New knee, etc.

Hey all! Happy Holidays! I've got the day off, so I figured I'd do a brain dump. Life is good! It's been 4 weeks or so since I had my knee surgery, and I'm walking around again. I've been doing physical therapy everyday to regain the muscle I lost from being on crutches for 2 months. I'm right on schedule for my recovery, so I can't complain. The pain has started to subside too. The only pain for the last few weeks would occur at night, which apparently was my knee healing. Otherwise, life has been much busier. I've made some friends, so I've been to a comedy club, the parade of lights, bar trivia nights, etc. It's nice to have the whole hermit thing behind me. This Christmas, I'll be heading to Maryland to celebrate at my sister's house with the family. The good news is that on my way back, I'll be stopping in Columbus. I'll be in town from Thursday night until Sunday morning, and I can't wait to see everyone. That's all I got for now.

First Snow in Denver

Last night and today marked the first snow I've seen in the city of Denver. The mountains have had caps for awhile now, but I didn't think snow could accumulate until the ground cooled off. I was wrong. It seems that Colorado can receive accumulations of snow despite the fact that the previous day was warm. Consider the following... Yesterday, I was watching a football game in Boulder in 70 degree weather. This morning, I woke up to 4 inches of snow outside. In the next few days, the snow will be gone. This is all new to me, but this is how it works out here. I've heard this from every person I know who lives here, but it's different to witness it first hand. So here's my pics:

Go Rockies!

People give me crap out here for being a Cubs fan at times, but then I ask them how many Rockies games they went to this year, and they usually reply with a zero. Since, I went out to support the Rockies 2 times this year (I don't count the time they played the Cubbies), I usually get these people to shut their yaps. I just wanted to salute the Rockies and their astounding 21 wins out of the last 22 games. Way to go, and good luck in the World Series.

Knee Update

Well, it's official... I'm going under the knife. As the religious followers of this blog know, my ACL and medial meniscus are both torn. The ACL is completely torn, but the meniscus is just a partial tear. So two weeks and two days from now, they're going to go into my knee and repair the meniscus and replace my ACL with a piece of my patellar tendon. A full recovery will take 6 months. This has really cut into my social life, but I'm really glad that I'm getting this fixed. My dad is going to fly out here for the week and keep me in line, which I really appreciate. Wish me luck! Oh, and I found out that my doctor is the team doctor for a little football team out here called the Denver Broncos. YES!

I can't believe that CU beat OU

I always like to see a good upset, but I was shocked that CU came back to beat the Sooners. Having to crutch a quarter of a mile to the stadium and back was totally worth it. It was also nice to see that several other top ranked teams were beat, which put OSU up to #4 in the rankings. Way to go CU!

Smoothies and the importance of fruit

So my diet isn't so bad, and since I moved to the great state of Colorado, I've stopped eating fast food. I still eat out at restaurants on occasion, but for the most parts I avoid greasy food. I take a vitamin every day, and I make sure I get all of my calcium and not too much fat etc. Recently, I offered to record the show "The Truth about Food" for one of my coworkers. I ended up having to watch it to burn it to a DVD, but I actually learned how important fruits and vegetables are to the human diet. We've been evolving or adapting over thousands of years, and long before we knew how to barbecue, we foraged for fruits and vegetables. So I figured I'd give fruit a shot. Here's what I discovered:

Good Smoothie:
1 banana
2 chunks of pineapple
1 handful of white seedless grapes
a few blueberries
a few blackberries
a splash of OJ

Blend that together, and it won't be impossible to eat the fruit you should be eating. And most of that fruit can be kept in the fridge or freezer. I for one keep the blueberries frozen. I really don't care how much fruit you eat, I just wanted to remember the recipe.

Bury my skis at wounded knee

I was so excited for ski season this year. I had my skis, helmet, goggles, new ski pants, and a great ski pass. I was ready to go. All I needed were some lessons and some snow. Well, that was until the night of Tuesday, Sepetember 18th. It was our young adult group's flag football night, and I was excited. I hadn't played flag football in a couple years, and I had missed out on ultimate frisbee the previous Sunday because I was salmon fishing. This was going to be awesome. I started out playing quarterback for our team, but people were having difficulty catching, so I switched to a receiver. I was wide open, but our quarterback threw an interception trying to throw to another guy who was pretty well covered. The quarterback did a good job of grabbing the guys flag though, so we were good. So the other team is on offense. It's first down. They throw up a pass, and I knocked it down. I thought to myself, "I should have intercepted that". So on second down, I did just that. I took the ball and I started running. I made it about 15 feet, and as I attempted to juice it around a guy, I heard an awful noise come from my right knee. That's when I went down and felt the pain. I had twisted my knee again, and it was almost identitical to the time I had twisted it playing tennis with my father in Florida. The pain just wouldn't stop, and then the endorphins started rushing through my body. I think it was the endorphins made me woozy because soon, I started feeling like I was going to pass out, so I just laid down. The nice people at the group grabbed me some ice for my knee and some gatorade and a granola bar to give me some energy. Pretty soon, I was feeling better, but my knee was in pretty bad shape.

The next day, I called my sister, and she said I should see an orthopedic surgeon, so I called around to a few places in my plan. Most of them were booked, but one place said they could get me an appointment with a Physician's Assistant, that's what my sister is, the following day, which sounded fine to me.

So Thursday the 20th, I made my way to the Steadman Hawkins clinic, which I later found out is pretty much the best place you can go for knee injuries in Denver if not the United States. I met with the PA, he took some XRays, and then he said that my bones looked good, but he though we should schedule an MRI. He also gave me crutches and a knee brace that won't let my knee bend past 45 degrees. So I setup an appointment for an MRI on Tuesday, and then I headed over to start physical therapy. I was a little surprised that they would do this without knowing what the problem is, but these guys really know what they're doing. By doing therapy early and through knee repairs, recovery time is significantly decreased. Who knew? They mainly worked on my range of motion, and they put the world's most expensive ice pack on my knee, which was awesome. It's actually a machine that fills up a sleeve with cold water, so you have the cold and pressure, which works wonders.

So Tuesday I went in and got my MRI, and yesterday, I received the results. So the PA informed me that my ACL is torn, I have a small tear in my Medial Meniscus, there is a lot of bone bruising, and I should stay on the crutches. I have to schedule a follow up meeting, but I'm probably headed for surgery. So much for ski season! I'm pretty sure that I tore my ACL playing tennis in Florida in April of 2006, which is why I injured my knee so easily this time. I guess the good news is that I'll have some really qualified people performing the surgery and helping me recover. Here's a picture of what's wrong with my knee:


Please send gifts and donations to the Ryan Kane Knee Memorial Surgery Assistance Fund (RKKMSAF).

Salmon Fishing in Almont, CO

About two weeks ago, I was salmon fishing near a little town called Almont, CO, which is in western Colorado. My dad's friend Gary from Vietnam invited me to join he and his family for this annual salmon extravaganza. He told me we were guaranteed to catch a lot of fish, but I had no idea until I got there. Every year, some land-locked version of the Sockeye Salmon called Kokone, head back up to the Roaring Judy fish hatchery. The fish are four years old, and after spawning, they'll die. This makes for some good fishing. We left on Friday, 9/14 at around 9:45AM. We took 285 through South Park, and stopped below the Taylor Reservoir to observe the huge trout that sit below the dam. We're talking 20 pounders. The fish love the oxygen rich water created by the flow going through the dam, and nobody is allowed on the land near the dam, so the fish never get caught and just keep growing. It is truly spectacular. Along the way, we'd check out the aspen leaves, which were starting to change, and I got to see more of the west slope than I'd seen before. The west side of the Rocky Mountains is much more moist than the east side, so it has a different look to it. All in all, it was a great weekend, and I probably caught close to 50 fish on Friday and Saturday. It was one of my favorite weekends here in Colorado, and I'm definitely going back next year. Here's some pictures:

What I've been doing...

Well, it's been awhile, since I've last posted, but I've been busier lately. I've started attending a young adult group at my church every Tuesday night, and that's great because they're really nice people, and it gives me something to do. I also started playing in an ultimate frisbee league on Sunday mornings, which is another great bunch of people. Along with that, I've also been going to CU football home games, which has taken up a few Saturdays. Unfortunately, last weekend Miami University, my alma mater, got spanked 42-0 playing (I'm using that word loosely) CU. I also saw Superbad a couple weeks ago, which is one of the funniest movies I've ever seen. I would recommend it to anyone who hasn't seen it. Oh, and I should mention that two weeks ago, I went salmon fishing near Gunnison in Almont, CO, which is on the west side of the state. I'll write more about that in another post, as well as some not so good news. Stay tuned....

Light Rail Drinking Policy

Food and drink are not allowed on the RTD Light Rail system, so that they don't create mess. So today, when some a-hole sitting across from me on the train spilled his French roast all over, I was not happy. It got the straps of my backpack and a few spots on my pants, so people are calling me "Seattle's Best" now. Thanks a lot buddy for not obeying the no drinks on the train policy. If he wasn't violating a rule, I wouldn't be so upset, but you're not supposed to drink stuff on the train for this very reason. So I will remain as bitter as the coffee he spilled on me. Thanks a lot dumb ass!

Skiing

I'm pumped for ski season to get here. Mind you, I know nothing about skiing at the moment, but that will all change soon enough. I've got my skis. I've got my boots. I'll soon receive my goggles and helmet. There's only two things missing: snow and my ski pass. So the prices for ski passes are set to rise on Tuesday 9/4. This means that by Monday I have to decide between the Rocky Mountain Super Pass Plus and the Five Mountain Pass. Here's the breakdown:

Rocky Mountain Super Pass Plus:
Unlimited skiing at Copper Mountain, Winter Park, Mary Jane
6 unrestricted days at Steamboat Springs
Free skiing at Steamboat Springs after 12PM on Fridays

Five Mountain Pass:
Unlimited skiing at Keystone, A-Basin, Breckenridge
10 restricted days split between Vail and Beaver Creek

I've been told so many different things about both passes, that I no longer know what to believe. Here's what I'll use to base my decision:

Where do the locals go?
Winner: Copper Mountain
- I would like to know where the most locals go because then, I can wear my "Don't hassle me, I'm local" T-Shirt. All kidding aside, I would like to trust that the people who live here would know the best place for your practical skiing.

What's the fastest place to get to?
Winner: Copper Mountain
Runers Up: A-Basin and Keystone
- Getting there is half the battle. Although Keystone and A-Basin are closer in mileage, Loveland Pass can close and change that. Also, Copper Mountain is right off the interstate, so you get there just as quickly, if not faster.

Which place has the best snow?
Winner: Steamboat Springs
Runner up: Vail
- Everybody says Steamboat has the best snow. It's farther away, but it's great snow.

Where do all the a-holes ski?
Loser: Vail and Breckenridge
- I've heard that some of the skiers at Vail and Breckenridge can be a little on the stuck up side.

What else is there to take into consideration? Parking costs maybe? Well, since it costs $20 to park at Vail, that's a lot of money over 10 days of skiing. Even if Brett and I carpooled and split parking, thats $100 bucks. That could buy me 10 hot chocolates at the resorts. What about the skiing restrictions at Vail? I guess even though I would get 4 less days at Steamboat, at least there's no parking fees and I can go whenever I want. So I guess you could say I'm leaning towards the Rocky Mountain Super Pass Plus. It costs a bit more, but I think I'll enjoy my first season a bit more. Writing this actually helped me realize how much better the RM Pass sounds. Anyhow, I'm off to bed. Tomorrow marks my first concert at Red Rocks: Yonder Mountain String Band. I could use some bluegrass:)

I said it sucks... to be... a CSU Ram!

Twice in a row the CU vs. CSU game has been very close and has displayed some of the closest matched teams I've been able to see play football. Although this game wasn't quite as good as the game I got to see 4 years ago with Tripp, it was still pretty cool. Being at Invesco field was pretty cool, but I prefer Folsom Field. Anayhow, here's the breakdown of things I liked and didn't like to see today:

Pros:
CU beat CSU in overtime.
OSU beat Youngstown State
Michigan fell victim to one of the biggest upsets in the history of college football
Miami University beat Ball State

Cons:
The Irish got whooped
The Illini still suck

Mis padres...

Last weekend marked my first visitors, my parents. I was so happy to see them. I picked them up at the airport Thursday night, which is where the adventure begins. From there, we headed to my apartment to drop off the luggage, and then we headed to Bighorn Brewing Co. for an appetizer and some beer. I got my dad to drink Buttface with me, and my mom tried the Light homebrew, which she enjoyed. I don't think my dad was ready for Buttface, but then again, my mom and I are the beer drinkers in the family. After that, we went back to my apartment and crashed to prepare for Friday.

I had Friday off because I've been working 9 hour shifts, and it was so sweet! Anyhow, we headed up to Boulder to meet Brett for lunch at Snarf's. We were early, so we went up to the Flat Irons, and while we hiked, I explained how this geological formation occurred. It was my way of saying, "Mountains meet my parents, mom and dad, meet the mountains". After that, we headed down to Snarf's. What a great place to get sandwiches! We had a good meal, socialized a bit, and then headed up to Estes Park for some scenery. We took the Peak to Peak Highway and stopped at the St. Catherine of Sienna church, which is strategically placed right in front of Mt. Meeker. Once I meet my wife, this is where we will tie the knot (she and her parents don't have a choice in the matter). My mom loved the church and said it was the neatest thing she'd seen yet. From there, we went up to Estes Park and started up Trail Ridge Road. The weather was especially perfect, which is rare, since it normally rains when it's after noon in the mountains. Apparently, my mom is afraid of being inside a vehicle at more than 9,000 feet above sea level because it was right about there that she started asking me to turn around. Like a good son, I ignored her and kept driving. Soon we were above the timberline and driving on roads that thousands of people drive on every Summer, but apparently my mother felt like we could pull a "Thelma and Louise" at any moment. We made it to the top, my dad and I got out, we had our picture taken, and then we high-tailed it back down into mom's comfort zone. Since mom took one for the team, dad and I followed her around for awhile as she looked at shops in town. We ate dinner at the Wapiti Pub, drank some beers, and listened to some live country guy named Ronnie Furr. They were having a great time and didn't realize it was because they were drinking beer at 7,500 ft above sea level (less O2 gets you a better buzz). After that, we got ice cream and drove back into the park to see if the stars would come out, but the moon was too bright. We headed back to Denver.

For Saturday, I had originally planned on taking them up Mount Evans, but after the Trail Ridge Road incident, I figured it was best if I skip that. It's a shame too because the view from Mt. Evans is spectacular and is only open Memorial Day to Labor Day! So Mt. Evans was out, but we went to Red Rocks and Vail, which were both really neat places. We took the scenic route over Loveland Pass to Vail, which only worked out because mom was asleep over the steep parts. Vail was ritzy, but cool. We enjoyed lunch at the Red Lion and followed it up with ice cream from Marble Slab. The weather was absolutely gorgeous. We couldn't have asked for better conditions. After returning from Vail, we met my dad's army buddy Gary and his family for dinner. We went to Isla Morada, which is located at the local Bass Pro Shop. It sounds fake, but I assure you it's real, and my meal was incredible. After dinner we headed back to Gary's house where he and my father reminisced and told stories about Vietnam. I have a strong admiration for my father, but I think I admire him the most when he tells those stories about the war. They're not about killing and bloodshed, but about people, relationships, and the feelings of war (fear and adrenaline). I would relate the friendships my father made in Vietnam to the friendships I made in college, only my bonds probably aren't quite as strong as those forged in war. After several stories and some awesome homemade pies, we went back to the apartment.

Sunday was low key, and was supposed to be. We went to church, had lunch with my mom's friend Mary, and then we helped mom out as she arranged my apartment. She is an interior decorator, and she is VERY, VERY good at what she does. I have complete faith in her, and rarely contest anything she suggests. I'm not a mama's boy, she's just that good. After decorating, we had a small dinner and just enjoyed each other's company.

Early Monday morning, I dropped my parents off at the airport. It was sad to say goodbye to them, since I know I won't see them again until Thanksgiving, but that's the choice I made by moving out here, and I'll live. Most the time, living here feels great, but sometimes you can't help, but miss people.

Long's Peak

Longs Peak was the last 14er Brett and I plan on doing this summer, although, I bet there's a few we could reach in September if we really wanted. We do plan on snowshoeing one of the easier ones in October. Anyhow, this was a class 3 (of a 1 - 5 system), which means it involved some technical climbing. My hands were a little worn after getting down. The whole route was 15 miles round trip, which is a lot of miles on flat land let alone going up and down a mountain. There were four main parts to the ascent: The hike to the boulder field, navigating the boulder field, navigating the angled rock, and the homestretch.

The hike up to the boulder field was pretty easy because it's very gradual. The boulder field was a bit more difficult, and you can see it below in the foreground and to the right of the snow. It gradually works it's way up to what's called the keyhole. That's the part on the right horizon where someone could walk under the rock. Once you pass the keyhole, you hike along angled rock and just try to follow the bullseyes that have been painted on the mountain.


The next part of the ascent goes along slanted rock, which could get you hurt if you do something stupid. This is what it looks like coming down:


After the slanted rock, comes the home stretch, which is an upward climb that is moderately steep. I never felt like I was going to fall or that I was in danger of any sort. Pictures make it look a lot steeper than it actually is.


After the homestretch, you get to have your picture taken at one of the stores on the top. Just kidding, there's nothing on the top, but more exhausted people just like yourself.


By the end of the day yesterday, we had reached strange physical plateaus:

Muscle exhaustion: Our muscles were exhausted, but you just keep going because you know you have to.

Energy: I'm assuming the calorie burn yesterday was probably around 7,000 (3,500 is one pound), and since I only supplied my body with about 1,000 or so calories during the excursion, my body had to find more energy. I'm sure it started using what I had in my system, but then moved on to fat reserves, but it didn't find much so that contributed to the muscle exhaustion too.

Hunger: After about 7:30AM, I had no appetite yesterday. After Pike's Peak a month or so ago, I was starving. I think once your brain tells your body to start using your fat reserves, it tells your stomach, hey you don't need you to worry about feeling hungry at the moment. In other words, I think my bran supressed my appetite. I'm not sure if this is true, but even once I got home last night, I did not feel like eating, but I ate what I could.

Sleep: We woke up at 2:15AM to do this 14er, and I drove back to Denver and never got drowsy at 5PM. I think I had reached a point where your body ignores what your brain is telling it to do for so long, that it gets easier to ignore it.

Just like what Brett said on his blog for this last part:

Back in May when I looked at Long's Peak, I honestly would never have guessed I would summit it 3 months later.

See all photos from this hike at http://flickr.com/photos/brett_burch/sets/72157601541063519/.

Perseid Meteor Shower

Friday night, Brett and I went to see the Rockies play the Cubs. Cubs win, Cubs win!!! I was very happy to see the Cubs secure a nice W. It was a pretty good time.

Saturday night, we headed up to Rocky Mountain Nationl Park to watch the Perseid meteor shower. The light pollution was very low where we went because, we were pretty much right next to the continental divide. We saw a total of 66 meteorites, which was pretty awesome. It got really cold though, and although I was wearing my down jacket, it got chilly enough that we had to call it a night. Here is where we watched the shower (you can see the rocks we climbed, but there wasn't snow like in the image):

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=40.413986,-105.723978&spn=0.00292,0.005525&t=h&z=18&om=1

http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&cp=40.414056~-105.723656&style=h&lvl=17&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&encType=1

Torrey's Peak/Keystone Bluegrass/Miami Alumni Picnic

This was another cool weekend. Yesterday, one of my co-workers, Joe, Brett, and I went and hiked Torrey's Peak, which sits less than a half mile from Gray's Peak, which Brett and I had already hiked. That brings our 14er tally up to 5. It was pretty cloudy at the top, so there wasn't a whole lot to see. On our way down, Joe asked if we'd mind hiking Gray's Peak again, so we ended up doing two 14ers in one day. That was pretty cool. Afterwards, we all headed over to a popular ski resort called Keystone for a free Bluegrass festival. There were also 30 different breweries there to sample! We were driving home that night though, so we didn't do the sampling, but we did grab a couple from the beer garden. Joe's wife Mandy and his daughter Lilly met us at the festival, and after a few shows, the left. Brett and I headed to Breckenridge, grabbed dinner, gawked at some females, did an O-H (I-O) to some guy in a OSU sweatshirt, and then headed back to Denver. We decided to go relieve some of the aches from hiking in the apartment complex hot tub. The hot tub heater was broken for a few weeks, so I was really praying that it was working once again, and it was. The temp was 105F, and it was hot, but it felt pretty nice. After a soak and a swim, Brett headed back to Boulder, and I passed out.

This morning, I went to early church, so that I could attend the Miami Alumni picnic to send off the incoming freshman class. We got to meet some nice people including a guy who went to New Zealand with one of my housemates Tripp. He lives in Boulder, and seemed pretty cool, so it was nice to make a new acquaintance. It was pretty cool to talk to some people who have shared the same places and experiences as myself. It made me miss Miami, but I watched Old School and felt better... JK:)

White Water Rafting

Last weekend, Brett's sister Alyssa, he, and I went whitewater rafting on the Clear Creek near Idaho Springs. It was a ton of fun. The previous night, it rained, so the flow of the creek doubled up to 300 cubic feet per second. That's a lot of water! The rapids were class 3 and 4, so it was a crazy good time. I did have a wonderful opportunity to use my wetsuit. That can be seen in pictures 21 - 31 here:

http://www.rapidimagephoto.com/mp_client/pictures.asp?pagenum=21&action=viewphotos&size=fullsize&id=2140202&eventid=28207

Afterwards we went up to Mt. Evans, but it was too cloudy, so we just went back to Boulder, ate dinner at Illegal Pete's, and saw Hurtin Kurtis again at the Lazy Dog.

Bluegrass Weekend

Last Friday, after sucking down a few Sawtooth Ales ($2 a pint!!!) at the Groggy Dog in Nederland (quite possibly my future home), Brett and I headed to the dirt road town of Gold Hill. This place was awesome! It is home to the Gold Hill Inn where Spring Creek was playing that night. They were a really good band, and we got a chance to say hello and shake hands with them all. It was pretty cool. We had a couple more drinks, talked to some nice ladies from Denver, and then headed out. Upon reaching Brett's apartment, we drove separately to the nearest Waffle House, which was probably 20 miles away in the direction of my apartment. I finished off an All-Star breakfast in about 5 minutes. We paid and went our separate ways, only to rejoin the following night downtown near the Filmore. We saw The Wayword Sons at a bar called Dulcinea's. We got to meet the lead guitarist/singer, and they put on another good show. We were there with Brett's coworker Patrick, his wife Natalie, and his friend Dav-o. Around 1:30AM, we piled into Patrick's car, and they dropped me at the train stop. I rode home, and listened to the new Modest Mouse and Travis albums. It was a different sort of weekend, but it was good. This weekend, it's whitewater rafting!

Pike's Peak + Beef Coma = Fun

Gayle posted a good question under the comments of my last post asking: What is a fourteener? A fourteener is a mountain with an elevation of at least 14,000 feet.

Yesterday, Brett and I made a 5.5 mile hike up Pike's Peak near Colorado Springs. This was by far the most strenuous fourteener we've done yet, since it was 11 miles round trip and 4,500 feet of elevation gain on the trip up. Nothing too eventful happened, except for one thing. When we got to the top, there's a large parking area, since there's also a road to the top of Pike's Peak. Some jerk had a bumper sticker on his SUV that said OHOWIHATE Ohio State, which really made me mad. I cut his brake lines, so I hope he had a good time making the descent from the top of Pike's Peak:)

After making it back to my apartment, we were in the mood for a pretty good meal, so we headed to Black Angus. I ordered a 16oz cut of prime rib, and ate the whole thing along with a salad, roasted veggies, and garlic mashed potatoes. Following that, we watched Beerfest. After Brett went home, I slipped into a beef coma, and slept for 10 hours.

3 Fourteeners down!

So since I've last posted, I've done 2 more Fourteeners: Mt. Bierstadt and Grays Peak. They were both really fun, and I keep getting better at handling the elevation. I made it up Mt. Bierstadt (3000ft up over 3.5 miles) in about 2 hours, which wasn't bad for what they call a "flatlander". Then last weekend I made it up Grays peak (3000ft up over 3.5 miles) in about 1.5 hours, and I didn't stop the whole way up. My goal was to never get passed going up, and it worked. My heart rate would get pretty high at times, but I'd just decrease my pace to a slow walk, drink some water, eat some Gu, and get back to it. So right now I've done 3/53 fourteeners, and hopefully tomorrow, I'll have 49 left. We're planning on hiking Pike's Peak tomorrow down in Colorado Springs, and then heading to the garden of the gods. If you google it, you'll see the garden is amazing.

After Gray's Peak last week, Brett and I headed to Virgilio's Pizza in Lakewood. It seriously ruled. It was just excellent Pizza made well with fresh, homemade ingredients. After that, we hung out at my apartment until the Rockies game. We headed downtown and went to Fado until the rain cleared up, and then we watched the Rockies beat the Phillies. I love it here!

I bought a road bike!

Thursday night, I bought myself a nice road bike, so I can get some easy exercise in during the week. I have already put somewhere around 30 or 40 miles on the bike, and I just love it. I'm a complete novice when it comes to cycling, but riding a bike feels like being a kid again, only this time, I can go wherever I want. The bike is a Specialized Allez Elite Triple, and here's a picture:

Here's what I've been up to...

Well, about 3 weeks ago on Memorial Day weekend, I moved into my apartment, which was pretty uneventful. Rather than spend the weekend unpacking, Brett and I decided to spend the weekend up in Estes Park again. We did some camping and hiking Saturday night through Monday morning. One of the hikes went up to Mills Lake where they took the picture for the Colorado state quarter. I had one of those quarters for about 6 months before I moved here, so I recognized it right away (it later fell victim to being used as Light Rail fare). The scenery at Mills Lake was spectacular, but unfortunately, we forgot our cameras, so I don't have any pictures. After hiking Sunday, we drove up to Trail Ridge Road, which crosses the continental divide and is the highest continuous paved road in the U.S. We took a hike near the top, and made it up to 12,300ft elevation. It was awesome! On Memorial Day, we headed down to try to go to the top of Mt. Evans, but the road was closed, so we made our way over to the Guanella Pass, which was also closed. Despite being closed, we took the road for a few miles, and I got to see my first bighorn sheep. Again, it would have been nice to have a camera, but maybe next time.

The next weekend was dedicated entirely to fly fishing. The first weekend in June was free fishing weekend, so Brett and I fished the S. Boulder Creek on Saturday and the S. Platte River on Sunday. We both got skunked on Saturday because the water was flowing way too fast, but Sunday Brett caught two rainbow trout, while I caught none (the score: 0 - 2). I was glad he caught something though because it was his first time fly fishing, and everybody deserves to catch something their first time. So I was outfished that weekend, but the scenery in both locations made the trip completely worthwhile.

Last weekend, we continued the tradition of spending every other weekend in Estes Park. This time, it was more focused on the Rocky Mountain Brewfest, which brought 15 different microbreweries to Estes Park for Saturday. We did some fishing Saturday morning before the festival started, and I was able to catch a nice rainbow on my second cast (the score: 1- 2). After that, we went and sampled lots of beer. There was everything from vanilla porter to rasberry ale to chili beer to espresso stout. It was awesome!!! We made some new friends at the festival, which was pretty cool. One of the guys went to college at Bradley, which is in my home town. I was overly excited about that. They seemed like cool people, and later we had a campfire at one of their grandparent's houses in the mountains (who also went to Bradley). Sunday morning, Brett and I managed to get up at a reasonable time and head up to Sprague Lake in RMNP to do some more fishing. It took awhile, but I finally caught a nice brooke trout on an ant (the score: 2-2). The lake was overcrowded and hard to fly fish, so we made our way down to a stream in a valley near the Moraine Park campground. We didn't catch anything there, so we went on a hike and then headed back to civilization.

I'm very excited about today. Brett and I are going over near Aspen to climb our first 14er (that's a 14,000ft elevation mountain). We took a class on Wednesday at REI that told us all we needed to know, so on a whim, we decided to attempt one this weekend. It's name is Mt. Huron, and it's not supposed be too strenous. It's a 5 mile hike round trip, but you spend the entire trip to the top doing some pretty good uphill, not to mention the fact that there is no oxygen. It's a bit of a drive, but I'm looking forward to setting a new elevation record on my altimeter. After work, I'm heading home, and then to REI to pick up my new snowshoes. I'm so excited. I also bought a new laptop from Dell today, so my sporatic blogging will come to an end once I receive it. I'm definitely taking my camera this time, so I should be able to post some pictures the next time I blog.

Catch you later,
Ryan

I'm still alive...

Sorry for not posting in awhile, but I just moved into my new apartment, and I don't have internet. Stay tuned...

Another great weekend

So this weekend, I headed up to Boulder to avoid the Inn-town Suites. It's not that the Inn-town Suites are bad, it's just not ideal. Friday night, Brett and I overstuffed ourselves at the Himalayan/Indian Buffet and then tried to sample some different brews at the Mountain Sun Brewery. Unfortunately, we picked a couple bad beers in our sampler, but it ended up working out because we ate so much that it was nearly impossible to drink beer. The brewery was pretty cool though, and would be a cool place to go with visitors (hint hint). Saturday morning, we went and got our Jeeps inspected, so that we can get Colorado plates and licenses. After a guy with no teeth, who I know had a great time in the 60s, finished our inspections, we headed off to lunch and then headed over to summit Bear Peak. Bear Peak is about 8,600ft above sea level, and on one side you have a view of Boulder and the plains, and on the other, you have the continental divide. The trail head was about 6,100ft above sea level, and the trail was only about 3.5 miles long, so we did quite a bit of uphill, but the view was really worth it (pictures to come). Saturday night, we headed to the Lazy Dog and watched a Grateful Dead cover band Hurtin Kurtis, which was pretty fun. Sunday night I headed over to my dad's friend Gary's house to meet up with him and his family. I had met them the first time I came to Colorado 11 years ago on a trip that probably led to me living here today. It was a lot of fun, and they really made me feel welcome. After they took me out to dinner, we went back to their home and played basketball in the driveway for about an hour before going inside and having homemade pie. Before I left, they marked out some good places to go fly fishing on a map of Colorado and a map of Wyoming, which I plan to use as soon as I get a fishing license. This weekend, I get to move into my apartment and have all of my stuff again! I'm so excited. Hopefully, I can get moved in rather quickly, so that I can use the holiday weekend to get out to the national park or something.

Pelicans in Colorado?

Yesterday, as I was heading home from the post office, I noticed three large birds flying high above my Jeep. At first I thought they were pelicans, and then I remembered I was in Colorado, but then I looked again. The really were pelicans, and although I sound crazy, I'm certain of it. I've spent enough time in Florida to recognize them and they're pretty hard to mistake for another bird. I've never seen a pelican anywhere this far form the ocean, so who knows what they were doing here.

Apparently, I'm not crazy after all: http://www.windsortribune.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=2665 (Windsor is near Fort Collins, CO)

After last weekend, I realized I needed to waterproof my boots, so I headed down to REI in Englewood tonight. It was a very cool area with lots of shopping and places to eat. It reminded me a lot of Polaris in Columbus. When I first walked into REI, a couple was walking in front of me, and the man was wearing an OSU shirt. I told them that I just moved here from Columbus, and they said they were from Cleveland and Cincinnati originally. The man said the woman's son was going to OSU, and as I walked away, she yelled, "O-H"! I followed up with a nice "I-O"! It was almost like being in Columbus.

An Action Packed Weekend

Friday Night: Brett and I went to the Rockies game, which cost us $4 a piece! Mind you, they were the worst seats in the house, but the beer tastes the same:) So the game went by rather quickly, and the weather couldn't have been nicer. After that we headed off to the Wynkoop Brewery where he had a local brew and watched some dude get arrested for public intoxication. After that craziness, we headed to Illegal Pete's for some midnight mexican food.

Saturday: I got up really early, so that I could get new tires put on my Jeep. I got some awesome all terrain tires, which I got to test out in Rocky Mountain National Park (more to come). After getting my tires, I headed over to the storage unit where I'm keeping all of my stuff until I get my apartment. I grabbed a few things, and then headed up to Boulder to pick up Brett. We got to RMNP around 3PM and found out that all of the campsites were full. After calling the ranger station, we found that the the Elk Meadow Lodge and Campground had vacancies and is located just outside the park. We got a site and setup my tent, so that it was pointing straight and Long's Peak, the highest point in the park (pictures to follow). After setting up camp, we got our packs ready and headed for the park. We drove to Bear Lake and set out on a 1.8 mile trail to Emerald Lake, which is surrounded by a cirque (Wikipedia), which is quite amazing. The snow was deep, and the scotch guard on my boots was non-existant, so it was a little strenous, but we made all the way up to 10,091 feet elevation, and that was a first for me.

Saturday Night: The night was clear, and the stars were unbelievable. After heading back to camp, we made dinner and then headed over to the Rocky Inn. There was some live entertainment, and every beer on draft, with the exception of PBR and Guinness, was locally brewed. We limited ourselves to a couple beers, so that we wouldn't be hurting the next day, and then left the Rocky. We both were in the mood for some good tunes, so we took a spin around Estes Park listening to Good Times, Bad Times until Brett put in some Herbie Hancock, which is probably best described as porn music. Don't believe me? Listen to Palm Grease here. When we got back to camp, it had gotten into the 40s, so we crawled into our sleeping bags and passed out.

Sunday: We got up and broke camp around about 9AM. We headed over to the Sheep Lakes, where the Bighorn Sheep head in the summertime. We saw no sheep, but we started hiking a trail to Ypsilon and Lawn Lake, and the weather was absolutely gorgeous. After about a mile of hiking, we reached the split where one trail goes off to Ypsilon Lake, and the other goes to Lawn Lake. Lawn Lake was 5 miles away, while Ypsilon was only 3.5, but we figured Lawn might have a better view, since it was at 11,000 ft elevation. We kept hiking until we passed about 9,600 ft, at which point the snow started getting thick on the trail. We kept hiking hoping that the trees would start getting shorter, which would mean the snow might be more melted, but we had no luck. Once we were up to our balls in snow at about 10,400ft elevation, we could see storm clouds forming on the horizon. We decided to head back down to a clearer part of the trail and break for lunch, so that we could escape the piles of snow and the approaching storm. We were practically running down the mountain, while lightning was striking all around us. There was one strike that was what I classified as "scary close" (that's where the light and sound happen together). We got down to the Jeep just as it started pouring, and then we headed out. Estes Park was clogged up because of tourists, but we finally got through and took the scenic route back to Boulder. Once in Boulder, we celebrated with Abo's Pizza.

Living in Colorado feels like being on vacation.

Today, I accepted an offer on my house

I'm very happy because this means I won't have to pay rent and a mortgage. Tonight, I'm off to Coors Field to see the Rockies play the Giants. Life is good:)

I Love the State of Colorado

Working for the State of Colorado is awesome. Despite my somewhat lengthy commute, I only have to work 8 hours a day, and they're even going to allow me to work 9 hour days and take a day off every other week. A day off every other week means more time in the mountains, so yippee!

Public Transportation Rules

So on my way to work this morning, I realized that public transportation is pretty sweet (at least it is in Denver). Denver's light rail system is so close to where I'm living temporarily, and it will be even closer to where I'll be living at the end of this month. The light rail runs straight into downtown, is quiet and clean, and is quite affordable. Once downtown, there's a free bus that takes me straight to the state office where I'm working. Using the light rail helps me avoid the stress of parking downtown and putting up with traffic, so I'm loving it. The only downside is that it can be pretty time consuming to use the light rail, but I do get to spend 30 minutes on a train that goes into the heart of Denver in view of the mountains, and that is pretty cool.

Tuesday Night Drinking Club

Tonight was Tuesday night, so I felt the need to drive up to visit Brett in Boulder. We threw the frisbee near the Flat Irons for about 15 minutes before it got too cold. We then kicked off the second assembly of the Colorado chapter of the Tuesday Night Drinking Club. Tonight's meeting was held at the Walnut Street Brewery, where Dr. Cox from Scrubs was spotted one week prior. Hopefully next week, Brett will be able to make it down to Denver to reconvene for another assembly. I'm off to bed.

First Day at the State of Colorado

Today was my first day, and it went pretty well. I started out with orientation at Compuware in the Denver Tech Center (DTC), which lasted till about 10:30 AM. After that, my account manager helped me park my car at the Light Rail stop closest to Compuware. He told me it was the Dry Creek stop, so that I could find my car when I rode the Light Rail out of downtown. So then I rode with him to the State of Colorado, which is my first client. Everyone seemed very nice, and I have already had an opportunity to teach them some of the things I know. Time really flew by, and before I knew it, I was on my way home. Once I got to the Dry Creek stop, I got off, but I realized, that my car was on the other side of I-25. I went to use the covered walkway, but it was closed, so I got pretty confused. I walked out onto a road that crosses underneath the interstate, and I took the long way around. When I got to the other side, I began to realize, this was not the stop where I left my car in the morning, so I kept walking. After walking about 2 miles, I finally reached the next Light Rail stop known as County Line. My feet were killing me, and I was pretty upset with my account manager for having told me the wrong stop. At least I got some good exercise:)

Back in Denver

Well, I thought I had a direct flight back, but it turns out that I just got to stay on the plane as it stopped in St. Louis and Kansas City. No biggy though, I'm back in the mountains, so it's all good. I definitely want to say congratulations and thank you to Rick and Heather. Your wedding was very nice, and the reception was a blast! It was great seeing everyone, and I'm really going to miss you all. Hopefully, it won't be too long before I see you all again. Keep in touch please!

Tomorrow is my first day with Compuware. Wish me luck!

Back in Columbus

Brad and I made it back to Columbus, and I'm ready to party at Rick's wedding. Also, check out the new flag!

My first week in Colorado

After packing up the truck took longer than originally expected, my friend Brad and I set out from Columbus, OH at about 6:30 PM on April 29th heading towards our final destination of Denver, CO. We drove till about 3:30 AM and landed at the Travelodge in Columbia, MO. After about 5 hours of sleep, we set out once again and entered Kansas, all 424 miles of nothing, they call Kansas. The mileage we got was so awful, I don't even want to add up how much money I spent on gas. So we arrived in Denver shortly after 7:00 PM on April 30th, which was unfortunate because the office of the Inn-town Suites where I'm staying right now, closes at 7:00 PM. We saw the manager in the closed up office, and he was kind enough to let us check in late, so the crisis of having to shell out money for a single night hotel was averted. On May 1st, we unpacked the U-Haul into a storage unit that will hold everything until I get my aparment on May 26th. After unpacking, Brad and I headed up to Boulder to visit another one of our housemates from college, Brett. He also caught Rocky Mountain Fever and moved to Colorado. Once in Boulder, we ate dinner at the Lazy Dog restaurant, which was pretty fun, but not as fun as what was about to happen at the Walnut Street Brewery. During dinner, John C. McGinley Dr. Cox from Scrubs (you may know him as one of the Bobs from Office Space, the self proclaimed Michael Bolton fan) walked in with his new wife and sat down a table away from us. We were all star struck, but Brad was the only one brave enough to approach him in the middle of his chicken wings and say, "You're hilarious". Brad got the thumbs up from Dr. Cox, and we headed back to Denver. The following day we headed into downtown Denver and checked out where I'll be working. The human services office is right next to the capitol building, which is incredible. After tooling around the 16th Street Mall, we headed to the Real World house, Coors field, and the river front where there's an REI. Today, we played some tennis, and then drove out to the Red Rocks Ampitheatre. Wow! I had been there before, but I had forgotten how incredible it is to sit in the middle of the Red Rocks. After that, we still felt ambitious, so we drove over to Mt. Evans, the highest road in the U.S. I figured the road would be closed, since it's still really early to head up to 14,000 ft, which it was, but we still made it up to the frozen Echo Lake, which was surrounded by snow and views of snow capped peaks. It was another great day in Colorado. I guess I forgot to mention this, but the beer here is incredible. We've been to two breweries already, and both had great beer, plus there's Fat Tire:) Anyhow, tomorrow morning we head back to Columbus. Unfortunately, I'll be returning without Brad on Sunday.

Stay tuned,
Ryan