I've been saying it to my friends for the last four years, and the New York Times just verified it. The beaches are nice, but San Diego is all about the beer. Their list of the 45 places to visit in the world (and beyond) lists San Diego as number 14 not because of the sun and surf, but because of our craft beer industry.

We ranked number 14, and space ranked number 20. We beat out SPACE, how cool is that? They're saying that all things being equal, if money is no object, you should make sure you knock back a pint or seven in San Diego before you jump on Sir Richard Branson's spaceship. Personally, I think that's good advice...I wouldn't go up in that thing sober.

2011 was a big year for San Diego beer, and it looks like 2012 will be even bigger. Ballast Point, my personal favorite San Diego brewery, is undergoing a major expansion. Stone is opening a second brewery and bistro at Liberty Station, and everywhere you go new bottle shops and brew pubs are opening up. It's certainly a great time to be a craft beer lover in San Diego.

The sky is truly the limit for the beer industry here. Look at Napa Valley and the throngs of tourists who flock there for wine. Imagine what would happen if we could get a movie like Sideways but with the San Diego beer industry as the backdrop. I'm sure some of us who live here would bemoan the influx of tourists, but they go home and their money stays here...suck it up.  The beer industry could become a major economic engine for our county.

The Union Tribune reports that our placement on the list is thanks in part to $75 thousand in tourism promotion money that the Brewer's Guild got from the hotel surcharge treasure chest. They used that money to market San Diego Beer Week, and the world is taking notice. According to the U-T article, Beer Week was responsible for 2500 hotel room nights. That's not too shabby considering early November is hardly the hot season for travel.

Congratulations to the San Diego Brewer's Guild, all of the breweries in the county, and all of the home brewers out there. You're the ones who are making it happen, and it's exciting to watch it get bigger every year.

I'm writing about beer, so how about a review of a beer I sampled last night. Lost Abbey brewery in San Marcos makes a lot of good stuff. One of my favorite beers they make is Serpent's stout, which is actually in season right now. The beer I sampled last night is their late fall beer called Gift of the Magi. It's a golden ale brewed with frankincense and myrrh (the gifts that the three kings brought to the manger). I wasn't sure what to expect, but I really liked it. It has a strong flavor, which Lost Abbey is famous for, so it might not be for everyone, but it's definitely worth giving a try if you come across a bottle. Here's a picture...pardon my cluttered coffee table, and no that glass isn't me advertising a restaurant...the Santa Fe Cafe in College Park has long since closed, so relax.

I have a healthy fear of gravity. Some might call it a fear of heights, but it's not the heights that scare me. I can go up in tall buildings, and look out and enjoy the vistas with no problem. Don't ask me to look over the edge down at the street...not gonna happen. That's who I am, and I'm ok with it.

I've never had the desire to bungee jump or skydive. I'm in the "why jump out of a perfectly good plane" camp when it comes to skydiving, and despite all of the fancy equipment, bungee jumping is trusting a giant rubber band to save your life. I don't know who invented bungee jumping, but I'm pretty sure he worked for ACME. Sorry, it's just my opinion, but life-saving devices should have a higher standard than the Wile E. Coyote's seal of approval.

Still, some people like getting into the adrenaline thrill that these activities provide, and I get it...I just don't need it as a part of my life. For some people, however, bungee jumping alone isn't enough to get the old juices flowing. Some people need to go to a third-world country and bungee jump over a crocodile-infested river to make it seem like real danger....to each their own.

When I first heard the story of Erin Langworthy, my initial reaction was "yeah, that's a bad day." Bungee jumping in a first-world country with those pesky safety regulations wasn't enough for her. She felt the need to amp it up by plunging towards the Deathissippi river with nothing between her and a watery grave but a third world rubber band. When it comes to river experiences, you have better odds of surviving a Georgia canoe trip with Ned Beatty and Burt Reynolds.

Shocker...the bungee cord broke. She fell 350 feet into the river with her feet still bound, and managed to free herself from the binding and swim to safety with a broken collarbone. She stared death in the face at 9.8 meters per second squared and lived. That's not a bad day...that's a good day...for her anyway. If you're hell-bent on finding a reason to call it a bad day, I can only think of two parties who were wronged here: the crocodiles and Charles Darwin. It was a bad day for them. If I were her, I would have Tebowed after extracting myself from the river and meant it. Someone upstairs was definitely looking after her.

Am I being melodramatic? Probably. I guess I channel my inner Dr. McCoy when I see someone risking their life like that. Now if you don't mind, I'll go back to watching football, where nobody puts themselves in harm's way.

Happy first blog post of 2012. Sorry I've been away so long, but between Christmas/New Year's travel, and the banshee cold from hell, I basically suck...so that's why I haven't written yet this year.

It goes without saying that the holidays are the time of year when you're reminded how much you love the people who are in your life. Why else would you put up with the full cavity search by the TSA only to wedge yourself into a 19-inch wide airplane seat inside a metal tube while you're being bombarded with radiation and more germs than the conquistadors brought to the new world. You do it because you love your friends and family, and savor every chance you get to spend time with them.

While we were on the east coast, enjoying some unseasonably San Diego-like weather, we had a chance to go up to New York. Despite my utter hatred for all of their sports teams, I love New York City. There's so much to see, and there's so much going on that it's physically impossible to be bored in that city. Christmas is of course the best time to visit because it's not too hot and humid, plus all of the Christmas decorations are icons of every Christmas movie we've ever seen. 

The tree at Rockefeller Center is our de facto National Christmas tree. I know we have one in DC, but the one in New York is the big one. Nothing like you and 30 thousand of your closest friends all jockeying to take the perfect picture of the tree. Aren't you glad you use Dial?

Manhattan's Little Italy (which is getting little-er every year) is one of my favorite places to visit in the city. If you've seen The Godfather II, it evokes all of the scenes of Robert DeNiro as a young Vito Corleone building his criminal empire. Christmas brings some great decorations including Santa on the fire escape in front of SPQR restaurant.

Never Forget

If you go to New York, you have to visit the World Trade Center Memorial. When 9/11 happened, I was living in Maryland, a mere 30 miles from the Pentagon. I remember that day like it was yesterday, and I wouldn't feel right going up to New York and not visiting the memorial. If you're planning a trip, you can sign up for passes to visit, but be prepared if you do go...it's very powerful.

The new One World Trade Center building is rising from the rubble. The facade of the building looks like a mirror, and you can tell that it will be a beautiful building when it's done. Discovery Channel aired a great series about the construction. If you get a chance, you should check it out...the work going into the building is truly amazing and inspiring.

The memorial itself is a beautiful park in the middle of lower Manhattan. There's a visitor's center and a museum that's not quite done yet, but the main thing there are the two waterfalls. The waterfalls, which are the largest man-made waterfalls in North America, sit in the exact footprints of the twin towers. The rims of the waterfalls are inscribed with the names of people who died that day. One of the saddest things you see is when you see the name of a woman inscribed followed by "and her unborn child." The memorial is so powerful and somber that you're in the middle of the biggest city in America, and the only sound you hear is the sound of the waterfalls.

On the way out of the memorial, there's a makeshift visitor's center where you can donate to the memorial as well as buy memorabilia. They also have some things recovered from the rubble on display, and this was the most powerful display. Here you see a wallet, work ID, and wedding ring of someone who died in the twin towers. Anything that helps connect you to the people who lost their lives that day is important, and we can all be thankful to the family of this worker for donating these things to the museum.

One more thing...

This is Zuccotti Park...former home of Occupy Wall Street. It looks much nicer now, don't you think? Probably a lot more sanitary too.