Wandering Along in OC

Yesterday, I awoke to a brisk autumn morning in Ocean City. With the balcony door partially open, I could hear the crashing waves of the Atlantic Ocean. While I could have remained in this state of relaxation for infinity, the insatiable lure of brewing coffee carried me to the kitchenette. After a few cups of the liquid accelerant, I was ready to take on the day.

After a brief planning session, we decided that we would hit some of the local watering holes. While some people might be content with just one, I like to go with the "variety is the spice of life" approach. Not knowing the exact quantity of libations that awaited us, we decided to use public transportation (known to the locals as "the drunk bus") to get us from point A to all points beyond.

As we boarded the bus, the driver warned about the rowdy group of senior citizens who were already on-board. They were loud and obnoxious and I knew immediately that we would get along just fine. I would have loved to have knocked back a few pints with them. But they were running late for a Bingo convention or something.

Anyway, the first stop on our day's journey brought us to The Ocean City Brewing Company. The large open room was filled with people watching various college football games. When we sat down at the bar, the bartender immediately handed us a beer list. Here was a man who fully understood the concept of prioritizing. I ordered one of the house IPA's while Tina and Toni ordered fruit-infused girly beers. My brother-in-law, John, was still feeling the effects of the night before, so he stuck with straight-up Coca-Cola.

A few things seemed a bit unique or odd to me. For instance, I noticed one of the other bartenders was wearing a Pickle's Pub t-shirt. Advertising for the competition is usually frowned upon. But maybe they had a connection? And speaking of t-shirts, I saw one in the gift shop that I really liked. However, they only had sizes small and medium. How many beer drinkers do you know that can fit into anything smaller than an XL?

The men's room also had it's own peculiarity. The urinals were made from metal beer kegs. It was actually a pretty cool idea. I really wanted to snap a photo of them. But I realized that it might look a little odd to the rest of the guys in the room.

We finished up and took a ride down to M.R. Ducks where they were having their season-closing party. It was a pretty good crowd there already and they band had just started playing. They were pretty good. They played a few Talking Heads songs, which is something you don't hear that often. We had a couple of light beers and some chicken wings before shuffling off to our next stop.

We walked a short distance over to the Cork Bar. As we approached the door, we were met by a Great Dane who was the size of a small horse. He was very friendly. His owner informed us that he had a thing for the bar's french fries. No doubt, this dog could have put a dent in a sack of potatoes. Once inside, we grabbed a round of light beers. By this time, John had shaken off the cobwebs and joined us in our libations. We wound up shooting a game of pool which only reminded me of how much I suck at it.

Moving on, we pulled into Pickle's Pub. I was almost expecting the bartender to be wearing a OC Brewing Company shirt, but it never happened. We ordered a round of beers and made some new friends. A nice woman across the bar greeted us with a round of pickle shots. I'm not really crazy about these things (which basically consist of vodka and dill pickle juice). I didn't want to seem ungrateful so I threw the shot back like a boss. I instinctively jerked me head to the right as the sensation of dill pickles exploded over my taste buds.

As the pickle taste slowly dissipated, an argument broke out between one of the bartenders and a group of middle-aged men behind us. I'm not sure what it was about but it got pretty heated. Can't we all just get along?

After settling up at Pickle's, we made our way up to Lombardi's. The day's events produced an usual craving for pizza. Maybe we just needed an abundance of carbohydrates to soak up the beer, I dunno. But the pizza here is always good and it did not disappoint this time. This was our last stop of the day and we made the short trek back to the hotel and called it a night.

So, today we have nothing to do and all day to do it. These days don't come to me that often anymore. So, I'm really looking forward to it. Have a great day, my friends!

kw