Pluto Pub Crawling!

Last night Derek and I had a "date night" on the town attending the Pluto Pub Crawl as part of the "I Love Pluto 2024" celebrating the discovery of Pluto by Lowell Observatory.  

We started off our evening by walking to the Lumberyard Brewery and Restaurant in hopes of trying a "Pluto Burger"  However, there was over an hour wait time!  So we walked over to the Historic Barrel and Bottle House and split a "Pluto Sunset" made with Reposado tequila, acid adjusted orange juice, Cointreau, and grenadine. Very pretty and tasty! 

After finishing our beverage, we went next door to Ewa Thai for "out-of-this-world" Thai cuisine!  Derek enjoyed the Bangkok noodles (chicken, noodles, and veggies in a Thai peanut curry sauce) while I had spicy basil beef and veggies.  Sooo yummy on a cold February evening.  

After dinner, we made our way over to Mother Road Brewing Company to enjoy a craft black lager called "Makers & Menders" that they had created especially for this year's Pluto Festival.  Very nice flavor.  Derek also tried a Mother Road S'mores Stout.  We enjoyed sipping our beer outside by the fire as it was a mild evening.  

Here is a picture of the can label for this special beer.  

From the Lowell Observatory Website: Makers and Menders is this year’s limited edition I Heart Pluto beer from Mother Road! This complex imperial porter was aged in a 50/50 mix of traditional and mesquite whiskey barrels and drinks like a black pilsner. The name and can design are an homage to the Sykes brothers, bicycle shop repairmen turned telescope dome designers who professed to be “makers and menders of anything.” The story goes that Percival Lowell was walking down Aspen street, saw their advertisement outside their shop, and basically said — “bet.” One of the Sykes brothers worked at Lowell until he retired! You can see their ingenuity reflected in the Clark Telescope and Pluto Discovery Telescope domes on Mars Hill today. 

We then walked north over to the Dark Sky Brewing Company where we tried their "NEW Gravity" a barrel-aged imperial stout with flavors of coconut and vanilla (I really wanted to try their "Astro Cookie" Pastry Stout but they were all out.  Boo!).  Derek tried their "Popcoin" rye corn lager.  

We only went to a select few of the places on the pub crawl route (shown below).  We just picked our favorites so that we could take our time and enjoy one another's company. 

In all cases, Derek was the one who drank most of our beers (I was the designated driver and of course- watching my carb intake).  It was a fun night out celebrating out favorite planet.  Yes there will always be nine!!!!!

In other news, on Wednesday Derek, Grandpa Randy, Grandma Peggy, and I got to see Zach down in Tempe briefly between his classes while visiting the Phoenix area for various appointments.  It was great to hug my Z!!!  He was in good spirits enjoying his second semester of freshman year.  He was also very happy to receive a delivery of Grandma Dixie's chocolate chip cookies! 

As usual I have been involved in many music activities.  My flute choir group is officially practicing together now and practicing for our March chamber music concert! Also, I am officially signed up for Les Mills BodyBalance training mid-March to officially become an instructor for that exercise format. The proposal I wrote for the athletic club was well-received and the club will be officially adopting new classes in that format this summer once I and my fellow instructors are officially certified to teach it.  Woohoo!!!   

A belated Happy Valentine's Day from Curie!!!