COACHING OUT OF BOUNDS: A little vodka, a little beer

I remembered that I still needed to post the rest of my pictures from my spring camp trip to Finland and Sweden, so here they are. I spent a considerable amount of time in Stockholm during my journey. Each time I visit this city, I find more things to like about it. I have visited many of the well known sites including both the National and the Vasa Museum. I've checked out the shopping scene at the famous NK, walked the streets of Gamla Stan in the Old Town district, and even toured part of the Royal Palace. As I prepared to leave Stockholm a few weeks ago, it dawned on me that I still hadn't visited one of the largest tourist attractions in the city.

With only a few hours to spare, I looked at my map and headed out in search of the Absolut Icebar. The Absolut Icebar is located in the Nordic Sea Hotel near the Central Station in Stockholm. This unique establishment opened in 2002 and now ice bars have sprouted up in other European cities like Oslo, London, and Copenhagen. The entire bar is completely made of ice including the walls, artwork, stools, counter, and even the drinking glasses. The ice is shipped in from the Torne River which lies up north on the border between Sweden and Finland. For about 25 U.S. dollars, you can "chill out" for a while in this establishment and enjoy one complimentary cocktail. A few dollars less will get you some time in the bar and a non-alcoholic drink. The temp. in the bar is kept at a constant of -5 degrees celsius, which is roughly the average temp. of a spring day in North Dakota. (true story!) Before entering the bar, an attendant will set you up with a warm cape and some gloves to match. I kept the cape on, but opted to remove the gloves because I wanted to see how quickly the warmth of my hand would begin to melt my glass. (have I ever mentioned that it doesn't take much to amuse me?) There wasn't much of a crowd when I visited the icebar, but the place is often packed during the summer months, and reservations are generally recommended. This is indeed a very 'cool' thing to do if you ever find yourself in Stockholm, even if the bartender gives you the cold shoulder. (ok, I promise no more frosty jokes)

Since I'm on sort of an alcohol theme here, I thought it would be appropriate to post a truly classic picture that I took at my grandparents house this past weekend in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. My grandfather has kept a can of Billy Beer in his fridge for the past 33 years and I felt it was deserving of some attention on the blog. I'm not really sure why the beer has been in his fridge for more than 3 decades, but it just seems worth talking about. For those of you who don't know the meaning of Billy Beer, let me do a little explaining. The beer was named for Billy Carter, the colorful and sometimes outlandish younger brother of former U.S. president Jimmy Carter. Billy was a hard drinking good ol' boy from Georgia, who was never shy around the cameras. It has been reported that he once urinated on an airport runway while the press and photographers looked on. Millions of cans of Billy Beer were brewed back around 1977, but the beer never became a mainstream hit. In fact, Billy lost money on the whole deal and the venture is said to have wiped out much of his finances. In any case, now you know a little more about this infamous can of beer.