Mother's Day

Hey all!  I know what you're thinking.

"Why is he posting this the day after Mother's Day?"

Because, I wanted to post AFTER we spent the day doing what we did so I could show you photos and such.

Make sense?

Good!

So let me start by saying Happy Mother's Day!  That's a wish not only for my mom, but for the many "moms" out there.

Let me explain...

There are many "mothers" in my life as I am sure there are in yours.  I have friends that are mothers.  I have friends that are motherly.  Stepmoms are mothers.  Adoptive moms are mothers. Even moms that don't act as they should are still mothers.  Single dads are mothers.

Happy Mother's Day to you all!

Obviously, there are two extremely important moms in my life and I had the pleasure of spending Sunday with both of them.

The first is my mom.  She gave birth to me.  She raised me.  She disciplined me.  She encouraged me.  She helped me.  You know what?  She still does!  She is, as far as moms go, one of the best.  Every year, I write a heartfelt sappy message in a card in an effort to make her cry because I am an asshole.  You know something though?  I don't ever have to stretch the truth.  She is awesome.  I have never had to lie about that.

The second is my wife, the amazing stepmother to my children.  She is often a better parent than I am and she loves my boys as if they were her own.  People often forget she is a mother.  In fact, I am pretty disappointed in some people that didn't bother wishing her a Happy Mother's Day because she is, at her very core, a mother.  She cares for them, cooks for them, drives them places, entertains them, hugs them, plays with them, encourages them, and disciplines them.

My dad and I planned a pretty awesome Mother's Day for these two ladies and I think they had a good time.

The plan was simple:

Grab the Gold Line in Azusa and take it to Union Station where we'd transfer to the Red or Purple Line and take it to Clifton's Cafeteria in Los Angeles.  After lunch, we'd bar hop all the way back along the lines.

Now, I have never taken the Gold Line or Red Line or Purple Line.  I don't ride buses or use public transportation.  Mainly, it's because I live so far from any place I work that it would take 4 hours to get there using public transportation.

After Sunday, I wish I could take it more.

Our day started off with free parking at the APU/Citrus Station.  We waited about 8 minutes for our train.  We climbed in and began the hour ride to Union Station with 17 stops in between.  Each stop was only about a minute and the scenery going by was lovely.

The changeover at Union Station from the train to the subway was an interesting one.  Union Station can be very overwhelming if you've never been there.  Needless to say, we made it to our final destination:

Pershing Square Station.

A half mile walk brought us to Clifton's.

Clifton's

Have you ever been there?  No?  It's a cafeteria forest lodge fufu 3 story restaurant.  Yes, that description is accurate.

From the 2nd floor

A Bar inside

A redwood fireplace

$70 worth of food

Alyssa and I split crab legs, salmon poke tacos, roast beef, mashed potatoes and gravy, and macaroni and cheese.  My parents had a turkey pot pie, mashed potatoes and gravy, a shrimp cocktail and macaroni and cheese.  The food was delicious.  A live jazz band played loudly above us, and you absolutely are encouraged to walk around the 3 story establishment to take photos with the artifacts.

Full, we walked back to Pershing Square Station and boarded the subway back towards Union Station.

Pershing Square Station

We road to Union Station and switched to the Gold Line.  Above ground, we headed to our first drinking stop at the Del Mar Station.

Del Mar Station

That stop was the Stone Company Store.  Now, I am not typically a huge fan of Stone beer.  They tend to lean more towards IPAs which we know I hate.  This stop was different though.  They had many beers that were not IPAs.  I didn't know Stone did that.  The four of us split a build your own flight which included:

Who You Callin Wussie Pilsner
Liberty Kolsche
Witty Moron
and Cimmerian Portal

All 4 were delicious.  I can't believe I found 4 beers from Stone I actually like.

Our Flight

Stone Company Store Pasadena

Back on the Gold Line, we stopped at the Memorial Park Station and made the short walk to  The Blind Donkey for whiskey flights.  We sampled 9 different whiskies including:

Old Grandad 100

Old Overholt

Old Weller Antique
Bushmills

Powers

Teeling
Elijah Craig 12

Bernheim Original

and Rittenhouse Rye

All 9 were good.  Some were better than others.  I obviously enjoyed this stop more than the ladies but they seemed to still have fun!

Our flights

The Blind Donkey

We stumbled back to the Gold Line and rode it all the way to the Arcadia Station for a walk to a new brewery, Mt. Lowe Brewing Company.

2 of the 4 flights

We each got our own flight of 5 tasters.  Beers we sampled here included:

Incline Ale

Honeyngton Hef

Inspiration Porter

Rubio Red

The Thaddeus

The Hills Have IPA

The Hills Are Alive Coffee IPA

and Suddenly Saison

I have to tell you, these beers are great and the tasting room is huge and well laid out.  There was a good sausage truck out back for a light snack.

We walked back to the train and rode to the Monrovia Station for our longest walk down to Pacific Plate Brewing where we shared 1 flight between the 4 of us.

The Flight

We drank:

Horchata Stout

Baltic Porter

German Kolsche

North English Nut Brown

Bavarian Dunkelweizen

and Flan de Leche Ale

The beers were all tasty with the porters and stouts winning our palates over.

After a long, uphill walk back to the station, we road to the Downtown Azusa Station for our final drinks and dinner.

That stop was Congregation Ale House.  There, we enjoyed small flights and great food.  The beers included:

Passion of the Kolsche

Hefeweiss

Black Ale

Scotch Ale

Dark of the Covenant

and two beers from guest tap, Cerveceria Insurgente

I always enjoy a stop here.  The beers are good and the food is tasty.

We had a pulled pork and brie sandwich, a 3 cheese pizza, and tator tots.

The tasters

Yummy

Pizza

Everything was great and this was a great final stop.

About 9 hours after we began, we returned to our car.  Total round trip transportation was $7/person.  That's the cost of a day pass good on all Metro rides.  It was a good day and a great way to bar hop.  Walking to and from the stations helped us sober up and burn off calories and riding public transportation prevented drunk driving.

I know it was Mother's Day, but yesterday was also a gift for my father and myself.

Happy Mother's Day!