I went to the Warren Miller film this year and received a free ski pass to Copper for my time! I REALLY don't like getting up at 4 in the morning to go boarding, so I got a motel for Sunday evening (after work) up in Frisco. It's only about 10mins from Copper Mountain, so it was perfect!
It was a beautiful day. A bit windy, but nice. Not many people either! I'd be going down a slope and be the only one there. Less embarrassing that way:) I'm still not very good at it (boarding that is). Yet, I'm not as sore as I used to get. No concussions!
There are certain things I enjoy about snowboarding, but there are also things I really don't like. For instance, I don't like the speed. Drop me out of a plane, put me in a racecar, but speeding down a mountain is just too much! Granted, I've never been dropped out of a plane or been in a racecar so I don't know the pain involved with mishaps, but I DO know the pain involved with boarding mishaps. And the pain is greater at higher speeds. Give me an easy-going, lazy ride any day. My body appreciates it too!
Yea, this is a great picture of my car roof and other people's cars, but that's me in the middle:)
I love Thanksgiving. Families get together, the crazy Christmas rush isn’t going yet, and great food. I was especially happy because I got off from work early on Tuesday morning! I technically had Thursday off, so I used my 8hour holiday time on Tuesday and just worked my 4 extra hours that morning. It was a very nice morning☺ Both the night guy and my day guy were in good spirits and did I mention only having to work four hours?!
The weather was awesome for my drive down to Colorado Springs. No traffic, Denver construction is nearly completed, and I was in no rush. For once. I don’t actually remember if I did anything Tuesday in the Springs though. I know I chatted with my uncle for some time. I think we all just hung around and had a nice dinner with my grandma that night. Wednesday was still, more relaxing and that night my uncle, aunt, and I went to the Air Force Academy vs. Radford basketball game. You wouldn’t believe these seats! We were behind the players’ bench, second row. These are the seats that are cushioned and fold down. Ooh lala! My uncle has connections up the wazoo. This connection happened to be a good-friend that works at the Academy and knows all the ball players, so he’s able to get free tickets. It was fun sitting by the parents of the players! Good game too. Forgot that I actually like to watch basketball!
Thanksgiving dinner was to be had at my cousin’s house in Parker, so we took it easy Thursday morning. Some friends from California had been skiing the past few days at Breckenridge so we made plans to get together that afternoon. They were going to come to my cousins, but it was too much so we met half way. Which means I did not get a typical Thanksgiving dinner. Instead, I had a steak and some scallops (seafood, not potatoes). It was so blazing good! Even the baked potato was amazing. For dessert the waiter brought out a pumpkin cheesecake. I have never had real cheesecake before. I am HOOKED! Granted, the pumpkin part made it look like baby vomit, but it was delish. Chris, Tommy and I then hit a movie (“The Departed”), which was also good.
And that was my Thanksgiving. Hooray for good family and friends☺
My brother is totally kick-ass and flew into Denver Thursday morning for a concert. A CONCERT!! But the concert was later in the day. It'd be best to tell the story from the beginning.
Let's start at the airport. Good ol' DIA. I met Shawn inside the airport and on the walk back to my car he asked "What, are we walking to Greeley?" Not particularly interesting, except that two weeks earlier I was picking a friend up at the airport and he asked the EXACT SAME THING! So we're off to a good start:) I've never had to head towards Denver from the airport before so I missed the exit to head South on 25. I turned the car around and nearly missed the exit again! But my "big-city" driving skills kicked in and I cut a few cars off to make the exit.
REI was our first stop of the day. It's apparently the flagship shop and it was huge and cool. An outdoor enthusiasts Mecca. We hung there awhile; looking around, watching the rock climbers, warming up. Shawn packed warm weather clothes and considering he was leaving in the morning, it wasn't enough to layer up to keep warm. So we headed to the 16th St. Mall to eat and find a jacket for woosey-boy Shawn. But first I drove down a road that cars weren't allowed on. Only the shuttle buses were allowed. I almost hit a lady standing in the middle of the road. Apparently b/c I'm a car and not a shuttle she's invincible. ?? After driving down and down and down in the garage we find a spot. Shawn didn't think I would be able to get my car in, but my mad skills kick in and I fit with room to spare. My brother has little faith in me. This scenario repeated itself a few times that day.
Alright, so we lunch (cool place), we buy a jacket, we meander, we get cold, we grab the shuttle back, we hit an awesome book store, we get the car, we head the wrong way to leave the garage (thanks Shawn), we get out of the garage, we (I) get confused trying to get out of Denver. The LODO area is entirely made up of one way streets. Then the streets diverge into other streets and the road I want all of a sudden doesn't exist anymore! This scenario also repeats itself. Alot. There was much high pitched verbal frustration. But I digress.
Thornton was our next stop for frisbee golf. 18 holes. Nice sized park. Somewhat ghetto. Every time I went into the trees for my disc, I wasn't sure if I was going to come out! I thought I'd get stabbed or shot or just fall into a hole. Awesome. Shawn wanted an Adventure and I did my best to give him one. Afterall, it's not an Adventure until someone almost dies! While golfing we did a geocache, which Shawn has no patience for. It was fun finding it, but it's almost ridiculous to geocache in the fall with all the extra camoflage.
The aforementioned concert doesn't start till 10:30 and it's 5:00 when head to the car. Hmmm...we drive the long way through Thornton back into Denver and try to find the Cherry Creek shopping center. It's a high-end place that's suppossed to be really cool. It wasn't. It took forever to get there. My directions to get there start at REI so we drive there and try to find the right roads. I think we drove by REI four times before finding the road. More high-pitched verbal frustration. And b/c of stupid Denver roads we inadvertently end up back at REI after the shopping center!
We aren't hungry but we know we need to eat a little something so we decide to stay near the concert area (LODO) and just grab an appetizer. Have I mentioned how much I hate Denver roads. And Denver in general now?! We can't find a place to park, we keep getting on the splitting roads, and guess where we end up? That's right! REI!!! I'm flipping out, Shawn is laughing, and I'm just plain fed up. I park and we go into REI (again) and eat at Starbucks. Awesome.
Here comes the best part. This blog is REALLY long, so take a break now so you aren't distracted by a bulging bladder and miss out.
Jamie Lidell came to Denver. We both really like him, but now, I think we both love him. This was the best show I've been to, and I've been to some dooseys. The opener was named Snax and had a white mans afro. He was super thin and wore sparkly shirts. He was hilarious. The music wasn't great, but he got the audience hyped. Just so stinking funny! Then we wait forever. Totally worth it! We were pretty close to the front and the venue was definitely "intimate". Jamie was amazing. He was mixing on stage, dancing around, came into the crowd...It doesn't sound like much, but he was just amazing! He had such great energy the entire time and the audience had great energy and...yeah. I'm still grinning ear to ear. Shawn's actually at his concert in Minneapolis as I'm writing this. His wife is with him, so I'm glad she'll get to experience the Snax/Lidell.
Our story ends where it started. At the airport. Adventure-boy Shawn crashes on some benches at the airport and I get home about 2:30am. Up for work at 6am. Work till 7pm.
What DIDN'T I do this weekend may be a shorter and easier answer:)
After getting off work Sunday, Andy and I tried geocaching. We didn't find either of the two but it was a hoot running around a park with flashlights while trying to not draw attention to ourselves. Monday was a fun-filled day.
We headed out to Lory State Park in Fort Collins and hiked to Arthur's Rock (see pic). It was an insanely windy day, but oddly, it wasn't windy on the rock! I thought we would have to turn back because it'd be too windy and dangerous, but it was worse at the parking lot. So it was a beautiful hike up, nice views from the summit. While up there I wanted to geocache. The description at geocaching.com said it was for experienced and hardcore cachers only. Well, I really like looking for caches (hardcore?) and I've been doing it for some time now (experienced?) so I figured I could handle it. Bouldering wasn't the only type of climbing involved. There were a few spots where I had to look for hand and foot holds and try to actually climb the face! All the while that I'm looking for the cache I keep thinking "This is stupid!" "I'm going to kill myself" "I'm going to fall down one of these cliffs!" But the Fagan in me persevered and I found it!! By this time I realized that Andy was probably getting worried (he opted to stay at the bottom) and that he might start climbing to try and find me, so I headed to the top of a rock and start calling out to try and get back into contact. He had only just started climbing so we decided to find our own paths and meet at the bottom of the summit. On the hike back down I picked up a plastic bag that had been left so I could throw it away. Turns out, there's poop in it. Somebody brought along a bag for their dog and then left the bag. Make sense? No. I'm hoping it fell out of their bag. So now, I'm in posession of this bag and I don't want to just leave it, so I dumped the poop out (thought it was mud and snow initially) and carried it at arms length. Remeber how I wrote that it was windier at the bottom? The wind caught the bag and started blowing it at me and in my attempt to avoid the bag I started sliding down a cliff! The edge of the trail was super soft and loose so everytime I tried to bring my extended leg up, I slid further down. Andy stopped laughing at this time and came back to help, but I was able to pull myself up. Much laughter ensued and the plastic bag was left on the mountain.
Our next stop of the day was New Belgium Brewing. They are a microbrewery in Fort Collins. It was a riot. Our guide was a selfproclaimed hippie and the place is run by hippies. It was a great tour. Andy called it "the alcoholics Willie Wonka". It looked like a really fun place to work. They have a climbing wall inside and have a holiday for the patron saint of beer! And yes, there is one. Saint Arnold is the patron saint of beer.
A few of my friends joined us that night for the CornMaize and Haunted House. It wasn't scary. I jumped a few times, but I was never scared. It was a fun night, but I wanted to pee my pants. Sadly, I came home dry. (Is that gross?)
Tuesday found us in Denver at the zoo and Nature/Science museum. Both places were fun. The monkeys at the zoo entertained us for awhile. Monkeys and potatoe sacks. What a combo! We also visited some friends in Parker. Another great day.
