New Mexico Bowl - Albuquerque, NM, Dec 19, 2009

When Wyoming beat Colorado State for the Bronze Boot, they clinched a Bowl game since the MWC had 5 bowl slots committed to. It was almost a given they would end up in Albuquerque, but there was some question as to whether there might be some deal reached to send them elsewhere. So, we had to wait until Dec 6th to find out. It was made official and I bought plane tickets and hotel accommodations that night to go, with the game tickets being purchased the next day. I was going to the New Mexico Bowl!

I left Saturday morning on a 6:45 AM flight through Phoenix on US Airways. Southwest, my preferred airline, was $50 more expensive on a less that 2 week notice trip. I arrived at 11:15 AM or so, had just a carry-on, so I quickly went to the cab stand and took a cab to check into my hotel at the Homewood Suites, then catch a ride to the Stadium for the Wyoming pre-game. I met up with Todd G., an old friend from Riverton, and his friends. It was a good lunch from El Pinto, with lots of Coors Light. The game started at 2:30 local time. Wyoming had traveled well, with at least 8-10K fans in attendance. Fresno State, not so well. I tried to find an old Riverton HS friend who works for the FSU athletic department, Steve W., but he was in the press booth. I dropped my name for people who claimed to know him, so I hope he got the message.

Wyoming won their second bowl game since I have been following them! It was a double OT thriller.

Afterwards, I joined my wife's Aunt Nancy for the New Mexico Lobos basketball game against Creighton. They came from behind to win as well!

To top off the night, we went to dinner at Yanni's, where we sat close to Bill Richardson while having a spectacular stuffed flounder dinner. I went back to the hotel, surfed the web for stories on the game, then went to sleep. I had a 8:40 AM flight back to Orange County, so no late night partying for me. I got up, printed my boarding pass, and flew home. A great trip!

Florida, November 7-14, 2009

Rodney and Rasila decided to use their timeshare in its actual location this year: Orlando, FL. Rodney had not been in 17 years and Rasila had never been. The theme parks were not much of a draw. We have Disneyland, Universal Studios, Sea World, the San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park, as well as Legoland, Knott's Berry Farm, Six Flags, all available if we want to go. We do have friends in Tampa and the weather is generally warmer in Florida than here, and Cape Canaveral is close to Orlando, so we said, "Let's go!"

We flew Continental Airlines through Houston there and back. I have to admit, I was pleased with Continental. We had meals on the long flight to and from Houston, and the planes were clean and on time. The baggage fee was $15 paid before hand, and in these days, that's a good price. We left on the 6:45 AM flight, catching a ride from an obviously very good friend to arrive at 5:00 AM at the airport. Rodney finished off one book on the way there. We arrived at about 4:30 PM local time, picked up our rental car (a Nissan Sentra) from Sunshine Rent a Car, and checked into our condo. A grocery store was right across the street, so we went and loaded up with breakfast, some dinners, and lunches. Naturally, Rodney had called Citibank (no link to you!) to let them know he would be in Florida, but his card got declined anyway. He called immediately to complain and after 20 minutes on the phone, we found out that because the charge came from someplace other than Orlando, Tampa, or Cape Canaveral, (Publix is headquarter in Lakeland, FL), they declined it. He was mad, and wanted the $25 membership fee credited, but was told he would have to write a letter to accomplish anything close to that (note, that still needs to be done).

Sunday, we got up and drove to Tampa (only 70 miles/110 km away). Our friends Harry and Maureen, and their sons Harry Joe and Jacob live there. We went kayaking on a river for a couple hours where we saw a 10-12' (3.5-4m) alligator, but the camera batteries had run out! It was a very deep black, sunning on the side of the river. Very cool to see as they normally hide away. We went back and deep fried a couple turkeys and ate one for dinner. It's quite a production, so if you do one, you want to do more! We then drove back about 9 PM or so because we wanted to get up early to go to Kennedy Space Center.

Monday, we spent all day, 9 AM, when it opened, to 6 PM, when it closed, at Kennedy Space Center. We purchased the "Up Close" tour, which left about 10:20, so we had time to walk the rocket garden before the tour. The tour takes you between the largest launch pads, right by where the Ares 1-X had launched a couple weeks before, and 3 miles from the active shuttle pad, where the Atlantis was launched a week later. It then takes you by the Vertical Assembly Building, the landing strip, and drops you off at the Apollo Center. We then visited the International Space Station Center and back to the main visitor center. They have a simulator ride called the "Shuttle Launch Experience," which was actually pretty mild compared to the theme park rides! We drove back and ate dinner in the condo.

Tuesday was a lazy day, studying and reading. We did allow them to take a couple hours to try to sell us in exchange for some gift cards to Roy's, which we took advantage of that night for dinner. Wednesday was also a lazy day. The condo had free wi-fi internet. Rodney used it as an excuse to buy an HP Mini Netbook so Rasila could study online and we could access the internet without per minute charges. Wednesday night, we did see "Up" at the pool's "Dive-in Movie."

Thursday, we went back to Kennedy Space Center to the Astronaut Hall of Fame. This took most of the day, including going back to the main visitor's center in order to see the films we had missed on Monday (admission was included in Monday's ticket, so no new price).

Friday was another lazy/study day, topped off with a Beer tasting at the pool. Saturday we flew home. A very nice, relaxing vacation!

Vegas for Dave and Karin's Anniversary October 16-18, 2009

Our friends Dave and Karin were married in Las Vegas and celebrate their anniversary there every year. Generally, we try to join them as their old friends from Pennsylvania and new friends from So Cal go and it's fun to make the trip.

This year, we stayed downtown at the Golden Nugget. We drove up on Friday afternoon/evening, arrive about 9 PM, just in time for the evening Happy Hour. Dave and Karin always get an extra room to have a 3 times a day Happy Hour. We then headed out to find some gambling. We ended up at the Main Street Casino, where we were playing the Deuces Wild Poker machines. Rodney had proceeded to lose $20 pretty quickly, so he gave up his machine to Karin. She appeared to be losing money faster than Rodney, so he made the comment, "Looks like you're making my loss rate look good!" Of course, this resulted in Karin hitting the jackpot (all 4 deuces) on the next play, winning over $600!

The next day Rodney got up to make his football bets (thank you Arkansas, for covering against Florida and making the football bets even), and the day was spent watching football, eating, and drinking in the party room. That night we had dinner in the Italian restaurant, the Grotto. With 14 of us, it was quite a dinner. We gambled lightly until 1:00 AM, after catching a couple classic rock shows on the Fremont Street Experience, namely Queen, Don Maclean, and Kiss. It is virtually impossible to find a less than $10 blackjack table, even with the "Fetish Pit" dancers at the Las Vegas Club distracting you.

On Sunday, we decided to take the desert route home to avoid the I-15 parking lot. This takes you through the Mojave National Preserve, on Route 66, through 29 Palms, and onto the 10 just outside Palm Springs. It was a great drive and we want to go camping there in the spring!

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.