Summer trip to Colorado

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I have seen the Cordovas more times this year than the majority of my friends who live in Omaha, but when my parents told me they had a condo for this past weekend the first thing I did was check in with Erin and Steve to see what they were doing. Once they let me know that they were down I decided that I was going to fly out on Thursday and then drive up to the mountains on Friday. Outside of the Cordovas there were two other people who live in Denver that I wanted to meet up with. The first, Sara, lived in Thailand while I was there. She is the one who inspired me to start blogging. (http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Sara-G/) I had been doing research for things to see and do while in Thailand, I stumbled upon her blog and reached out to her. We started chatting and made plans to meet up while I was there. It didn’t end up working out, but we have stayed in touch since. Finally I would have a chance to meet her. The second is Tasha, who I met while in Mexico the previous month.

I arrived in Denver about 8:30, rented a Jeep, and dove downtown to the Giggling Grizzly. Steve and Erin were already there. If you are in downtown Denver on a Thursday night go here. Dollar beers, $2 well, $3 calls. We had a few drinks and were chatting about our plans for the weekend when Tasha and her friend Brittany showed up. We all sat, drank, and chatted. Shots seemed like a good idea so we got a round of those. We had started getting a little loose when Sara and a group of her friends showed up, Tai, Jackie, and Ben. It was fun chatting with everyone, hearing how people had met. You know about all of my meetings already, but Sara and Tai met while in Tanzania, Africa. Tai was in town for a conference, she now lives in Wyoming. After too little time Sara and her group took off and Steve, Erin, Brittany, Tasha and I migrated over to a different bar where we met up with Joe. Joe looks like Lance Armstrong and is kind of seeing Brittany. Tasha informed me that Joe is more interested in a Rad Bromance, (

), that he has going on. The place we were taken too was a little too stuffy for our liking, looked like something out of The Hills, at this point I just wanted to hit up a dance floor. We tried a few places, but our choices were slim. We ended up at someplace with a rooftop bar. The weather was fantastic so we decided to chill there for a bit and make our own little dance party. After some insignificant amount of time Joe and Brittany took off and shortly thereafter the rest of us did as well. We had to get up early to drive up to the mountains and start our camping excursion.

Friday morning we started off by packing way too many things, including firewood, into the renta-Jeep and then took off to pick up the vehicle we had ditched downtown. After that Steve, Erin and I made a stop at Wal-Mart to pick up a fishing license and other miscellaneous provisions, a stop to eat at Qdoba, (which is always amazing, add them as a friend on Facebook to see recipes), after that we made the drive West to Dillon reservoir.

We made our first stop in Silverthorne at the visitor’s center, where the knowledgeable little staffer helped us out, gave us a map, and pointed us in the right direction. The first campsite we checked out was pretty horrible… some crappy barren landscape filled with dead trees. So we drove around to Peak One campsite and set up at A loop, site one. After unpacking our gear and setting up the “Taj Mahal of tents” we grabbed our fishing gear and walked to the lake to do some fishing. Things started a little slow. It was windy and we figured out our setups were not conducive to fishing in those conditions. After watching another group bring two fish out, we figured out what they were doing and mimicked that. The view was amazing, the sun was shining and there were boats out on the lake. Out enjoying nature, hanging out with friends, drinking with the sun on your face…. It doesn’t get much better than that. We caught six total fish that afternoon, five trout and Steve “Chief Carp Whisperer” caught a carp. We retired back to our campsite to light a fire and get dinner started. That night Erin BBQ’d some amazing chicken and we burnt the hell out of some potatoes. We weren’t too concerned as we continued drinking and watched the sun setting over the mountains. That night we played a game as we made s’mores and hung out until we started falling asleep by the fire and finally moving to the tent. My parents weren’t coming in until late so I had decided to just camp out with the Cordovas. We only had two sleeping bags so we zipped them together and all three of us squeezed in.

That next morning we woke up and Erin made some coffee. I had to go meet my family who had gotten in late the night before; we were going to Breckenridge to do the alpine slides. So I took off to go shower before heading off to Breckenridge, leaving Steve and Erin to make breakfast and tend to camp. At the condo I was met by Maleka, Hailey, Mom and Dad. After a quick shower and breakfast we drove to a hotel where my two 80 year old Grandmothers were staying. After loading everyone up in the van it was off to Breckenridge, we decided to take the more scenic route to town, winding through the mountains and around the lake. Once in Breckenridge we unloaded everyone at the base of the mountain at the gondola pick up that takes us up to the base of peak eight. It was fun to watch my Grandmas enjoy that little ride as they had never been on anything quite like that. It is easy to forget to appreciate it if you see that kind of stuff two or three times a year, but to them it was new and exciting. We all unloaded and walked to the ticket counter to get our passes to ride the slide.

Mom took the Grandma’s up on the Colorado Superchair which has an amazing view of the Rockies and the Great Divide. Grandma Jean said that she thought it was the most amazing thing she has ever saw or done.

Dad, the girls and I took a separate lift up to the alpine slides. The slide is a half circle, much like a waterslide, about 2,600 feet long. The sled, basically a stripped down go-kart with a hand brake that you push forward to go faster and pull back on to brake. My first kart was terribly slow and I was sure I hated the alpine slides. This was dispelled on my second trip where I nearly flew off the track and thought I was going to roll. After a couple of rides we took a break, got something to drink and chatted with the ladies about their ride on the ski lift. After relaxing for a bit Maleka and Hailey decided that they wanted to do the bungee trampoline. It took Maleka a little while to get the hang of it, but after she had the back flip down I was able to persuade her to do a double, which was pretty effing legitimate. Hailey just kind of bounced, but she had fun. The girls climbed down off the trampoline and wanted to do the slides again. Dad was out so it was Hailey and I in one cart and Maleka went in her own. The supervisors wait until there is a safe amount of distance between the two karts before letting the next person go. Hailey and I were able to catch Maleka about three quarters of the way down. Riding with Uncle Brent frightened Hailey a bit, but she still had fun in the end. When done with the last ride we climbed back on the gondola and headed back down to the town where we ate lunch at Columbine Café, a cute little place right on Main Street.

The Grandmas and Dad headed off to get massages while Mom, the girls and I did some shopping. There was an art show going on that captured my attention and gave me something to look at; some really great photographers were exhibiting, and there was a young kid, about 12, who was selling homemade root beer who had a tip jar that read “College Fund” on his display table. After buying two root beers and a cream soda for Hailey, and donating to the kid’s college fund, it was about time to meet up and head back to Dillon.

And that is where I parted ways. I grabbed my stuff, electing to camp again that night with Erin and Steve. I made a call to see if they needed any provisions, stopped in Frisco to pick up a sleeping back, sweat shirt and other miscellaneous items and then headed out to the campsite. After chopping a bit of wood we elected to go back down and have a go at fishing again. We set up shop about the same spot as the day before, but a group not too far away was throwing rocks in the water, had a dog fetching a stick, and generally just creating noise that was counterproductive while trying to catch fish. So we moved up the shore and around a short bend. On this side there are two kids, naked, playing in the water with their dog while their dad was fishing. It was a pretty disturbing scene. We stuck around and fished until after the sun went down, then packed up, headed back to camp and stoked the fire. My Dad, Maleka and Hailey came out and walked down to the water and around the lake. Steve, Erin and I were ready to start making dinner by the time they got back, so they had s’mores while we cook hamburgers. My family left after dinner and Steve, Erin and I stayed for a while longer until Steve fell asleep in front of the fire. With three sleeping bags, the sleeping arrangement was a little cozier.

The next morning I had an early start, I had to get back to the family to go horseback riding. Something I told my dad that I didn’t want to do and he responded “tough, I’ve already got you registered.” So I was going horseback riding. I said my goodbyes to Steve and Erin, as they had to pack up the campsite and head out that afternoon, and took off to the condo.

After gathering everyone into the van we headed off to Breckenridge Stables. The whole horse thing seems stupid to me, but I am a good sport and in my quest to become the most interesting man in the world being proficient in something like horseback riding will probably come in handy at some point. We all mounted up on our horses. Dad on Colonel, Mom on Bones, Maleka on Spirit, Hailey on Bucky (she got a little nervous with the name, but was informed that it was for her buck skin color rather than it actually bucking anyone off), and me on Zsa Zsa. We left the two grandmas in the van to entertain themselves while we rode off onto the mountain trail.

We were led out by two girls, the front girl was Devon, and the one who stayed with our group was Chelsea. The ride was about an hour and a half around peaks nine and ten that took us across streams, by beaver ponds, and offered a beautiful view of the mountains and the Continental Divide. That being said, the ride was about an hour too long. The only one who really enjoyed the duration was my mother who grew up pushing cattle on a farm in Haigler, NE. There is a joke that goes: “Why do women ride horses? Because it is the biggest piece of meat they can fit between their legs.” Yep… that is the joke… Back to the horses, my horse Zsa Zsa was disgusting. It pissed, crapped and farted more than anything living should piss, crap and fart. My poor mother was the only one behind me and I am sure you would have her emphatic agreement to that statement. Spirit and Colonel got into a little spat, that was about the only excitement of the ride. The whole thing was just a little too slow paced. I wanted some action, if I were looking to be lolled to sleep on the back of a horse while looking at gorgeous scenery I would do it again.

The grandmas were waiting for us back in the car when we were all ready roll out. We headed back to Frisco where there was a Corvette show going on. Dad wanted to stop so we all unloaded and looked at cars for a good hour or so. I am not a huge gear head, or car show fan. I did enjoy walking around looking at some of the older Corvettes. It was kind of cool having the mountains in the background while walking around checking them out. After the show we did lunch back in Dillon, everyone was going shopping, I decided I needed a nap so I went back to the condo and slept for an hour before driving back to Denver to catch my 8:25 flight on Southwest. The traffic was heavy and it took me about two and a half hours to make the 65 mile drive, but I made it to the airport and home to my own bed that night.

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Photos

Chopping Wood
There is something about having a big ass ax in your hands smashing through a piece of lumber...

Fishing
Catching some rays while catching some fish.