Lexicon, are you sure that these breweries will all be open on Monday (as it is a holiday)?
Arrangements are being made ahead of time with each of the breweries/restaurants. Some are opening up especially for us (esp. the morning ones) - the bold locations under the Tour Stops spoiler shows the locations that have confirmed that they'll be ready for us.
A Look Inside the Tour Planning for anyone who cares...
A tour of this type with a tight schedule, large group and multiple stops takes a lot of preplanning and scheduling so there's already been a LOT of communication with the breweries. We're not just hopping on a bus and hoping they can handle us. The coordination during the tour is crucial too - each stop needs to be called as we're leaving the previous one to give them as accurate an arrival time as possible. Throw a couple of fixed ferry schedules in there and it's gonna be a fast-paced, fun, beery blitz! It's a SchlitzKrieg! Which... literally means Beer War ...but figuratively means Lightning Beer!
It's likely that some of the breweries will have tastes pre-poured for us as we step off the bus (maybe we'll pre-order... not sure yet how it's going to work best). To make sure we're timed correctly, I'll be driving the entire tour route sometime soon, before communicating the schedule out to the breweries. We'll be on a big school bus, so travel times will be adjusted accordingly.
The biggest logistical challenge is the transportation. Will we have room to park the bus at each stop? Are any of the breweries at the end of a poorly maintained dirt road? How early do we need to arrive at the ferry in a vehicle that big? Making sure we have a qualified driver and a vehicle big enough for everyone presents an interesting price challenge too. Fancy 20-seat tour buses are TOO fracking expensive. A bus will hold 46 - the more people in it, the less of the cost each individual has to bear. But since the breweries can't all handle a really large group, we won't be able to fill the bus to capacity. I've been doing a lot of shopping around for a solution. Hence the Big Yellow Bus. Cheap, simple and roomy.
We'll be spending about 4.5 hours on the bus total, with a couple of long-ish (30 minute) stretches. To that end, there might be other fun stuff we wanna do while we're riding along. There's going to be a little tour guidebook with information on each brewery stop, their beers, and available swag for purchase, plus some information on area history with a map of the route. I'm also collecting beer/geek songs on my ipod and have included the lyrics to some of them in the tour guide if we feel like having a little singsong.
There'll be water and some light snacks on the bus to make sure everyone has food and water all day.
EDIT: Also, I'll have special SchlitzKrieg buttons to hand out to everyone on the tour. Be cooler than the other kids!
When are you going to do it? I'm usually open on the weekends when I don't feel like death (which is not very often, so when I do get sick I go down pretty hard).
Memorial Day weekend, ironically, is totally free for me and my children will be camping the weekend away! I know most people have plans already but thought I'd throw that out there.
@lexicongrrl Thanks for checking on brewery status (and even getting some to open just for us? How did you manage that? By being amazing?) Good to hear they'll be expecting us!
@lexicongrrl Thanks for checking on brewery status (and even getting some to open just for us? How did you manage that? By being amazing?) Good to hear they'll be expecting us!
Many of the stops are small operations who are glad for the attention and business. It's easy to get them to accomodate us when they don't have $1000/hr in overhead just to open (like Pyramid). It also helps to be asked by a girl who's overly excited about beer.
They'll be very happy if people buy things. I know the tickets are expensive for the tour but I'm really hoping that folks buy stuff at the breweries along the way too. Like I said in the OP: not a low-budget event (actually I'm surprised to see as much interest as there's been!).
I'm also collecting beer/geek songs on my ipod and have included the lyrics to some of them in the tour guide if we feel like having a little singsong.
A confirmation for us! This is sounding even more amazing, thanks for doing such a great job getting this organized, LexiconGrrl. I'll be more than happy to throw our money at you as soon as you get payment set up.
Ok Guys, time to weigh in with some feedback about our first logistical challenge.
We're going to run into ferry traffic in Kingston after the visit to the Hood Canal Brewery. Right now the schedule is to be done at the brewery at 4:30 or 5:00, then catch the 5:30 ferry (which is 5 mins from the brewery when traffic is light).
Here's the challenge: We'll be heading back to the city from a popular vacation area on the Monday of Labor Day Weekend. The lines for any ferry coming back that afternoon are going to be atrocious - Expect a 1-2 hour wait to get on any ferry.
Here are some of the options that have come up so far - please contribute feedback or other ideas!
- Once we've been dropped at the brewery, send the bus ahead to get into the ferry line. Arrange for alternate transportation from the brewery to the bus when we're done. Pro: Keeps us on schedule, give us more time at the brewery. Con: Costs extra $$
- Pare the Kitsap brewery stops down to 2 or 3 stops and arrive at the ferry early.
- Pare the Ballard brewery stops down to 2 or 3 stops and take a later ferry back.
- Drive around instead of taking the ferry back. Pro: No waiting and you'd see "Galloping Gertie", the Tacoma Narrows Bridge. Con: Time - approx 2 hours drive time.
- Take the Bainbridge Ferry Instead. It's marginally less busy than Kingston, but we'd still have to wait.
I'm still very interested, but I'll need to confer with my wife... on the one hand, we want to see as much of Seattle as possible, and this is a good opportunity. On the other, she's not a beer fan, and I already owe her for taking her to PAX in the first place. I'll let you know ASAP.
Why the crap did I ever make my original name "cloudeagle?"
@cloudeagle - no worries. I'm heading out of town for a week starting tomorrow, so I'll only be checking and updating the post sporadically and won't be making any planning decisions.
I'm not going on the trip, but if you don't mind me weighing in on the logistics I will. Logistics is a hobby of mine . If you do mind just ignore this post.
Option 1) has a lot of moving parts and from a logistical standpoint could bite you in the ass. If you arrive at the bus early enough you'll be fine, but if the Ferry line is moving faster than you'd expect, you'd have a bus with no passengers getting on the ferry. This is a problem . (Even if there's a holding line, it only mitigates the "Moving Parts" problem, not eliminates.)
Option 2 and 3 are simple enough if you expect there to be less traffic earlier or later I suppose. If you just plan on waiting (and budgeting more time) that raises the question why not just use option 4. Sure it's a 2 hour drive. But that's 2 hours to hydrate up, have some fun, play some travel backgammon! (And psychologically moving is always better than not moving).
I can't speak to option 5, I'm not local, dunno the differences well enough to comment.
The nice thing about Option 1 is that if the bus gets on an earlier ferry (unlikely but possible), then we would just get dropped off at the ferry and walk on for free. The bus would be waiting for us on the other side. I'm actually more concerned about the logistics of 20 or 30 people getting a ride in Kingston. It's not exactly a big town with many any public transport options. I'm sure I could ask around and find a friend of a friend who would pick us up and take us to the ferry in his Epic "Van" Halen for $X a head but that does complicate things. Comparitive to the complexity of the tour itself though, it's non-impacting
If we drove around the drive wouldn't be too bad, but it would eat an hour into our Seattle time so it's not really that different than simply waiting to get on the ferry. I hear you about psychologically moving though... If we drove around then we'd need to carve 1 or 2 stops off the Seattle side anyway since we wouldn't get back to the city till around 7:00...
All options considered, I think it really just comes down to how the attendees want to spend that time.
LexiconGrrl on
Happily on Sabbatical. Don't bug me.
0
SquirrelOnFireJust this guy, you know?SeattleRegistered Userregular
Arrangements are being made ahead of time with each of the breweries/restaurants. Some are opening up especially for us (esp. the morning ones) - the bold locations under the Tour Stops spoiler shows the locations that have confirmed that they'll be ready for us.
My mistake. Didn't know you were a rockstar event planner. Cheers!
0
SquirrelOnFireJust this guy, you know?SeattleRegistered Userregular
edited May 2012
Just to help muddy the waters on logistics - Option 1 seems complicated, and risks splitting the party if we don't find a big enough van to move us around. When dealing with drunken louts (and especially when being a drunken lout myself), I prefer to keep things simple. Still, another version of this would have the bus waiting for us at the brewery, dropping us at the ferry, and then either waiting at that end or driving around (driver's preference) while the passengers take the ferry and get to spend the time in Seattle (relying on Seattle public transit) and then meeting up with the bus when it gets around/across so folks can grab their kit.
Other options: Moving is better than not moving UNLESS you have something awesome to do while you wait. I can bring a few board games, and I'm sure other locals would be able to do so as well. Assuming nice weather, we'd keep ourselves occupied in the sun. Assuming inclement weather (which seems less likely around labor day), we'd keep ourselves occupied in the ferry terminal.
Either way, we're going to lose 2 hrs. Might as well do it comfortably & well entertained. Besides, by that time of day, we'll all be old friends.
Edit: Sorry for double posting: I'm used to threaded forums, so I don't really think to combine them.
That's actually not a bad idea, hanging out and playing games. The ferry we're taking runs between Kingston and Edmonds - both small towns. Edmonds is about 20 minutes North of Seattle.
If we walked on and had the bus meet us on the other side, it would have to drive around into Seattle from the South, through the city, up to Edmonds and then double back - all in all about 1-1.5 hours of extra driving just to pick us up on the other side. We'd end up waiting on one one side or the other. EDIT: Meaning that I recommend the bus takes the ferry instead of driving around, and we just decide which side we want to wait on.
However... Kingston has a pretty nice walkable downtown area right on the water with some good pubs and spots to hang out. If we ended up waiting for the ferry, we could totally find good spots to go play games (Example A). I'd need to contact them ahead of time if there's 20 of us, but I think it would be doable. I'm digging the idea of having the bus drop us in town, then go back and get in line so we could meet up with it. We might need to walk on the ferry and meet it on the actual boat but whatever - either would work.
LexiconGrrl on
Happily on Sabbatical. Don't bug me.
0
SquirrelOnFireJust this guy, you know?SeattleRegistered Userregular
Your Example A is great, and would totally satisfy a busload of beer snobs - great taps & pretty good food too (I remember they had Silver City, one of the stops on our tour, on tap). If the weather is nice, their deck is terrific, too.
So, we're looking at a delay in our all day brewery tour, trying to figure out how to best deal with it, and the most popular solution seems to be to capitalize by heading down to a pub for a break?
...I love this so much.
No, I haven't been to the Filling Station - I don't spend too much time over in Kingston. That said, I'm sure I could scout it out sometime in the next few months.
While in Kingston, I've been to Main St twice, and I think an ice cream shop that was unremarkable.
Posts
Lexicon, are you sure that these breweries will all be open on Monday (as it is a holiday)?
Arrangements are being made ahead of time with each of the breweries/restaurants. Some are opening up especially for us (esp. the morning ones) - the bold locations under the Tour Stops spoiler shows the locations that have confirmed that they'll be ready for us.
A tour of this type with a tight schedule, large group and multiple stops takes a lot of preplanning and scheduling so there's already been a LOT of communication with the breweries. We're not just hopping on a bus and hoping they can handle us. The coordination during the tour is crucial too - each stop needs to be called as we're leaving the previous one to give them as accurate an arrival time as possible. Throw a couple of fixed ferry schedules in there and it's gonna be a fast-paced, fun, beery blitz! It's a SchlitzKrieg! Which... literally means Beer War ...but figuratively means Lightning Beer!
It's likely that some of the breweries will have tastes pre-poured for us as we step off the bus (maybe we'll pre-order... not sure yet how it's going to work best). To make sure we're timed correctly, I'll be driving the entire tour route sometime soon, before communicating the schedule out to the breweries. We'll be on a big school bus, so travel times will be adjusted accordingly.
The biggest logistical challenge is the transportation. Will we have room to park the bus at each stop? Are any of the breweries at the end of a poorly maintained dirt road? How early do we need to arrive at the ferry in a vehicle that big? Making sure we have a qualified driver and a vehicle big enough for everyone presents an interesting price challenge too. Fancy 20-seat tour buses are TOO fracking expensive. A bus will hold 46 - the more people in it, the less of the cost each individual has to bear. But since the breweries can't all handle a really large group, we won't be able to fill the bus to capacity. I've been doing a lot of shopping around for a solution. Hence the Big Yellow Bus. Cheap, simple and roomy.
We'll be spending about 4.5 hours on the bus total, with a couple of long-ish (30 minute) stretches. To that end, there might be other fun stuff we wanna do while we're riding along. There's going to be a little tour guidebook with information on each brewery stop, their beers, and available swag for purchase, plus some information on area history with a map of the route. I'm also collecting beer/geek songs on my ipod and have included the lyrics to some of them in the tour guide if we feel like having a little singsong.
There'll be water and some light snacks on the bus to make sure everyone has food and water all day.
EDIT: Also, I'll have special SchlitzKrieg buttons to hand out to everyone on the tour. Be cooler than the other kids!
You wanna go drive the route with me? No really, we missed each other on the scouting mission.
Memorial Day weekend, ironically, is totally free for me and my children will be camping the weekend away! I know most people have plans already but thought I'd throw that out there.
Many of the stops are small operations who are glad for the attention and business. It's easy to get them to accomodate us when they don't have $1000/hr in overhead just to open (like Pyramid). It also helps to be asked by a girl who's overly excited about beer.
They'll be very happy if people buy things. I know the tickets are expensive for the tour but I'm really hoping that folks buy stuff at the breweries along the way too. Like I said in the OP: not a low-budget event (actually I'm surprised to see as much interest as there's been!).
@AltDelete - did you want to confirm for Monday? It does mean I'll be hunting you down for money.
All
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@TOGSolid - Any song requests? Have you heard the Darby O'Gill live version of Finnegan's Wake? It's freaking hilarious.
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The list looks really solid as well, those are some top-notch breweries.
Edit: I'm a Monday-er, though I should be able to do Wednesday if Monday is full as is.
We're going to run into ferry traffic in Kingston after the visit to the Hood Canal Brewery. Right now the schedule is to be done at the brewery at 4:30 or 5:00, then catch the 5:30 ferry (which is 5 mins from the brewery when traffic is light).
Here's the challenge: We'll be heading back to the city from a popular vacation area on the Monday of Labor Day Weekend. The lines for any ferry coming back that afternoon are going to be atrocious - Expect a 1-2 hour wait to get on any ferry.
Here are some of the options that have come up so far - please contribute feedback or other ideas!
- Once we've been dropped at the brewery, send the bus ahead to get into the ferry line. Arrange for alternate transportation from the brewery to the bus when we're done. Pro: Keeps us on schedule, give us more time at the brewery. Con: Costs extra $$
- Pare the Kitsap brewery stops down to 2 or 3 stops and arrive at the ferry early.
- Pare the Ballard brewery stops down to 2 or 3 stops and take a later ferry back.
- Drive around instead of taking the ferry back. Pro: No waiting and you'd see "Galloping Gertie", the Tacoma Narrows Bridge. Con: Time - approx 2 hours drive time.
- Take the Bainbridge Ferry Instead. It's marginally less busy than Kingston, but we'd still have to wait.
I'm not going on the trip, but if you don't mind me weighing in on the logistics I will. Logistics is a hobby of mine
Option 1) has a lot of moving parts and from a logistical standpoint could bite you in the ass. If you arrive at the bus early enough you'll be fine, but if the Ferry line is moving faster than you'd expect, you'd have a bus with no passengers getting on the ferry. This is a problem
Option 2 and 3 are simple enough if you expect there to be less traffic earlier or later I suppose. If you just plan on waiting (and budgeting more time) that raises the question why not just use option 4. Sure it's a 2 hour drive. But that's 2 hours to hydrate up, have some fun, play some travel backgammon! (And psychologically moving is always better than not moving).
I can't speak to option 5, I'm not local, dunno the differences well enough to comment.
The nice thing about Option 1 is that if the bus gets on an earlier ferry (unlikely but possible), then we would just get dropped off at the ferry and walk on for free. The bus would be waiting for us on the other side. I'm actually more concerned about the logistics of 20 or 30 people getting a ride in Kingston. It's not exactly a big town with many any public transport options. I'm sure I could ask around and find a friend of a friend who would pick us up and take us to the ferry in his Epic "Van" Halen for $X a head but that does complicate things. Comparitive to the complexity of the tour itself though, it's non-impacting
If we drove around the drive wouldn't be too bad, but it would eat an hour into our Seattle time so it's not really that different than simply waiting to get on the ferry. I hear you about psychologically moving though... If we drove around then we'd need to carve 1 or 2 stops off the Seattle side anyway since we wouldn't get back to the city till around 7:00...
All options considered, I think it really just comes down to how the attendees want to spend that time.
My mistake. Didn't know you were a rockstar event planner. Cheers!
Other options: Moving is better than not moving UNLESS you have something awesome to do while you wait. I can bring a few board games, and I'm sure other locals would be able to do so as well. Assuming nice weather, we'd keep ourselves occupied in the sun. Assuming inclement weather (which seems less likely around labor day), we'd keep ourselves occupied in the ferry terminal.
Either way, we're going to lose 2 hrs. Might as well do it comfortably & well entertained. Besides, by that time of day, we'll all be old friends.
Edit: Sorry for double posting: I'm used to threaded forums, so I don't really think to combine them.
If we walked on and had the bus meet us on the other side, it would have to drive around into Seattle from the South, through the city, up to Edmonds and then double back - all in all about 1-1.5 hours of extra driving just to pick us up on the other side. We'd end up waiting on one one side or the other. EDIT: Meaning that I recommend the bus takes the ferry instead of driving around, and we just decide which side we want to wait on.
However... Kingston has a pretty nice walkable downtown area right on the water with some good pubs and spots to hang out. If we ended up waiting for the ferry, we could totally find good spots to go play games (Example A). I'd need to contact them ahead of time if there's 20 of us, but I think it would be doable. I'm digging the idea of having the bus drop us in town, then go back and get in line so we could meet up with it. We might need to walk on the ferry and meet it on the actual boat but whatever - either would work.
Also, I am ferry ignorant other than walking on the one to Bainbridge Island and I've only done that once or twice in the past 5 years...
...I love this so much.
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No, I haven't been to the Filling Station - I don't spend too much time over in Kingston. That said, I'm sure I could scout it out sometime in the next few months.
While in Kingston, I've been to Main St twice, and I think an ice cream shop that was unremarkable.
Wait - What?! Who are you and what have you done with TOG?
Besides, that's what hip flasks are for.