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