Steamboat Weekend

This post now seems a bit on the old side, but I wanted to share photos of our weekend in Steamboat Springs. A busy week at work has prevented me from posting earlier.

Last Friday evening, Melissa and I headed up to Steamboat after work. It's about a four hour drive from Denver. We took U.S. 40 over Berthold Pass, through Winter Park, Granby, Kremling and over Rabbit Ears Pass. The Aspens were just starting to turn in Denver, but are in full color up in the mountains.

We got to the Tap House on Main Street in Steamboat just in time for the second inning of Game Two of the ALDS between the Red Sox and the Angels. We had some good food and drink while enjoying a Red Sox win!

We got to the tiny town of Columbine late-night and found our cabin in the dark. We woke up to a lost cow mooing for his friends. The entire area is Open Range, so the cows basically have taken over and go wherever they want. Upon stepping outside, we were blinded by the gold Aspens that surrounded the cabin. Anyone looking for a fun weekend in the mountains north of Steamboat and just South of the Wyoming border, should check out the Columbine Cabins. Our cabin was one room with a wood stove for heat and kerosene lanterns for light. There are group bathrooms in the center area of the cabins and a outhouse for our cabins use. Very rustic and quaint. Most of these cabins are over 100 years old.

Saturday morning we hiked Hans Peak. The trailhead is located just across the road from the cabins. Great little hike. We got caught in some snow and wind at the top, but the views were spectacular. Rained most of the weekend off and on, so our photos were not as good as if the sky had been blue, but the fall colors made up for it. Not quite like New England fall colors, but still beautiful in their own right.

We added to our Colorado brewery checklist with the Mahogany Brewery in Steamboat. We enjoyed a great dinner and a few pints of their hand-crafted beers. Then we were off to the Strawberry Park Hot Springs for an evening soak. A must for any visit to the Steamboat area!

We wanted to try out some fly fishing in the area, it is well know for many amazing fishing spots, but due to the rain and cold we headed out for an excellent breakfast ( Winona's ) Sunday morning and then back to Denver to catch the Sox game. If yo have a chance to visit Steamboat, any time of the year, you should. A historic town with a ton to do.

Check out our photos:
Jason's Photos
Melissa's Photos

A great must read!

Hilarious!

The Wounded-Courier: Leaked Memo of McCain Camp's Future Hail Mary

Are you ready?

It's October and the Red Sox are still playing! Anyone else feeling that exciting anticipation of the first ALDS pitch? It's time to start defending out title.

Seems to me that the end of the Sox season was a bit under expected, with injuries and some bad losses. But that is all in the past and the slate is clean as we head into Wednesday nights match up against the Angels. One game at a time. Our history against them in the playoffs is on our side.

Take a moment to vote on the poll to the left, and keep up with the team here.

GO SOX!!!

RANT

Now, I know this blog is primarily about my adventures in Colorado, but I felt compelled to post this entry, written by Mank. He does a good job of summing up the race for Prez so far.
Enjoy! ...

RANT

By Mank

I was just waiting for the McCain Campaign fall-out. It seems inevitable, and it seems as if it is upon us. I am still worried that he could take this thing.

Every turn in momentum proves to be worse than the last. It seems that campaigns get 2 to 3 weeks of good numbers in a bounce and then swing back down while the others swing up. We have 40 days to go. Obama can avoid that, I think, by driving hard and fast and not budging on messaging. He has found McCain's soft spot, now he has to go at it. Clinton found it in '92, remember: "It's the economy, stupid."

According to some data, 90% of Americans think the Friday debate should go on... I have to think that McCain over-played his hand and reeks of desperation at this point. They are also trying to avoid the Palin debate, and rightfully so, if you have seen any of her interviews. Even Sean Hannity couldn't make her look prepared, and that's saying something.

Also, I think Palin has marginalized the Campaign's message (or lack thereof, depending on who you ask), because she cannot deliver it honestly. As McCain and his cohorts scramble to keep up with issues they make gaffe after gaffe, and with the microscope firmly on Palin, everything appears 10x as worse. And, it is not because of her personally sordid past, purported extra-marital affairs, questionable judgement, or parenting. No, it is because she is new and running for the biggest office in the country and the public deserves to know about her record. Her record. Not the record released by the McCain media team. Only hope America is really paying attention to what is being revealed.

As a note, the Obama campaign letting Palin do herself in when talking and also by her not talking to the press will be one of the truly deciding factor in this election. Things that political junkies and wonks live for. Sure it will be the economy and the war, but the strategy behind Obama's political maneuvering will become that of legend, should Obama win. This perhaps being their finest choice. After all, the election is about John McCain.

The McCain/Rove election strategy of running on "personality" could be seeing it's last days of effectiveness. Though I didn't think they should win on that issue either, it certainly plays to folks who do not pay as much attention to the issues, who have closeted racism, or just plain like John McCain. Now that the campaign is [inevitably] back on the issues, Obama and Biden have a clear advantage, if only Biden would stop giving terrible soundbites.

I sincerely hope that Obama can keep them on the ropes with direct attacks and concise messaging. Bring up Keating 5 and de-regulation, bring up McCain's ties to Fannie and Freddie Mac, bring up his houses and cars, bring up his voting against the immigration legislation that he co-sponsored, bring up his terminal hawkishness on war, bring up his wish to alienate Russia and create a new cold war, bring up his habitual poor decision making. Bring it all up. Issues, Issues, Issues.

With personality as a secondary factor [and the McCain campaign grasping for straws], the general public could possibly view the ticket much differently. Allowing McCain and Palin's personalities to appear directly reflective of their ticket's standing. No longer a "Maverick war-hero" and "Washington outsider Mother of five". They will appear as they are: McCain as old and tired, indignant and irrational man with judgement that is highly questionable. For Palin I think the judgement will be less harsh, written-off more as, "Well she seems like a nice lady, but I don't really think she has what it takes to be vice president/president. But good for Alaska."

As a last note, I keep reminding myself that this election is not about converting Republicans (present company excluded). A majority will vote McCain, even if it isn't in their best interests. It is about swing voters and first time voters. If they are mobilized they can make a world of difference. I only count on the fact that all these polls are not including them and you see an amazing turn out.

Get out and vote and mobilize those around you.

Check out more amazing work from Mank at seaveydesigns.com.

Soxtober!!!

The Red Sox have clinched (at least) the AL Wild Card and are off on the road to defend their 2007 World Series Championship!!

On the same night the Red Sox clinched their ticket to the postseason, they also dealt with the near inevitability that they won't win the American League East as the Rays swept the Orioles in a doubleheader. The only way the 92-65 Red Sox can win the East is if they win their last five games and the 95-62 Rays go 1-4. Because the Rays beat the Red Sox in the head-to-head series, they would win the division if the two teams finish with the same record.
The Red Sox play two games with the Indians and three against the Yankees. The Rays have one more game at Baltimore before playing four games in Detroit.
In other words, barring a miracle, the Red Sox will enter the playoffs as the AL's Wild Card entry, and play the Angels in the Division Series, beginning either Oct. 1 or 2 in Anaheim.

Read more here.

What was Brewing this weekend?

This past weekend, we decided to go on a Brewery Biking Tour through the Denver area. We picked out a few locations and headed out on our bikes. Our first stop was to be the Hops of Cherry Creek Brewery. We biked along the Cherry Creek bike path for about 6.5 miles and found that the brewery was closed. Most likely due to the rising cost of hops around the world (read more about Hops prices here at the Boston Globe). So, instead we stopped by the Cherry Cricket, a popular sports bar in the area and had some food and a pint of some other local Colorado craft brews.

Next, we headed back north on the bike path to Pint's Pub. This is an English brewery that has 12 beers made on location. Two of them are "Live Ales" which are cask conditioned, served at cellar temp, hand pumped instead of CO2 and still have their live yeast cultures in them. I had the Dark Star Ale and Melissa had the Lancer IPA. Tasty!! They also serve some great Crisps. Pint's is also word-known for having the largest selection of Single Malt Whisky outside of Great Britain. Very cool Old English atmosphere. We will be back again to try some of their other brews.

For our third and final stop, we cruised over to the Great Divide Brewery, near Coors Field. Here we tried a few of their craft brews and also took a short tour of their facility. I had the Samurai and Melissa had the sampler and a very dark and heavy Oak Aged Yeti Imperial Stout. They have been in business for 14 years and distribute to almost every state and outside the U.S. as well.

Full of beer and food we peddled back to my place to finish our 15 mile Brewery Biking Tour. Melissa now has 30 breweries visited in Colorado and I have 28 out of about 95.

See my photos of the Brewery Biking Tour.

One a side note, we worked off the beer on Sunday morning with a 5k road running race in Arvada. I ran a 25:30 and got second place in my age group (20-30yrs). Melissa ran a good race finishing at around 30min.

And, I'd like to mention that I am sorely disapointed in the Patriots performance on Sunday. There is no excuse for losing to the worst team in the NFL, even if you don't have Brady. They better bring their defense into San Fransisco in two weeks because they forgot them in the locker room this past Sunday.

Aspen Weekend

This past weekend Melissa and I headed West over Independence Pass to Aspen on Saturday. On the way we stopped for a picnic lunch and explored the ice caves. Then checked out Aspen center and the Aspen Brewery before heading to the Snowmass Balloon Festival. We spent the night at "The Peirson Inn" in Carbondale and woke to a magnificent breakfast of sausage and stuffed french toast made by Chef Karen. Then we headed out to check out the Maroon Bells, the most photographed peaks in any park in the US. After hiking up to the base of the peaks, we fly fished in Maroon Lake and had some great luck. Melissa caught her first trout on a fly rod (named it Fred) and I snagged three others. On our way back to Denver we stopped into the Glenwood Canyon Brewing Company for dinner and a pint.

You can see photos from the trip at the following links:

Jason's Photos

Melissa's Photos

Enjoy!