Beer and Light Rail

Last night, in the name of brotherly duty, I took my little brother to FourPeaks for the first time. He turned 21 last week, and to his credit, he was too busy with his classes to really cut loose and party hard. FourPeaks is one of my favorite places to drink in Arizona, especially during hot summer days and evenings. They've got a range of great beers brewed right there, and the food is fantastic. Modest but well done and delicious and everything beer battered.

Actually, being all responsible adults, we took the light rail there so we could all drink. Tay met us at the Dorsey and Apache station and we walked up. To be honest, we didn't drink that much. I'm at the point where I just like to drink to a point just beyond mellowness, and as my grandmothers can both attest, the beer at FourPeaks is pretty strong. We ordered a beer sampler, which had all the beers they make plus a beer they're testing out. Good stuff. Actually makes me want to have a beer right now, and wonder where I can pick up a six pack of 8th street ale at this time of night. Most places, probably.

We took the light rail back home, a 45 minute journey from Tempe. I saw in the newspaper that they're going to expand the light rail potentially over the next few years (once they figure out how to fund it) and my second thought was that if they build it out as much as the planned routes show, how long it would take to get from place to place. While it would be fantastic to have a comprehensive light rail network, its less than effective if it means it takes several hours to get from one part of the city to the other. At its current speed, and factoring in wait times, I'm about equally fast riding a bicycle from Tempe to Phoenix as taking light rail. That's pretty pathetic.