On our drive to check out Wallowa Lake, I noticed a sign saying, “Terminal Gravity Brewery – 1 block”. I was sure I had heard of it before and even if I hadn’t we would have to stop on our way back down.

So, after cheking out the Oregon State Campground for a future adventure and taking photographs of the spawning Kokanee salmon, we returned to Enterprise, Oregon and Terminal Gravity Brewery. Although they seem to have a large facility, they must not receive too many visitors. Besides a few picnic tables outside, inside they have only 4 stools at the bar and 2 tables.

I ordered a pint of Breakfast Porter and Von had a cup of coffee (sometimes it is good to have a non beer drinker with you). The porter was delicious and was quite satisfying as a liquid lunch especially since we had a very late (and large) breakfast.

Before leaving I asked about their Barley Wine since it is a style I am not familiar with. The waitress brought me a sample to try. On the palate the Barley Wine had quite a lot of body with a citrus-fruity taste that was balanced by the +11% alcohol content. I decided to bring a growler of this home and to pick up a 6-pack of their IPA for my oldest son.

Now there is one more reason to go camping next year at Wallowa Lake.

(You can click on any photo above to see a larger version)

Big billowy clouds over the Tri-Cities enticed me to find a vantage point for some photos. I have not been up to Jump Off Joe for quite a while and decided that I could take a few extra minutes for lunch and head up there.

The clouds were quite interesting to the south but the ground below was not to exciting. To the north the clouds were thicker, probably threatening rain, and so cast a haze over the city.

Well, the large wind generators, aka windmills, always provide an interesting subject. To the east they were lined up like soldiers twirling their arms. I was not sure I would be able to pull out the background because of the haze over the city but think it turned out pretty well.

The clouds to the south looked more like what I had seen from town. Along with the solitary windmill and the homestead, they provided another shot that I think turned out well.

I want to go back up some day when the clouds are absent. Early in the morning (don’t laugh) or just before sunset would be a great time to get some interesting side light.

On a technical note, these are the first photos I have shot using the RAW file mode of my Canon T2i. I used UFRaw to process them before converting them to JPG files. I now have a lot more to learn!

I picked up this 750ml bottle of Sheaf Stout at Albertson’s on Clearwater Ave. in Kennewick this weekend. Albertson’s has this beer priced at a very respectable $2.79 for the 25oz. bottle with an above average 5.70% ABV. Sheaf Stout is an Australian import from a subsidiary of Foster’s Group.

The company website says Sheaf Stout “is a classic Australian stout with a tantalizing dry finish and a medium body.” BearAdvocate.com labels this stout as a Milk/Sweet Stout, which, according to Wikipedia is “a stout containing lactose, a sugar derived from milk. Because lactose is unfermentable by beer yeast, it adds sweetness, body, and calories to the finished beer.”

Review

Appearance – Pours a nice dark black with a full frothy head that lingers for a couple minutes, finally dissipating to a layer of bubbles across the top that clung to the side of the glass as it emptied.

Smell – I could only catch a hint of chocolate in the aroma.

Taste – I was surprised by the hoppy taste of this stout. Tasted more like a heavy lager than I would have expected for a milk stout. Taste seemed to improve as either the beer warmed or as I consumed more. Guess I will have to try it again and let it approach room temperature before drinking it.

Mouthfeel – Nice feel in the mouth. Carbonation kept it alive but not overly so.

Drinkability – I look for a smoother taste in a stout, especially a milk stout. This might be good at a bbq where you have strong taste of grilled meat and salty chips.

Just ran across Bernie’s Better Beginner’s Guide to Photography for Computer Geeks Who Want to be Digital Artists. I love the concept, skip info that you can google or find in wikipedia, skip stuff from the manual cause it is in the manual and you would have read it if you had wanted to, and deal with just the subject matter at hand.

Definitely a resource that I will point others to. I loved his recommendation that you move your camera off Program mode and start using Aperture Priority.

Aperture priority mode lets you choose an aperture, and the camera will set the shutter speed to correctly expose the scene; this is the most useful mode because it makes it easy to get the best depth of field possible (set to minimum aperture) or the fastest available shutter speed for the current lighting (set to maximum aperture).

I have used Aperture Priority mode to control depth of field but had never considered using it to max out shutter speed for the available light. Woot! Something new to try.

This begins my first beer review. I do not pretend to be a beer snob but hope that by writing out my thoughts, not only will I become more discriminating in my taste but will enjoy the different varieties of beers. I will use the BeerAdvocate.com format for reviews and hope I will be able to start tasting some of the subtle flavors as I gain experience.

I picked up (Stout) from Albertson’s on Clearwater Ave. in Kennewick. They store it in the walk-in fridge along with a wide selection of other craft brews. Albertson’s has this beer priced at $5.39 for the 22oz. bomber bottle. (Stout) is a seasonal label bottled by Yakima Craft Brewing Co. in Yakima, WA since February 2010. The website also says “(STOUT) is made with honey and features a classic dark-grain taste. Built to enjoy, this is a sessionable semi-sweet seasonal.” The bottle does not say what the alcohol level is, but according to the company’s website it is 6.3% by volume.

Review

Appearance – The beer poured from the bottle with very little head which dissipated quite quickly. The beer is very dark, almost black.

Smell – I could smell a dark roasted smell almost of coffee.

Taste – The beer had a roasted taste that has some initial flavor but then seems to fall flat. I did not notice the honey mentioned by the website.

Mouthfeel – Sat well on the palate. Not too heavy but would like to have had some more flavor come to life.

Drinkability – Although the beer starts well, there is no finish. I would never turn it down but would look for something better if given the opportunity.

After spending the weekend at Ocean Park for our family reunion, we packed up the ole Arctic Fox trailer and headed across the Columbia to Fort Stevens State Park. We have wanted to camp here for a long time but never made reservations early enough. This year I found a space available from Monday through Thursday that would fill the gap between our planned weekend camping spots. The 3,700 acre park has nine miles of bicycle trails, six miles of hiking trails, as well as miles of beach, so there is always plenty to do and explore. Kevin & Kyle would have no problem running the beach each day to get their 5 to 6 miles in for Cross Country pre-season practice.

We visited the historic military area which has a museum as well as the concrete bunkers built as military fortifications to guard the mouth of the Columbia River. The original earthwork fortifications were build during the Civil War were replaced by concrete structures and served as an active military base until the end of World War II. The kids enjoy exploring the dark interiors of the huge bunkers and posing next to the large guns.

We had great weather while at Fort Stevens! Not only did it not rain (much) on us, one evening the sky was not overcast at all and we had a great sunset. I drove back to the beach to get some photos of the 1904 shipwreck of the Peter Iredale with the setting sun. I got what I think are some fantastic shots.

We also signed up for the ranger-led kayak session on Coffenbury Lake. The rangers explained the history of Fort Stevens as we paddled around the lake early in the morning. The kids enjoyed themselves thoroughly. I really think we need to buy a couple of kayaks for the family to use on the Columbia River around home as well as when we are out camping.

Before we knew it our time at Fort Stevens was over and it was time to hook up the trailer and head toward warmer weather to finish out our vacation near Mount Rainier.

Cross Country season has started up again! The kids have been working hard all summer getting into shape for what should be a great season. The Kamiakin boys and girls are both ranked #3 in the state for for 3A schools and are working hard to improve that ranking.

The first race of the year is the Hanford Jamboree (stats), a 2 mile course with 3 races scheduled, one each for the girls and boys who had made 10 practices so far this year (meaning they had not missed a practice) and then a community fun run for everyone else. Runners from Hanford, Kamiakin, Southridge, Kennewick, and Richland High Schools got their chance to run against other schools and the clock.

The Kamiakin girls started out strong with the five girls running in a pack at the front for the first part of the race and finished the race in positions 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6! Go Kamiakin! The top five Kamiakin boys placed in positions 1, 2, 3, 6, and 10, a good solid showing. According to Athletic.net, Anthony Armstrong finished the two miles in 10 minutes flat, though the unofficial team time had him at 9:57! It is fun to watch that boy fly. The final race was a community fun run with adults (aka older people) as well as middle schoolers running with the cross country team members who had not been to enough practices to run in the main races.

I am looking forward to watching the Kamiakin runners this year. Next week we go to Spokane for the Tracy Walters Invitational at Audubon Park in Spokane.