Epic Ramble

Crawlers Outside Margarita's

Where do I begin? How can I fully and appropriately describe what turned out to be the best pub crawl yet? Mere words will prove inadequate to define the rampant excellence of character and spirit that was all too evident on the streets of Keene this past Saturday. What started out as simple pub crawl involving my son and I a few years ago has evolved into something even more special as friends and family converged on my hometown for this year’s trek through the downtown pubs.

Keene Friend with Buddy Tradition

My favorite cousin brought along a couple of friends who meshed in nicely with the ever evolving crowd along with Great Aunt and Soxfather. We started out with an introductory beer at Keene Friend’s house since the first pub – Penuche’s didn’t open until 1pm. In a nod to tradition and memory of Buddy the Wonder Pooch Keene Friend put a beer on the carpet in front of the door prior to our arrival in the same spot he used to have a dog bone waiting for Buddy.  We’ve timed these crawls for the afternoon so we don’t have to compete with the local college crowd since most of them are still asleep during this time, unless college has changed a lot since my day.

Penuche's

We took over the bar end of Penuche’s and a representative group of high school friends started to appear. These included my best friend from the kindergarten we could see directly across the street from the bar. There was also a fellow classmate who shared the exact same birthday as I did and who lives on the same street I lived on when I went to that kindergarten. You just got to love a small town. They were followed by yet another classmate who was a carpet cleaning magnate. Soxfather and Great Aunt appeared during this time frame and as we were getting ready to depart for bar #2 my Favorite Son walked in the door. He’d driven across the state after his required daddy prep class. Having him at my side is always the best part of the crawls.

Cobblestone's Ale House

Our next stop was the Cobblestone Ale House on Main Street. Our character quotient took a serious hit when the Cantankerous Friend met us outside the bar to join the crowd. He immediately started arguing with everyone which felt completely appropriate.

Lab'n Lager

We crossed back over Main Street to stop #3, the Lab‘n Lager which was strangely deserted for a Saturday afternoon. We soon remedied that issue and took up the entire front section by the huge windows. We eased into the back alleys to reach #4 which is one of my favorite stops on the crawl – The Kilkenny Pub. Additional participants joined us there as they would throughout the rest of the crawl. This included the son of my fellow birthday boy so we had a fair representation of second gen crawlers. For the second year in a row there were canines also hanging out at Kilkenny’s – told you I loved the place.

Killkenny's

I was supposed to snap a group picture with the dogs when we left but I failed miserably. Luckily my kindergarten buddy was made of sterner stuff and took the picture when the second wave left Kilkenny’s. He took the picture below of the dogs that have become part of the pub crawl tradition.

Picture I missed - Kindergarten Friend on Right

Stop #5 was old friend, Margarita’s Mexican Restaurant and Watering Hole. We engaged the watering hole side of the equation as yet more people showed up to join the increasing crowd including the first female high school classmate in the group. The ladies (and the carpet magnate) availed themselves of some potent margaritas while the sane ones stuck with beer. We posed for a picture out front with a very understanding waitress doing the honors.

Inside Margarita's

We reached Central Square and delivered the required Jumanji briefing to newcomers as we passed the Parrish Shoe sign. Stop #6 is the Pour House as we made what was known as the “Pour House Turn” in birthday pub crawl lexicon. The college youngun’s were starting to appear since the sun was setting and seemed to think it was quaint to have all these middle agers out on a pub crawl.

Into the Pour House Turn

It’s called the turn because after the Pour House we head back down Main Street to Railroad Square and Scores Sports Bar. The #7 and last stop on the crawl is centrally located and includes dozens of tv’s tuned to whatever is going on in the world of sports. We settled in for a few hours of celebrating the success of the crawl, new friendships made and old ones polished up. My Favorite Panamanian re-appeared. She abandoned us after stop #1 because she thought tax free shopping was more attractive than walking in the cold and drinking beer, go figure. It was fun evening at Scores as the group started wandering away in bits and pieces as understanding spouses showed up to extricate the survivors.

Scores - My Arms Around Great Aunt and Wife

We drank a lot of beer but the crawl is never about the drinking, well, not just about the drinking. I don’t think there’s a better way to celebrate life than hanging around with friends and sharing the comradery inherent in a group of excellent people. It’s also incredibly nostalgic to spend time in my hometown and show it off to people who are new to it. A member of the group said we should try and get the newspaper to cover next year’s crawl as a human interest story – I’m not sure we’re ready for that kind of notoriety but the crawl has evolved into a min-high school class reunion.

The lone female member of our high school class to attend said I needed to get more female class mates to attend next year. I told her I’m not sure that would be healthy for me to attempt. My wife knows how to wield a machete and reaching out to the beauties of class of 1973 could be misinterpreted. I will make an effort though – as long as I can blame the one that suggested it. All of you from KHS Class of 1973 are officially on notice for November 2018.

Bonecrusher Meets his Latest Victim

My favorite cousin added some adventure to the night by taking the scenic route to his hotel which was located within a hundred yards of the final pub, something he’ll take some time to live down but just another of the many legends rising out of a day in which too much entertainment was achieved. We returned home to Keene Friend’s house where I was called upon to administer Bonecrusher to a birthday cake. Cake and Beer – two of my favorite food groups!

FBR Unhappy She was Excluded from the Crawl

Yesterday was officially paying the piper day as we had to travel to Nashua to meet up with the ABFA and her parents to plan the upcoming baby shower. We preceded that trip with a very fun farewell breakfast with my Favorite Son and Keene Friend – just didn’t want to let go of the day. I was officially gassed by the time we made it back to Worcester late in the afternoon but in time to watch the Patriots dismantle the Oakland Raiders, in Mexico, of all places. Thanks to all who attended this year’s crawl – best yet!

The Bad Cinema project count remains at #58 out of 100, better things a happening.