Moderate Excess

So far, the vacation is predictably fabulous. I've introduced my wife and other friends to Munchkin Cthulu, which is a great game for this group. Few of us have read much Lovecraft, but it's easy enough to understand Victorian era horrible monster hunting. My friends and I were weaned on 1st edition Advanced D&D, and had a few copies of Deities and Demigods floating around. That book included a whole chapter on the Cthulu mythos. Then they discovered that those characters were copyright protected and had to go away (along with Moorcock's Melnibone' set) from later editions.

Yesterday we also played a few rounds of Clue. It had been years since any of us had played it, so we were all on equal footing. The strength of Clue is that it demands a different kind of game play than most board games: you have to work out the logic, plus try and read your opponents' mannerisms. Almost oddly, I'm not a huge fan of it. This shouldn't be interpreted as a judgment of the game itself. Rather, it's a very personal preference because the game doesn't directly line up with my own strengths. As I told the group, "I'll enjoy it when we play, but I probably won't ever suggest it."

The food in Colville is hit and miss. We discovered a great place for breakfast and lunch called The Courthouse Cafe. Unfortunately it doesn't have beer or wine, and isn't open for dinner. It did remind me that not all tasty beverages require alcohol. The service is also quick and friendly, and all the food has been top notch.

On the other side of things, in other places, we've encountered some lazy food (chile rellenos that really weren't, grilled cheese with good bread but yucky American cheese, and a generally dissatisfying set of omelets for brunch).

It's fairly easy to get good beer in Colville now. That's an improvement. During my last trip, I discovered a local brewery called 'Lost Falls' that I enjoyed, but I can't find it anywhere anymore.

Another high point of the trip so far was running 10 miles yesterday morning with Tony. We kept tight to my comfortable but not too comfortable 8 minute mile. I don't believe I've ever run that far before. Since I don't think I had ever run 9 miles before doing so last month, these mileage personal records aren't so novel anymore.