Yes, that’s an emblem for a local brewery, but more importantly they were having their first Oktoberfest after opening last year.  Since Eric owns a ‘brick’ from this establishment (that’s a whole other story) he made plans for our weekend.  He was telling me the details and instantly remembered (right after I did) he couldn’t be a part of it – oopsie. He was thinking of canceling “No!”.  Hence, Girls Oktoberfest weekend.  Okay, enough of the rhetoric, let’s get to the good part.

Yeah!  Almost like being back in Germany – but not quite.  Notice I didn’t say Munich.  The boys went to Munich while we were in Frieburg last year.  We both ended up with Brats and pretzels.

Naturally there had to be some beer involved – Festbier.

Can you guess which beer was mine?

While I’m not advocating following up with ice cream after a beer, I couldn’t resist a small cup of Ritter’s ice cream (custard) since they were at this event, along with a few other food trucks – just in case you didn’t want brats (really – why else would you come, just saying).  Re-reading this, that was a looonng sentence.

What is Oktoberfest without a band?  Apparently a ‘heavy-metal’ wanna-be band.

Yeah, it just didn’t create the right ‘bavarian’ mood.  About the time we were finishing, guys wearing Lederhosen started gathering.  Yep, the German band was up next.  And, it wasn’t just old guys – two looked really nice in the lederhosen.

We listened to a few polkas then continued our day’s journey.  No one was dancing, but they kept trying to get them up.  I’ll guess that as the beer continued to flow, dancers would appear.

We curiously enough didn’t have the Suncreek Brewery stamp on our Ale Trail map, which we got today.  Our maps are different, yet we both needed the one from a brewery in Eustis – destination decided:  Wolf Branch Brewing Co.

I stuck with my Festbier option while Adrienne tried the amber, and maybe, just maybe the pumpkin ale too.

You wouldn’t think we would be hungry (and really we weren’t) but they had some bagged popcorn that went well with our choices.  And come on, who could resist a popcorn with these flavors (and who could come up with that combo)? Yikes.

By this time, Eric was done with his appointment (it’s hard being a board member of Florida’s Wildlife Federation – just saying) and we headed home.  Hmmmm, seems like someone got a nap during the drive and it wasn’t me.

We let him join our Girls’ day and supper was at a nearby Cajun joint The Big Easy.

As you can see from this inside shot, they’re big fans of LSU (Lousiana State University for those non SEC people) decorated in purple and gold.

First thing that caught Adrienne and Eric’s eyes was this Bloody Mary order form.

OMG.  And this was their result.  Man – its more like an appetizer than a drink.

Okay, finally the food.  We started with fried pickles and boudin balls.

I ordered a roast beef sandwich, New Orleans-style.  I had planned on saving half for lunch the next day, but alas, the meat was too good to stop.  I quit eating the bread.

Eric wanted gumbo (sorry, the photo isn’t much) and onion rings.  Because you know, we didn’t have enough fried food.

Starting the day in ‘Germany’ and ending in ‘New Orleans’ isn’t a bad way to spend a weekend in central Florida – just saying.

Ginny