Mt. Sherman #2

So, last September 20th was a big day in our lives. We woke up bright and early at Copper Mountain, and drove to Leadville and the Mt. Sherman trail head. Our plan was to climb the 14, 036 ft. mountain and then head back to Denver. I, and Mother nature, had different ideas. My plan was to propose to Melissa at the top. Mother Nature's plan was less fun ... to not let us get to the top. Anyways, I still proposed and got a yes, just not at the top, and the rest is history. You can read all about it at this previous post from last year, if you have not already: Sherman Engagement.

This past weekend we drove away from the city and up to Keystone. The weekend was dedicated to our "Mini-Moon", as Melissa calls it. We are not actually taking a honeymoon till January, so we felt a weekend up in our beloved mountains was due and we might as well celebrate the recent nuptials at the same time.

Our weekend consisted of great food and drink at Modis, Blue River Bistro and Backcountry Brewery, hot tubing, biking around Lake Dillon (25 miles) and finishing our attempt at the summit of Mt Sherman.


Mt. Sherman Stats:
Difficulty: Class 2
Exposure: 2 of 6
Summit Elevation: 14,036 feet
Trailhead Elevation: 12,000 feet
Elevation Gain: 2,100'
Round-trip Length: 5.25 mi
- We got a sweet Garmin GPS unit from Gary as a wedding gift. We tracked both our bike and hike, but are still working out the download of info. Hope to have that up and working for our next hike/bike/ski blog! -


The weather all weekend was amazing with high 60s low 70s, blue skies and amazing fall colors with the Aspens in a full blaze of gold.


We finally made it to the top of Mt. Sherman (my second, Melissa's first) and had a very relaxing weekend. Can't wait to get back up to the mountains. Maybe for some skiing?

See photos from our bike and hike weekend HERE

Steamboat Springs Getaway

It was a long summer of wedding planning, but we did make it up to the mountains a few times. Late in August we said, "We need a weekend away from 'wedding stuff', where should we go?" Adam and Elisa were nice enough to host us at their house in Steamboat and along with their son Ethan, we had a fun and relaxing weekend away from the city.

We took a nice hike with some great views, rode our bikes through town, perused the local art fair, hit up the rodeo and some tasty ribs, and finished it all off with a great tub down the Yampa river which flows through the center of town (a must if you are there during the summer).

Thanks for your great hospitality Adam, Elisa and Ethan. It was a much needed vacation from all the wedding planning. We are looking forward to hitting the hill with you all this winter!

Check out photos from the long weekend HERE
Note: We had a little technical difficulties with the camera settings, so the photos are a bit on the blue side.

SOX in KC!

Click HERE to see photos from the trip or view in the slide show at the end.

Well, it was quite the spontaneous weekend to say the least. While watching the Red Sox play the Royals on Friday evening, Melissa came up with the idea to drive to Kansas City on Saturday and see the Sox play game two of their three game weekend series. I thought she was crazy, since we already had plans for the weekend and KC is 600+ miles and 9+ hours from our house. So she called her dad, Rich, and proposed the road trip to him. He was game and soon I was talked into it as well.

Rich showed up to our house at 6:30 a.m. on Sat. and we started the drive through one of the most uninteresting parts of the US, Eastern Colorado and Kansas. Not much to see other than signs at every little town saying that they are the birthplace of this famous person or president, or home to a museum with five legged cows, an 8,000 lb prairie dog, or the National Greyhound Hall of Fame. The Eastern part of Kansas seemed to be completely on fire with grass fires for as far as the eye could see and smoke blocking our views of the flat plains. But cops and residents in these areas seemed to not really care, so must be a typical spring occurrence.

We made great time and got to our hotel, which was across the street from the park, a couple hours before game time. We donned our Red Sox apparel and headed to the park with quite a few other Sox fans. It was a beautiful evening and the stands were almost full. They were giving away Royals jerseys to the first 20k fans, so the place filled up fast. Best tix we could get at the gate were in the upper deck, but the stadium is pretty intimate so the view was just fine. A great game that held our attention to the end and the Sox won 8-3.


We were high on the win and the 600 miles of driving, so we headed down to the ticket counter after the game and decided to get tickets to Sundays game as well. Better seats this time. Back at the hotel we wondered into the lobby bar and got a drink with a ton of other Sox fans. Chants of "Yankees Suck" popped up with the occasional "Sweet Caroline" being belted out by the happy crowd. 14,000 miles from Boston and the Nation was alive and kicking!


After a great nights sleep, we drove into downtown and walked around. It was dead in the business district so we headed towards the river and stumbled upon City Market, a great outdoor marketplace with everything from fruit and veggies, to spices and nuts, and yard sales and flowers. We grabbed a coffee and strolled around the plaza. Not about to pass up some fresh spices for $1 a scoop we grabbed a few bags as well as some peanuts for the game and then headed to lunch.

Our friend Mario suggested Arthur Bryant's as the place to go in KC for BBQ. The receptionist at the hotel also suggested another place. We figured asking a local would help, so Rich asked an old man with no teeth who looked like a local at the market. "I love Arthur Bryant's and they give you the most meat", he said. So between that and Mario's tip, we knew exactly where to go. The line was down the sidewalk even before they opened, so it had to be good. And boy was it! Fall off the bone ribs and delicious sweet pulled pork. I think we ate too much, and so did Wally!


Back to the ballpark. We checked out of our room and headed across the street. Half as many in the stands today. Guess the Royals fans only come out for the free shirts. There was a sea of red in the lower level and it was nice to cheer on the Sox with a ton of fellow fans. The weather was beautiful again for the 1:05 p.m. start and the Sox belted a bunch or runs to put us up early. The Royals made a bit of a comeback, but not quite enough as the Sox took two of three on the weekend with an 8-6 win.


Back to the car and a looooooong drive to Denver (thanks for driving most of the way Rich!). It was well worth the drive to see our beloved Red Sox win two. We are looking froward to the three game series in Denver vs the Rockies in June. We have tix to all three and the drive will be much easier!

GO SOX!!

Click HERE to see photos from the trip or view in the slide show below:

Bring it on!!

Every new addition.

Every red, white, and blue bunting.

Every first pitch.

Every renewed vow.

Makes us want to play ball.

FURTHUR

Last night, Rich and I went to see FURTHUR at the 1st Bank Center (formerly known as the Odeum, formerly know as the Broomfield Events Center).

It was a great show! My favorite part was the unique Pink Floyd cover of Time. Rich was kind enough to provide a recap of the evening:

8:33:07 PM: Set 1
(after good food at Tuk Tuk and free parking compliments of a Obi-Wan Kenobi we were near first to arrive on the floor. We got to about 5 feet from the stage and realized it was a 2 hour wait till the show started --- we than took up a great strategic location at the corner of the rink --- It was very entertaining as this is where the free-form dancing went on). I underlined the songs that I thought were the highlights – many highlights tonight.

8:34:44 PM: After Midnight (predicted by the gentleman that sat to our right)
8:35:15 PM: Next Time You See Me
8:41:29 PM: Till the Morning Comes (there was a reference to a duck going into a bar and asking for flies – the bartender didn’t serve flies or ducks – but apparently nails – duh-know really ---- Jason can explain)
8:48:47 PM: Cumberland Blues
8:58:09 PM: Good Lovin’
9:11:21 PM: Magnolia Mountain http://www.cowboylyrics.com/lyrics/adams-ryan/magnolia-mountain-15678.html (I have never heard this song before)
9:17:29 PM: Ripple (A Driscoll favorite --- an personally I think one of the greatest songs ever written)
9:21:24 PM: Sugaree (this was killer --- the keyboard player really delivered)

9:35:00 PM: setbreak

10:25:13 PM: Set 2
(the second set was one of the strongest sets I have ever seen!!!!!!)

10:26:39 PM: Golden Road (To Unlimited Devotion) >
10:33:00 PM: Birdsong >
10:48:18 PM: Alligator >
10:59:11 PM: Dark Star >
11:08:42 PM: Time > (Pink Floyd – this song happened shortly after I told Jason they never cover Pink Floyd songs J )
11:15:11 PM: Breathe Reprise * >
11:18:49 PM: Dark Star > (with a couple of St. Steven & Birdsong – teases)
11:22:52 PM: Morning Dew >
11:34:29 PM: Let it Grow >
11:47:51 PM: Midnight Hour >
Going Down The Road Feeling Bad >
12:03:59 PM: And We Bid You Goodnight (The harmonies were spectacular)

At this point we left give the encore wasn’t strong enough

11:13:34 PM: E: Samson and Delilah

Snowmobiling Vail Pass

Snowmobiling on Vail Pass is quite the adventure. Especially when you go with Gary and some of his friends who are much more skilled at riding than I am. And after 14"+ of fresh powder during the past two days. Since moving to CO, I've been on a sled twice. The last time on Rabbit Ears Pass (near Steamboat) about four to five years ago. The type of riding we did was not your typical trail riding while sitting down. Nope we took off through the meadows, up steep hills and through the forest all around Vail Pass. I got my sled stuck a few times (Due mostly to my inexperience and lack of confidence on this 500lb machine that took me upwards of 50mph) and was up to my chest in snow trying to dig it out. Throwing around a sled and trying to make it go where you want it to, and not into the deep tree wells, is quite the work out. My back, neck, fingers and arms are all sore the day after from holding on. It was a blast and I can't wait till I can get out again and maybe have a little more confidence in what I'm doing out there.


Check out photos in the slide show above or HERE

Blogging, or lack thereof

So, as you may have noticed, I have not been blogging as much as I used to. With the holidays, a few freelance design projects, busy weekends, wedding planning and my new job, I have been a little tight on time. Well, I finally made myself sit down and update the past month or so. Below you will find four new posts to enjoy, light on the copy side of things, but some great photos to check out. I got a sweet new camera from Melissa's parents for Christmas that I have been trying out. Takes some great photos!

Our wedding planning has been moving along quite well. Still lot's to do, but it feels somewhat under control at this time. You can see our wedding web site HERE. Our Save the dates went out in the mail:


My new job has been very hectic, but is starting to come together with some exciting new packaging design and branding projects.
Example:


Headed out to Vail Pass this weekend to make some turns on a snowmobile. Have not been on one in a while, so should be interesting. Keep an eye out for some photos from that, hopefully sooner than later.

Peace!