BOONVILLE! *clap*clap* BEERFEST! *clap*clap*

Is there an event in your life that 

you look forward to every year?  

A yearly something-or-other?  In 

this house it's the Boonville 

Beerfest.  "So, what?" you say, 

"It's just a beerfest".  Ah, my 

friend, this is where you are 

mistaken.  The word, "just" has 

no business in the description of 

this event.

We go every year.  We have a heck of a good time every year too.  It's always on a Saturday, always in the middle of nowheresville (a.k.a. Anderson Valley) which is a gorgeous part of Northern California.  They 

have a sweet little fairgrounds there and once a year thousands 

of people roll into a town of a few hundred and have a good 'ol time.

We get there on Friday, to get the good camping spot.  Camping?  Huh?  Yup, this is a weekend event!  We camp in the fairgrounds with thousands of other people for two nights, all wedged into a modern day commune of like minded individuals.  And I love it.  This year we got hooked up with brewer's tickets which meant we got to camp down the street a bit in a similar style 'campground' made up of all the breweries that attend the beerfest itself.  I love it because it's not the kind of community that I encounter out and about in the world, it's the kind where even though I don't know you, we are already friends.  We just haven't met yet, that's all.  It's divine and I wish every day I could be surrounded by the same sentiment.

.

Brewer's tickets also meant we could get into the beerfest an hour early!  This is the best part!  No large crowd (yet)!  There are a ton of breweries to fill your sample glass with their beers as many times as you'd like.  This is right up my alley because I am not a huge beer fan, I'm pretty picky.  So I get to taste a bunch                                            of different beers with out committing to a whole bottle (only to find out I don't like it...usually).

 I'm a tried and true girly-beer girl so I found my niche with the "Hell or High Watermelon" wheat beer, Raspberry Lambic, Cherry ale,  Apricot-Peach ale and a variety of ciders (not too many for me though, since cider usually equals headache).

 Of course we brought Ro.  It was her second year and she was a hit.  Last year people asked if they could take pictures with her and this year we were stopped endlessly by oglers.  I got a few sideways remarks that I think weren't intended for my ears, "Really?  You brought your kid?" to which I say, "Yes.  She's my kid, she is my life.  Of course I brought my kid".  In reality that only happened twice (that I know of) and the outpouring of affection for her heavily outweighed the snarky comments.

The second night it rained.  All, 
night, long.  Ugh.  We packed up 
wet, dirty camping gear.  The 
worst.  And I'll still come next 
year if it rains again.  That's how 
much I love it.  I mean, how 
often can you be in an honest 
conversation about vaginal birth 
with a girl you've never met 
within seconds of meeting her? 

Or compliment a guy who's hair just got cut into a mullet before your eyes?  Or get jostled around by thousands of people who actually care that they jostled you?  Or play with sidewalk chalk at a restaurant?  Or learn about "knuckles"? 

Until we meet again Boonville :)