"So close, yet so far away."

Man up. You should be setting the parameters of your trip.

 

You should tell your wife and her family to stop being selfish and take into account what you like doing sometimes.

Edit: I haven't even married my girlfriend (yet), but she still knows that part of being in a good relationship is doing things that both participants like. Which includes beer-related things sometimes.

 

Why does your day have to be so pre-planned? If you know the route. Suggest a place to stop for lunch? Wouldnt hurt.

Cheers!

 

What fun-filled activities are you doing?

 

No it's always better to bottle up your frustrations and vent online

 

I'll go ahead and add a... "Missed it by thaaaat much!" This year in L.A. we had several events where they hyped Pliny the Younger. I attended three of them... THREE of them! And each time, I received the announcement that they were out just moments after the last pour.

To top it off, earlier this year I took a trip up to Napa and insisted we head up to Santa Rosa. Guess what wasn't available? Haha!

 

Seeing the world's largest ball of twine and the house of mud.

 

If you visit alot, just tell them that you're gonna do something else today. It shouldn't be that big of a deal.

 

I stop at Liquor stores I pass by and leave my family in the car if I think they might have something that might be of interest. If I am in a good mood, I will sometimes crack a window for them too. Breweries (and especially breweries of that caliber) would be a definate stop.

 

can we re-title this "missed beer connections"

 

Depending on the extent of their beer knowledge you could be surprised by the responses you get. My friends wanted to go out drinking once and I mentioned the Cambridge Brewing Co. Someone said no I want to go to a bar. Maybe we have different concepts of what a bar is. Someone on the trip might say no I want something to eat if you say Founders Brewing Company and you'll end up at TGIFridays as punishment for such a careless suggestion.

 

My wife and kids know that if they let daddy stock up on good local beer at the beginning of vacation, the rest of the week they can drag me anywhere.

 

My plan when going on vacation to places with mythical beer: As soon as the trip is set (and my girlfriend has no official ideas), I map out which breweries/liquor stores to go to. Since I said it first and she has no other plans to contradict it at that time, it's set in stone. The early bird gets drunk on awesome beers.

 

I know how the OP feels. What you're missing here is that this event isn't just husband and wife, there is also the wife's family along. The more people involved, the less time there is for catering to individual interests, and don't even get me started on how the dynamic begins to work if there are young kids along too! Yes, you can probably squeeze in a trip to a brewpub for lunch if the timing works out and if they welcome children (you have to eat somewhere). But I, for one, would not be able to enjoy a brewery tour / taproom visit anyway if I knew there were 5-6 uninterested people out waiting in the car.

 

To: the brewery I can see from the zoo parking lot
From: lonely&thirsty

I saw you today and I think we would be really good together, I thought maybe we could go out sometime and get a drink in you when the family isn't around.

 

I would think the OP would be a bit smart and diligent in his approach to the situation. Maybe review a menu before hand and fiqure what place would work best for the whole party. I am sure one of the stops on his trip could be a brewpub that has a good menu and thus avoiding TGI Fridays.

Cheers!

 

Did you try cross-posting here - a site better suited for these spousal/in-law problems.

 

Sometimes I think life sucks is less than perfect with the demands of a wife and two kids (due to my lack of freedom), but damn, I'm glad I'm not that whipped.

The wife and her family should recognize/understand the need for you to do something you are interested in too - they can either join in your interests or you can leave them behind and go do it yourself. Talk to the wife before you decide to take the next trip and make it a demand of willingness to go. If you let people roll all over you, they will.