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Starkweather Beer Company

 When I moved back to Madison to attend law school in 1987, we moved to a crappy little apartment near the banks of Starkweather Creek on the unfashionable east side.  Today, the east side is booming, and one of the newer brewpubs is called Starkweather Beer Company. It was Saint Pat's Day.  While Guinness is a decent light-bodied stout, I opted for Starkweather's dry Irish Stout, named "Jamestown Jackdaw." Coming in at 5.9 ABV, it had a malty chewable backbone.  It's a new favorite stout for me.  Julia had Late Winter Haze, a New England IPA that didn't have as much fruitiness as she likes in a hazy.  It was still well-executed. We walked down the street to the Harmony Bar, where Julia enjoyed a complete corn beef and cabbage dinner.  I opted for the Reuben sandwich.  Mine was washed down with an Edmund Fitzgerald porter from Great Lakes Brewing.  Julia enjoyed her Chaos Pattern IPA from 3 Sheeps Brewing.  Both are great beers. Justin update:   After a long h

In Search of Wildlife in Alaska


During our train journey and stay in the Mount Denali area, we made every effort to see some real Alaska wildlife.  If I had my druthers, my preference would have been to see a brown or grizzly bear from a considerable distance away.  But I was up for seeing caribou,  Dall sheep or even moose at a closer distance.

On the train trip north and south, we pretty much saw nothing, except for a brief glimpse of a moose butt. While in the Denali National Park area, we even signed up for an expensive jeep excursion. We had a good time driving our jeeps up and down gravel roads, but we again caught only the glimpse of a distant moose before returning to the jeep parking lot.




However, on the afternoon after the jeep ride, Julia and I asked to get dropped off on our own at the Denali National Park Visitor’s Center. We decided to hike the Horseshoe Lake loop trail, which was one of our better decisions and totally free. We picked up our trail map and headed outside where we met a delightful older gentleman and his golden retriever. After some conversation, he offered to walk with us to the trailhead. He explained that he lived in the area full time, that he was retired and that his wife was director of operations at the national park. He offered some great advice and told several stories.

One of the stories is that he had been attacked numerous times by moose in the park. During the last attack, he ended up on the ground with the moose kicking and stomping on him. He survived without serious injuries but his dog sustained two skull fractures. He told us that if we ever encounter moose up close to seek cover between trees and the moose. The conventional wisdom to run away often doesn’t work.

With a new respect for moose, we parted ways and started down the trail. Immediately, people coming up the trail told us to watch out for a mama moose with a calf on the left side of the lake. We didn’t see that moose but we watched another feeding in the lake. The moose dipped its head under water for 20 to 30 seconds and emerged, chewing on underwater vegetation. The moose stayed in basically the same feeding position as we quietly looped around the lake.


We then ran into more people telling us that the mama and calf were just ahead before the next bridge. We didn’t find the moose at that location.but we did find their wet tracks.


Disappointed that we just missed the moose, we continued past the bridge to the river, where Julia started taking scenery shots and video. Meanwhile, I was bored and looked back up into the woods close the where the moose had left the trail. At that instant, I saw the mama moose and calf walking our way and directly toward where Julia was with her back to the moose.


I started calling Julia softly at first and then with more enthusiasm as she continued to ignore me and operate her camera.. “Mama moose, now, time to go!” I suggested.  We quietly but quickly moved away from their path before we could be cut off from the trail. It was very exciting, and we were able to take photos from behind the bushes once we were out of harm’s way.


We finished up our hike with our hearts racing at this close encounter with mama moose and baby moose.

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