Beer

Wandering in Rotterdam

/ Greg / Leave a comment

I have a strong bias for planning deeply wired into my DNA. Over years of traveling, I have slowly learned to lean a touch opposite my natural inclination and just to let things be when it comes to experiencing places away from home. I still research an enormous list of possibilities of what I might like to do, but I think I have settled into a good place in terms of having some good ideas, then approaching each day with a “what feels good today” mentality.

In the Netherlands last fall, I knew I would like to do a few days trips from my home base in Amsterdam, and I knew that Rotterdam was a place I did not want to miss. I knew there would be an interesting mix of old and new, of art, and of food and drink and that was enough to propel me onto an early morning train with a bag slung over my shoulder. Exiting the main train station, a modern looking marvel, I kicked off a day of wandering that fairly naturally and organically led me to Oudehaven, the historical part of the harbour in Rotterdam. Not really due to my planning DNA, but I think this occurred due to the salt water craving that still clings to me after so many years living next to the harbour in Halifax.

Rotterdam
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Overseas again

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When I hopped on a plane to Amsterdam last fall, it had been four years since my last major trip across an ocean. While my main motivation for the trip was a revisiting of Belgium to dig deeper into its beer culture, I arranged my travel into Amsterdam for a four day start to this trip in what is really a favourite city. When my wife and I had visited on our first trip to Europe together, we both quickly fell in love with the canals and the parks and the laid back approach to life. The return visit, this time as a solo traveler, had me head over heels back in love as soon as my feet touched the ground. Jet lag never felt so good.

In Amsterdam
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Cleveland really does rock!

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In my pursuit of seeing a baseball game in every major league stadium, I had paired Cleveland with Detroit on the same trip last summer. A couple of hours after picking up a rental car on the outskirts of Detroit I was in Cleveland, a city I’d otherwise never get to visit. It is a really great city with a picturesque downtown and beautiful architecture. I very quickly got a warm feeling about Cleveland and enjoyed the couple of days I spent there. Some of that had to do with Progressive Field, their beautiful ballpark. On my journeys so far, this stadium is up there with those in San Francisco, San Diego, Minneapolis and Baltimore as one of my favourites.

Cleveland Guardians game
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Finding the charm in Detroit

/ Greg / 1 Comment

Somewhere along the way of being a baseball fan and someone who loves to travel I had visited enough ballparks that it seemed like an interesting quest to watch a game in each major league city’s stadium. While I’ve knocked off most of the sexy places (Seattle, Chicago, San Francisco, New York….) I’m left with some locations that I otherwise may not actively choose to visit. Last summer, the intersection of my work schedule, the ballparks remaining and the baseball schedule pushed me toward a trip to Detroit and then onto Cleveland.

Detroit Tigers game
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Childhood to today

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Much like what I just wrote about Quebec City, Montreal holds a very special place in my heart. In the early 1980s, childhood trips to the city with my dad were the first experiences I had visiting a big city. Those trips by train to Montreal to take in a few Expos games make me smile to this day and every time I get back to the city it feels like some happy ghosts from those days follow me on my current day explorations.

Montreal trips as an adult usually have a series of touchstones for me that have connections to the memories from my childhood trips. Having amazing meals in the city these days makes me think of getting to eat all kinds of food with dad that I didn’t normally get to have as a child. Touring craft breweries makes me think of dad letting me have a sip of his Budweiser as a kid while we got ready to head to Olympic Stadium. Wandering aimlessly around the old town takes me back to chasing pigeons with dad looking on and laughing at my childhood exploits. And exploring the city in search of public art takes me back to seeing Alexander Calder’s “Trois Disques” and having my mind blown as a seven year old as dad toured me around Île Sainte-Hélène.

Public art along Saint Laurent Boulevard
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A walk down memory lane

/ Greg / 1 Comment

Quebec City has a very special place in my heart. Any time I get back to that city a flood of childhood memories bring a smile to my face and feel like they are a constant companion as I explore the city anew. Last year a conference returned me to this beautiful city and gave me the opportunity to combine some new experiences with a collection of personal touchpoints that now date back almost forty years.

Quebec City
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More than just baseball

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My spring training trip down to the Phoenix area last year wasn’t just about baseball. Ok… so it was pretty much all about baseball. But that doesn’t mean I didn’t find some other fun things to get up to over a week of dashing between ballparks in Mesa, Tempe, Scottsdale and downtown Phoenix.

Immediately after arriving in the city and with a few hours to spare before I could check into the apartment I rented for the week, I popped into Walter Station Brewery and lucky for me there was some live music on their patio. After arriving from cold Saskatoon it was a treat to feel a warm breeze while listening to some country music.

Walter Station brewery in Phoenix, AZ
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Looking back on 2023

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This past year was a lot of things, many of which to be honest, weren’t great. I had to say goodbye to my dog and I can still feel the empty spot on the sofa beside me. People I love dearly fought through challenges they didn’t deserve, and while I was privileged to carry some of their weight through the year, it took its toll. I also had a near death experience while traveling – you’ll hear about it in #5 below – that haunted me for a spell this year.

I fancy myself an eternal optimist and while that was put to the test repeatedly in 2023, something that helped this year was a more normal return to travel post-pandemic. Baseball trips. Visiting Europe. Getting back to old stomping grounds. East coast, west coast. New tastes. New people. New experiences. In no particular, here are the things that I’ll remember the most from getting back out on the road in 2023.

#1 – Mascot encounters

My not so subtle love of sports mascots is something people who love me find endearing if a touch odd. On my travels this year for my love of baseball, I got to say hi to the Chicago Cubs mascot, Clark, at spring training in Mesa, AZ. I also got to visit with Slider, the Cleveland Guardians mascot and Paws, the mascot of the Detroit Tigers. To put an end to the speculation, I do travel to watch baseball. The mascots are just a bonus!

With the Cubs mascot, Clark
With Slider, the mascot of the Cleveland Guardians
With Paws, the mascot of the Detroit Tigers
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A neighbourhood approach

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Across a few trips to Vancouver last summer and fall I sampled the bounty that is that city’s craft beer scene. Vancouver is a favourite city of mine for a number of reasons – the direct flight from where I live, the ability to see mountains and water in the same place, the varied food scene, and definitely the abundance of craft beer.

Using a neighbourhood approach to exploration, I got one day kicked off in West Van at the earliest to open patio at Parallel 49. I created a tasting flight of a selection of hazy IPAs from that brewery and also from a couple of guest taps they had of Superflux. Luckily I was doing this neighbourhood tour by public transit and by foot, because these were all potent (and delicious!).

Parallel 49 Brewing Company
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Some needed time beside the water

/ Greg / 1 Comment

A bit of a warning… You’re going to see a lot of beach photos coming up below.

By the summer 2022 portion of the pandemic, my Atlantic Canadian soul needed to spend some significant time sitting beside a fairly substantial body of water. With that in mind, we planned out our Vancouver Island explorations with a few days at a cottage overlooking the Strait of Georgia. Immediately on driving up to the place I could feel my pulse slowing down. My wife and I glanced at each other and with no words passing between us we both knew we had made a perfect decision on location.

As the sun set on our first night in Qualicum Bay we walked the beach with the tide starting to go out. This was a walk we would do a number of times.

Qualicum Bay, BC
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