Needless to say, I am disappointed that the trip to Alaska didn’t come together like I had hoped. I’ve never been that far north before, and seeing our 49th state would’ve been very cool indeed. Though the main goal wasn’t achieved, I did manage a few noteworthy accomplishments:

• Miles flown: 4,322
• Free wireless networks accessed: 1 (go PDX!)
• Beers consumed: 3 pints + 1 sampler
• Times seeing Olga Korbut’s “Perfect 10″ on Delta’s inflight entertainment: 3

I’ll know I’ll make it to Alaska this year, and Andrea wants to go too (so long as it’s a bit warmer). In the meantime, I have my eye on the National Winter Ales Festival in Manchester, England next weekend as a make-up beer festival. We’ll see if that comes together or not.

I’ve made it over to Squatter’s Pub on C concourse for an extended tasting session. I finally found a table with a power outlet (need to charge the electronics), so I’ve bunkered in for a while.

The six beer sampler for $4.75 is not a bad deal for doing a survey of the available brews. I had my server Jason pull some hefeweizen (with the lemon that ate Pittsburgh), English summer ale, pale ale (of which I am ordering a full pint to accompany my chicken and chorizo soup lunch), oatmeal stout (yummy), the brewmaster’s special (a nice amber ale), and an espresso stout served via a nitrogen tap.

Although the 4.2% limit makes it impossible to brew certain beer styles, the ones on tap today would be worth your hard-earned ducats.

Sadly, I won’t be posting pictures of bears, or Grizzly Adams lookalikes from Anchorage.

Because of all the cancellations yesterday, the only two Alaska Airlines flights from Seattle to Anchorage that had not been cancelled were hyper-booked. I stood a very small chance of getting there, but more importantly did not want to get stuck there if cancellations continue over the next couple of days.

So, I am now in Salt Lake City, enjoying a Polygamy Porter at the Wasatch Pub in D Concourse as a consolation prize.

Since Utah has limits in place on how strong draft beers can be (4.2%), all the beers have a thin body to them. This porter is actually quite pleasant, roasty and slightly acrid from the brown malts used to brew it.

I’ll be moving to another concourse soon to the other pub. More from there.

Tip jars can tell a lot about the character of an establishment.

After my abrupt change in plans, this tip jar at the Portland Airport “Coffee People” stand made me smile this morning.

After hearing of the volcano’s wrath, I needed to figure out Plan D. Thankfully, there is a Widmer pub on Concourse D, where my fight came in.

It’ s a smallish place — 30 seats or so — but they did have decent beer on tap. I opted for the Snow Plow, a dark winter ale which matched the mood of the day perfectly.

Now I’m off to dump my bag and drink some beers.