Wyoming Homecoming, October 11

Ok, I admit it. I'm way behind on my posts.

So, just a month after the trip to Laramie for the Texas game, Rasila and Rodney found themselves headed to the Homecoming game versus the University of New Mexico. Since we had lost something like 6 straight to UNM in football, it didn't matter that they were 0-4. We wanted to beat them. We knew the weather was going to be chilly, with a forecast gametime temp of 26 F (-3 C), so we packed accordingly.

We flew Southwest Airlines for the 3rd time to DIA, and I like them better each time. The car from Budget was more expensive, even with my frequent renter ID, so we rented from Alamo this time. We had a nice Mitsubishi Galant, which motored us nicely to Laramie, with only a skiff of snow on the Pumpkin Vine. Roger called and said he had once again forgot his season tickets, so we went by the ticket office to get his reprinted before going to the Gas Lite Inn to check in.

We had dinner that night at our favorite, Jeffrey's Bistro, while it proceeded to start snowing. Rodney and his brother Roger went over to the Buckhorn to meet their college buddy Jeff and any others in town. It was an early evening to make preparations for attending the 10 AM parade.

We woke to 7-10" (17-25 cm) of snow. All the roads were closed into and out of Laramie. We met Rodney and Roger's Uncle CC and Aunt Loree to watch the parade in the 9 F (-13 C) weather, then had breakfast at Shari's with them. We overheard the hostess say that the team, the coaches, the cheerleaders and the band all were in Cheyenne the night before for a Cowboy Joe Club auction. Neither Wyoming nor New Mexico were in town! After breakfast, we went back to the hotel and turned on the radio to catch any updates. It turned out that the Governor had given special dispensation to run a snow plow and highway patrol caravan to escort the teams and the accompanying people back to Laramie!

So, we headed to the Library for the pregame and then over for kick off. The roads opened only 1 hour before kickoff, so only people from Cheyenne could have made it that morning. The attendance was announced at 15K, but more like 9K were there. It was 15 F (-9 C) at kickoff and caused an eerie fog to rise from the field. We were well dressed for the game with multiple layers and insulated seats, so we had no problems with it. Wyo won after giving up the first TD to UNM, 37-13. We then headed over to our friend Chelly's for a post game BBQ and off to the Buckhorn and Cowboy Saloon for the evening.

The next morning was actually nice weather (20s) and an easy drive back to Denver after catching the movie Surrogates and lunch in Loveland with Jeff.

Wyoming vs. Texas, Laramie, WY, Sept. 12, 2009

The University of Wyoming signed a 3 game series with The University of Texas and because of a quirk in Texas' schedule, the series started in Laramie. Marc, a friend of Rodney and his brother Roger since 5th grade, works with a Texas grad named Haywood. Haywood basically promised tickets in Austin next year if we took him to Laramie this year. So, we got excited and booked rooms and bought tickets in February in anticipation.

Marc, Rodney, and Haywood flew up on Frontier Airlines, met Roger at the airport, and drove up to Laramie. We decided to stop in Ft. Collins to pee on the Colorado State University sign have lunch and stopped at the New Belgium Brewery. Turns out they don't have lunch, but we had some tastes of some beers, notably, the Hoptober, which we bought a 12 pack of for the rest of the weekend. We had lunch at Beau Jo's where we had pizza and Fat Tire. We then drove up to Laramie, replaced Roger's forgotten tickets at the ticket office, and checked into the hotel. We then drove up to the Snowy Range Wyoming Highway 130 to make Haywood run around the car at 10,800 ft (3292m). After a couple hours hiking and gawking, we ate dinner at The Old Corral in Centennial. We then finished up the evening at The Buckhorn Bar, where we met plenty of Texas folks and enjoyed the UW Band, Marching Thunder, come by. There was also a live band on 3rd, with some cheap Budweiser, that we enjoyed for a couple hours before stopping at the Ranger Bar, where everything's stranger. It was actually an early evening (midnight).

On gameday, we got up and had breakfast at Shari's, then headed to the Library for some pregame beer and banter with the Texas fans who had reserved the entire restaurant before the game. Luckily, some were adventurous and joined us in the bar. We headed early to the game and enjoyed the first half, where Wyoming had a blocked punt for a touchdown for a 10-6 lead, before going into the half down 13-10. Alas, Texas asserted it's #2 ranking and scored 28 more points in the second half while Wyoming did not score. We had fun anyway! We had went back to the hotel and headed downtown, aiming for Chelo's, but it was closed, so we had a beer at Bud's Bar, then dinner at our favorite, Jeffrey's Bistro. After dinner, the line was long at the Buck, so we introduced Haywood to the Cowboy Saloon, where we watched it fill before finishing off at the Ranger again.

On Sunday, we had breakfast at Shari's again, then walked the campus. The Geological Museum was open, so we enjoyed it, then hit Taco John's for lunch before driving back to Denver and flying home. It was a great trip!

Bike the Bay, San Diego, Aug 30, 2009

Rasila decided to sign us up for a bike ride for our anniversary this year, especially because we did not do the Rosarito-Ensenada this year due to it's late resurrection and the general turmoil in Mexico these days. So, she signed us up for the Bike the Bay event.

We went down Saturday night and spent the night with David and Jill. We had dinner at a new Mexican Sushi Sports Bar (yes, it really exists and was quite good) and went to sleep early since we had to get up at 5:15 AM

Sunday, we had bagels and bananas, walked Ziwi, then headed down to the San Diego Convention Center, which was the parking for the ride. We rode over to the start, grabbed some Peet's Coffee, and waited for the staggered start at 7:00 AM. We were in about the 5th or 6th group, starting about 7:30AM. The ride went along Harbor drive, then up 10th to just under the bridge, where we road an offramp up to the main span. We were separated by the concrete barriers from the car traffic and the bridge was actually much easier than we expected. Riding up Turtle Rock in our neighborhood is much tougher!

We cruised down the back, past Coronado Golf Course, the Hotel Del Coronado, the Navy Seal Base, then down the Silver Strand to Imperial Beach. The Bayshore Bikeway is a great ride. We came back up through the Chula Vista Marina, the 32nd Street Naval Base, the NASSCO Shipyards, and back to Embarcadero Park for the after party. We made it at about 9:30, 2 hours for the ride.

There was Peet's Iced Tea, Carnitas and Fish Tacos, and plenty of Vitamin Water, various Teas, and Karl Strauss Brewery for consumption. A 3 "man" band called the "Blond Brothers Band" (ages 13, 14, and 20) entertained us. They were quite good. They said they had "ongoing technical difficulties" since they had no beer from the beer garden ;-)

We didn't win anything in the lottery drawing, so we left about 11:00 AM, then dropped by to shower and pick up Ziwi at David and Jill's and made it home about 2:00 PM.

Idyllwild, July 2-5 Camping in Boulder Basin

I completely forgot to enter this!

We decided we needed to go camping for 4th of July weekend, so Rodney made a reservation on Reserve America for Boulder Basin. He only made it a few weeks in advance, so was pleasantly surprised to find one of the better camp spots available. It actually turned out to be the same one we stayed at 2 years ago!

We drove up Thursday afternoon and set up camp about 6:00 PM, cooking a quick dinner before nightfall. The next morning, we hiked to the fire lookout, then headed into town to look up an old boss of Rodney's. He runs a couple stores in Idyllwild and one in Palm Springs. We found him and arranged to meet him for lunch on Saturday, then went and bought a America the Beautiful Pass, so we can persuade ourselves to visit more National Parks, Monuments, and Forests for the next 12 months. After some short hikes that kept ending at the wilderness area, so we couldn't take Ziwi, we headed back to the camp and read and relaxed.

The next day we got up, ate breakfast and then headed to the Ernie Maxwell Trail before joining Rodney's boss and partner for lunch. We then got to see their incredible house and enjoy some drinks on the patio, before heading back up to sleep for the night.

We got up and headed back early on Sunday to take care of tasks, just wanting to go camping again.

Brown Family Reunion June 26-28, 2009

The last week of June was the bi-annual Brown Family Reunion, Rodney's mother's family. We flew Southwest Airlines again this time. They definitely have one of the smoothest operations. After getting the cheap SUV from Budget Rent A Car last trip, we spent twice as much money for a Chevy HHR this time. It was a decent little car though, and we used it well, since Rodney's brother, Roger, and Roger's wife Julia called when we were just north of Cheyenne on I-25 to say they were 20 (35km) miles east of Casper and Julia's Passat had broken down. Since we were in the state, we decided we could make the 250 (400km) mile detour to pick them up. Wyoming (and Colorado) were both beautifully green from the record wet June and we drove 80 miles (135 km) through a downpour on the way to Casper. It cleared up nicely by the time we were in Casper, where the only VW dealer in the state, Ray Powders Volkswagen, was located. We had a great view of Laramie Peak on the way past Glendo Reservoir, which was full to overflowing. We arrived in Torrington about 7:30 and went to eat at Buck's Pizza, which hit the spot. After a couple hours socializing and playing games, we hit the sack.

Saturday we took a walk up the downtown of Torrington and found a nice coffee shop, then spent the mid day at the group lunch with the 60 or so family members that made the reunion. In the afternoon, we took the 50 mile (90 km) trip to the farm where Rodney's mother grew up, in Moore Springs. Rasila's quote, "Now I know what the middle of nowhere truly is!" That night we had a group dinner and played games until tired.

Sunday was a quick gathering and good-byes, and then we drove to Cheyenne to see Rodney's Aunt Jeanie and Uncle Ray's place east of Cheyenne. It was a beautiful 80 acre spread with a horse barn and pastures. Some neighbor's cows were on "the back 40." We then made the drive back to Denver, where the security lines were insane, and flew back Sunday night.

Volleyball, Sea World and a Birthday Party, June 6-7, 2009

This weekend was a packed weekend. Rodney's San Diego friends organized the semi-annual "Just Us" volleyball tournament in Mission Beach. We still store some 4x4 poles at an apartment there (secret place), where we can set up our own courts. We had 10 people or so, and we played a "King of the Beach" style tournament. Rodney was 1-3, which wasn't surprising since he hadn't played in 18 months.

From there, we dropped Ziwi off at our friends, David and Jill, house, then went to Sea World for local.com's 10th Anniversary celebration. We took in the Sea Lion show, the Dolphin Show, the Shark Encounter, Manatee Rescue, and, of course, Shamu! We hit other stuff too, but those were the highlights.

We spent the night at David and Jill's, then headed home to do the yard work, and then up to Los Angeles for Rasila's friend's, Chris', birthday. It was a nice afternoon after the thunderstorms and the food and the beer were good.

Rasila's brother Belden's Graduation, Colorado Springs, CO

Since we'd been to 2 of her other brother's (Seton's) graduations, we decided to attend one of Belden's. He graduated from the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, with an MBA.

We flew up Thursday night on Southwest Airlines, trying out their new service to Denver. It was a smooth flight, with us arriving at 8:30 PM or so. I had reserved an intermediate car at Budget Rent A Car, but they were running out and offered an SUV. I said "no," but they then said I had to wait for a car to be cleaned, so I changed my mind since we had a 90 mile drive to our hotel. We ended up with a full size GMC Yukon!

The drive down was smooth and the vehicle had XM Radio, so we tuned into the Jimmy Buffett concert from Irvine on Radio Margaritaville and sung along the whole way down. We arrived at the Fairfield Inn at about 10:40 PM.

The next morning, we had breakfast at the hotel (included, yah!), then went to the audaciously named World Arena for Belden's Graduation Ceremony. It took the requisite 2 hours and we then went to lunch at Panera Bread, and then drove around Garden of the Gods. We had dinner that night at the Craftwood Inn in Manitou Springs.

The next day we went and rode the Manitou and Pikes Peak Railroad to the top of Pikes Peak. It was a fun trip, with the top being a snowstorm (see the photos)! This took most of the middle of the day and we went back to the hotel and used the gym before dinner. We had dinner that night at Walter's Bistro, an outstanding place that I would have driven right by!

The next morning, we went to the Rocky Mountain Dinosaur Resource Center in Woodland Park, CO. We took the guided tour and thoroughly enjoyed it! They had a traveling Darwin exhibit too. We had lunch at Joanie's Deli, then high tailed it back to DIA to return the car and fly back home.