Root Beer Snob

 As I have spoken with friends, relatives and new acquaintances (some of which decided not to move past the acquaintance phase…), I have come to realize I am a root beer snob. I turn up my nose and those that consider Mug and A&W as the only root beer choice that they have. I laugh when someone hasn’t tasted a bottled root beer. I mock those that can’t taste the difference between different bottlers.

 

In order to help raise others to the proper level of root beer knowledge-dome, I thought I would pontificate on my findings so that you, the lay root beer drinker, might be able to enjoy the true art of root beer consumption.

 

History

So first, some brief history. Root beer was first popularized in North America (most of the world thinks root beer tastes like medicine, so really our discussion only concerns North America) during the days of prohibition. When alcohol was banned, some of the alcoholic beverage bottlers needed a substitute. It is normally non-alcoholic, but there are some lesser known brands that are alcoholic.

 

Root Beer Flavor

Traditionally, root beer is made from sassafras, as well as some combination of other flavors such as vanilla, licorice, nutmeg, molasses, or cinnamon. Once the proper blending (depending on the bottler) has been mixed, carbonation is added. Some root beers add more carbonation that others, and some like the favor to be a bit more sweet, but the general principle is the same. It has a clear, brown coloring similar to a cola, though usually not quite so dark. Frequently, root beer is added to vanilla ice cream as a float, or mixed together as a shake. See below for my comments on floats…

 

Root Beer Characteristics

There are three basic characteristics or qualities in a root beer: sweetness, carbonation, and head thickness. Sweetness is simple to understand. Basically, how much syrup is added per unit of measure. Carbonation, is similar: how much carbonation per unit of measure. As for head thickness, I think it is controlled by the recipe, not necessarily the amounts. I have to admit, here is a lack in my root beer knowledge. To see the difference, poor some Mug root beer and suck in some of the head. You will notice most of it reverts to air and you are left swallowing more air than you might if you were to try the same experiment with a Henry Weinhard’s root beer. You will find the later is almost like a light cream rather than flavored air.

 

Root Beer Types

As for root beer bottlers, there tend to be four classes of root beer: root beer for the masses, root beer for those that want to stay awake but don’t like cola, home grown root beers, and those that truly crave a good root beer. By the way, I don’t consider generic brands to fit in any of these groups. I have tasted a few and decided that those who drink those just don’t care. So long as something cool goes down the throat, that is enough. Since you are reading this and have made it this far, you obviously must fit into one of the four main groups.

 

Root beer for the Masses

These root beers tend to come in a can, or two liter bottle. They are easy to find in any grocery story. They tend to be fairly similar in taste, and only the truly gifted can recognize the difference between them. That being said, I understand most cola drinkers can’t tell the difference between Pepsi and Coke, so maybe that isn’t too surprising. Anyway, the main brands here are A&W and Mug. Both have a similar sweetness and flavor, but Mug tends to have a bit more carbonation. While I joked about them above, there are very few root beers I will turn my nose up at, and these are not among the infamous few. They make a decent float, but can be a bit difficult to drink if you don’t like the carbonation. I tend to like less carbonation, so if I have time and I have these in the house, especially in the 2-liter bottle, I will let it sit around open for a while to kill some of the carbonation.

 

While there are a couple more in this category, there is one more I will add: Dad’s. It isn’t as common, but you can often find it at Costco, or in Utah bulk grocers such as Maceys. If I have to choose between the three, Dad’s wins, hands down. It is a sweeter root beer than the other two, but it is also less carbonated.

 

The head does tend to be fairly thin across the board in this category.

 

Root Beer for the “Stay Awake Crowd”

My knowledge here tend to be fairly weak. The main reason being that caffeine tends to be added to this drink. Barq’s, for example, is one of these. In most states, Barq’s has caffeine, which tends to match their slogan of “Barq’s has bite.” However, in Utah, this wasn’t a positive. Barq’s started out as a caffeine-free drink, but later added it. However, when Utah found out about the difference, sales dropped significantly in the root beer capital of the US. So Barq’s now has too versions: the standard caffeine infused version in most of the United States, and the caffeine-free Utah friendly version. I have only seen one or two other root beers in this category, but they tend to be locals only. In Issaquah, Washington, there is a XXX root beer that boasts a high caffeine content, as well as . But I haven’t tried it and so don’t know what to say here. I think normally, if people what the stay awake affects, people tend to stay with the colas.

 

Home Grown Root Beers

There are two types of this root beer: the small bottler, and the home brewed. There are a few establishments that choose to home brew their root beer rather than buy anything mass produced. There are two that I am aware of. One has already been mentioned above (XXX Root Beer). The other is brewed by a Utah based pizza “chain”, The Brick Oven. Often times, a small root beer brewer doesn’t have the technical ability to truly keep the same consistency across different batches, but they do tend to be sweeter. It makes sense on the consistency. Often times, their batches are hand mixed. Or at least use less technically advanced mixers. But as for why they tend to be sweeter, I don’t know.

 

Obviously, the home brewers also should be mentioned. More often than not, the carbonation is usually very low and they are very sweet, which tend to make them very enjoyable for me. However, the recipe varies drastically, and one batch might be perfect and the next more like flavored water, or carbonated water.  Along those lines, home brewed root beers aren’t known for their float mixing abilities, but, since they are normally made with dry ice, they are great for Halloween parties and gatherings.

 

A quick shout out to the one person I have seen that has done a good job keeping it consistent: Eric Ashby from Duvall, Washington. I know there are others, but his is the only one I have had a chance to taste in multiple cases where I could verify the taste, etc. He was frequently called on and was a favorite in local neighborhoods.

 

Root Beer for the Snob

These are the royalty of root beer. They never lower themselves enough to be bought in a can (gasp!). They don’t associate themselves with the mass market and are rarely found on the soda isle in the grocery store. They know they should be served cold, and so are normally in the refrigerated beverage section of the store. Like true royalty, they stay true to their roots, and are normally found next the beers and hard liquors. Not a positive in my book, but how can you argue a loyalty to familial connections?

 

If you are one that would pass up the dairy isle for your cheese because you know the Havarti, gouda, provolone, muenster, brie, and other snob cheeses are found in or near the deli, these are the root beers for you. They are easier to distinguish by taste because the are not catering to the mass produced tongue, but rather strive to be individual. Let’s take a moment to discuss the different ones that I have come across.

 

First, there are the knights and earls, just above the peasantry of the other root beers. In this class, you will find Jones and Stewart’s root beer. Both are decent and can be found in most grocery stores. Jones Bottlers is known for their different flavored sodas, as well as the pictures on the bottles. Their flavors are always excellent if a bit off the wall… Stewart’s is great all around, but does have an interesting after taste.

 

Next, we have the dukes and princes., we have the IBC and Thomas Kemper root beers. You can often find these at nicer sit down restaurants that don’t server root beer from the tap. You can find these in grocery stores. They do make excellent root beer floats and tend to be fairly sweet, though Thomas Kemper is slightly more carbonated.

 

Last, in my book, we have the king: Henry Weinhard. If you have laughed throughout this post, I dare you to try one of these and see if you will ever again look at an A&W or Mug in the same way. It is that good. The flavor is very sweet and wonderful, the carbonation is just right, and the head is amazing.

 

There is one more root beer I would mention in this section. It is a new one that I just found (at least my wife found) in the last couple of weeks. Teddy’s root beer. I haven’t had enough of it to judge it as a stand alone drink, but it is the best root beer float drink I have ever had. It does have a very interesting flavor, unlike any other I have tried. Almost a cinnamon flavor. For comments on the float, see below.

 

Other Root Beer Reviews

Also, I have found, in writing this post, that I am not the only root beer snob. Check out this site: http://www.gourmetrootbeer.com. I was happy to see that most of my ratings were similar to his, though I was surprised to see how high he rated A&W. But again, maybe it is just so readily available that its quality doesn’t seem so out of the ordinary. A couple of other sites: http://rootbeerbarrel.com, http://www.rootbeer.net, http://www.root-beer.org/.

 

So while I consider myself a snob, after looking at those sites, I realize I am not as informed of a snob as I thought I once was. In the future, as I take trips to different locations, I will definitely be looking more for the local root beers in the area.

 

Floats

No discourse on root beer is complete without a few comments on root beer floats and shakes. First, a root beer float/shake is only as good as the root beer and ice cream used. If you really want to enjoy, make sure you spend a bit of money for the exact mixture you want. Second, certain mixtures will result in different levels of crystal-ness or blending. Make sure you choose the blend you like. Third and lastly, never make a root beer float out of warm root beer. Always used cold root beer and you will be happy.

 

There are arguments about which flavor of vanilla ice cream works best for these mixtures. My personal preference is Dryer’s Vanilla Bean, but I have heard other prefer plain vanilla or even double vanilla. Once again, a personal preference of mine is to avoid French Vanilla at all costs. Better to drink the root beer plain than add it to that type of vanilla… Just a word of warning to the wise. I have also tried mixing root beer with other types of ice cream. Again, speaking from experience, just stick with vanilla.

 

On to the actual mixing. My preference is a float where the ice cream has been slightly crystalized with enough root beer that I can get a bit of both on each spoonful. I don’t like when the ice cream is solid on the spoon. Rather, I like the crystalized section to represent the ice cream and let more root beer crystalize the more solid portions. I tend to keep my root beer bottle around while going through my float so that I can keep the ratio to my liking. I start will too much ice cream and then add root beer. Usually, the foam or “head” will flow to the top before you get too much root beer in, so I end up either spooning it out (and “drinking” it) or just sucking up the head. Again, as mentioned above, a good root beer head will be smooth and refuse to turn back to liquid very easily, while a cheaper root beer will immediately bubble and pop in your mouth so it feels like you are drinking air more than anything else.

 

A couple of key combinations I have tried (ice cream always refers to Dryer’s Vanilla Bean in this context…):

• Diet root beer and ice cream. Someone suggested this to me. The ice cream crystalizes very well, however, the flavor tends to cause problems in the after taste.
• Henry Weinhards and ice cream. There is some crystallization as long as you skim the surface of the ice cream rather than taking an entire bite. The flavor is amazing, obviously.
• Teddy’s and ice cream. This root beer does a number on the ice cream. The crystallization goes deep into the ice cream and gives you a better opportunity to get more of the ice cream flavor and texture per bite than any other I have tried. Its flavor is also very unique, so makes this a very special root beer float. This is my favorite combo at this point.

 

Comments

Do you agree? Disagree? Have root beers you would recommend? Let me know! I would love to try some new ones.

iPad Envy

I have never been one to long for a specific toy or technology, especially from Apple, to the point where I will actually spend the money to get it. I think the iPad may have just crossed that boundary. Obviously it is nicely integrated with iTunes, and does great work with music and videos. There are already a ton of apps specific to the iPad such as from USAToday that presents you a newspaper in digital form that is big enough to actually see a good amount of content.

Its form fact small enough that I wouldn’t feel cocky pulling it out in a meeting at church or work to take notes or follow along in the material. Of course, I would feel cocky because it is an iPad and something people should be envious of, but that is neither here nor there…

The sadest part of my admission here is that it was the eBook apps that are coming out that really changed my mind. If you haven’t seen the iPad version of Alice in Wonderland, you need to check it out. My reading blog has more info on this here.

I said it there and I will say it again…

Oh my gravy!

Snakes with Girls

Last night, my wife and I spent some time scanning in photos. Esther and Matthew got her a digital frame for her birthday, and she has been dying to get some of her photos onto the frame. As we looked through all her photos, I found two that were very interesting…

 

While we were in Cedar City, we found a little garden snake. Matthew wasn’t quite old enough to hold it… You can tell Elizabeth was happy to hold it and Esther wasn’t as certain she wanted to. Anyway, it shouldn’t seem very surprising that a little while ago, they found another snake in our neighborhood and immediately tried to pick it up. It seemed a little more aggressive, so they had someone else pick it up. They then brought it home. Here is the snake.

 

You might notice the diamond shaped head, and what looks like the beginnings of diamonds along the back. When Ann and I saw it, we thought it was a rattlesnake! It was very aggressive and was trying to bite anything (including sticks and pant legs) that came near it. We took it back to the creek and let it go, thinking that we were lucky our children hadn’t been bitten.

As I have gone back and looked at the pictures and compared to what was said online, it looks like we didn’t have a rattler at all, just simply an angry snake. If anyone knows for certain, by looking at the photo, please let me know. More than anything, just out of curiosity. I understand, now, that baby rattlesnakes still have rattles, just small ones. This one here didn’t, so I assume it wasn’t. That being said, at the time, Ann and I felt very lucky and have asked our kids not to pick up stray snakes, tarantulas, or any other animal without us being around. While I thought picking up squirrels, birds, etc, might need to be said, I didn’t expect to have to say it about what are traditionally scary animals.

Anyway, so now you know our story of a “baby rattlesnake.”

Goodbye Fang

Well, the time came where we had to let our pet tarantula go. We all shed a tear and had a going away gathering for him. Then we put him into a jar and took him outside into the empty lot next door and let him go.

 

He hadn’t been very happy recently. In particular, a neighbor child accidently dropped him. I think it was from that point forward that he didn’t like being held. Anytime we put our hands down to pick him up, he would start shedding the hairs on his abdomen (from below, you will know that means "I’m in a bad mood right now, and you probably should back away"). So after his last farewell meal (nice juicy cricket) we let him go.

 

We will miss him. On a side note, we almost picked up another pet… a baby rattlesnake. Another time, another blog.

Our New Pet

I have always been the type to say "no" to pets. I realize the benefits of having a dog (evidently one of the best burglar deterrents available). I like the quiet of cats and their purring. Even fish are pretty fun to watch. But I have never wanted any of those in the home. I don’t want to deal with the mess, the cost, having to get someone to watch it while on vacations, etc. I do laugh when people treat their pets as children, but the point is in most cases, they take a great deal of care and can approach the upkeep of a child. Not to mention the emotional ties that always arise with something alive.

Anyway, I have successfully dogged the pet bullet… until now.

Here are the stats on my pet:

• You feed it one to two times a week with the food costing $.12 each meal.
• You clean its home once every six months
• You can hold it
• It doesn’t make any noise (unless it is really frightened… or eating)
• It is fun to feed
• Little to no maintenance

What is it? A tarantula. We don’t know the gender, but he looks more cool than cute, so masculine won out. We thought about calling him Aragog (tribute to Hagrid’s friend) or October (Matthew’s idea…), but we ended on Fang. We caught it on Saturday night, so we didn’t get a chance to take pictures until the next day. Here are a couple of pics…

We found him crawling on the wall outside the garage Saturday night. Ann came home late after the Relief Society meeting of conference and her headlights pointed right at it as she came up the drive way. She saw it and came running in to get me to catch it. I was putting Esther to bed so we both came down (Matthew was asleep and Elizabeth was babysitting). We caught it with a large glass canning jar and then put it into one of the white 5-gallon buckets used for food storage. Turns out they can’t climb glass, plastic or anything really smooth. Later, we used one of our big buckets you use to put ice and then sodas in. So about 10 inches deep and just under two feet wide. We have taken that inside the house and don’t have anything to cover it. Don’t need to.

Before we picked it up and let it crawl all over us, we did double check on the internet (everything there is always accurate and truthful) to find out more about them. In this set with Ann, it started crawling up her arms. I picked it up before it got too far… Anyway, as I was saying, according to what we saw, tarantula’s aren’t very dangerous. They warn you long before they bite. First they will try and hide it they are nervous. If they stay nervous, they will start rubbing their abdomen to shed some of its toxic hairs. If you still keep bothering it, it will raise its front legs to try and scare you. If you still haven’t figured out that it is upset, it will finally bite you. The bite is suppose to be like a bee sting or wasp bite. There is venom, but not very poisonous to humans (at least in the normal dosages you would get with a bite).

Just as a note, all of my comments are about our type of tarantula. I understand there are other types that are very aggressive and would not be good to pick up. However, most that you find in North America are pretty docile.

 

So far, the closest we have come to anything like that is rubbing the hairs. Elizabeth was trying to pick it up (not shown in these pictures) and once she did, it wasn’t happy. It rubbed its hairs onto Elizabeth so she put it back. It now has a section on the back of its abdomen that looks hairless. She ended up with a bit of a rash on her hand, but it wasn’t too bad. Nothing to even scratch at. These pictures here show her handling it for the first time. We were a little worried about her “screaming” bothering Fang, but she calmed down. Now, when friends or family come over, she is usually the one that goes to pick it up.

 

That first Sunday, Matthew wasn’t quite ready to handle Fang, but he got over it as shown here. I don’t have any pictures of Esther to post here holding Fang. She held it that first Sunday, so I am sure we have some pictures somewhere. If I can find one, I will post it here.

Needless to say, our pet has become a bit of a novelty to friends and family. And other than the time he shed his hairs (we hadn’t feed him yet) he hasn’t had much of a problem. Several people won’t hold him, but I can’t say I blame them. Arachnophobia is one of the hardest movies for me to watch. And I still have a hard time killing a spider when it is in the house, but for some reason, most people can get past that fear when they see others holding it. It is actually very timid and doesn’t move around very fast.

Of course, there is one exception to all of this. Feeding time. This is one of the coolest things I have seen. We buy a cricket from the local Petco for $.12 a piece and take it home in a fish bag. Then we drop it into the bucket with Fang. For the most part, tarantulas are very patient for food. They will hold perfectly still until their meal wanders too close, then they pounce. The Haws family is not quite as patient, so we have a kabob stick that we use to carefully prod the cricket towards Fang. Then a few seconds later, he jumps on the cricket and an audible crunch is heard. Then, over the next 15 minutes or so, other crunches are heard from the bucket as the cricket is slowly devoured.

Sounds a bit morbid. Probably is, but it keeps us fascinated. Ann and I thought about what it would be like to be a cricket. Good thing they don’t know they are being raised to be eaten…

Here are a couple of the websites we looked at when doing our research before naming Fang…

http://www.geocities.com/Yosemite/2448/tarantula.html

http://www.wikihow.com/Care-for-a-Tarantula

http://exoticpets.about.com/cs/tarantulas/a/tarantulasaspet_2.htm

http://www.tarantulacare.net/

http://www.answers.com/topic/tarantula

I think this is our type of tarantula: http://www.answers.com/topic/aphonopelma

The more I read, the more interested I am in having Fang identified, but that will have to be another day.

MBA Grad

It has been a little crazy over the last couple of years. There was a time during that year that I had a side job as well. It is nice to be to the point that I can now sit at home and read a book, go on a date with Ann, watch a movie, or just sit a play with my kids without worrying about having an assignment that is due over the next day. While I wouldn’t say that life has slowed down a whole lot (work deadlines, etc), it feels good not be be juggling so many different things.

 

As graduation day approached, I felt relief, but it didn’t really hit me that I had accomplished anything. I think the only thing that occured to me was that I would have more time again. While good, I am not sure going to school for two years in the evening to feel "I have more time again" is enough of a reason. So I felt it was going to be anticlimatic. Part of that feeling is simply that nothing is changing in my life at the moment because of the degree. I think most of the people I graduated with didn’t change jobs or occupations because of the degree and I am no exception at this point.

 

However, when I was in my robes and walking toward the podium to get my placeholder degree (the actual arrives a couple of weeks later in the mail), all of the sudden it struck me what I had accomplished: I had an advanced degree from a great school, I had additional experience and knowledge that would help me in my career, family and service, and I had done it while working full time with my family still recognizing me. It was a pretty cool feeling. I don’t tear up much, but I did get dust in my eyes several times that day. In particular, the speakers had us stand and recognize our families for what they did to support us. I’ll admit that was tears, not dust that time.

 

It was a great experience. Now I just need to find ways to put that knowledge to use.

 

Oh. One final note. Adobe just declared their intentions to acquire Omniture. Wouldn’t you know it? They do tuition reimbursement… I haven’t ever been able to make good on timing with stock. Looks like I can’t do it with education either. Maybe that’s what an MBA is for…

 

Anyway, here are a few picts from the big day.

 

I am not sure why people do this, but there was a big line to pull a chain to ring the bell. Don’t know what it signifies, but I didn’t want to be left out of something that was tradition, required, or simply a bunch of people that saw someone else do it and got in line… However, I know the shot by the cougar is tradition.

 

  

 

Here is Elizabeth preparing to think great thoughts and get ready to go to college. She is in 9th grad this year and has an AP class. AP Human Geography to be exact… If you ask her, she will never tell you she takes geography. The full name is the only way to go. Matthew also has big plans.

 

 

 

Here is the spread that the EMBA program set out for the families. As you can see, Esther only wanted the fruit and vegetables. The cookies, cakes, and other desserts held no appeal for her. (Not…) But she did think it was pretty cool.

 

 

Ann and I can’t believe it has finally come to an end. We just couldn’t help but smile.

 

 

And finally, the family shot after graduation…

 

 

Men vs. Women

It is often commented during church meetings that the women are always better prepared and go to incredible efforts with the presentation of the material. More often than not, the comment is that the men will study the lesson manuals a few minutes before class and get a discussion going, while women put together table center pieces, and handouts that bring out all the points of the lesson as well as additional study material in case you would like more information. Well, I am here to inform you that there are are exceptions to both rules (though I haven’t experienced a woman that was not prepared with a nice table center piece and handout…). Just through I would include the object lesson of our priesthood lesson today (sometimes I think phones should never have had cameras added, but it sure makes for more unexpected photos…).

 

 

The point was, if we stand together united (arms locked) it is much harder for us to be moved (pushed by the teacher) than if we just stand without arms locked. In this case, when the teacher tried to push the arm-locked group, they didn’t budge. But when they stood without arms locked, the teacher was able to knock them over (at least get them to lean).

 

Not only did we have this object lesson, but we also had a handout. Woo hoo! We definately have some exceptional instructors in our group.Thanks Brother Matsuda for the lesson!

Pioneer Day

So today is Pioneer Day, a Utah holiday celebrating the arrival of the pioneers in the Salt Lake Valley some 125+ years ago (I should know my history better, but feel free to look up the exact date if you are interested…). Most local companies take the day off. The exception being when a majority of their customer base is outside of Utah. In that case they work as usual. My company is one of those. Some people still take the day off, but it isn’t a company assigned holiday. There is a big parade in Salt Lake City, and traditionally, neighborhoods across the state get together for a flag ceremony and breakfast.

 

I took my kids this morning and enjoyed some great food and company. Someone brought along air-launched rockets that kids could make. When fired, some would reach 150+ feet. It was pretty cool. At one point, they pulled me in to help with the cooking. I was assigned sausages. Just a word for the wise: when making sausage, wear an apron or be prepared to change your clothing. Especially if you have to go to work afterwards.

 

On an unrelated note, I am wearing a man-perfume of "eau de sausage grease" today. All my coworkers keep asking where I buy my scents.

Food

One thing Ann and I have joked about is that when and if we travel internationally, we would choose our destinations based on food. For example, ice cream and beef we would go to Argentina, chocolate we would go to Switzerland, italian food we would visit the local chain (I understand Italian food is not how we understand it, as with most ethnic foods…). Well, I got to do one of those on this last trip. I wish I had more pictures of the food. We didn’t eat a ton, but what I did eat was great. If you travel into these countries, here are some things to look for:

• Switzerland
• Chocolate (duh). In particular, the Milka and Coullier brands. Not sure on the spelling of the second one. There are some others, but those are the names I remember. Tomberline is also excellent, but you can get that locally. Also, Lindt was a huge brand, but once again, that is local.
• Rusti (no idea of the spelling, but you say it like roost-ee). Basically, this is like greasy french fries. Traditionally, you would eat it with brautworst.
• Germany
  • Sausage. Germany boasts that they make 1500+ types of sausage. Most that I tried were amazing.
• Austria
  • Weinerschnitzel (not sure of the spelling on this either). This is a veal cutlet coated in some kind of a bread crust and then deep fried. It is definately not a hot dog. I tried one that was a cordon bleu (chicken, ham, and swiss cheese). Very good. If you go to Vienna, make sure to visit Schnitzelwrit (Scnhitzel World). It is a cozy little restaurant that serve large, tasty portions for a good price. It is rumoured that the local missionaries frequent this fine establishment.
  • Pretzels. I am not sure if it is a national thing, but at least in Salsburg, then had a great variety. There is a picture of me about to eat one in one of my earlier posts.
• Czech Republic
  • Goulosh (spelling?) Basically a good stew
  • Cabbage soup. Not something I would have chosen, but I was glad I did. Another local favorite.
• England
  • Fish and chips. If you are in London, let me recommend Audleys (Odd-lees). I think I have the spelling on that one. They have two varieties. The small and large. The small has bones. The large is deboned. Needless to say, I recommend the large.
  • Bangers and Mash (sausage and mash potatoes). We had this at a pub near one of the bridges. The name had "Princess" in it, but I can’t remember it completely. I actually just asked a tour bus driver for where he recommended. That is where he said to go. Very good.

There were two things I tried in each country, as well: ice cream and truffles. Switzerland won the truffle contest, and Vienna won the ice cream contest. Though it was a close call for all those countries. As for ice cream bars, I would recommend the Magnum bars. Could get them in just about every place you went. They come in a variety of flavors and all are good (though I didn’t try the white chocolate flavor).

London

Well, I was having some problems with the internet, so I haven’t been able to write anything. So here goes for the last couple of days. Mostly, I will just try and add a couple of pictures. Not much to say…

First day, we visited Windsor Castle. One of the hardest things on this tour has been not being able to take pictures inside places. Most places won’t let you. We toured Windsor Castle and St George’s Cathedral, and neither of them allow pictures inside. While it looks pretty amazing, it is hard to miss the insides as well. There was some pretty amazing history, paintings, armor, coats of arms, etc. I am sure there are pictures on the internet somewhere of those areas. But I don’t have any. Here are some of the better pictures I took there. In this one Troy Carpenter and his wife are in the foreground…

While this castle didn’t seem nearly as majestic as some of the others, it definitely looked more like a castle that I have always pictured from the middle ages.

The inner courtyard…

 

St. George’s Cathedral…

We didn’t have a whole lot of time, so I wasn’t able to take all of the pictures I wanted. Over the last two days, we have done most of our touring walking.

Yesterday (Wednesday) we visited:

Big Ben

The London Eye

The Houses of Parliament

 

Westminster Abbey

Buckingham Palace

And the Mall

Not to mention, we went to see Les Miserables

Evidently, I wasn’t suppose to take pictures inside. But before anyone told me, I took a shot or two inside the theatre (before anything started, of course)

Today we had a bus/tube ticket good for all day, so we tried to visit places that were farther out than where we were staying. For example:

The London Bridge

The Tower Bridge (which is what most people think of when you say London Bridge)

The H.M.S. Belfast

The Tower of London

And most importantly (at least to some people) Harrod’s

Here’s Rob on one of the escalators…

After all of that, I walked down Oxford street and visited a number of shops. I went into several book shops looking for the English version of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, but no one had any book earlier than Azkaban. Ah well.

Our favorite place to eat has become a small restaurant within a block of our hotel, but I can’t remember the name. Here I am eating fish and chips. The only bad thing about the meal was the peas. Somehow, all the flavor was gone. When Rob tried his, he agreed. But once I added vinegar and salt, the flavor was pretty good. Everything else with the meal was great. Actually, the peas have been the only thing I haven’t liked (as far as food) the entire trip. It has been great.

One last event today. I saw a sign that said anti-climb paint. See below. I didn’t know what it was, so I decided to touch the pole. Turns out it is basically black greasy paint that doesn’t dry. So my fingers came away very sticky and black. At least I only did my finger tips…

Well, the world cricket cup begins tomorrow here locally, so things will get pretty busy around here, but we have already made plans. We are going to get a boat to take us up river a ways and visit one more location. After that, I think we will just come back to the hotel and rest.

My feet are killing me, but please, no pity… I will get by.