Erich and Julia headed to Nepal for their honeymoon and climbed to Everest Base Camp! You can check out some amazing photos from their trip at Erich's blog HERE.
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Talk about an adventure!
Erich and Julia headed to Nepal for their honeymoon and climbed to Everest Base Camp! You can check out some amazing photos from their trip at Erich's blog HERE.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Oatmeal Wheat Stout
Click HERE to see a larger slideshow.
Friday, October 30, 2009
San Diego Wedding Vacation
On Friday, we headed out to San Diego to attend a wedding and for a bit of a vacation through Wednesday. My friend from Plymouth State College, Andy Taylor was getting married to Colleen Slater in Oceanside, CA.
The wedding was amazing, on the beach with sandals for the groomsmen and bare feet for the bridesmaids. They rented a condo complex with four units (one for the bridesmaids, groomsman and family members each). They had the rehearsal dinner and reception on the roof where there was a huge patio with views of the ocean and beautiful sunsets. We were all spoiled by the luxury condo as well as the great food that Colleen's Uncle prepared for us.
After a relaxing and fun weekend at the condo in Oceanside, a few of us headed over to Escondido to visit the Stone Brewery. We have been looking forward to this for quite a while. Their beers are killer craft brews and the restaurant had some delicious food to pair with the beers. The setting was very unique with a garden surrounding the restaurant.
From Stone, we headed South to Ocean Beach where Andy and Colleen (and their 13 month old son Riley) live. We checked into the OB Hotel, just off the ocean and at the end of the main strip. The hotel worked for us and was a short walk to shops, bars and Andy's house, but we would not suggest it for others. Needs a big renovation and update. If all you need is a bed, it could work, but woudl not want to hang out at the hotel much. So, we headed out each day to get a tour of the San Diego area from Andy.
We hit up many of the tourists spots including La Jolla with the seals and caves, Point Loma with amazing views of downtown and the ocean, and Old Town San Diego. We also partook in a CA tradition that should not be missed by anyone from outside the state, In-N-Out Burger. Tasty, fresh burgers, fries and shakes!!
We had a great time in San Diego and did not want to leave. Thanks to Andy and Colleen, as well as their families for all their great hospitality!!!! We can't wait to visit again and see more.
As for the trip home, we found out as we were standing in line at the gate that our direct flight on Southwest would be making a "quick" stop in Las Vegas to pick up a "few" "stranded" passengers. Everyone was pretty upset since it woudl make our arrival into snowy Denver an hour later. Then everyone was even more upset as they opened the doors in Las Vegas and let one lady off, and a stewardess and one passenger on. Really Southwest!! Just because you mess up your scheduling you should not inconvenience an entire plane for two passengers. Crazy!! Anyways, we landed in Denver just fine, even though the snow was falling sideways and there was 15-18" of snow already on the ground. We trudged through the snow up to our front steps around 12 a.m. on Thursday. Fortunately, for me at least, work was closed on Thursday because of all the snow, so I got an extra day of vacation!
Monday, October 19, 2009
Wedding Party Invitation
Melissa and I decided to ask our bridesmaids and groomsmen for our wedding in a little different way than usual.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Sherman Engagement
On Sunday, Melissa and I attempt to climb Mt. Sherman 14,036' in the Mosquito Range from the Iowa Gulch trail head in Leadville. We started at 6:15 a.m. and got to the ridge line where we were turned back by wind that was knocking us off our feet. This would have been my second summit of Sherman and Melissa's first.
My plans for the top fell through, but I found a great opportunity on the way down. After getting out of the wind, I set a ring on top of a cairn (trail marker above treeline) on the side of the trail. As Melissa approached, she asked if I was going to take a picture of the unique cairn. Then she saw the ring. I got down on one knee and asked her to marry me. She said YES!
We are looking at about a year till the wedding. Time to start planning!
Click HERE to see a larger slideshow.
Saturday, September 26, 2009
First Snow!
First snow of the season viewed from Loveland Pass on the Continental Divide.Friday, September 25, 2009
GABF 2009
Friday evening Erich, Tom, Melissa and I headed down to the Colorado Convention Center for the 2009 Great American Beer Festival. The festival covered three days, 450 Breweries from around the country and more than 2,000 beers on tap! We got to try some excellent craft beers that we would otherwise have to travel long distances to enjoy, a sip of Sam Adams Utopia (27%, 48 proof!!), and we met a few of the big hitters of the craft beer and homebrewing world.
Charlie Papazian, author and founder of the Association of Brewers, signed one of his hombrewing how-to books for us. I got a high five from Sam Calagione, founder and president of Dogfish Head Craft Brewed Ales, when I congratulated him on his court win over Anheuser Busch about the name of their Pumpkin Beer (Budweiser actually sued them because they said that "Punkin" was too generic of a name for a beer!! Dogfish Head won that one!). And, Melissa got a signed DVD from Greg Koch CEO & Co-Founder of Stone Brewing Co. Delicious beers from around the country, who could have asked for a better evening!
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