Birthday/Good Friday Pub Crawl recap

This was an overwhelming success, and I thank all who attended for making it so.

The evening started with Milley, Ginny, and myself having some fish and chips ordered from the Big R. Not usually my first choice when it comes to F&C, but Ches' phone line had the annoying habit of either a) being busy, or b) never being answered. Big R came through and had our meals ready in 40 minutes. Something got lost in translation, since our 2 piece meals became 3 piece meals... but I guess that's a good problem to have. Alas, I was unable to finish -- my heart forbade it.

So here are the pubs visited, and a brief recap of each.

1. Rose and Thistle -- Met up with all the attendees: Craig, Andrea, Hanz, Laura, Mel, and us F&C crew. It's not a dive, of course, but it's a good first stop.
   
2. Bar None -- This place is almost exactly how I remember it from two years ago. (Minus the squid jerky that was there that one time - Ginny was vexed that this (imaginary) promise was unfulfilled) I don't think the "regulars" were too thrilled with us being there, but fuck 'em: we tripled the population of the place. The highlight is the incredibly creepy painting on the left wall.
   
3. Nautical Nellie's -- I love this place. Unfortunately, the air was thick with seafood aroma after a long Good Friday's worth of cooking. This played havoc with Andrea's allergies, so she and Craig both had to nip out for a bit. We clued up after discussing the fish chart on the table, and tangentially, sculpins. The important thing is that that makes sense to me and a few others.
   
4. Stetson Lounge -- My first time in this place. And we were determined enough to plunk down the $4 cover. It immediately paid dividends. Oh man. First of all, it wasn't so much a bar as it was a cougar exhibit (but to give credit, the bar was tastefully appointed). Secondly, Craig had an incident involving bathrooms which left us howling. I won't get into the details, but suffice it to say we took off fairly quickly thereafter as we were getting a bit of stink-eye from the patrons.
   
5. Fiddler's Pub -- The crown jewel of the pub crawl we had 2 years ago. I was flabbergasted at how (comparatively) full the place was. The best part was that the guy who made it so memorable that one time was there again! And he was in fine form: causing shit behind the bar, wandering into the employee-only section, yelling out whatever was on his mind... God love 'im.
   
6. Folly -- This was the great find of the evening. It's not a pub, and it certainly wasn't on the list, but we were kinda hungry and this place was on the way. Formerly Tangled Up In Blue, it's now an all night place specializing in burgers and pizzas. The food was awesome and the service prompt, even for our large table. Move over Celtic Hearth, we've found a late night place that doesn't suck.
   
7. Jay Dee's Lounge -- On the list, but sadly CLOSED when we got there. This was the only minor disappointment of the night. Some other time, though. In need of another dive, we hiked up the hill to the...
   
8. Peter Easton -- Why not? Didn't stick around there too long, though, as fatigue started setting in. We watched in lazy amusement at two very large dogs who were all over each other.
   

The list was shorter this year, but then, we're all two years older ;)

Now I can take a break from the booze for a while: more social drinking than full-on binging. It gets expensive...