Cola Love List: Grab A Drink

If you know us in person, you know we love trying new places, exploring and making the most of every place we live. Columbia has been no different. Whether you want to come visit the area, are moving here, or have lived here a while, this list may have some things on it you would like to check out!
Let's start with...
Drinks:
Lil Duck Kombucha: If you enjoy kombucha definitely check this place out. They have a great variety of flavors, its local, and they will fill a growler for you! Every time I am at the Soda City Farmers Market (a must do, more on that in a later blog though) I grab some... they also sell scoby if you want to start brewing your own!

Rosewood Dairy Bar: Amazing milk shakes, probably my favorite in Cola. It's old school, it's classic... it is a dairy bar from the 1940's and you really can't beat the prices or taste. The cones are out of this world too. (also the chili cheese dogs)

Grill Marks:The runner up of best milkshakes in Cola. You can get basic milkshakes, alcoholic milkshakes... and freakshakes... which are super over the top and delicious looking... they also have floats... alcoholic and non. It's a great selection and well done, but can be a pain to find parking in the vista, they have valet as an option though!

Conquest Brewing  : This brewery is gaining popularity, for good reason, in my opinion it is the best in Columbia. They have a phenomenal Coffee IPA (and I don't usually like IPAs) and a Coconut Porter that will knock your socks off (do people still say that?). They have a little tasting room, an outdoor area with picnic tables, and a small area with giant jenga and a screen where they sometimes host Game Of Thrones watch parties or Mario Kart competitions. Only bummer is they don't have a kitchen, so no food (but they have popcorn)... they have been getting food trucks over there lately though!

Crouch Distilling: Right next door to Conquest, this is the best distillery in the area. We like to do a tasting after grabbing a pint at Conquest. Phil, the owner is happy to walk you through the process of how everything is made and we always learn something new when we go visit. Recently they started offering cocktails and they have bourbon barrel roasted coffee beans for sale! Bonus points if he has the spiced rum available when you go... its the BEST.

River Rat: Everyone in Cola will point you this direction when you ask about beer... for good reason, it's good beer, good food, and a really fun environment... they even just added a rooftop bar this year! This place is definitely family and dog friendly, so if that's your jam... you will love it. They host trivia once a week, and use King Of Pops popsicles in a glass of prosecco for prosecco pops. Downside: it is very popular, and has a very small parking lot, so good luck on that end, we usually take the motorcycle.

Hunter-Gatherer: This gets an honorable mention, it is not my favorite beer but it is pretty good. This is also family friendly, they serve some food and have outdoor and indoor seating as well as a lawn. It is located in the Curtiss Wright Hangar on the runway, so you can watch some planes take off while you sip on some beer... win win.

Craft and Draft: Not a brewery, but a store/bar. They have a great selection of craft beer to buy in bottles, and a bar with some on tap. Rumor has it they even have Kombucha on tap, which makes my little heart happy, cause I love that stuff.

Grab your growlers and get to exploring the local brew scene in Cola! It's definitely a good one.

Fly Safe, Barb

Our Time in Soda City (2017):

Back with another installment of updates and what we got up to while we have been living in Cola.
This was a pretty good year (by pretty good I mean amazing) I started Wing Woman Designs and fell in love with creating things for other people to enjoy. I also climbed the incline in Manitou Springs for the first time, served on the scholarship committee for the Shaw Officers Spouse Club (now the Shaw Spouses' Club) and we went to River Rat to watch the eclipse!

The best photo backdrop.

We did a lot more hiking and exploring this year, including more time at Congaree National Park. where we spotted a couple families of wild hog, several deer, some snakes and a lot of little critters. We really like it there.

I'm sensing a theme here. 

 I took my first Fini flight photos through Wing Woman Photography, they are my favorite, I get to take photos of the jets and capture priceless moments for a family.

"Rail"

Hochi took a few trips, one of them being to Florida to shoot his first AMRAAM, then we turned right around and went back to Florida so we could check out Universal Studios. I am obsessed with Harry Potter, so we spent a LOT of time in the Harry Potter sections. I rode my first roller coaster (yes, at 26 years old) and I am not sure I would do it again. I also rode The Mummy and it traumatized me, can you believe I am married to a fighter pilot? We ate WAY too much food, drank way too much Butterbeer and of course got a giant pink donut and some Duff Beer!

peep that patch!

Look, I really love Buffalo Wings, okay?

Hochi did a lot of cool stuff this year, including getting to do a flyover for his Alma Mater USAFA. A Thankfully One Mile High Photography caught some photos of him taking off and landing at Buckley and was kind enough to send them to me. 

McEntire had an air show this year where I took some of my favorite pictures ever, most of them you can see over on Wing Woman Photography but I basically have to share this one because *heart eyes emoji*.

Easily the best thing to happen this year though? Sydney, Australia. It was amazing, and we absolutely fell in love with Australia while we were there. We visited the Opera House and took a tour, we went to the zoo and aquarium, we went to a few museums (saw some airplanes, of course), toured the Royal Botanical Gardens (and got locked in after they closed..whoops), we drank some AWFUL rum (thanks Glock, never trusting your recommendations ever again.) and went on an amazing wine tour through the hunter valley. We ate at the revolving tower for the Fourth of July, and had a donut as big as our faces for breakfast, on the last day we went to Bondi and it is just as beautiful as you would expect. We ate so much, explored so much, and can not wait to go back to Oz as soon as possible (next year!) and hit up New Zealand too!

We celebrated our second wedding anniversary by going to Asheville! We explored Biltmore, checked out Wicked Weed, and then went hiking in Dupont State Forest (which is beautiful and I highly reccomend!). We fell in love with Asheville and it always makes me feel a little better when I am homesick for Colorado.

Hochi did a flyover for the Panthers...this time instead of being on the score board he was flying the Viper. My MIL came down to watch him too, so we took her hiking through Congaree and to the Greek Festival!

Go to this, get the baklava cheese cake.

Exactly one month (to the day) after I had surgery on my knee we did a Tough Mudder Half. It was amazing and I can't wait for us to have a chance to do a full together, Hochi has already done one, so he is a great coach to get me through them. 

We finished out the year with more hiking, a trip to New York to visit Hochi's family for Thanksgiving and then Texas to spend Christmas with my family for the first time in four years... It was so great to see them all, I missed them a lot. I am not sure Hochi will want to relive the experience though, since we made him do a polar plunge with us. 

 Whew, thanks for sticking through that. I did not update at all during 2017. so there was a lot to fill in, I promise none of my other blogs will be this long! 

Fly Safe, Barb

P.s. I got my braces off at the end of June in this year, YAY!

Our Time In Soda City (2016):

I am notoriously bad at keeping up with my blog. I admit it, I accept it, I wont apologize for it because life happens. I wanted to make up for some of our time in Cola that I have missed blogging about in a short update of sorts. So here is 2016, which I somehow missed a lot of even though I was blogging semi-regularly.

We came here ready to make the most of Columbia, but not with high expectations... and if I am being honest... a little let down because we were expecting to be going on a great German adventure instead of exploring (in my case, more of) the south. If you can't already tell... it exceeded our expectations.

We hit the ground running, we were house hunting to buy our very first home within two days of arriving and found a short term lease in the mean time (SWAT team apartment anyone?). We started exploring the city pretty quickly! One of our first adventures was going to St. Pats in Five Points, we had oysters for the first time, saw the fountains dyed green, watched some live music and started forming some pretty rad friendships.

We added a pup to our family, two years later and Moose is still mad at us and Loki is the size of a small child. He is still just as cute though. Pro tip: if you meet Loki be prepared to play a LOT of fetch, like... all the fetch.

We bought our first home, that was pretty exciting. We love our neighborhood, we have great neighbors and it's super quiet and small. 

We had two aviation filled days, where I really started to fall in love aviation photography, McEntire Family Day and the Shaw AFB Air Show. I really love air planes, y'all. 

Next Hochi left for a trip to Korea, our first time being apart on separate continents, but when he came home his stories made me really excited to eventually go to Korea (all roads in the viper lead there at least once...it was bound to happen.)

When he came back we bought our beautiful bike, went to the state fair, Patriots Point (highly recommend) and even drove to Florida for a Raider's game (Hochi's favorite team). 

We hosted our first thanksgiving, like real adults. My family came out and we all ate some amazing food (that smoked turkey though!!)

Hochi had a pretty cool opportunity... to help with a flyover for the Carolina Panthers... which meant I got to go on the field to help with part of it too. He had to stand on top of the score board, I do NOT envy him on that. 

We finished out the year with a trip to visit his family for Christmas, but not before he took me to a Christmas Tree farm to cut down a Christmas tree for the first time. (mine, not his). It was probably my favorite Christmas tree ever. 

 Thanks for checking out 2016! It's been fun to relive all of this again, especially as we are getting ready to leave by the end of the year. Keep an eye out for 2017 and 2018!
Fly Safe, Barb.


p.s. Notice how my mouth is closed in all of these pictures? That's because this was the year I got braces!

Joining the Wolf Pack:

It's that time again, when we get an assignment and start getting ready to move. We found out about two months ago we would be joining the Wolf Pack in South Korea. We hope to find out soon whether Hochi will be in the Juvats or Pantons.
Since Kunsan is an unaccompanied assignment, we will be taking to dogs to live with my family in San Antonio and I will be traveling back and forth between the two locations, among other travels. We are looking forward to a year of adventure, for sure, but will definitely be sad to leave behind our family and friends. If you are friends with me on Facebook or follow me on Instagram this is all news you know and you probably clicked this link in hopes of new information. Well don't you fret, we have it.
When you get an assignment to Korea you also have the opportunity to request a follow on assignment, if you receive an assignment you like? Great! It goes on your orders and you don't have to enter the collective pool for the assignment drop come time for you to move again. If you don't like it? You just turn it down and take a chance on hoping for a better/different one in several months.

We liked the follow on we got assigned, so we accepted it.

For those of you who don't know what that tail flash means we are headed to Aviano Air Base after we are done in Korea. Three years in Italy doesn't sound bad at all. Things can always change, as we know from our Spangdalem excitement a few years ago, but right now we have a pretty incredible assignment to look forward to!

Guess I better start working on some new languages, so I can say Fly Safe in Korean and Italian.

Fly Safe,
Barb