Delayed pic from our hike up Mt. Sanitas in Boulder, CO.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Sunday Morning Ride
The weather has been gorgeous here and I've been trying to take advantage of it before winter swoops in. I rode up to Echo Lakes this morning and it was crisp and pleasant.
Friday, November 6, 2009
Buddies
Al and her dog cowboy stayed with us for a week. While Sierra and Cowboy used to not get along all the time, they've grown to be good little dog pals. Such good friends, in fact, they've taken to sleeping together.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Halloween
Super success all night dance party! I was Eloise, the kids book character from the Plaza Hotel, Anne was Veruca Salt and Al was Lady Gaga.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
CO Trip: Climbing Boulder Canyon
So, the original plan was to drive down to Shelf Road outside of Canon City, CO to climb on Friday and Saturday and then head back to Denver Saturday night so we could all fly out Sunday. Unfortunately, I discovered that there was NO way I was flying home on Sunday and had to alter my plans to fly home Saturday. This meant that climbing at Shelf Road would be tight since it's about a three hour drive from Denver. To make the most of our time we decided to be flexible and went up to climb in Boulder Canyon.
Despite having a guidebook, the wall and approach was REALLY hard to find and we ended up wasting an hour trying to figure out how to get where. Once we did we found some other climbers who were able to give us the layout of the land. The first few climbs we did were on the Rivera Wall, which featured some "spicy" slabby stuff with some awkward, but fun, moves. The view was amazing.
After three climbs down at the lower wall, we followed the directions we were given to the Bihedral Wall, a high exposed ridge of wall far above the canyon. THIS is what we were looking for. I'm glad we ran into those guys because we would have never found it. The approach required some fourth and fifth class scrambling pretty high up over to a ledge that you can't really see from down below. The climbs were excellent - fun, unique, and exposed. We did an awesome arete that overlooked the entire canyon and then a really fun 5.9 right next to it. At that point we were running out of daylight, which was a bummer, because it turns out we would have rather spent more time up here than the first wall.
Pics from the top of the Arete:
After gorging ourselves on pasta in Boulder we drove to Denver to see my friend Dawn who just moved there from NYC. She lives in an really cool house with a big movie screening room in the basement, complete with a projector set up. We drank wine and watched Rosemary's Baby since it was Halloween and had a blast. For me, it was the ideal way to spend the last night of our week.
Despite having a guidebook, the wall and approach was REALLY hard to find and we ended up wasting an hour trying to figure out how to get where. Once we did we found some other climbers who were able to give us the layout of the land. The first few climbs we did were on the Rivera Wall, which featured some "spicy" slabby stuff with some awkward, but fun, moves. The view was amazing.
After three climbs down at the lower wall, we followed the directions we were given to the Bihedral Wall, a high exposed ridge of wall far above the canyon. THIS is what we were looking for. I'm glad we ran into those guys because we would have never found it. The approach required some fourth and fifth class scrambling pretty high up over to a ledge that you can't really see from down below. The climbs were excellent - fun, unique, and exposed. We did an awesome arete that overlooked the entire canyon and then a really fun 5.9 right next to it. At that point we were running out of daylight, which was a bummer, because it turns out we would have rather spent more time up here than the first wall.
Pics from the top of the Arete:
After gorging ourselves on pasta in Boulder we drove to Denver to see my friend Dawn who just moved there from NYC. She lives in an really cool house with a big movie screening room in the basement, complete with a projector set up. We drank wine and watched Rosemary's Baby since it was Halloween and had a blast. For me, it was the ideal way to spend the last night of our week.
Monday, October 26, 2009
CO Trip: Fat Tire Tour
After our days at HQ in Louisville, Aaron, Ellen and I had arranged to stay in CO through the weekend climbing and playing. Our plans were slightly altered when frigid snow and sleet blew through the area on Wednesday and Thursday so we decided to cruise around Boulder on Wednesday, head to Ft. Collins on Thursday, and then down to Shelf Road outside of Canon City, CO on Friday and Saturday to climb.
Thursday morning we had an awesome breakfast at a New Orleans themed cafe called Luciles and then hiked up Mt. Sanitas. I don't have pictures of that because I had accidentally left my camera at the office.
Thursday afternoon we drove to Ft. Collins where Ellen's brother lives and went on a tour of the New Belgium Brewery. We weren't expecting too much from the tour and in the end, were so surprised at how amazing and awesome it was. First of all, it was free. You just had to reserve a spot. Second of all, it was an hour and a half and filled with cool info. Third, you had 7 free tastings.
New Belgium started in a couple's basement and grew from there. Their current facility is gigantic and they employ 340 people who seem to all really love working there. We learned how beer is made, where they make it and the process and about each of the beers New Belgium creates. We were able to taste a handful that they don't ever bottle. If you live in Ft. Collins you can bring in a growler and buy it that way!
Our tour guide had only been working there four months, but she was full of pride for the company, it's values and the product and it showed. After a year of working at New Belgium, every employee is gifted a custom New Belgium Cruiser. Also, their parking lot is categorized by who carpools and drives the most fuel efficient cars, so Hondas up front and all the trucks and SUVs were WAY in the back.
More employee parking:
This room is where they make their Lips of Faith Beers, which are aged in wooden caskets. One of the ones we tasted, the Fall Wild Ale, isn't bottled and it was our favorite of the day. They also ferment their sour beers in wood.
This is the entry into the Thunderdome, where they bottle all their beers. The main building is called the Mothership. At the entry to the Thunderdome we tasted Fat Tire that had been bottled that very morning.
The Mothership is filled with cool stuff - games for employees, places to hang out, workers wandering around with pints of beer, and a slide!
The last two beers we tasted in a conference room were a sour beer, Biere de Mars and the Wild Fall Ale. The room was filled with stuff made out of bike rims, from the chairs to the art. There are bikes EVERYWHERE at the factory - these people really live what they preach.
After your tour you get to hang out in the front bar and pick another one to taste. This was a spinning bike on the wall in the room:
In the end, the tour had turned into something we totally didn't expect! If you are ever in the area, I highly recommend it but make sure you register online because those spots fill up fast. When I signed us up for Thursday, the weekend was already totally full. I couldn't fathom why and now we know! Because it's awesome!
Thursday morning we had an awesome breakfast at a New Orleans themed cafe called Luciles and then hiked up Mt. Sanitas. I don't have pictures of that because I had accidentally left my camera at the office.
Thursday afternoon we drove to Ft. Collins where Ellen's brother lives and went on a tour of the New Belgium Brewery. We weren't expecting too much from the tour and in the end, were so surprised at how amazing and awesome it was. First of all, it was free. You just had to reserve a spot. Second of all, it was an hour and a half and filled with cool info. Third, you had 7 free tastings.
New Belgium started in a couple's basement and grew from there. Their current facility is gigantic and they employ 340 people who seem to all really love working there. We learned how beer is made, where they make it and the process and about each of the beers New Belgium creates. We were able to taste a handful that they don't ever bottle. If you live in Ft. Collins you can bring in a growler and buy it that way!
Our tour guide had only been working there four months, but she was full of pride for the company, it's values and the product and it showed. After a year of working at New Belgium, every employee is gifted a custom New Belgium Cruiser. Also, their parking lot is categorized by who carpools and drives the most fuel efficient cars, so Hondas up front and all the trucks and SUVs were WAY in the back.
More employee parking:
This room is where they make their Lips of Faith Beers, which are aged in wooden caskets. One of the ones we tasted, the Fall Wild Ale, isn't bottled and it was our favorite of the day. They also ferment their sour beers in wood.
This is the entry into the Thunderdome, where they bottle all their beers. The main building is called the Mothership. At the entry to the Thunderdome we tasted Fat Tire that had been bottled that very morning.
The Mothership is filled with cool stuff - games for employees, places to hang out, workers wandering around with pints of beer, and a slide!
The last two beers we tasted in a conference room were a sour beer, Biere de Mars and the Wild Fall Ale. The room was filled with stuff made out of bike rims, from the chairs to the art. There are bikes EVERYWHERE at the factory - these people really live what they preach.
After your tour you get to hang out in the front bar and pick another one to taste. This was a spinning bike on the wall in the room:
In the end, the tour had turned into something we totally didn't expect! If you are ever in the area, I highly recommend it but make sure you register online because those spots fill up fast. When I signed us up for Thursday, the weekend was already totally full. I couldn't fathom why and now we know! Because it's awesome!
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Puppy update
After cleaning up feces vomit all over my house for a few hours, driving to Reno in the middle of the night, leaving my dog in a cage with IVs in her arm, freaking my mother out, and then waiting all day, I drove back to Reno to retrieve said puppy whose final verdict was: small pieces of ingested rubber inflamed stomach and intestines causing extreme stomach acid, crap vomit and dehydration. Bill to retrieve dog you already own: ONE THOUSAND FOUR HUNDRED DOLLARS. ONE THOUSAND FOUR HUNDRED DOLLARS. Should I say it again? I can give you ONE THOUSAND FOUR HUNDRED reasons why you should not have a dog. Do you know how many things I own that cost ONE THOUSAND FOUR HUNDRED DOLLARS?? None. Not my laptop, that came in at a measly $1000. Not my bike. That only ran me up $1300. But my dog, oh my dog. She cost me ONE THOUSAND FOUR HUNDRED DOLLARS and I have nothing but her insolent looks to show for it.
She has patches of fur missing on her skin where he shaved her to stick the IVs in. They look funny. Here is a bad picture of it and then a picture of her looking at me ticked off because I turned on the light and moved her around to try to get one. You know what Sierra? That's what you get for costing me ONE THOUSAND FOUR HUNDRED DOLLARS. You know what else I could have bought for ONE THOUSAND FOUR HUNDRED DOLLARS Sierra? A Santa Cruz Blur. A new snowboard. No wait, five new snowboards. Or how about a new snowboard, a new set of skis and new boots for both? That might have run me about ONE THOUSAND FOUR HUNDRED DOLLARS DOG.
You are damn lucky I like you so much dog. You better keep it together for awhile and really love me or I'm gonna flippin' flip out. Don't think I won't.
She has patches of fur missing on her skin where he shaved her to stick the IVs in. They look funny. Here is a bad picture of it and then a picture of her looking at me ticked off because I turned on the light and moved her around to try to get one. You know what Sierra? That's what you get for costing me ONE THOUSAND FOUR HUNDRED DOLLARS. You know what else I could have bought for ONE THOUSAND FOUR HUNDRED DOLLARS Sierra? A Santa Cruz Blur. A new snowboard. No wait, five new snowboards. Or how about a new snowboard, a new set of skis and new boots for both? That might have run me about ONE THOUSAND FOUR HUNDRED DOLLARS DOG.
You are damn lucky I like you so much dog. You better keep it together for awhile and really love me or I'm gonna flippin' flip out. Don't think I won't.
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