Second Month Stats
As of November 4th, we’ve finished our second month on the road, and although we logged a lot fewer miles on our car in October, we still saw a great deal—and began to visit distilleries in earnest for initial discussions of what Lost Lantern is all about. We’ve tried some great whiskies and had some great conversations, and we’re very excited to start bringing our vision for an American independent bottler, inspired by the great and historic Scottish blending houses, to fruition. Although we can’t get too specific about what we’re planning just yet, the roadmap for Lost Lantern is already looking very bright.
But our second month brought more than just meetings. We spent most of the month in Washington, but we still found time to enjoy nature as the fall started to set in. The month proved extremely busy, and we’re excited to take things a little slower for the rest of November as the cold weather approaches and as we head south along the Pacific coast.
FUN STATS
Total miles driven so far, as of Nov. 4th: 7,200
States we’ve been in since last update: Utah, Idaho, Washington, Texas, Oregon, Massachusetts, Rhode Island
States we’ve been in, cumulative: 18 (New York, Vermont, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Utah, Oregon, Washington, Texas, Massachusetts, Rhode Island)
States we’ve spent the night in: 7 (Utah, Idaho, Washington, Texas, Oregon, Massachusetts, Rhode Island)
Most beautiful drive: North Cascades Highway in northern Washington
First place we’ve seen snow: Washington Pass Overlook, North Cascades
Place we’re saddest to have missed: Craters of the Moon National Monument, Idaho
Towns we’ve driven through that have a dude’s first name: Roy, Utah; Perry, Utah; Layton, Utah; Rupert, Idaho; Paul, Idaho; Jerome, Idaho; Connor, Idaho; Dietrich, Idaho; Gilbert, Washington; Sherman, Texas; Allen, Texas
Town where we bought way more whiskey than we expected: Winthrop, Washington
Silliest town name: Humptulips, Washington
Ferries taken: 1, to Bainbridge Island and back
Number of National Parks visited since last update: 3 (North Cascades, Mount Rainier, Olympic)
Number of National Parks visited, cumulative: 7 (Badlands, Wind Cave, Yellowstone, Grand Teton, North Cascades, Mount Rainier, Olympic)
Number of National Parks missed along our route so far: zero
Other fun natural places we visited: Multnomah Falls, Mount Hood National Forest, Columbia River Gorge
Favorite places in October: North Cascades, Mount Rainier, Olympic rainforest, Columbia River Gorge, Seattle
Number of distilleries visited this month: 10
Number of distilleries visited so far (cumulative): 11
Number of malt houses visited: 1 (Skagit Valley Malting)
State we spent the most time in: Washington
State we spent the least time in: Idaho (which took the prize last month too)
Places we liked far more than we expected and are telling everyone to go to: North Cascades
Number of places that smelled like rotten eggs: Blessedly few, but not none
Thing we like a lot: being back in places with great coffee and beer on almost every corner
Thing we miss about Brooklyn: high-end craft beer bars that aren’t brewpubs
Highest elevation reached: 7’000 (Park City, Utah)
Highest mountain visited: Mount Rainier (14,441’)
Miles to Wall Drug: variable
Trip highlight of the month: Having our first meetings with distilleries and explaining the vision for Lost Lantern; exploring Olympic National Park with family
November will be the first month since we started when we don’t have to fly anywhere, which is a nice treat, and we’ll spend the whole month in just two states: Oregon and California. But they’re both big states, with lots of ground to cover, and we couldn’t be more excited for some of the great sights ahead—Crater Lake, the Redwoods, Yosemite, Sequoia, and, of course, lots of great wineries and distilleries.