June 25 is fast approaching. Though National Catfish Day deserves plans of its own, you may want to put those plans on hold until next year, and spend the 25th in Ljubljana, Europe’s best kept secret instead. Ljubljana has the architecture of Spain, wine of Italy, politeness of Germany, and food of Greece while being affordable and still relatively uncrowded from tourists. This little gem of Slovenia deserves your time.

They call it Hospital Hill for a reason. At mile 10 of the Marine Corps Historic Half Marathon it rears up against the sky. With proper training, you won’t need the hospital that sits at the top, but it’s always good to have a plan b. Marine Corps drill sergeants yelling at you to run up it and conquer the pain help too. This is the Marine Corps historic half and only the tough survive.

Day Four - All Points West Today we hit all points west of where we’ve been so far, and essentially the remaining breweries (Well technically there are still about 95 others, but the big ones). We’re going to spend the day in the sun, by the surf, and even catch a famous sunset on the cliffs at the obviously named Sunset Cliffs. C’est apropos. Did I use that right? Let’s begin at Stone, the biggest name in San Diego craft brewing and the biggest brewery location as well.

If you have one goal in San Diego it should be to spend the maximum possible amount of time outside in the sun. I mean like no more than 15 minutes a day inside. That includes ordering at places, using restrooms, and sitting down. The weather here is a gift to you and you better not squander it. If you do, the polar vortex will find you and exact revenge. Life is too short to sit inside in San Diego.

Day Three - The Great Whyte North Day Three takes us about 20 minutes up north to the amazing concentration of craft breweries in the town of Miramar. I hope you saved some room yesterday. Hidden among the miles and miles of non-descript industrial park buildings are several amazing breweries. Next to the Pottery Barn warehouse and a distribution center for a pharmaceutical company might be the next Stone Brewing. Come along but do not tarry, for the way is treacherous, but I shall be your guide.

Day Two - South Park, North Park, and Kenny? Recharged yet from the sun and suds yesterday? Buckle up Bernie, you’re about to feel the bern today. If you thought yesterday was intense, you may want to stay in bed today. If not, you have earned a place on the continuation of this epic voyage through beer. Today we hit up South Park and North Park, a three mile or so stretch of beer heaven to the east of the huge Balboa Park, where the zoo is located.

San Diego is a town known for surf, sun, Mexican food, and of course beer. The beer options here are so good it’s worth a visit just for the breweries, but the combination of all of the above makes it a perfect destination. There are now over 110 breweries in San Diego and each one is probably worth visiting, but I’ve done the hard work and come up with the best itinerary for a San Diego “beercation” for you.

What is Third Wave? Coffee culture has reached what is being referred to as “Third Wave” coffee. The basis is that three major waves of coffee consumption have occurred since the 90s, culminating in the small batch artisanal coffee shops that are no longer only found in hipster enclaves like Williamsburg. In fact these have become so popular that major chains are now gobbling them up. In the first wave, home consumption was king.

On day two of our Quebecois beercation, we drive from Montreal to Quebec City in search of the perfect brew. We also stop at Quebec’s highest waterfall and learn why the dream of the 90s is still alive outside Quebec, but only on Valentine’s day. Part one of the beercation in Montreal can be found here. St-Viateur Bagels Before leaving Montreal, we stop at St-Viateur bagels, a bagel shop which has been wood oven cooking bagels in the Montreal style since 1957.

You may be thinking Montreal and Quebec aren’t beer towns. That’s where you’d be wrong. Both towns have a passion for beer that trails only their passion for hockey and gravy covered cheese curds and fries. Though the spoken language may be different, these towns share a love for the common language of good beer, and most interestingly, what seems to be a particular specialization in excellent Belgian style ales.

Though I loved the Runner’s World Half in Bethlehem, PA last year, I wanted to try out the Hershey Half this year. This weekend seems very popular with races as the weather is typically perfect. It ended up not being as perfect as desired due to an early season cold front, read on to see how this played out. Pre-Race: Packet Pickup and Hershey Park in the Dark Getting to Hershey and staying was super easy with relatively little traffic out from NJ.

Portland Maine has earned a huge reputation for three major things, a foodie paradise, craft beer everywhere, and being exceptionally dog friendly. All of these are well deserved and make for a great trip. What to do with Bowser Casco Bay Mail Boat The Casco Bay Mail boat is a great way to get out and see the water and islands in the bay and is very dog friendly. You need to buy a ticket for Fido and seating is a bit at a premium, so line up early.

Memorial Day weekend, the unofficial start to summer and the official start of outdoor brewery season. When the garage doors of Brooklyn open up and the farmhouse ales deprecate the boys from the men. It’s a magical time, and to celebrate, I toured the new craft beer scene in Brooklyn and Queens (LIC) to see how these boroughs stack up. Surprisingly, I think Queens was the winner for taste and authenticity.