Back from 2 Weeks In the Yucatan Peninsula
Finally got a chance to see a part of the world that i have been excited about for years. Lots more to show here soon, but i can’t say enough about the food, the architecture, the beaches and the general laid back lifestyle here.
Golden State Model Railroad Museum
Model trains have always been fascinating to me, partly its the extreme form of proto-nerdiness (these guys were geeks before there were computers) and partly it is the historical reproduction that inevitably comes from needing to build a lot of scenery for your train to run around.
A few weeks back my fascination was stoked to a full blown excitement after a visit to the Golden State Model Railroad Museum in Richmond CA. It is a 10,000 square foot warehouse that has been turned into a massive series of Californian railroad vignettes with extremely accurate details. Places like the Oakland Docks, the Sacramento Railyards, Towns like Truckee, Colfax, and Tehachapi, and lost to history locations like the Alameda Mole, the Key Route Inn, and the Oakland Central Terminal - the grand Beaux Arts style station that is currently abandoned.
Even if you don’t think Model Railroading sounds interesting, the place is worth the price of admission simply for the incredible detail of the miniature buildings and landscapes. Next time you are in the hood take the detour to get over there.
St George Spirits Distillery Tour
Alana and I finally made it out to Alameda to take the tour at St George Spirits last weekend. The distillery started in emeryville in the 80s making eau de vie but has since branched out to make just about everything in their giant hangar in Alameda that used to belong to a fighter squadron. They have a decent tour, though if you are fairly knowledgeable it is a little basic. The guide told a great story about a recent experimentation with tequila and the difficulty of cutting up the agave that involved machetes, broken wood chippers and chainsaws.
After the tour we did a tasting of just about their whole portfolio, including: pear eau de vie (with 15lbs of pears per bottle), raspberry eau de vie, kaffir lime vodka, mandarin blossom vodka, buddhas hand vodka, 2 kinds of black tea liqueur, 2 aged single malt whiskeys, a pear liqueur and a raspberry liqueur. Not a bad run for $10.
They are doing an open house next weekend that sounds like it would be pretty cool. So if you get the chance to get over there it is absolutely worth it.