This weekend the weather looked pretty crappy so Emily and I decided to join Erin, Scott, Mischa, Tim, Lindsay, Loomis and Amy Jo at the Silverton Brewfest on Saturday evening and we even talked Chris into coming along later in the evening as well to see the showcase band of the night, Blitzen Trapper.
The Brewfest was located at the Oregon Gardens in Silverton, OR which Em and I haven’t been to yet. The area was super beautiful and although it is still early in the spring there were flowers and buds blooming everywhere there. We drove Amy Jo and Loomis to the festival as well and when we arrived we paid $5 for parking and quickly found a place nearby, only to find out that we were still very far away. Thankfully, a really nice old lady in a shuttle bus pulled over and told us to hop on just as we began to walk. 
When we got to the festival I was a little nervous about the size of it as we paid $15 for a cup and 5 drink tickets and walked into a small tent. Fortunately, there was a much bigger building beyond the tent that housed most of the vendors and the main stage for performances although smaller bands were also rocking out the tent we entered. There were just under 50 breweries represented and tons of beers available. I of course immediately went for the stout beers as I don’t like hoppy beers. I then progressed to trying various hard ciders which seem to have become really popular in the last few years. My favorite was the red cider from Woodchuck out of Vermont. 
The bands were all fantastic but we were all blown away when Blitzen Trapper took the stage just after 9pm. They are natives of Oregon and gave several shout outs to nearby areas as they started their amazing set. Scooter took off immediately toward the stage so I gave him our camera to snap some pictures as he is well over 6 feet. Blitzen Trapper were fantastic as they rocked the place out. The guitarist in front was pounding beer out of a pitcher the entire set and they finished an encore with a great Zeppelin cover. 
From there it was a 20 minute drive to Silver Falls where we spent the night in a big old barn that Erin Riley rented for everyone and sleeps 75 people! There were only about 15 of us on Saturday night and I felt bad that Erin probably took a dig with the rental cost as she only asked for $10 from each of us. The barn had a gigantic fire pit in the middle, full kitchen, huge fridge, and we thought it would be a great place to rent again.... until we went to sleep... and could hear every sound, even farts across the entire barn! Someone was definitely snoring next to us and Emily kept poking me thinking it was me snoring! 
Sunday morning was definitely rough for both Emily and I as we drove up the Gorge to visit Gorge Crest Vineyards and the Gorge hotel again. We decided that we wanted our wedding at the vineyard and our rehearsal dinner, if possible, at the Gorge Hotel and then after the wedding we can all head downtown to a bar after the reception ends at 10. We stopped for lunch at the Full Sail Brewery in Hood River which could be an after party option. Definitely excited we found a place and that there are available spots in July.
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