SemiConscious Dot Org

As the five many regular readers of this blog may already know, I’ve tendered my resignation here at the ol’ liberry, effective at the end of the school year. The Special Lady Friend and I will be taking most of July on a leisurely cross-country drive back to Maine (our mutual homeland), moving into the house she inherited from her grandfather, and tying the knot on Labor Day weekend.

With less than two months to go before the big move, I’ve done hardly any packing or shipping of possessions, little or no job hunting, and virtually no planning for the renovation and insulation of a drafty, 120 year old house. I have, however, spent an inordinate amount of time planning the trip back, in order to hit as many national parks (and breweries) as humanly possible.

First we take the Pacific Coast Highway down the entire length of the Oregon and Northern California coasts (Hello, Rogue Ales, Redwoods National Park, and North Coast Brewing), staying with friends in Santa Rosa (home of Russian River Brewing) for a few days, then heading east on I-80 through the Tahoe area.

Then the part I’m really jazzed about: we ditch the interstate for 500 miles of US 50 through the Nevada and Utah deserts.

On US 50, we stop for a couple of days at Great Basin NP. This is perhaps the stop I’m most looking forward to, because it’s supposedly one of the most beautiful parks in the country, but virtually deserted because it’s so far out in the middle of absolute nowhere. Anyone been there?

Then we hook up with I-70 in Utah and swing through Capitol Reef, Canyonlands, and Arches National Parks, as well as Moab Brewery.

Then on to Colorado, where we will hit Black Canyon of the Gunnison and Rocky Mountain NP. Breweries on my list include New Belgium and Flying Dog. Knowing that Colorado is Mecca for brewpubs, I appeal to the crowd for other suggestions (preferably something within barfing distance of I-70.)

By the time we hit all the flat states, the frequency of national parks (as well as our money and patience for the drive) will have dried up considerably, so we’ll probably just haul ass from this point on. We do have to stop for a few days to see my mother and stepfather in Indianapolis, but I know from personal experience that Naptown is sorely lacking in both quality microbrews and nightlife.

After resting up a few days, we’ll finish our journey with a few days in the East’s most beautiful NP, Maine’s own Acadia, there to please the palette with multiple bottles of Cadillac Mountain Stout, Geary’s Hampshire Special Ale, Smuttynose IPA, and, well, anything brewed by Allagash.

Total trip: roughly 4,300 miles, three weeks, and many, many IBUs.

This is the itinerary as currently constructed. Of course, given the skyrocketing gas prices and my own suspicions about just how much fossil fuel the world has left, I may be scrapping the whole thing in another month or two.