Gobble Gobble!

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☺

Maps are useless in Denver

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.

Fantastic!

That's it. You can get on with your life now. <><

GO GO GO!

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.

What a month:)

Will this month never end? As much as it seems that November will never get here, it also seems that October never happened. I guess that's what I get for never being home.

I read "The Secret Garden" flying between OH and CO. I loved this paragraph from the Ben Weatherstaff chapter. I get what she's writing about. It's that brief, fleeting moment of perfection, of feeling that things are right in the world, of happiness without distraction.

Here's to those moments. Enjoy.

"One of the strange things about living in the world, is that it is only now and then one is quite sure one is going to live for ever and ever and ever. One knows it sometimes when one gets up at the tender solemn dawn-time and goes out and stands alone and throws one’s head far back and looks up and up and watches the pale sky slowly changing and flushing and marvelous unknown things happening until the East almost makes one cry out and one’s heart stands still at the strange unchanging majesty of the rising of the sun - which has been happening every morning for thousands and thousands and thousands of years. One knows it then for a moment or so. And one knows it sometimes when one stands by oneself in a wood at sunset and the mysterious deep gold stillness slanting through and under the branches seems to be saying slowly again and again something one cannot quite hear, however much one tries. Then sometimes the immense quiet of the dark-blue at night with millions of stars waiting and watching makes one sure; and sometimes a sound of far-off music makes it true; and sometimes a look in someone’s eye."

-Francis Hodgson Burnett
“The Secret Garden”

Dorothy had it right

There's no place like home.

Got back to my apartment last night around 10:30. It felt wonderful! Granted, I don't have much time to enjoy it and I'm avoiding my suitcase, but it feels good to walk on my carpet, sleep on my bed...

As much as I wanted to get out of Modesto, I'm kinda bummed to have left. Got alot of things accomplished and organized and set up, but I don't know who's coming in behind me and if they'll find things or if they'll keep things organized or just be messsy. I'll probably meet up with the labs in Yuma, AZ though if not sooner. I'll give them a one, two if they've dirtied my trailer!! ;P

But...I have a soccer game in an hour and I really should brush my teeth. Guess I have to delve into the suitcase.

<><

The sun will come out tomorrow...

...it always does. I'm working days again, but the days last 15+hours. But it's been good getting the chaos under control and getting the labs set up. I don't know if I've written about this before, but the area of the plant is lovely. Green fields set up against the mountains. Lovely.

I heard on the news the other day about a Romaine lettuce recall. Apparently their irrigation showed some E. coli. Granted, it wasn't O157, but I guess they're just being extra cautious. It was cool because I thought it could've been some water that I tested. I'm not just looking at spinach. I'm testing all sorts of lettuce, field samples and water samples. It's neat to be contributing to society in a visible way. I know that testing beef is a good thing, it saves people, but it's not like I'm a nurse or teacher. It's a behind the scenes type thing (which is fine), but it's hard to remember sometimes that what we're doing makes a difference, which sometimes makes it hard to do the job. So I know what has happened is horrible, but it's good to know that we do make a differnce. We're contributing.

I don't know if that makes sense. It's late and I should be taking advantage of the time to sleep! It's just that we've (boss-man and I) been talking alot about the food industry, our place in it, our contributions, etc.

But, the sun WILL come out tomorrow (or this morning) and I should grab some shut-eye.
<><

Modesto-->Gilroy-->Sand City-->and back

So I'm getting moved back to days which is great. One of my co-workers came out for the weekend so I didn't have to work as long this weekend. Late nights for training, but not full nights of work:) Another fella is flying in tonight for nights, so I'll be up later tomorrow training...but I could probably sleep in the truck on the way to Gilroy to pick up samples. Which is what I did today!

Hans and I got a later start Sunday, so I was able to get a decent amount of sleep. The picture is of me at "work". Pretty, ay? The scenery I mean. The plant is actually about 30-45 mins away, so we just headed to the beach for some quick R&R. It was nice. Very picturesque.

I have practically no voice. It didn't help that Hans and I played 20 questions and 6 degrees on the drive back to Modesto (about 2hrs). Then they made me order the pizza! I'm surprised the pizza guy was able to understand me.

So today was fun. But it's late and I have the opportunity to get some good sleep on tonight so I'm going to grab it!

Dream of beautiful places.
<><

My Sleep Number

9. My sleep number is 9. Not 8, not 10, but 9. 9 hours is the perfect amount of time needed for sleep. And thankfully, I got that yesterday! Feels great.

Other things I've learned in the past 20 odd hours: I.T.s tend to be named Alex. California smells good. If I want it, this new lab is mine. Snails are cool. But where do the snails go during the day? I have a week to find the answer to this one.

I can't eat salad anymore. I got one with a sandwich yesterday and I could barely look at it. Especially the spinach:) I ended up eating the veggies and tossing the greens.

Hmmm...nothing exciting goin on I guess. I spilt my smoothie in the rental. That was...something.

Sweet Dreams!

Day ??

I got called into the principal's office today. And by principal, I mean owner of JL. And, I got ratted out by the lab director.

I had just finished trashing the samples when teh lab director came out and asked where the samples were. "The trash", I reply. He shakes his head and goes tattle to the owner. Myself and the girl who helped me got called in over the lab intercom. I couldn't believe it! I was standing right near the office doors! They told me what I already knew about there being "critters" in the media. I told them that yesterday, I was told to just throw everything in the dumpster. More headshaking and lecturing.

Dumpster diving ensued.

It's been a LONG day and I can't sleep even though I'm tired.

One cool thing: the LD and another gentleman, Lucio, were the ones leaning into the dumpster. Lucio did NOT want to. I kept saying to "let me", "I didn't mind", "it was my fault", etc...but Lucio waved me away and said "No, you are a lady. I won't have it." He's Italian. :) I thought it was nice. He's been one of the few nice people. Alot of folks didn't like the IEH takeover and it probably doesn't help that Hans and I have commandeered parts of the lab and get priority. Whatever.

Since I couldn't sleep and I needed actual food I went to have an early dinner at Mimi's Cafe. Yum! Nice atmosphere too. It's kind of gawdy-cajun-bistro with 40s/50s jazz. Amazing muffins and bread with the meal. I had cajun spiced chicken with fresh fruit and salad (no spinach). Highly recommend it!

I'm getting sick, I'm already tired, and I don't like eating out so much. But overall, I'm having a great time. It's been extremely challenging and it's been great being at the beginning.

I'll try to type more about California later. Strange place this land of...

Day Two ?

I'm not sure if I'd consider this Day Two of just a long extension of Day One. I got off work around 11:30 this morning. For you math inept out there, and for those keeping up with the blog, that's 28 1/2 hours of work. Straight. In a row. No break. No naps. I was working on my 11th wind around 9am:)

Thankfully, I stayed extremely busy. No E. coli! Some suspicious activity going on, but no E. coli. I'm testing more than spinach too. We're testing all sorts of greenery. Makes me hungry.

Apparently the JL lab in Modesto is in a crime-ridden area. A few people were shot right outside the lab and they keep finding bums in their dumpster! So the FBI has commandeered one of the mobile units parked in the parking lot to keep an eye on things. I thought people were joking about getting me a shotgun and flak jacket! I told them I prefer throwing things though and that ninja stars would be more acceptable. We'll have to wait and see if they come through on that.

Boss-man said he'd call when he was ready for me to come in tonight. He called me at 2. I'd been asleep for two hours. Sucky part is, he didn't need me to come in! He just wanted to call and ask me to bring a box of stuff from one lab to the other! "Go back to sleep" he says. THE NERVE! He called at 3:30 to have me come in. Fine, whatever, but why couldn't he ask about the box at 3:30 instead of waking me up! It gets better. I'm on the road to JL and he calls to tell me "Go back to bed". Super-boss-man was having somebody else bring media and supplies to Hans. THE NERVE! I'm awake and "functioning" and he tells me to go back to sleep. Not possible. So I went for breakfast at Taco Bell and am now camped out at the hotel waiting for the call to come in. Good stuff!

I am having a good time though. If I had more energy I'd probably explore the downtown area a bit. Maybe later this week. I think the library is only a block or two away!

Get Your Sleep On <><

Day One

Day One

The moment I’d been waiting for was merely minutes away when we (my boss, Hans, and I) pulled up to the Modesto lab (JL) this morning. I was going to see the big rig. The mobile unit. The lab with wheels.

The best way to describe it would be to call it a UPS truck minus the UPS-ness. Nothing special to the untrained eye. Nothing special to the trained eye! It’s just an amaizing thing though. It’s a mostly functioning lab! (In a few days/weeks it’ll hopefully be a FULLY functioning lab.) We can start the tests, but we need to be at JL to finish the testing.

This plant is different from the one I work for. Obviously. Meat vs. greens. It still smells, but it’s not a gut-wrenching, puking smell. There’s a different vibe here too. I don’t feel awkward or threatened walking around here compared to the plant in Greeley. The plant is near Gilroy and Salinas (2hours from Modesto) and it’s surrounded by the mountains. They aren’t the grand, purple majesty type, but they’re nice. It’s cool to see the mountains with the lettuce fields at the foothills.

It’s going to be a long night. I got up a little before 7am, it’s 7pm right now, and I’m supposed to work through the night running samples. Yes, I get to sleep during the day tomorrow, but I have to get through tonight first! Ce la vie. I asked for more, so I’m getting more. I was also told/asked today to stay for two weeks instead of the one. Imagine how tired I’m going to be in a few weeks: Two weeks of working in California, get back on a Saturday night, run home, work a day, do laundry, repack, head back to DIA Monday morning, fly to Ohio, work on my Grandma’s kitchen for a week, fly home, work a long week, head back to DIA again to pick up a friend who is coming to visit (yippee!!!), give a band concert, go hiking, etc with friend, drop friend off at DIA, work a few more days, get the weekend off. Phew! I got tired just typing it!

So cry, cry, cry. Everybody feel sorry for Colleen! She gets to travel and work and do what fun stuff! Boo-hoo. I know. Suck it up. ☺

I’ll let ya’ll know how the night and next day go. Happy eating.

From Carnivore-land to Herbivore-ville

I'm going to Californ-i-a Sunday night to help bring spinach back to the masses. Yes my friends and strangers, I am a bonafide microbiologist and ONLY I contain the needed skills to make sure the spinach is clean. Well, I suppose there are others who could handle it, but I'm the one who gets to go, so pbblt?

My boss has been out there for a week already and has built a mobile lab. That's right, it moves. We were on the phone and he had to pull over to transfer samples. How insane is that?!? So I'm pretty stoked to check out the setup and to NOT be working around meat. Boss-man says it smells, but of salad, not rendering blood, fat, dead cows, or other things associated with a slaughter house. :)

I'll probably drop a line or two while I'm out there to let you, my captive audience, know how things are going. So in the meantime, eat arugula, redleaf and romaine. And have hope, spinach will be back soon. (Sorry kids.)

Ah, the home buying experience. Could it be any worse? I'm sure it could, but seriously! Oy.

I've been going back and forth wanting to buy, but I didn't think finances would allow for a home. But now...with my WWF neighbors who have installed a bowling alley (I'm just guessing), I think it's time.

So now I have to decide house or townhome or condo? New, semi-used, or rundown? HOAs or fix my own roof? Dog or cat? Well, that one's easy. Dog. One question down, dozens to go!

Finances is a whole other issue! If I don't have a downpayment, do I get an additional loan that increases the mortgage or go with the mortgage insurance option which also ups my mortgage payment? Should I marry the bum on my corner, make him get a job, and have a second income contributing to the mortgage? Or just get a roomate? Ay de mi.

So if you'd like to contribute to the "Colleen Wants a Home Fund" leave a comment, give a call. I'll let you know where to send the cash, money-order, bonds...

Have faith my rent-compelled friends. Happy Trails my homeowner friends.

;)

OK Go

I love this video. Don't know much about the band yet, but this video is pretty awesome.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pv5zWaTEVkI&eurl=

Strike up the Band!

The Loveland Community Band had their first concert of the season last night. It was my first concert in THREE years!

Due to my hiatus of playing the clarinet, I'm hurting. I've been playing intermittently, but not enough to keep me in shape for two to three hour rehearsals and then what felt like a marathon of a concert. All the aches and pains were worth it though! It feels great to be back in a band:)

Normally, our concerts would be on Sundays, but this was a memorial concert for 9/11 Five Years Later. We played some great pieces and there was a slide show along with the music. Very moving.

God Bless America

mmm...Colorado...

This happy, Labor Day weekend is the "Taste of Colorado" located in Denver. Different restaurants from the area set up booths and "sell" either tastes or whole pieces of their specialties. Good food, crazy crowd! So MANY people. I wasn't expecting that:) I met up with some friends while down there and had a great afternoon.

I had Grilled Mahi with Shrimp and then a Berry Kabob for dessert. Yum! The strawberries of the kabob were amazing! I couldn't stop smiling. The skewers from the kabobs also came in handy as Hans started a sword fight with me. Finally! I was able to use my fencing skills:)

The Rapids are Calling to Me

My sis and I hit the mighty white-water rapids of the Arkansas River last weekend! It was the most super-fantatastic time I've ever had rafting. It had stormed the night before which meant that the river was running higher and faster than it usually would for that time of year. But I still couldn't believe our luck when we got to the rafting place (American Adventure) and the guides were going crazy! Apparently, it had rained so much that the river was running like it does in the early Spring with the snow melt! 24 hours before we got on the river it was running at 785 cfs. It was running at 2100 when we set off.

There were four people plus a guide on our raft. The guides were so concerned about getting flipped that they tossed an EXTRA guide onto our raft. It was insane!! I almost got tossed a few times and I think we almost lost my sister! We did this move called "surfing" a few times on the bottom half of some rapids. It was awesome. It's this move where we fill the front part of the raft and the back half raises out of the water. Then we did it again filling the side of the raft. Both the front and side that were filled were my side! It felt like I was being sucked in to the water. I was freaking, but I loved it:)

This particualr section of the river usually takes 2 1/2 hours to run at this time of year. It took us just over an hour with some play time. That's how fast the river was running. We worked practically the whole time:)

So the river was beautiful, the landscape was beautiful (Colorado has been very green this year), and going under the Royal Gorge Bridge was great. Now I've been on it and I've been under it.

Live it and Love it!

An Impromptu Expedition

I decided to go camping about 10:30 yesterday morning. So I threw some things into a backpack, threw my kayak onto the car, and hit the road. Carter Lake in Loveland was the destination, but would there be open campsites? YES! Plenty of open sites. I only had one set of neighbors and I was close to the lake.

I pitched my tent and hit the lake. I was a bit nervous seeing as how I'm used to the ponds in Greeley, but it was a beautiful day and there weren't many people on the lake. It was overcast majority of the time and when I got back to camp and wind storm kicked in. I was literally chasing my tent around the site, trying to secure it down. I ended up putting rocks in the tent to keep it down! I was worried during the night that the wind would hit the tent just right and the rocks would be thrown at my head, but the wind did no such thing.

Next morning I woke up and hit the lake again. It was wonderful. Besides a fisherman, I was the only one on the water. It was still windy and it even started to rain.

Great "weekend", very peaceful.

FINALLY!!

The BHAGs have finally done it! We clinched first place today. I've been with this team for a year and we've always juuust missed 1st. No More! We did it. Alright, I'm done. I'll find somewhere else to gloat:)

From Estes to Pikes Peak

Greetings!

This past weekend was FANTASTIC! Family from NY came out to visit my family in the Springs, so I joined the festivities. Our first stop was Rocky Mountain National Park in Estes Park. We drove Trail Ridge road and saw some amazing elk. The view from the top was outstanding. I can't believe I haven't been up there before! Everything was so green, the sky was so blue, and the clouds were perfect. We couldn't have asked for anything better. This picture with my cousin Mark was taken at the highest point in the park. Picturesqe. Beautiful. Perfect.

Sunday we took the cog rail up to Pikes Peak. Thankfully we took the first car first thing in the morning. It was a toasty day! On the ride up we saw elk, marmots, deer, and lots of sleepy people:) Again, a beautiful ride. It was a whopping 48 degrees at the top! Chilly, but nice. Great doughnuts too! I guess the view was good as well. The scenery pic is from the top of the peak. Pretty decent:)

That night we visited the Flying W Wrangler's Ranch. Great, sentimental place. The cowboys have changed, but the entertainment and food are still enjoyable.

This weekend definitely explained what a Rocky Mountain high is:)