Today I’m thankful for beer. And lots of it. I spent the day with a group of friends at our city’s annual Beer Festival. It was the first year I have gone but I’m thinking it could easily become a yearly must go. Lots of beer vendors, both well-establish and local, food from various restaurants, and a live band that was pretty good all in an area covering a few city blocks, so it was easy to get around. The weather was perfect today too. And my boyfriend was sweet enough to get us VIP tickets, which made the experience even better: lots of extras (t-shirt, nicer glass, bag to carry stuff) and an early entry with an extra hour of sampling. It was the beer equivalent to the speed pass at Great America. For someone who doesn’t like crowds, it was great to have time to check everything out without fighting through tons of people. By the time the place got packed, we were able to just wander and enjoy hanging out together. That was the best part–it was a fun group of friends and we ran into even more people we knew while we were there. We had some laughs, found some new craft beers we liked, ate fantastic oven pizza and were able to drive ourselves home. It was lovely day.