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Ethan and Mel’s photos from Boonville 2009 have now been posted in the Photo Archive, Mel was a true photo champion this year capturing just about all of the fun that Boonville had to offer us! Check out their photos online or download them all here.

Set up, rain, beer, rain, beer, pack is the short story for Boonville ‘09. This was our 4th trip to the festival and our first in the rain and we had no idea what to expect, we soon found out! Upon arriving at the Fairgrounds Morgan, Kevin and I spent a couple of hours setting up with it sprinkling on us with a little bit of wind. Morgan almost flew away with the easy-up at one point but as soon as we were complete we made the drive to Fort Bragg to visit North Coast Brewing Company with Ethan and Mel. It was a rainy drive but the various views almost made up for it, from beautiful wineries to the redwood forest and ocean scenery it was a very diverse 45 miles. The brewery had some really good food, and of course — beer. Once we arrived back into Boonville we headed to Anderson Valley Brewing Company for our first pitcher of this years Summer Solstice, it did not disappoint! Carrie and Matt joined up with us while we were there and Matt and I left with some pretty cool growlers to take home. Aaron and his friend Zac met up with us at the campsite later on in the evening.

Saturday we all went to the Boonville General Store for breakfast and Mel and I played artists with the supplied chalk for their customers. When we got back, Val was there to greet us! It was time for us to get in line for the beer fest by then. Once in the festival everyone parted ways and we continued to come together off and on throughout. I really enjoyed this year as far as the beers went, I found myself picking and choosing which breweries and beers I wanted to try instead of aimlessly picking, it is nice to know what I am looking at. The rain on the other hand made things very cramped which was tolerable but not ideal. After the fest we walked to AVBC for a bit, had some dinner, and everyone headed to bed fairly early (unlike Friday). Sunday we packed up camp and said our goodbyes to Aaron, Zac and Val. Morgan, Ethan, Mel, Kevin, Carrie, Matt and I proceeded to AVBC to wait for a special release of a 7 year aged Port Barrel Stout special edition beer of 148 bottles, we picked up 5! For lunch we caravaned to Russian River Brewing Company in Santa Rosa and then parted ways.

I really enjoyed having Kevin come this year along with new friends Carrie and Matt and even some new 21 year old family Aaron and his buddy, Zac. Our friends, compound, and fun is all raising exponentially. So thus, I count the days until Boonville 2010 and coordinating what will again be legen… wait for it… DARY! See pictures from the weekend here (click on the thumbnail to view the slideshow).