Tucker Photos

See photos of Tucker as he grows HERE

More documentation of Tucker growing up.

He was recently neutered, and it did not phase him one bit. All he was upset about was that he did not get breakfast that day. He has fully recovered and is now back to playing with other dogs and having fun at the dog park.

We went to the REI garage Sale on Saturday and they have some bronze life size bears out front. As we walked by, Tucker was a bit unsure if they were real or not. The hair on his neck went up and he would not get close to them. Funny stuff. See a video of it HERE



See photos of Tucker as he grows HERE

Spent Grain Dog Treats

We brewed last Sunday and Melissa made Spent Grain Dog Treats for Tucker. He loves them!!

6 Cups Spent Grains
6 Cups Four
1.5 Cups Peanut Butter
3 Eggs
3 Bananas

Memorial Day Camping - Durango, CO

Enjoy photos from our trip HERE


We extended the Memorial Day long weekend by taking Friday off and decided to drive the 400 miles to the Durango, CO area to enjoy a weekend of camping, fishing, sightseeing, eating and brewery visiting. Our friends the Haugh's came along with us (Ryan, Annette and Yama) and we reserved an amazing site at the Haviland Lake Campground, just North of Durango.

Departure time was an early 4 a.m. Friday morning. On the way there we headed West on I-70 towards Grand Junction (it was snowing at the top of Vail Pass and they still had a ton of snow ont he ground. Copper Mountain could have still been open for skiing!), then South on 550 through Montrose, Ridgway, Ouray and Silverton. In Ridgeway, we stopped for a dip in the Orvis Hot Springs, natural springs that range in temperature from 98-112 degrees. Next stop was the small historic mining town of Ouray, CO. We walked the streets with the dogs and had a killer lunch at the Ouray Brewery. The Ourayle House, aka Mr. Grumpy Pants Brewery, was unfortunately closed, but their original signs entertained us anyways.


From Ouray, we headed South over Red Mountain Pass via the "Million Dollar Highway" that winds precariously through the rugged San Juan mountain peaks. The sleepy town of Silverton was the next stop and I was keeping my fingers crossed that the brewery was open. The last time I was in town, a couple winters ago with Erich and Tom to ski Silverton Mountain, the brewery was closed. This time, it was closed as well. Some guys were up on scaffolding on the facade of the building painting and said that it should be re-opened after renovations next week. D'oh! Oh well, guess I'll have to hit up this part of CO again. We grabbed coffee at a quaint shop on Main, and then continued South to our campsite.



The area around Haviland Lake Campground is beautiful with views of the Hermosa Cliffs and we got a perfect spot right by the lake and far away from all the other sites. During the weekend, we enjoyed cooking meals, hiking and fishing a bit, reading, playing washer toss and letting the dogs play with each other (that is when Yama would allow it). We traveled into town a couple times and visited four local breweries; Steamworks, Ska, Durango and Carver. We also watched the 40th Iron Horse Bicycle Classic where road bikes race a circuit through downtown while Mtn. Bikers race a course through the nearby hills then end up in town where they ride through the Steamworks Brewery! And on Saturday road bikes raced the train from Durango to Silverton (47 miles, 5700 ft. elevation gain). The winner beat the train by about 30 min!



On Monday, we packed up and traveled South, then West back home. We stopped in Pagosa Springs and had a pint at the Pagosa Brewing Co., then enjoyed a great dinner at Eddyline Brewery in Buena Vista, CO (great pizza and beer!!) We arrived back home, tired and dirty, but overall relaxed from the awesome weekend at about 10 pm. We covered 845 miles from door to door.



Enjoy photos from our trip HERE
or see the slideshow below:

Tucker Smith

Welcome to the family Tucker!!

• Named after Tuckerman Ravine on Mt. Washington in N.H.
  
• 2 months old (DOB ~ 12/23/10)
• Mountain Dog mix (we think Swiss Mountain Dog - shorter hair, but will still be big)
• We got him from the Colorado Puppy Rescue on Saturday. He was found with an abandoned litter in a culvert in New Mexico.

He is very calm and already going to the bathroom outside the majority of the time. Only a few #1 incidents inside so far and he recognizes when we say it's wrong. We are looking forward to taking him hiking and camping with us this summer!

Honeymoon - Costa Rica Style

Pura Vida!

Costa Ricans, or Ticos as they call themselves, use this term to describe their lifestyle. It translates to Pure Life. We spent 12 days in Costa Rica for our honeymoon and enjoyed the Pure Life as much as we could.

It was an amazing trip with adventure and relaxation all wrapped into one. We saw quite a bit of the country from the dirty capital city of San Jose, to the pristine rainforest on the banks of the Pacuare River, the cool cloudforests of Monteverde to the amazing palm lined beaches of Manuel Antonio, and the volcanic hillsides in La Fortuna to the hippie/surf town of Jaco.

Our approximate route, counter clockwise from San Jose.
(Dashed line is airplane on last day)

Destination360 Costa Rica Map

Our adventures took us in a raft through class 4 rapids, hiking through rainforest trails, zipping across valleys on a thin wire, soaking in volcanic hot springs, rappelling down 150' waterfalls, drinking natural farmers coffee with a third generation fair trade coffee farmer, sunbathing and swimming at Costa Rica's #1 rated beach, and seeing a plethora of animals indigenous to the country on a nature tour ... just to name a few!

We also took a few photos to document our trip and help us remember it for a lifetime. We'd like to share these photos with you. So sit back and enjoy Costa Rica from our point of view. There are about 1,000 photos (sorted down from more than 1,500!) broken into four sections, so take your time, swing back by and view them when you can. If you have any questions about what you see, or how to enjoy Costa Rica if you interested in visiting, please drop us a line or shoot us an email and we'd be happy to share all the info we have with you. You'll have the time of your life if you get the opportunity to visit this country.

Pura Vida!!


Photos can be viewed at the following links:

Costa Rica Part I

Costa Rica Part II

Costa Rica Part III

Costa Rica Part IV


Slideshows of photos can be seen below,
or in full screen at the links above.

Costa Rica Part II


Costa Rica Part II


Costa Rica Part III

Costa Rica Part IV

We shot a few random short videos during the trip.
You can view them here:

Wedding Photos Gallery Open!

All of our wedding photos have been posted!

Along with the three blog postings by Melissa Beck, our photographer, there is now a place where you can see all the photos taken on that special day.


First off, thanks to everyone for your kind comments on the blog postings. Through the "Share the Love" contest that Melissa Beck had for us on her blog, we got a free leather bound coffee table album. Not only did we hit the top tier of 60 comments to get the free album, we got a total of 78 comments about her awesome photos.

You can view the blog posts at the following links:
Post #1
Post #2
Post #3

All of the photos from the wedding day are split up into seven galleries and can be viewed here:
http://melissabeckphotography.smugmug.com/Weddings/Melissa-and-Jason
Password:
18Sept2010

Do you want some of these images for yourself?
You may purchase any of the images you see in these galleries. Plus, through November 13th, you can get 20% OFF your order by entering the 18Sept2010 promo code at checkout!

There are quite a few images in these galleries, so take your time and enjoy them when you can.

Thanks to Melissa Beck for your talents, capturing our day and making us feel so comfortable in front of the lens. Also, a big huge thanks again to everyone who made our wedding weekend so spectacular. It would not have been as fun as it was without all of you!


If you, or anyone you know, are interested in Melissa Beck's photography services (We highly recommend her!), you can find more info about her on her website located here: www.melissabeckphotography.com

Indian Brown Ale

Our first all grain brew at the new house! We decided to take a clone recipe of the Dogfish Head Indian Brown Ale and add some spices to it and create a Winter Warmer that will be great to drink between Thanksgiving and Christmas. The morning started off on the wrong foot when the new burner would not fire up. That extended our time about an hour or so, but we finally got it lit and it worked like a charm for the rest of the brew.

OG= 1.075
FG= 1.010
ABV = 6.9%

Ingredients:
10.75 lbs Pilsner malt
15.2 oz flaked maize
10.9 oz amber malt
10.8 oz crystal malt
6.5 oz coffee malt
2.2 oz roasted barley
6 oz brown sugar
0.72 oz Warrior hops
1.2 oz Golding hops
1.33 oz Liberty hops
0.25 oz Golding hops (dry hop)
0.25 oz Liberty hops (dry hop)
British Ale yeast

We had another snafu after our mash, sparge and boil. As we attempted to work the hot wort through the counter flow chiller to cool it down and make a hospitable environment for the yeast, the height of the boil kettle was too low and the pressure of the wort was not enough to get all the way through the counter flow chiller. We could have raised the level of the boil kettle, but that is easier said than done with a boiling hot keg full of boling wort! So, I had to run to the store to grab a few bags of ice. We got the temp down using the ice and cold water running through a cooler, although at a much slower pace thus adding on about another hour or so to the brew time. Then pitched the yeast. It is now happily bubbling away in the spare room downstairs, just waiting for us to keg it and enjoy in a few weeks!!