My, time is flying. September has come and gone, and now it’s only one more week until I depart for my Indian Ocean adventure. I expect I’ll try to blog a bit more while traveling, especially while I’m on Diego Garcia (though photos might be sparse because of the slow internet connection). Here’s a very brief recap of some of what I’ve been up to the last five weeks.
Air Force Academy
Back in late August I took a day trip down to Colorado Springs to visit my friend Josh from high school, and his brother Justin. Josh gave me a tour of the U.S. Air Force Academy campus, which was pretty neat, especially since Josh is an AFA alum. The AFA Chapel was the highlight, as it’s such an iconic building. A very beautiful one inside, too. After dinner I played some Catan with Josh, Justin, and one of their friends. I’m glad I made it down there when I did, because now Josh and his wife Erika are moving back to Minnesota.
Camping Trip and Hot Springs
Eager to use my pricey new tent at least once this year, I organized a camping trip up near Steamboat Springs on Labor Day weekend with a few friends. I wanted to get away from the Front Range, so that’s part of why I chose the Steamboat area. With it being the Sunday of Labor Day weekend, I was kind of nervous about finding a campsite since we didn’t have reservations anywhere. But lo and behold, we found a great spot at the first campground we visited, at Dumont Lake (9520 feet) right below Rabbit Ears Mountain — I’d argue it was even the best spot in the whole place.
After setting up our tents we drove up to Steamboat Springs to enjoy the Strawberry Park Hot Springs under the stars. We saw quite a few meteors, which was sweet. I’d been to those hot springs once before, last summer with Alex, but it’s a totally different experience at night. It’s a neat place, and the hot springs felt great on what would become a very frosty night.
It didn’t work out to camp any more the rest of this year, but I definitely plan to camp more often next year.
Hotdish Party
Yah sure, you betcha, I hosted a Minnesota hotdish party at my house a couple weeks ago! I encouraged people to wear flannel, rented the movie “A Prairie Home Companion,” and bought a copy of the book “How to Talk Minnesotan” to give away to the winner of “best hotdish.” There were a couple au gratin hotdishes, a couple tater tot hotdishes, a chicken alfredo hotdish, my beef & wild rice hotdish, a pumpkin bake, a [jello] salad, fruit salad, and a rice & beans salad. The party was a success, people loved it!
My 28th Birthday
For my 28th birthday last week a few friends joined me at C.B. & Potts for dinner. I definitely worked off my 4.1-mile run from that morning, with appetizers of buffalo wings, cheese dip, an entree of a “bacon-bacon-bacon” burger (with hickory smoked bacon, something called “chicken-fried bacon”, and chipotle bacon mayo, I just had to get it!), a free birthday ice cream cupake, and a good amount of tasty microbrew!
Weekend in Ann Arbor
Last weekend I flew to Michigan to go visit Alex. It was a very enjoyable weekend, as it always is hanging out with him. Among other things, Alex got us to the Minnesota-Michigan football game, which was a 58-0 curb-stomping for the Wolverines. Because Penn State wasn’t playing I could just sit back (or stand, since we were in the student section) and enjoy the game. Also because PSU wasn’t playing, I wore a Michigan shirt to the game to fit in. I didn’t want to get assaulted for a second time at Michigan Stadium, haha.
Another highlight of the weekend came when Alex & Anne took me rock climbing. I’d been rock climbing a couple times in the past year or so (once with Alex last year in Colorado, once outdoors this spring in Moab), but I hadn’t successfully made it to the top of a climb. This time I made it to the top of all three climbs I tried! The last two took a lot of perseverance, but I eventually made it to the top. I feel like I accomplished something, and now I’m more likely to try rock climbing again.
Also, every time I hang out with Alex I get motivation to learn how to play guitar. Maybe when I get back from Diego I’ll buy myself a guitar…
It’s going to be a busy week coming up, getting ready for my departure to Singapore and Perth, and a week after that, to Diego Garcia! Looking forward to my overseas adventures!
It’s been almost a month since I’ve blogged, but there’s good reason. August has been a very fun month so far, with friends visiting, more hiking in Rocky Mountain NP, climbing three 14ers, and even attending a concert at Red Rocks! And last weekend I didn’t even do anything.
Halls and the Rockies
At the beginning of the month Ryan & Sarah Hall came through Colorado at the end of their nearly four-week west coast road trip from Chicago. On Sunday the 31st (of July) we went hiking in the Wild Basin area of Rocky Mountain National Park. The trail we took followed North Saint Vrain Creek past Copeland Falls, the Calypso Cascades, and Ouzel Falls. It was nice to hear running water and waterfalls through most of the hike!
And then the following night I joined them at Coors Field for the Phillies-Rockies game. It’s neat when you can see the mountains from your seat! We were one row below the “purple row” in the upper deck (row 20), which is at elevation 5,280 feet. There were a lot of Phillies fans at the game, and I even saw one girl with a green “State Patty’s Day” shirt on (ugh). Phillies fans were making themselves heard, by (of course) lustily booing every time the Rockies catcher went out to the mound to talk to the pitcher. It was an entertaining game too, but unfortunately for the Rockies, a Phillies pinch-hitter tied the game on a home run with two out in the top of the 9th, and then another home run in the 10th won it for the red-hot Phillies, 4-3. Anyway, it was great to see Ryan & Sarah again!
Mount Bierstadt – 14er #1
On Saturday the 6th I checked off an item from my “Colorado bucket list”: I hiked up a 14er! Five of us (me, Amy, Tim, Richard, Richard’s friend Anthony) got up really early in the morning to go hike Mt Bierstadt. Mt Bierstadt is rated as the easiest 14er to climb, but that doesn’t mean it’s an easy hike.
The hike started at Guanella Pass (11,669 feet), a few miles away from Georgetown, CO. The trail dips down about 200 feet to Scott Gomer Creek before rising all the rest of the way to the summit at 14,060 feet. I have to say it’s kind of annoying to start a hike up a 14er by going downhill for awhile — because that means the end of the hike is uphill as well. Anyway, I was trucking along until about 13,000 feet, when the trail became much steeper. I started lagging the rest of the way up to the top, but I made it!
It was pretty chilly up at the summit, about 40-45 degrees and quite windy. But the view from the top of Mt Bierstadt (14,060 feet) was spectacular! Here’s a video from the summit:
Here’s the view looking west (in the very center of the photo are two neighboring peaks, Grays Peak (14,270 feet) and Torreys Peak (14,267 feet)):
And here’s the view looking northeast, toward the nearby Mt Evans (14,264 feet):
My first 14er! It was exhilarating!
Here’s a final look at Mt Bierstadt from the trailhead, at the conclusion of our hike (to the left of Mt Bierstadt is The Sawtooth, the narrow, exposed path over to Mt Evans):
Concert at Red Rocks
Another item on my Colorado bucket list was attending a concert at Red Rocks Amphitheatre just west of Denver. At the beginning of the summer I looked up their concert schedule, and had the 12th of August circled for a concert with The John Butler Trio. Unfortunately I couldn’t convince any friends to join me (concerts are expensive after all), so I wound up going by myself. I wanted to buy a ticket in advance, but Ticketmaster had an outrageous extortion fee — they were charging $55 for a $38.50 ticket. So instead I showed up at the box office on the day of the show, and got one for $40. Denying Ticketmaster their extortion fee is definitely a win.
At any rate, Red Rocks Amphitheatre is an amazing concert venue, sitting between Ship Rock and Creation Rock, with the city of Denver visible a few miles beyond the stage. It was a perfect Colorado evening too, with temps in the upper 70s and a full moon rising. The concert itself was pretty awesome too, and The John Butler Trio played for over two and a half hours! The concert obviously would’ve been more fun with some friends, but I still enjoyed it quite a bit. I left at the start of the final encore song so that I wouldn’t be trapped in the parking lot forever, especially since I had to wake up in a few short hours to go hiking.
Grays & Torreys Peaks (14ers #2 and #3)
After three hours of sleep following the concert at Red Rocks (which included five hours of sitting on a bench without a seat-back), it was time to wake up to go climb two 14ers! This time it was me, Richard, Amy, and three of the Moxness sisters (Adelle, Melanie, and Mikaela), all friends from church.
First off, the road from I-70 up to the Grays Peak trailhead is TERRIBLE. I’d really only advise going up there with a 4WD vehicle. Even so, you can only go about 3 mph because it’s so ridiculously bumpy and unmaintained. Partway up the narrow, steep road we saw a bunch of cars parked along the side, so figured we’d better park too. A guy even said, “Oh yeah, the trailhead’s right here.” So we got out our stuff and started hiking up the steep road. A mile and a half later we finally came to the trailhead. Ugh. I think we might’ve done 800-1000 feet of climb in that 1.5 miles. I’m tellin’ ya, that road was relentlessly steep. And oh yeah, there was still some parking at the lot at the trailhead. So we were already a bit tired by the time we got to the actual start of the trail at 11,280 feet.
A bit over a mile into the hike, at elevation 12,100 feet, here’s a view of Grays Peak (14,270 feet, on the left) and Torreys Peak (14,267 feet, on the right). It looks like Torreys is taller, but it’s not. Grays Peak also happens to be the tallest peak along the Continental Divide, and the tallest in the Front Range.
The hike to the top of Grays and Torryes was noticeably more arduous than the hike up Mt Bierstadt, but it’s still among the easier 14er hikes, apparently. It’s just a longer, steeper hike than Bierstadt. There are also so many switchbacks on the trail to Grays that it often feels like you aren’t making progress. Anyway, I was doing well setting the pace until around 13,000 feet again, when I started lagging a bit at the back of the group, just like on Bierstadt. But after a break I decided to take the lead again, and I didn’t have exhaustion problems the rest of the way up, surprisingly. The mind is pretty powerful, even when it’s oxygen-deprived. And on the way up Grays Peak I even ran into a fellow Penn State Meteorology alum, Beth R.! We Are… everywhere! At last we made it to the top of Grays!
Below is a view from Grays Peak, looking west (toward Keystone Ski Resort, Silverthorne, Lake Dillon):
Below is a view from Grays Peak, looking north. From L to R: Torreys Peak (14,267 feet), Kelso Mountain (13,100-something), and Stevens Gulch. Our trail came up Stevens Gulch, winding around Kelso Mountain before scaling Grays.
Below is a view from Grays Peak, looking east. In the center of the photo are two 14ers, Mt Evans (14,264 feet, on the left), and Mt Bierstadt (14,060 feet, on the right).
Grays Peak was my second 14er, and I was feeling pretty good!
After a lunch break, it was time to head down to the Grays-Torreys saddle (13,700 feet), and then climb straight up Torreys. It was steep, and brutal after having taken a break atop Grays. My body did not like going back uphill at this point, especially such a steep hill, and I struggled making it up Torreys. But I did make it, and that wasn’t ever in question.
Here’s a view from Torreys Peak, southeast toward Mt Evans, Mt Bierstadt, and Grays Peak (notice all the switchbacks on Grays!):
14er number three, and the second of the day!
I ran out of water before I made it to the top of Torreys Peak (I had 3 liters in my Camelbak), leaving me with about 2/3 of a liter of Powerade to ration on the 3.5-hr hike back down. Highlights of the way down: several snowballs suddenly whizzing by my head, mountain goats, wishing my legs weren’t horribly sunburned (I forgot to put sunscreen on them, sigh), and putting on flip-flops when we were finally done.
Approx. 12 miles, approx. 4500 feet elevation gain, approx. 10.5 hours, and two 14ers conquered. We were all exhausted and sore, but felt very accomplished!
Last Tuesday I joined some friends from church for LoDo Bites, an eating and drinking tour of restaurants in lower downtown Denver. There were about 20 different restaurants participating in LoDo Bites, and for a $25 ticket we could get food and/or drink samples from any of those establishments. The weather was perfect too, sunny but not hot or windy.
Here’s a tour of our LoDo Bites experience:
Stop #1: Rio Grande. Free stuff: Tortilla chips, guacamole, salsa, and a marinated shrimp. Mini-margaritas were apparently free too, but when the server asked if we wanted margaritas and a few of us said yes, they gave us full-size margs (which were $2 off at least). We weren’t complaining, as margarita is a good way to start off an evening out on the town.
Stop #3: Vesta. Free stuff: One bite of some tangy salad-like substance in a tiny cup. Not sure what it was, but it tasted good and only took about 2 seconds to eat.
Stop #4: The Tavern Downtown. Free stuff: Hamburger sliders, fried chicken sliders, bbq pork sliders, pizza, samples of frozen drinks including hurricanes. Add in the rooftop deck kitty-corner from Coors Field, and this was my favorite place of the night.
Stop #5: Fadó Irish Pub. Free stuff: 4 oz. Irish beers. I love Irish pubs. I tried a Kilkenny for the first time, and then good ol’ Smithwick’s. Tom & I talked to the Irish bartender for a bit too, and he was pretty cool. He even mentioned that he absolutely hates Pennsylvania, because of speeding tickets and the apparently-monotonous Appalachian landscape along the PA Turnpike. Maybe he meant monotonously beautiful, haha.
Stop #6: Wynkoop Brewing Company. Free stuff: Cake (either shortcake with berries or chocolate cheesecake) and beer (either an IPA or a porter). Fantastic.
Stop #7: McCormick’s Fish House & Bar. Free stuff: Lemon drop martinis. I had two because the others didn’t feel like waiting for them. Their loss. I wanted to get my money’s worth!
Stop #8: Big Game Sports Bar. Free stuff: Cheeseburger sliders, chicken parm sliders, sushi rolls with wasabi, and hurricane shots (or something like it). I was late because of my two martinis, so I had to chow down quickly here, haha. Good stuff.
Stop #9: Backcountry Provisions. Free stuff: Roast beef sandwiches, veggie wraps, and one other type of sandwich. Starting to get full…
Stop #10: Dixon. Free stuff: Aztec chicken and corn chips. It was good, but the main attraction here was one of the horrendously out-of-tune outdoor pianos across the street.
Stop #11: Lime. Free stuff: Margaritas. It sure seemed like Lime was the least enthusiastic participant in LoDo Bites, because it was crowded and there wasn’t a section reserved for LoDo Bites customers, unlike every other place we went. Part of our group went somewhere else by this point though, which was a shame because this was the only place where I got a group photo.
LoDo Bites is definitely a cool event. I had a lot of fun that night in Denver, and I think I got my money’s worth of food and drink!
A couple weeks ago, back on the Thursday the 7th, I got an email from Scott, one of my two best friends. It was an invitation to a super-secret surprise early birthday party he was planning to throw for his wife Katie on Saturday the 16th. The party was to be at a restaurant near where they live in the Twin Cities, and since I live in Colorado now, I know he didn’t expect me to come.
I decided I’d at least take a peek at what airfares were, assuming it’d be prohibitively expensive just one week in advance. The first place I checked was Southwest.com, and I was shocked to find “Wanna Get Away?” internet-only fares for $159 round-trip. $159! Just eight days in advance! I couldn’t believe it. And because Southwest Airlines doesn’t charge bag fees, I didn’t even bother checking elsewhere, because they would’ve needed to be $119 or cheaper to beat Southwest, and I knew that was basically an impossibility. It only took me about five minutes to decide to pull the trigger and buy the tickets before they went away. It’s definitely the most impulsive purchase I’ve made on airfare before; my trips are almost always planned out well in advance. But this was just too good of an opportunity to pass up, especially since because of Scott’s new job that will take him who knows where around the world, I don’t know when I’ll be able to see him & Katie next.
I emailed Scott a copy of my flight itinerary, and then sent him a text recommending that he check his email. Needless to say we were both stoked that I was going to be able to come to the party! To keep everything a total surprise to Katie, though, I didn’t mention a word on Facebook or here on my website about going to or being in Minnesota until after the party.
So on Friday afternoon the 15th I flew from Denver to Minneapolis, but not before our flight was delayed for two and a half hours at the gate. Everyone had boarded, and I noticed that the engines still weren’t on. Then the pilot got in front of the cabin and made an announcement that ATC and the FAA weren’t allowing any new flights bound for Minneapolis to take off just yet. Apparently rainy, windy weather was causing delays in Minneapolis, and they had to make sure they made arrangements for all the planes currently in the air to land there safely before allowing new flights to depart for Minneapolis. Because had not yet departed the gate, they allowed everyone on board the freedom to come and go between the plane and the terminal, which was wonderful. Sitting out on the tarmac for that long would’ve really been annoying. Basically, the delay in Denver meant I didn’t have to wait a couple hours in Minneapolis for my parents to arrive to pick me up, so it all worked out (they couldn’t get off work early).
It was good to be at my parents house in Cumberland for a day, especially since it meant I got to hear the sound of the creek roaring. Our lake has been very low (and our creek dry) for for a few years thanks to drought and beaver dams upstream, but now that both of those problems have been rectified, we’re having our usual spring flood. It’s so nice to see the lake high again. On Sunday I also rode with my parents up to Two Harbors to take a look at the progress on the house up there. So much work going on up there… It was nice to be able to see my parents for a couple days and my brothers during my short visit.
Anyway, the party was on Saturday night at Rudy’s Redeye Grill in White Bear Lake. The plan was for everyone to show up at 7, get the table, and then Scott & Katie were to arrive at 7:15 sharp. Well, we couldn’t get our table because both large groups that were already there had been there for two hours and were showing no signs of leaving anytime soon. So I texted Scott about it, and he stalled as best he could for a few minutes. But the restaurant found us a place in the atrium at the back of the restaurant (where it adjoined a hotel) where we could all hang out together until a table opened up. So they showed up around 7:30, and Katie was very surprised. Scott earned himself quite a few points, haha. Anyway, eventually we got seated around 8:15pm (the restaurant comped us our appetizers because it was an hour-plus after our reservation). It was a very nice restaurant with otustanding steaks and drinks (their “Rudytini” and Long Islands were quite good), and was definitely a night of splurging for me. It was an awesome night and tons of fun!
My original plan had been to drive back up to Cumberland after the party, but I wound up crashing on Scott & Katie’s couch at 2:30am, but was up and driving by 7am to get up to Cumberland so that I could ride with my parents up to Two Harbors and then back down to Scott & Katie’s in time for dinner. I did a lot of Sunday driving, haha. I was pretty tired that day, to say the least, and both Scott & I turned in fairly early Sunday night. It was great to have dinner with Scott & Katie at their house though, and get a chance to hang out with them both for awhile.
On Monday I basically hung out with Scott all day, because Katie had to work, Scott took the kids to day care, and he was done with his old job. We went for a 3.3-mile run in the morning, despite it being only 35 degrees. (Even though I’ve been running a bit more lately here in Colorado, I’m not yet in good enough shape to feel much benefit from running at 800 feet elevation instead of 5200 feet. But this past Thursday when I went for a run here, I could definitely notice I was back at 5200 feet, haha.) I tagged along with Scott on a few errands he had to run after that, and we got a ginormous lunch at a brewery (someplace with good beer is usually a requisite when we’re hanging out) before he dropped me off at the airport at 3pm for my flight back to Denver. I wish I had known security and everything would be such a breeze though, because we could’ve hung out for another hour. Oh well.
This “surprising” trip was totally worth it, and I’d do it again in a heartbeat. I enjoy hanging out with Scott & Katie so much, I wish we didn’t live several states away. With Scott’s new job I’ll probably get to visit them in some neat places in the coming years, though. Time to start saving up!
A few weekends ago (11-13 March) I went up to Keystone for a ski weekend with some friends from church. I’d been looking forward to it for awhile, partly as an opportunity to get better at skiing, but mostly as an opportunity to hang out with people and get to know them better. I also used it as motivation to go ski shopping again, and I bought a pair of Rossignol Avenger 74 skis at REI for 43% off that week (they were the same ones I had my eye on a few weeks ago at 33% off).
I rode up there on the Friday morning with Kyle, Katie & Danielle, and we hit the slopes around 10am. They were all experienced skiers/boarders, but they decided they’d stick with me. After seeing me handle the bunny hill (which is at the top of the mountain, interestingly enough), they were confident I could take on a blue. It was a major struggle making it down the blue slope, as I fell about 20 times (the runs at Keystone are quite long, and about 3000 feet elevation change). The others suggested that I stick with blues so that I’d learn faster, but I wanted do a green next to try to regain some confidence. They decided to stick with me, which I appreciated, though we quickly got separated on our second run, which was down a very long green (Schoolmarm). Schoolmarm was much kinder to me — I only fell about 10 times. I also liked it a lot more because I could relax and just take in the gorgeous scenery — and the view from the top of Keytop Mountain was absolutely stunning. Anyway, aside from all the falls on both morning runs, I had to take short breaks frequently because my legs were so tired and (quite visibly) spasming so much. It was quite annoying, and made it kind of difficult to stop! Kyle, Katie & Danielle wanted to do another run before lunch, but I decided to sit that one out — my legs wouldn’t have let me do another run just then.
While I fell about 30 times total in the morning, the afternoon was much better, as I fell fewer than 10 times on those two runs combined! On the last run we took, which was a mix of greens and blues all the way from the top, I fell two or three times up near the top, but then didn’t fall at all on the last three-quarters of the way down the mountain! I felt like I was finally starting to “get it,” especially since I was able to stay in control even on the blue sections! Kyle, Katie & Danielle had all been giving me encouragement throughout the earlier runs, so they were also glad to see me improving steadily and noticeably. That last run down the mountain was, without a doubt, the most gratifying run in my very short skiing career. That evening everyone else showed up, and we had 14 people sleeping in the 8-person condo. It was a lot of fun.
Most everyone went up to the mountain on Saturday, but I was too sore and wanted to save a little money. The three or four of us who stayed behind that day planned to go snowshoeing, and we even got all dressed and everything and made it to the end of the parking lot before we realized that none of us had a car. Small detail, haha. So instead we all went for a walk more nearby. That night after everyone got back from the slopes, I got to play some “hand and foot” too! It’s always fun when I find out other friends know how to play that card game too.
On the Sunday morning, despite a fresh coating of 3-4″ of snow, we all decided to head back to Boulder in the morning instead of going skiing again. Everyone was kind of tired, and didn’t really feel like paying exorbitant rates for half a day of skiing. I would’ve happily gone skiing again that day, but I was also fine with saving 80 or 90 bucks.
The whole weekend was a lot of fun, and I’m really glad I went. Skiing still isn’t my favorite thing in the whole world, but I had a really good time, and will definitely go back several more times in coming years. I don’t know if I’ll end up going skiing again this season, but even if I don’t, at least I ended on a really good note this year. Even though I haven’t gotten too much use out of them this season, I think my skis and boots were a good investment. Maybe next season I’ll get to the point where I don’t fall even ten times in an entire day! And once I get to that point, maybe I’ll be able to take my camera with me to take some spectacular photos from the top of these mountains!
