis, brought me a couple gifts from his recent trip to Maine with a couple of IPAs from Orono (ME) Brewing including their excellent Tubular (ne)IPA and their solid Let's Go Black Bears (ne)IPA celebrating the U of Maine teams.

On the virtual felt tonight, I got 3rd in a $5 NLCP featured game on Global Poker with over 60 other players. It was enough to cash in another $50 in profit.

8/24 - I had to drive up to east Tennessee for work tomorrow and am staying the next three nights at a nice Fairfield Inn (points!!) in Morristown. I left too late to hit any breweries, but I was able to swing back by Amis Mill Dam and Falls in Rogersville which was running pretty dry this time last year. The dam was built circa 1781. Great little roadside spot.

In the hotel room tonight, I made an interesting final table on Global Poker in a freeroll hyper-turbo NLHE tournament and a 25-cent add-on which I turned into $5 with a 5th place finish vs. 743 other players. For those of you keeping score, that's a whopping 1,900% ROI!!

8/25 - I was done by noon with my only college fair at Tusculum University in Greeneville, TN, and had the afternoon to explore some in the mountains nearby. My first stop was a return to Spivey Mountain with better directions than last year, and I found the beautiful Lower Spivey Falls (photo above). It's on private property, but the landowners do allow for some gawking at it from a distance. The directions from the same source for Middle Spivey Falls did not pan out that I could find that didn't involve more private property, so I abandoned the search. I'm pretty sure it's the one I photographed from the road last year anyway. I also scouted Lower Higgins Creek nearby which looks very promising for a big waterfall, but I wasn't ready prepared today for the strenuous hike involved to get to it. But I will be back!!

My next stop was at one of our newer state parks (circa 2012), the Lamar Alexander Rocky Fork State Park. Inside this park which is in very early development there is the small, but beautiful, Rocky Fork Falls (photo above) which is roadside near the entrance.

Afterwards, I dropped down into North Carolina and stopped by Mad Co. Brewhouse in the tiny town of Marshall on the French Broad River. This little town is still recovering from the shellacking the state took a few years ago by Hurricane Helene, so I did my part to help the economy by purchasing a couple of beers. First up was their fantastic Africa Pale ale and then their equally good Marshall Pale Ale. I enjoyed both on their nice deck out back overlooking the river before heading back to my hotel. I grabbed a nice steak and fixings to go from the Longhorn Restaurant near my hotel for dinner on the company dime. Good, good day!!

Back at the hotel tonight, I got first place in a NLHE hyper-turbo satellite tournament on Global Poker that paid the top six out of 44 other players. The won buy-in was worth 1,000% ROI of the buy-in. The target tournament didn't go so well when I ran into a check-raised big-blind special two pair early on. But I did get one bounty which tripled my original buy-in at least.
Later on, I did get another outright win in a small NLHE bounty tournament vs. 13 other players with eight knockouts for an ROI of over 700%!

8/26 - I was busy with three fairs today, but with a six-hour gap in between the last two, I filled the time with a couple more visits to points of interest to me in the area. First up was a return to Elrod Falls which was almost dry last year when I visited it. It wasn't a whole lot better today, but slightly more flow than last year. Uggh!! So much potential!!

The second stop was the historic Bible Covered Bridge (circa 1923) in Midway, TN. I had this little beauty all to myself on this beautiful Tuesday afternoon.

I even had time to drink down a couple cold ones at Bays Mountain Brewing in downtown Kingsport. I had their very nice (and a little smokey) Essential ESB and then their very interesting Back Hollow Blackberry IPA although I was disappointed as to how the blackberries overwhelmed the hops given that it's an IPA.

Back in the room tonight, I got a small buy-in NLCP turbo tournament win on Global Poker vs. 29 other players for an ROI of 1,100%!

8/27 - After work today, I drove south from Johnson City to the Mars Theater Brewing Company in charming, little Mars Hill, NC, to meet up with my best (and retired) pal, Craig, who was driving up from his place just outside Rutherfordton, NC. Yep, it's a craft brewery in an old movie theater! Kind of my dream come true!! We had some tasty wings for dinner outside in the lovely evening weather and I had their decent NZ IPA called Main Street Steve. I thought their DIPA called Scuba Juice was even better.

Beforehand, while waiting to check in to my next Fairfield Inn in Johnson City (points!!), I swung by the nearby Rocks Wood Fired Pizza and Grill for a pint of the fantastic collab from Sierra Nevada Brewing (CA and NC) and Stortebeker Braumanufaktur (Germany) called Oktoberfest - Stortebecker Braumanufaktur (2025) fest bier.

I also finished a decent audio book called The Signal on my drives today. It's the first of three books, but honestly, I wasn't sold enough on the story to continue the series.

8/28 - The big Tri-Cities College Fair was today and split up into two flights. Between the morning and evening sessions, I had enough time take a quick trek into the Cherokee National Forest near Elizabethton to find Blue Hole Falls which is actually consists of three different and beautiful drops. This is Upper Blue Hole Falls.

This is Middle Blue Hole Falls and its famous swimming hole.

This is Lower Blue Holes Falls - my personal favorite of the three drops. I did pay a bit of price for visiting these beauties as I busted my ass sliding down the little gorge they are in (took the wrong trail) in my work pants. Luckily, I also had enough time to run back to the hotel and change!!

On my way back thru Elizabethton, I also had time to check out the awesome historic covered bridge (built in 1882) over the Doe River now in a downtown park. Yes, in my dirty pants (BUTT, who cares!).

I also had time for a couple of craft beers including a very solid Big Hoppa DIPA at Yee-Haw Brewing (where I saw the TN Tech rep also, LOL). I then hopped over to Johnson City Brewing to grab a variety four-pack to take back home because these guys are the best in JC IMO, sorry YHBC. Since they didn't have it in cans, I eased down a very tasty Blackberry Brown ale before heading back to work (hiccup!).

I gave some of recent poker winnings back to Cumberland U today to try and beat TTU in giving before we battle them on the football field this Saturday. Go Phoenix!!

Speaking of poker, I got a small buy-in NLCP turbo tournament win tonight on Global Poker for just over 700% ROI.

8/29 - I drove back from Johnson City this morning, stopped for a short time at home, and then was off again to the airport to catch flight to Minneapolis, MN, on Sun Country Airlines (my first time with them) for a long holiday weekend road trip up and back down the west coast of Lake Superior which has tons of waterfalls, lighthouses, breweries and other cool things to take a gander at and experience. I stayed tonight near the airport in Minneapolis at a Courtyard by Marriott (more points!!).

My first Sun Country Airlines experience was pretty good. It was a regular 737 airplane with reasonable legroom. AND craft beer from their hub city of Minneapolis! I enjoyed the pricey ($9) pint can of the great-named and very solid, Sweet Child of Vine IPA from Fulton Brewing there in the Twin Cities.
I also rented a pretty good older film for the flight that I had never seen before with two of my favorite actors, Robert Downey, Jr., and Val Kilmer (RIP) called Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang that wasn't too bad, but a little dated with all the overtly gay slurs/humor.

Getting through MSP airport and getting my rental car was super smooth and quick, and I got to my hotel with a bit of Friday evening left to burn, so I grabbed an Uber to a nearby brewery called Wooden Hill Brewing. I guess I could have drove because it was in a pretty quiet little business park. I started with their fantastic Wafelhaus brown ale that tasted just like a Stroopwafel cookie. I ordered a tasty chicken taco salad that came in an edible shell for dinner and finished my libations there with their historic/era-correct recipe lager called Hill Style. I had thought about hitting another nearby brewery, but the Uber prices were weirdly high for such short trips, so I just called it a night and relaxed in my nice hotel room instead.

8/30 - I had a fairly uneventful (and uninteresting) two-hour drive north this morning to get to my first point of interest (and the first of four Bucket List Items I got to check off on this trip). The ONE AND ONLY gas station ever designed by Frank Lloyd Wright sits in the little town of Cloquet, Minnesota. It's actually still in use today (and, frankly, not being taken care of the way it should be in my opinion). The attendant, Cash, was nice enough, but was more interested in my convertible (more on that later) than the historic place he worked. He did unlock the door to the upstairs (yes, it has two floors!) and let me look around a bit. It was built in 1958 for R.W. Lindholm. Very cool. Wish I had the money to swoop in and buy and it and restore it to where it should be.

The audio book I got for the drive turned out to kind of suck, so I abandoned it when I got to The North Shore for tunes instead and I had some great ones to go along with my trip and mood which I will sprinkle in this blog entry.

The first SONG COMPANION for this trip was the cover of John Denver's "Sunshine" by Train. Perfect song for a sunny Saturday in northern Minnesota!!
"Sunshine almost always makes me high!"

Once I got past the Duluth on to Hwy. 61 North (the North Shore) the sightseeing started coming at a fast and furious pace! First up was Gooseberry Falls State Park which was extremely crowded, and I was lucky to even find a parking place. It had me worried that a lot of other people had the same idea as I did this holiday weekend. It's a series of three different falls on the Gooseberry River as it rushes toward "da pigg vahter" (i.e. Lake Superior as Kee-har would describe it in "Watership Down" - yes, I'm a nerd.) This is a shot of the Upper Falls which has some skillful cropping done by me to keep out all the people crawling all over the top of it. Tourists!!

There was just no way to keep people out of this shot of Middle Gooseberry Falls, but they do help give it some scale as to the actual height of these beauties.

I got pretty fortunate to capture Lower Gooseberry Falls without people all over it. I could tell the water flow was down due to summer, but none of the falls I visited were dried up and in fact this one is probably the one with the least flow I saw on this entire trip.

I doubled-back a few miles to the little town of Two Harbors, MN, to have lunch and a libation at Castle Danger Brewing. It's cool name comes from Castle Danger, an even smaller town nearby. They had a banging food truck called Emma's Kitchen on site and I had their excellent chicken tacos and a basket of perfectly-made cheese curds. Delish!! My libation was their seasonal Maple Marzen that was fantastic!

I almost skipped this stop at Iona Beach just a few more miles up the road from Gooseberry Falls because of the crowds I encountered beforehand, but I found a place to park and while there were a few people there, it wasn't too bad. And the place is spectacular! Covered in smooth pink rhyolite stones that will "sing" when the waves move them. There wasn't much surf today on Lake Superior, so no singing, but it was well worth the stop, nonetheless.

There's the Boss Lady!! Bucket List Stop # 2 was the wonderous Split Rock Lighthouse. This shot is from a wayside nearby. The beautiful and historic lighthouse is no longer in use but is open for tourism in its own state park. This one's been on the list the longest as I have wanted to see it in person for many, many years. What a wonderous day!!

SONG COMPANION: "Precious Time" by Van Morrison
"Precious time is slippin' away. You know you're only king for a day!"

It was well worth the $15 fee to get to go inside the amazing and historic old beacon on the cliffside. The most surprising thing to me that I learned in a short film about Split Rock Lighthouse and its history is that it was built in 1910 WITHOUT A ROAD HERE. Everything had to come by boat and be hoisted up the giant cliffs! Amazing!! They are under construction here to try and recreate some of the pulley system to lake below, so it will be worth coming back and seeing that when I visit again. Oh, yes, I am coming here again if at all possible!

Beaver River Falls was the first of several roadside stop/waterfalls. It seems almost every river flowing into Lake Superior from the west has an escarpment to drop down before getting to its destination.

SONG COMPANION: "Rivers and Roads" by The Head and the Heart
"Rivers and roads, river and roads, rivers 'til I reach you."

This is beautiful Ilgen Falls. There's a house on a ridge directly to the left with a great view of these falls. Now that would be nice!! It was here that I started to see the trend that the farther I went north the less and less people there were. Fine by me!! I had this one ALMOST to myself.

More roadside gold. This astonishing sight is Cross River Falls.

Instead of roadside this one is literally under the road and aptly named Hidden Falls.

OK, here's a proper backdrop for my awesome rental car. This Ford Mustang convertible from Enterprise was so great to drive and the weather was perfect for it all weekend although I did have to put the top up for a short time each day as little cells of rain would pop up out of nowhere (like the one in the background) probably created by the giant lake. These weekend confirms I am getting one of these bad boys next year when I turn 59 and a half and can draw from my IRA without penalty!!

Another great shot of the storm out on Lake Superior. What a great ending to an incredible day! This is one of those you just don't forget!!

SONG COMPANION: "Major Minus" by Coldplay
"Got one eye on the road and one on you!"

I stopped next in the largest town on the North Shore called Grand Marais for an early dinner and more brews at Voyageur Brewing. I had some more cheese curds (I won't poop for a week!!) which were made a little different but were just as good as the ones before and served with a sweet chili dipping sauce that was very nice. I had their solid session IPA called Sled Hound.
I also bought two crowlers of their excellent Devil's Kettle IPA and their tasty NEIPA called Gunwale Bobber and enjoyed them both out on the lakeshore at where I was staying tonight, the Grand Portage Casino (no poker!) and Lodge. I was only a few miles from the Canadian border here and close to my targets for tomorrow morning. At first, I thought maybe I had made a mistake and could have found better (and cheaper) accommodations, but the place was decent and sold out and I did have a huge two-bathroom suite to myself and their sweet, uncrowded lakeshore to hang out on and play online poker on my phone and enjoy the sunset and the beer. There were mosquitos out but these up here are different than at home. They are small and black, and you can feel them on your before they bite. I swatted several away but was never bit or bothered enough not to stay out past dark. Like I said before, a helluva day from start to finish.

SONG COMPANION: "Beers and Sunshine" Darius Rucker
"Yeah, the only B.S. I need is beers and sunshine!!"

8/31 - Sunrise view from my bed at the Grand Portage Lodge. Pretty sweet!!

SONG COMPANION: "Brand New Day" Trevor Hall
"What you waiting for? It's a brand new day!"

Hey, big daddy! Bucket List Stop # 3 was the Great Falls of the Pigeon River. That's Canada on the other side of the gorge by the way. The river is a natural boundary between our two countries. I had this one COMPLETELY TO MYSELF only seeing a couple walking in as I was walking out. This one's only been on the list for a few years and was what sold me on this trip with the combination of the other two stops and one more even newer one to come. More great weather as well!!

This one is Patridge Falls and was definitely my biggest adventure (risk?) of the trip. I had to drive over five miles down a one-way forest road and back to see this one. The road was in relatively good shape, but I had to go quite slow with my low-to-the-ground Mustang. But she handled it like a champ! The hike was relatively short but tricky also first going through a muddy bog and then down a steep and slippery cliff wall to the base to get this still somewhat-obscured view of the monstrous falls. Not surprisingly, not a soul seen coming or going. A very nice treat.

SONG COMPANION: "Do You Live at All?" Alan Parsons
"From where will come the answers, if you stay sittin' down?
Will you say it's all been worth it, when you're in your final days?

Wow! Another quick stop that I almost passed up. This is Hollow Rock lying just offshore at a small resort of the same name. Not sure I was supposed to be here without a reservation, but there were no nasty signs saying go away and it was quiet as was I, and I didn't stay but a few minutes. This is one place I will consider staying overnight the next time I came out this way. Oh yeah, I am definitely coming back!!

I definitely saved the tougher destinations for today. This is the Lower Falls of Devil's Kettle, and this came at the end of a pretty tough mile-plus hike down into the gorge with over two hundred wooden steps. Not to mention that you gotta climb back out too!

A good way farther upstream is the amazing Devil's Kettle Falls. This is one of my newest Bucket List destinations and # 4 on this trip. In fact, I only just learned about Devil's Kettle only after I started researching for this trip. The coolest thing is that the water on the left goes underground, and they aren't really sure where it comes out. They've done dye-tests and not gotten for-sure results. A guy I saw there told me he thought he heard that they had finally figured it out, but I have yet to see that. Either way, it's an amazingly unique waterfall that I am so happy to get under my belt and in my photo collection. I was equally excited to have climbed outta there and mastered the 200+ steps out.
The rest of the trip south back to Duluth was rather uneventful. I did stop at Voyageur Brewing again and had some awesome perch fish tacos for lunch and my first "side-pour" or Czech-style "Hladinka" pour of their Oktoberfest beer. This leaves a large head on the beer that supposedly brings out more notes of flavor. Seems a bit suspect and a way to sell less beer for the same price. Just my opinion!

My next stop was in Duluth at Lake Superior Brewing where I would be spending the night in their pricey (but very nice) "brewtel" AirBnb room next to the brewery itself. Unfortunately, they are closed on Sundays, but the owners did me a solid and left me three crowlers of their beer in the fridge. One was even on them.

Like I said, a super nice place to lay my head. The three crowler brews they left me were all very good. First up was their Kayak Kolsch, then their Split Rock Bock and finally, their Riptide IPA.

Duluth, as a city, is nothing much to look at to be honest. A very historic town, but still a working town most of all. I went over to a nice city park they have and climbed Enger Tower to get a great 360-degree of the entire area. This is looking north through downtown and up the beautiful North Shore where I just came from. Thanks, Minnesota. It's been a blast!

SONG COMPANION: "The Boys of Summer" Don Henley
'Empty lake. Empty beach. Sun goes down alone."

9/1 - I had to fly home from Minnesota today, but not before finishing off my IPA crowler in the shower - a staying at a brewery tradition!

COMPANION SONG: "Roadhouse Blues" by The Doors, of course!
"Well, I woke up this morning and I got myself a beer!"

I also had time to squeeze a couple more waterfalls on the way back to the airport in Minneapolis by detouring a bit into Wisconsin to check out beautiful Big Manitou Falls - the tallest in the state. I had this baby all to myself this early holiday morning!

Just upstream a little way was pretty Little Manitou Falls (not so little really) which I also had all to myself. Thanks, Wisconsin!!

At the airport, I couldn't find any local craft beer I hadn't already had, but I did have a pretty good fried walleye burger as my last "pig vahter" hurrah!

The flight home was easy and uneventful, and I even got to try the other craft beer onboard Sun Country Airlines - the Lonely Blonde ale from Fulton Brewing in Minneapolis. It was quite good. I rented another older movie I had not seen before for this flight back - The Place Beyond the Pines - which I really liked. Damn if Ryan Gosling isn't a great actor.

SONG COMPANION: "Miles from Our Home"
Cowboy Junkies

"And yet people will tell you,
you're miles from your home.
Miles from your home.
But that's where I want to be
Out there searching..."