Rocky Mountain High

This past weekend I had the pleasure of going to Colorado to see my family out there. It's no small secret that when I finish my degree I want to move to Colorado and this trip only added fuel to that fire. The attraction of family (for both Katie and I) is strong, but I also like the climate there and the proximity to outdoors activities (both summer and winter) and the frequency of musical acts I like playing in and around the Denver area.

I flew in on Thursday evening and my cousin Peter picked me up at the airport. On our way to his house we stopped and picked up the skis I had reserved for the following day. We stopped at a liquor store that had an awesome selection of microbrews from all over the western united states. I settled on the Obsidian Stoute and Moose Drool brown ale. Both were delicious. After Peter's rec league basketball game (in which he provided the bulk of his team's scoring and was perfect from the line) we went to his neighbor's house (with beer in tow) to watch the BCS Championship game, which had been Tivo'd. I was disappointed that Florida won, but oh well.

Friday was spent skiing. We headed out to Loveland and spent almost an entire day out on the slopes. There was a lot of good powder and for the hack skier like myself, it was a pleasant and enjoyable day. I'm by no means a extreme skier, and at one point we got lost in an avalanche area. That took a while to get out of, and was quite strenuous work, but that just means the beer break afterwards was warranted.

Saturday we went up to Fort Collins to see my Grandma and my Aunt. For a frail old lady, my Grandma sure has an iron tight grip. After visiting with Grandma for about 30-45 minutes, we went over to my Aunt's house for lunch. After lunch we headed over to the New Belgium Brewery to try to get a tour, but once we got there all the day's tours had ended. We settled for the brief self-guided tour and the free samples. Not only was the beer good (this is the place that makes Fat Tire) but they brew house is really cool, and they give you a fair amount of each beer to try. Once we finished there we hurried back to Denver since we had tickets for the University of Denver/Michigan Tech hockey game. The game was really entertaining. It was tied 1-1 going into the third period, which was really the best one. The game got really fast and physical in the third, and DU came out on top 3-1. After the game we went to a karaoke bar and hung out. My cousin Adam was encouraging me to do a tune and I finally relented. I was one of the last folks to go at the end of the evening and did Paul Simon's "Late In The Evening," which seemed to go over well. After returning to Peter's house and raiding the cookie dough, we called it a night.

Following a whirlwind Saturday, a restful Sunday was a welcome respite. We went to Church in the morning (my first time in years), the grocery store, and then watched football for the rest of the afternoon (a nice little Sunday indeed). In the evening my cousin Adrienne brought her kids over to Peter's so I'd get a chance to see them before I left the following morning. I helped Abby with her homework and spent some time reveling in the wonder of youth with both her and her brother Garrett. A couple of good kids there.

We woke up Monday morning to a mild blizzard, but luckily my plane wasn't delayed. Of course that same evening, we got pretty much the same weather in Chicago. Apparently it was inescapable. All-in-all, it was a whirlwind weekend, but it was a great opportunity to see my cousins, whose company I really enjoy, and for the state of Colorado to further endear itself to me.