I feel so hoppy today

Finally! Its beginning to become spring. Today the sun was out, high of 50 F, AND it was the weekend so we could actually enjoy the weather together. Don't ask me how I did it, but I managed to get my boyfriend to go outside with me for a few hours in the middle of the day to walk around South Street, popping into random thrift, consignment and antiques stores just to browse. Everyone in Philadelphia was outside today.

AND today was the Philly Craft Beer Fest! I bought us tickets ages ago, the moment they went on sale because lo and behold both the afternoon and evening sessions sold out pretty quickly. We're big microbrew fans, and when the opportunity to taste nearly 150 different drafts from approximately 50 different breweries arises, you can't pass it up. We attended the evening session (6-9:30pm) because, well, possibly getting drunk in the middle of the day just seems wrong. My first beer festival and after surviving it I have to say - unlikely to go again next year.

Not because its bad - oh, no, we had a lot of fun there. However, it wasn't well organized as immediately evidenced by the line to get in. Except in the beginning it was two lines. Then somehow those two converged into one, with a separate one forming next to it. The security then merged that separate line with the main one, but right at the middle, thoroughly ticking off the people who suddenly had a ton of people ahead of them in line (thankfully not us). Once inside, it was pretty crowded. WAAAAY too crowded for maximum enjoyment, really.

It was right on the edge of being impossible to move around, but we managed to try a fair portion of the breweries. Not an easy task. But the worst part was the fact that the bathrooms had plumbing issues so port-o-potties were the only option. And with that much beer, and that many people...midway through there was a crowd waiting for a bathroom with a 20 minute wait. Ugh.

However, the beer we had was fantastic! I don't remember most of it (wish I'd wrote it all down!), but Dock's Draft Hard Cider framboise was delicious. So was Voodoo Brewery's Voodoo Love Child, that draft really stood out from the rest of the ones we had. We peaced right around 8pm, bellies full of beer and pretzels, and ahead of the increasingly drunk crowd. It was a damn fine Saturday.