It’s been a busy year. We started this as a humble Wordpress blog and expanded to our own website. We traveled up and down the East Coast — covering Maine to North Carolina. We’ve eaten jelly fish, ramps, duck fat fries and lobster fresh from the boat. And we’ve had a beer (or two) in every stop along the way. Here’s a recap of the best and worst of our first year.

The Best Bars

Novare Res Bier Cafe and The Great Lost Bear in Portland, Me.: With the help of the guys from Portland Taps, we found these two amazing beer bars. Great selection, great atmosphere (Novare Res had a cellar quality; The Great Lost Beer bar was like a log cabin in the Great North Woods).  See our post here.

Brewer’s Art in Baltimore:  I don’t understand why Baltimore gets a bad rap with Washingtonians. Bar hopping there makes for a riotous, and affordable, night out.  This bar in particular is great. Its is in the cellar of a Victorian townhouse and on tap are the bar’s own Belgian-style microbrews. Even Esquire magazine noticed; it named Brewer’s Art the best bar in the US this April. Wow!  See our post here.

Flying Dog Brewery in Frederick, Md.: While this is not actually a bar – and we did visit many great bars this year – it comes in 3^rd. Flying Dog has an excellent spread of beers of which you can enjoy limitless samples.  The atmosphere at one of these Saturday afternoon tasting is that of a well-behaved college house party – strangers chatting and spilling out on to the back porch. And, did I mention, its $5. See our post here.

The Best Surprises

Yeah, of course Maine was gorgeous and New York City was a captivating metropolis filled with excellent food.  These places/events were just as amazing – in ways we never expected.  

Davis-Elkins loop – Although I’ve been singing West Virginia’s praises since this blog began, I have yet to influence anyone to actually go there. I don’t give up easily.  Follow this route for a road trip, a mellow escape from DC insanity and a getaway that’s great in the winter.  There’s skiing, burritos and beer. Just do it! See our post here.

Kinetic Sculpture Race – I heard about this race from a blogger meet-up. I mentioned that we cover quirky travel, and this event sprung to everyone there’s mind. For the Kinetic Sculpture Race, groups of friends, classmates and coworkers make human-powered parade floats that can float in the bay, push through sand and coast down bumpy brick roads. It’s amazingly odd. Next year, I’ll be bringing a bike so I can better follow along with the race. See our post here.

Ohio Brew Week –The word “festival” (and its cousin “fair”) often makes me shudder. It usually means high prices, hoards of people and lots of vendors pushing useless junk (used laser disks, anyone?) However, this beer festival was the complete opposite. It was festively crowded and reasonably priced. We heard some great music and tried beers I’ll never see elsewhere. And there was a beer choo-choo. See our post here.

The Biggest Disappointments

We really wanted to love to these popular destinations, but they just fell short.

Assateague  – Although camping on the beach sounds romantic and relaxing – think: falling asleep to the sound of the waves and taking an early morning swim — the reality is that you are camping in a hostile environment. Sand is everywhere, mosquitoes swarm and the sun beats down without mercy.  I wanted to love Assateague. But Assateague didn’t love me.  After a weekend of being eaten, burnt and drenched, I submitted. See our post here.

Asheville – Maybe it was the rain, but this southern city let us down. It wasn’t nearly as outdoorsy or hippified as I hoped it would be. Although, West Asheville had a food co-op, coffee shops and dive bars, downtown was too upscale. How many boutiques does one tiny town need?  I think we missed Asheville’s heyday.  See our post.

Best beers

Saison Dupont from Brasserie Dupont: This is a truly world class beer.  If you want an introduction to the style called Saison, this is the beer to try.  My favorite brew, at my favorite restaurants with my favorite person; it doesn’t get better than that. Find it at Annabell Lee Tavern, Baltimore MD

Grand Wazoo Batch 2 at Jackie O’s Brewery: A bourbon barrel-aged sour dark ale with raspberries, definitely a one-of-a-kind beer.  This brew really showed off the range and diversity of the beverage.  It’s flavors are probably more in line with a wine than any beer most people have tasted. Had at: Jackie O’s Brewpub, Athens OH

Dale’s Pale Ale from Oskar Blues:  Our go-to summer beer.  Dale’s is a very tasty IPA that comes in a can.  Naturally, makes it perfect for camping, tubing, and backyard barbeques.   Had at: just about every trip that involved a cooler.

View a map of our trip

Baltimore Crabs:

Crabs are Baltimore’s culinary claim to fame, and Faidley’s Seafood in Lexington Market claims to have the city’s best crab cakes. We had to check it out.

I’m always weary of this dish. Crab cakes are often less lumps of delicious seafood and more hunks of deep fried bread crumbs. Faidley’s gets its crab cakes right. The jumbo lump crab cakes were enormous. They were nicely seasoned with huge chunks of meat and very little filler. However, Faidley’s is not a restaurant. There’s no seating, only long counters that diners stand at while devouring their seafood feasts. Not exactly a great place to relax after fighting our way through holiday rush hour traffic.

The bill: $18.99 for the jumbo lump crab cake platter with 2 sides.

Philly Cheesesteak

Although Philly was in our top places to visit this summer post, the city of brotherly love has been demoted. It’s a dump. I had imagined it to be like Boston: Colonial architecture, cobblestone streets and old townhouses. It wasn’t. However, I may have missed the scenic part of town, because our trip to Philly lasted two hours. That was enough time to grab a cheesesteak and a beer at Devil’s Den.

As a Philly novice, I headed directly toward the most famous sandwich joint in town: Geno’s Steaks. The cheesesteak vendor is controversial. It has sign informing patrons: “This Is America: When ordering please speak English” (it’s in a largely Latino neighborhood) and is covered in police paraphernalia. It serves zenophobic attitude along with its tasty meat and cheese-wiz sandwich.

Some Philly natives, however, who sat beside us at our picnic table (the restaurant has no indoor seating), said that neighboring Pat’s King of Steaks was better. Indeed, the line a Geno’s was nearly all out-of-towners: half visiting businessmen and half teenagers at Jesus summer camp.

The bill: $16 for two sandwiches. No drinks.

New Haven Pizza

A few months ago, I watched a Travel Channel special on the US’s best pizza. They hit the standards: New York, Chicago and some organic, California hippy pies. But the country’s best pizza, known as “apizza,” was in New Haven, Connecticut. I scoffed: “New Haven? When will I ever go there?”

The answer: last week.

New Haven, most famously home to Yale, also has two storied pizza restaurants: Pepe’s and Sally’s. Both serve the thin, mozzarella-less pie. Their specialty is the white clam pizza; it’s thin crust, garlic, oil, clams and a hard cheese, such as asiago.

Sally’s was closed for the 4th. That left us with Pepe’s, the original New Haven pizzeria, which promised a crunchier crust. At 1:30 pm, the line for a table was out the door. However, it was fast-moving and we had a seat within 15 minutes.

The pie was great – and huge. A medium is plenty for three people. It was covered in fresh clams and garlic (two of my favorites). The crust was chewy and light. The staff, however, was grumpy and brought us drinks in minuscule glasses. You can’t have everything.

The bill: $29. One Medium pizza. Two soft drinks. And one Sam Adams in a Pepe’s pint glass.

Boston Clam Chowder

Apparently, Boston is a popular destination on July 4th weekend. The downtown was unbearably crowded with tourists like ourselves. So, on the hunt for the city’s most famous chowder, we had to settle for Quincy Market, a touristy corridor of food stands in the middle of downtown.

The definition of “clam chowder” is a matter of opinion and geography. Here’s a quick lesson: Manhattan chowder (a name that actually came about as a way of insulting Rhode Island clam chowder) is traditionally made with a clear broth and a generous portion of tomatoes. Boston Clam Chowder uses cream or milk based broth, butter, potatoes, and onions. You may have also heard people talk about San Francisco clam chowder, which is really nothing more than Boston clam chowder served in an edible sourdough bowl.

Many locals rave that Boston & Maine Fish Company has the best chowder (I’m saying ‘chowda’ in my head) in the city.  It didn’t disappoint. We squeezed up to the bar and sipped our soup as swarms of visiting families bumbled through the market. The soup was creamy, hot and chock full of clams and potatoes. What more could you ask for?

The bill: $7.50 for clam chowder in a bread bowl. Or get a lobster roll and chowder for $16.

I am covered in mosquito bites. Wearing long pants to cover my sizzling sunburn. And my camping equipment is hanging out to dry on the back porch. The trip to Assateague, the Maryland island known for its wild horses, was not the typical camping trip.

While we did see the wild horses, camp 15 feet away from a white sand beach, spend Friday night drinking beer around the embers of someone else’s beach bonfire and scarfed down a crab feast, our Assateague adventure was one disastrous camping trip.

Besides booking your trip early through the National Park Service website (We reserved our spot in January), here are three ways you should prepare before spending a weekend camped on the island.

Trouble #1: Mosquitoes. I was warned the mosquitoes were bad on Assateague, but it’s nearly impossible to overstate how bad they were.  Within 30 seconds of leaving the car — before I had the chance to coat myself in bug spray — we were swarmed by a cloud of these bugs. After a day on the island, our neighboring campers had to head back into town for a second can of repellent.  I now have six bites on my left arm alone.

Solution: Bring plenty of DEET and long, loose clothing (it was far too hot for the jeans and sweaters I packed alongside my shorts and tanks.) Try to secure a camping spot near the water; some spots are in the bushes in the road.  The ocean breeze blows the bugs away; the bushes provide a place to live and breed.

Trouble #2: The sun. There is no shade at Assateague. There is no where to hide from the sun, not even a picnic pavilion or some scraggly trees. Even with my 60 SPF sunblock, I still got toasted.

Solution: It’s obvious. Bring a beach umbrella. And a hat. And a shirt with sleeves.

Trouble #3: The rain. It does rain at the beach. At Assateague, you camp on the sand. Your weight inevitably causes depressions — perfect for water to gather in.  At 3 am, we were woken up by pouring rain and thunder.  While I was preoccupied by a terror of being struck by lightning, I failed to noticed that water was streaming into the tent. The tent is old, and the rain tarp doesn’t fit correctly. Something that only matters in torrential downpours like this one. Within minutes, I was sitting in a pool of water. All the run off had been collected in the depressions made by my sleeping body and soaked through my sleeping pad. We spent the rest of the night in the car.

Solution: When it rains, it pours. Invest in a tent with a decent rain fly and enough room to keep belongs away from the edges.

Each spring, Baltimore hosts the East Coast Championship Kinetic Sculpture Race, a day-long triathlon for art. Creators pedal their masterpieces (mostly paper mache creations mounted on bicycles) across the bay, up hills, through sand and mud pits and right in the middle of downtown.

Appropriately, for this quirky contest, the biggest prize goes to the most average. The Mediocre Champion is for the sculpture that finishes closest to the middle.

For more photos of the Kinetic Sculpture Race (and We’re Out of Here blogger in the Baltimore media) click here or here.

I like Baltimore. Maybe because it reminds me of Cleveland: gritty, on the water and, to use a travel writer’s favorite word: unpretentious. So, Baltimore is where I chose to spend my birthday.

Clipper City

First, I hit up Clipper City brewing company’s beer tour. Embarrassingly, I always find myself at some micro brewpub or beer destination (check out this post on Frederick, Maryland’s Flying Dog Brewery). I am becoming a beer snob. However, compared to the Flying Dog tour, Clipper City’s was lacking. No unlimited samples, only four beers on tap and no rowdy tasting room pub that spills out onto the lawn. The tour — though funny and informative, unlike the unintelligible, rambling of the Flying Dog tour guide — was way too long. After 40 minutes of hops, bottles and beer packaging, I headed back to the tasting room.

Dining with Poe

Second, We’re Out of Here visited Baltimore’s Edgar Allen Poe themed restaurant/pub, Annabell Lee Tavern. Named after the Poe love poem, this restaurant is worth a visit if only to sample the best sweet potato fries. (Yelpers also rave about the duck fat fries, but we didn’t cough up the extra $2.) The food (pub standards with an upscale twist ; we had the lamb sliders and snapper tacos) is delicious, the drink menu thorough and the place cozy.

Baltimore’s Haunted Bar

Afterward, we met two friends and headed out to two classic Baltimore bars: Brewer’s Art, the cavernous Belgian beer bar located mostly in the cellar of a Victorian mansion, and Club Charles, a haunted dive.

After a ten-hour beer marathon, I don’t remember much of what Club Charles looked like: just its red decor and creepy mural of hell, which someone claimed was painted by WPA artists in the 1930s. My friend who is writing an article on the subject for her magazine BMore Live insisted the place is haunted and showed us eerie photographs of white blobs. She said the owner had been avoiding her, because during a previous interview with a reporter, a ghost shoved the owner. She fell down the stairs and broke her arm.

Fortunately, we made it out intact. However, when we arrived back at our car, we found it had a flat tire. (Must have been the ghosts.) Watching the other half of We’re Out of Here change a flat at an inner city gas station was the perfect way to end a birthday.

We’re not ones to pass up a chance for free beer, even if it means devoting an entire Saturday to the trip. So, We’re Out of Here and two friends drove up to Frederick yesterday afternoon for a tour of the brewery and an unlimited beer tasting (with the purchase of a $5 pint glass).

After downing a half pint of Flying Dog’s pale ale, we joined the first tour group (The tour starts at 1:30 p.m each Saturday, but arrive early) for a look around the brewery grounds. Beer novices beware, this tour is for advance brewers only. The commentary about gravity, fermentation and bottling speed was lost on us. The tour mostly comprised members of the <a href=”http://www.beertown.org/”>American Homebrewers Associatio</a>n (think: Middle aged men with stick-on name tags, beer bellies and flannel shirts), who nodded sagely along. The AHA were having a membership drive that afternoon.

We trailed through a cave of tanks, past a mysterious room filled with beakers and test tubes and into a storage area packed to the ceiling with six packs. Working my way through another half pint, the place started to seem like an adult beerage version of Willy Wonka’s factory. The final room had a dummy stuck on top of a the conveyor belt and Flying Dog’s trippy logo suspended from the ceiling. The tour guide lead us though a hallway lined with kegs and back into the real world.

Back in the bar area, the tasting room was packed with young area residents in search of cheap beer. We decided to get the most for our $5 and half tank of gas; we tried Flying Dog’s lineup (called Canis Major so clever they are!) of beers with high-alcohol content. After a half glass of Imperial Porter (7.8% ABV), Barley Wine (10.2% ABV), Double Dog Double Pale Ale (11.5% ABV) and Kerberos Tripel (8.5% ABV), we were ready to head home.