RYAN AND FRED VISIT COLORADO: PART 1

Ryan arrived on Fri night and Fred came in Sun morning. This visit is going to take 3 posts for 2 reasons:
1) Ryan stayed for an entire 10 days and Fred for a week.
2) Fred took about a billion pictures (no exaggeration...I was ready to toss the camera out the car window...more about that later) and since most of them are so pretty, I want to share them with you.

The Coors Factory

We did the usual tour of the Coors Factory -I told you we'd take them there. However, being that it was our 3rd visit there, we decided to send the boys on the long tour while we headed to the short tour. By "short tour" I mean we headed from the front door directly to the beer lounge. Pretty good tour, I think :)

Relaxing in the lounge after the tour. Notice the cast? No? That's cause I went with black, hoping it would blend in with most of my clothes. Looks like it worked :)

Avalanche vs Canucks

We got tickets to the hockey game on the last Sat the boys were here to visit. They weren't great seats (not like the ones Ryan got later to a Sens-Penguins playoff game) but it was still a fun night. Plus, the arena isn't all that big, so you can basically see from pretty much anywhere.

Still....after I saw the pictures from Ryan's game...

Getting myself some better seats next time!

Comedy Night

We went to a comedy club downtown to watch Ralphie -was that his name? Yes....I just checked our ticket stubs. Did any of you watch that show "Last Comic Standing"? He was one of the contestants and apparently did quite well.

When he got on stage he was so drunk and/or high, he could barely make his way through his first couple of jokes. Which made the comedic timing a bit difficult to maintain. But as he sobered up, the jokes got quicker and more entertaining and he had all of us (especially Fred) laughing pretty loud.

Personally, I liked the guy who opened for him a bit better, but they were both entertaining.

That would be Ralphie

RYAN AND FRED VISIT COLORADO: PART 2

Now, the reason I was ready to toss Fred's camera (and perhaps Fred himself!) out the window was for the following:

He wanted to take lots of pictures of the Rockies as we were driving up to the mountains each time we went snowboarding. That wouldn't have been so bad....

....except for the "rolling down the window and leaving it down while he snapped 10 or 15 pictures" part.... in minus 10 weather.

Okay, perhaps I'm exaggerating a bit and it wasn't that cold. But I SWEAR the damn window was down more than it was up every time we drove up into the mountains.

Some of the resulting pictures (and yes, I think they're gorgeous)

This is from the top of Loveland Pass. It's also one of the highest points on the Continental Divide....at least according to the sign we passed on the way. Elevation is close to 13 000 feet up here.

Uh...long range weaponry??? Glad we stay within the resort.

Snowboarding

We went snowboarding 3 days during Ryan's visit (Fred went 4 times, crazy boy). We visited Loveland (my fave), A-basin and Vail. Though they were all pretty, and had great weather the days we were there, I think the place I had the most fun was Vail. And that was because, on his third day of snowboarding, Ryan ventured up one of the bigger quad lifts and rode the entire way to the bottom -hitting a blue run on the way!

I think it took me 6 mos to get to where he was after only 3 days. Pretty damn impressive.

Kendrah and Fred

Ryan, on the chairlift

Looking pretty decent already...he might be a natural!

That would be me....on the bunny hill.

Kendrah and her pretty new snowboard

RYAN AND FRED VISIT COLORADO: PART 3

Last part, I promise. There were just so many pictures!

On the way back from the mountains one day we decided to stop at Buffalo Bill's grave, and at the buffalo overlook, to see if we could spot some of the giant animals.

We got up close and personal with those enormous creatures.

Coming back from the mountains

All that protected us from these giants was this flimsy wire fence. Don't piss them off!

The sign says it all

At Buffalo Bill's Grave

Molesting the statue

Overlooking downtown Denver

We saw this sign from the highway and, in true Kendrah-Jessica fashion, we whipped off the highway to see what all the fuss was about

Um...not quite what we were expecting.

And that sums up the boys' trip. Not necessarily in the right order, but it makes sense in my mind. So you'll all just have to put up with it.

Love Ya!

DANIELLE'S VISIT

Like a good sister, D came to visit the end of Feb. It was a snowboarding extravaganza, as well as a much-needed break for her and a nice reminder of home for me. We went to some fun restaurants, a Nugget's basketball game, and snowboarding for 3 days. Not bad for a week long visit.

At Winter Park:

It was amazing weather -sunny and warm (about 10 degrees) with a fresh layer of powder -about 5 inches. Meant when we wiped out (and it happened plenty of times), it was like landing on a soft, fluffy pillow.





Coors Factory

I told you in an earlier post that it was a fun place to visit. Dee 1) enjoyed herself and 2) found herself drunk at 3 o'clock in the afternoon on a random Tues...for FREE!


The Crappy Part of the Week

A couple of days after we went to Winter Park, Danielle and I braved some freezing cold weather and headed up to Loveland for another day of riding. It was cold and windy, but still quite fun. Just before lunch, Danielle and I decided to try going through the trees, to add some adventure to our day. I made my way through the trees without a problem. And felt pretty damn proud of myself too, I might add.

Pride is a sin, isn't it?

Because it was after that that the trouble started.

I was alive, but staring down two black diamonds going in either direction. And no...I'm not a black diamond boarder, by any stretch of the imagination. I am a solid blue run rider who (by the end of the day when my thighs are so sore they're shaking) has no problem taking a green run to the bottom. Facing the black diamonds, my only thought was to get to the bottom alive. So I went left.

Perhaps I should have gone right.

40 feet from the bottom, on a fall that was so simple and ordinary I'm embarrassed to admit it, I wiped out. I'd taken spectacular falls that day -somersaults and cartwheels and face-plants that had me eating snow. Did I hurt myself then? Of course not. Instead, I had this wimpy looking fall going down some damn moguls, in full view of the chairlift line below.

Lovely.

Landed on my wrist and knew (even though I've never broken a bone before) that it had snapped.

I was right. I broke it in two places.

And that about sums things up.

The Denver Nugget's Game

Sadly, they lost. No one seemed that surprised. I was on vicodan, so I didn't give a damn.

And that's all there is to say about that.

The flowers Kendrah bought me after I (simultaneously) found out I busted my wrist and would likely (though -GASP- I didn't) lose my job. Not one of my better days.

COORS FACTORY

Kendrah spent some time exploring her Colorado guide book and found out we were only one exit away from the Coors factory. It was so much fun that we took Danielle here when she came for a visit. It's basically a good way to get licked in the middle of the afternoon.

We've gone a bunch of times now -just the two of us, with my sister D, and when Ryan & Fred came to visit. It's short, interesting, and (best of all) gives you lots of free beer at the end. A good way to spend an afternoon, as far as I'm concerned.

In this room, you get to sample either Coors (yes, there is such a thing) or Coors Light that is piped directly from the holding tank. It's icy cold and is some of the freshest beer you'll ever get to taste (or so the story goes). It's about a week old, and is surprisingly tasty.

My new favourite beer. It's a wheat ale that you drink with an orange slice. I think it's delicious, but both Ryan and Fred hated it.....perhaps it's the sweet aspect of it?!?