PROST

Hit the Ice House this past weekend at Yankton. If you have never been there it is rated as one of America's best bars from Esquire Magazine. Now there are better bars out there but really what makes a "best" bar? Is it getting dressed up and heading out to the local bar with your friends and feeling up tight at the people looking at you or if you happen to spill a drink on the floor or what ever? Is it the latest in interior design elements that adorn the establishment to give it that feng shui? HELL NO! It is a place were you can come as you are and have a good time and not feel out of place and just kick back and have fun. That is what the Ice house is about. You get your bucket of beer and hang outside on the loading dock or the benches or inside and just have fun. The only thing we did forget was our koozie...of course all the regulars walked up with their koozies in hand. One Koozie I saw even was reinforced with duct tape..SWEET!! I guess we will know for the next time....bring you koozie and stay a while!

Another establishment we went to was Ben's Brewing Company. Ben put on an Oktoberfest and boy was it fun. He has been busy brewing beer White Whale Ale and Smutty Bear Nut Brown Ale. The Smutty Bear was to be like Newcastle and is not bad but Newcastle is a bit smoother but the White Whale was very good even though our table ended up getting the first few pints out of a new keg and so they were a bit cloudy but still tasted good. The highlight of the night was the polka band they had playing in the corner. Turns out I knew one of the members and so we had fun with him. He is a great sax player! Another friend decided that she was going to try and sing "In Heaven there is no Beer" to every polka song the band played! What a fun time. We headed back to the Clubhouse and celebrated with friends my Godparents 52 anniversary with DQ ice cream cake!

Semi-sad note..........by now everyone knows the Cubs were swept for their post season bid. I guess I look at it positively. They made the playoffs and there are a lot of teams that didn't make it that far. Sure I would have LOVED for them to go further but when the pitching and hitting don't go well you get eliminated in a hurry. I am a forever Cubs fan and even though they didn't make it past the first round of the playoffs you still have to love the CUBBIES!

PROST!

Last weekend........

First off...WAY TO GO CUBS!!! 2007 NL Central Division Champs! I only hope they can step it up a notch and play good ball. Seems at times they are good at pitching..THEN NOT...then good at offence..THEN NOT! I think the team has the potential to go all the way if things click right but then I assume all faithful fans of their own teams feel that way! We will see.......anyway.....GO CUBS!

We were in Deadwood last weekend for the Festival of the Book. It is a conference of sorts that bring together writers and inspiring writers to a common event to share ideas and resources. We listened to Ivan Doig and of course I am not much of a book reader so it was ok listening to him. His latest book they basically tore it apart as to the dynamics of the characters. Of course since I have not read the book and probably will not read the book I kind of zoned out during the talk. Kris's brother-in-law was a presenter at another session and that was GREAT! Way to go STUDDLY JAY! I had decided I wanted to listen to a couple from Rapid City that do adventure cycling and have written a few books about their adventures. I am so glad I went. You didn't really need to be a cyclist to listen to them. It was really about setting goals and reaching them. They were very fun to listen to and they do all sorts of talks for schools to inspire people to get out and see the world. (http://www.imagesoftheworld.com/) I had to buy a couple of their books and did talk one on one to them about their biking. Very nice and interesting people. To be that free at times would be GREAT!

It was also Kris's sisters birthday last weekend. It was not just another birthday but her 50th birthday! We had fun with that. Between Jay (her husband) and myself we told a lot of people about the event. There were fun moments of the special day from the crowd at the Bullock hotel bar, Bully's, singing happy birthday to her to buying Liz a slippery nipple shot at Saloon no 10. I guess there are two word that a lady, who had been sitting at the bar a bit to long, told us as we were leaving Bully's that sum up that evening..."PPPPARRRTY DOWWWN!" Great food and fun was had by all of us last weekend! We did see an Irish Wolfhound in the front yard of one of the houses by the Franklin Hotel...very sweet dog.....the picture above says it all!

Heading to the Clubhouse this weekend for Oktoberfest! Should be fun...my only fear is that during the first annual Ribfest in Yankton they ran out of ribs...I hope since this is the first Oktoberfest they do not run out of BEER! If they do we have plenty in Beergina to help get us through I am sure. It is also my godparents anniversary on the 5th. They have been married 52 years! CONGRATS LUTHER AND JOAN! We plan on raising our glasses a few times for them!