Tis a blessing to live in colorful Colorado 9/26

We spent the night with Kortney and the graduate. On Sunday we headed home through Rocky Mtn Ntl Pk. Some great color along the way, this is near the entrance where all the elk camp out.

We saw these big boys near the top of Trail Ridge Road.







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The whole family was out! Mom and the other twin were here too. We saw them on the western slope about 4 miles in from Grand Lake.


Some of you know that this critter can be wild and crazy. We captured a pic of her at Grand Lake.

Good People--Norm and Phyl came by for dinner.
Good Food--we tried a new recipe on them--grilled halibut wrapped in panchito ham on a skewer with bread. All of this was drizzled with our Tuscany EVOO. It was very, very good. The ham gave the halibut a slight salty taste. Asparagus baked topped with Parmesan cheese. Norm and Phyl brought with them a bottle of Goats Do Roam, a dig at the French wine with a similar name. It tasted like a bordeaux.
Good Exercise--we walked around Grand Lake, wanted to hike a trail but no dogs allowed on the park trails.
Good Retirement--Norm will join the retirement ranks in late November. 17 more drives to the Federal Center. Life is Good, huh Norm.

Paul did It! 9/27

Good People--Paul finished up his Master's program--way to go!
Good Food--lots of my favorite food, chips, salsa, bean dip, little wienies, cake, cookies (you get the picture). Then on to the Fort Collins Oktoberfest sponsored by Odells Brewery and a couple of Easy Streets and 5 Barrel, then to Lucky Joe's for a couple of Sunshine Wheat (gotta support the local breweries), then on to Besettis Italian restaurant for some good pasta, a bottle of their private label cab and Paul's chocolate cake with a candle. The light was so low they gave us a pen light, Paul really liked it.
Good Exercise--some really fun games, I barely beat Amanda in the Bean Bag Toss.
Good Retirement--someone asked my "What have you been doing?" I said "I have been doing retirement."

Movie, dinner with my fav! 9/26

Good People--Jan! We saw the movie "Bottle Shuffle" at the new Landmark (free popcorn and drink, you can order alcohol there as well and sit in big seats). The movie was pretty good, in the early 70's when California wines were challenging France. Of course, it has a love story to it and guess who wins. The movie is important, we are going to wine country with the Rays in mid October so we plan to visit Chateau Montecello winery (the featured winery).
Good Food--we walked about a block to Slattery's Irish Pub. Very little Irish except for Smidwick beer, band played jazz and not much Irish food, burgers, good salads, good price (regular plate size dinner salad with all you would want in a salad-$3.95), very nice patio with fire pit. For those of you that have gone out with us and know about 14 Hands Cabernet, they have it, so we had to share a bottle. A decent price for the wine and the food was very good. We have tried to buy some of this wine to no avail, it is a Washington winery and only sells to restaurants.
Great Retirement--the band plays on Tuesday and Thursday so we are going back.

Lunch with the guys 9/22

Good People--Dave and Ron are cycle buds and christian friends. Pastor Ron helps me through life with spiritual guidance.
Good Food--we ate at Hacienda Colorado--Ron helped me order what he eats--fajitas, Dave had a burrito. The restaurant is located just east of I-25 and north of the Lincoln exit.
Good Exercise--I did my rec center work out before we ate. So I ate with little guilt.
Good Retirement--It was good to catch up with the guys.

Parker Oktoberfest 9/20

Good People--Phyl, Norm, Bruce, Heiti, Eric and Jan.
Good Food--Great pretzels, steak on the stick from Trail Dust Steakhouse and beer. German tradition has it that everyone share the first beer from the first tap, so I joined in (a traditional kind of guy). Erdinger, Oktoberfest Hefeweizen and a plain Hefeweizen--Jan even liked it-- VERY MUCH!
Good Exercise--I rode my bike to our church's men's event this morning to hear Karl Mecklenberg a Bronco from the 70's. Ok speaker, good breakfast and a tough, long, uphill, cool ride to church at 7ish. Not much exercise at the fest except walking to the keg truck. We didn't even dance, but Heiti and I swayed to a couple of songs while she along in German and I mumbled (as usual).
Great Retirement--Beautiful weather and it is always a treat to be with friends.

Cone Park Hike 9/18

Good People--Jan and Sadie, we at times think our dog is Good People.
Good Food--we had lunch with cousins Cecil and Shelia at Las Carritas in Golden, just south of the King Soopers on Old Golden Road. Burritos for $5, can't beat it. Can you believe it--I forgot to take a picture. We did manage to get to Applejacks--October sale, so we hauled home a case of various cabs, chard and a riesling. We will let you know how they tasted, especially a couple were under $5 on sale.
Good Exercise--we did a short hike 1 1/2 hours on a fairly level trail. The Cone park is part of the Jeffco park system, there were a couple of small Jeffco parks before we got to Golden Gate State Park. It was our plan to hike a trail in GGS to see the colors but time was running out so we took this trail. It is a little over 1 1/2 hours from home to GGS, which is 13 miles west of Golden. It dawned on us that we can get to Silverthorne in the same time.
Great Retirement--we ran into a couple of mountain bikers (they should have been at work) for the most part we had the trail to ourselves, very quiet and peaceful. We think Sadie learned a new command "behind". She does not run back and forth in front of us when she is "behind", see pic. I started this last year when I was hiking the Castlewood Canyon trail with her and some other dogs, this year she did better.

Wildernest/Silverthorne condo 9/11-13

Good People--John and Judy--thanks again for including us in your time at your condo.
Good Food--German pancakes, pot roast, special scrambled eggs were the best. Good wine and some red top Bud, tomato included in Bud, something new. Paulener hefervizen (spelling??) beer at the Breckenridge Octoberfest. The food was not that good--pork roast with sauerkraut--Johns brauts was better--what do you expect at an outdoor festival.
Good Exercise--we were able to get in a 2 hour hike before the rain and snow came in. It rained on us some on the trail, snow down to 10,000 feet, we had our bikes but too cold. Exercised the brain with some fun card playing.
Great Retirement--the play was so much fun, Wishy Washy Washitera--some good country music.

Chatfield Resovior 9/10

Good People--Steve, one of my retirement buddies.
Good Food--we ate at Panera's in the Aspen Grove shopping center. A really nice patio and some good food.
Good Exercise--we rode about 17 miles around Chatfield reservoir from the Aspen Groove parking lot. Can you believe the bike trail has a round about--see pic. Reminded Steve and I of our Italy trips. By the way, a good trail does not exist all the way around the lake. At the south end you have to walk you bike up a very loose dirt trail, across a couple of railroad tracks and then ride down the south end of Highland canal. We rode a little way on Santa Fe and then turned west by the Northwoods Inn resturant, climbed through a bared wire fence and finally got back on the "good" trail. Then north end of the lake has a really nice road lane for cyclists. But near the marina you have dirt roads. The trail on the sound side is asphalt and very very rough, lots of cracks. Steve didn't mind with his mountain bike but my road bike was not happy.
Great Retirement--a good ride with a good friend.

Bike ride and dinner 9/7

Good People--Steve and the Colorado Tennis Champion of the Neighborhood--Cindy. Yes, Cindy's doubles team won and they are headed to Kevin's country--Boise. Cindy, we are impressed--way to go, girl!
Good Food--Steak, beer, wine and all that goes with an after a bike ride fun dinner with friends.
Good Exercise--we rode from Steve and Cindy's house on trails to Park Meadows and back--about 8 miles. Just enough to give us an excuse for eatin' up!
Great Retirement--a Sunday night good time and no work on Monday. On the drive home we were the only ones out and about.

1st Annual Skirt Chaser 5K 9/6

A Boulder woman designed a skirt for all kinds of sport activity. This year she is sponsoring Skirt Chaser running events in numerous US cities. The uniqueness of this race is that all the women get skirts and start 3 minutes before the guys (skirt chasing), the winner wins $500. A woman won this one and I think are ahead in all the races to date. They had to wait on the ole man for this pic.
Good People--Amanda, Ben and some of their Ft Collins to Steamboat Relay running friends. 700 women runners and only 300 guys. Any single guys looking at this blog--sign up, lots of fit young women.
Good Food--the event didn't offer much-a very small salad and bread. The beer sponsor was Okar Blue from Lyons/Longmont--they were one of first to sell their micro brews in cans. All they brought with them was a very, very hoppy pale ale. As all you beer drinkers know--not too many of us like a hoppy beer. Not very many of the 700 woman liked it and a bunch of us guys drank no more than a taste. So I pigged out on the Whole Foods organic bread and cookies.
Good Exercise--fun race, it was an evening race with a "block party" after near the Cherry Hills mall. I did the 3+ miles averaging 10+ minutes per mile--I thought I would do better, this the same pace I did the 6 mile Bolder Boulder. The killer--it started up hill for it seemed forever (less than a mile)--wow, but at least it was down hill coming home. I may have to stick with cycling--my knee was and is barking at me.
Great Retirement--I am thankful that I have my health to do this!

A Nice Holiday Weekend

Good People--Norm and Phyllis, Ellis and Bert, Dave and Loraine Tobin, their friends and some of our neighbors.
Good Food--dinner and some 14 Hands wine (a measurement for horses) at The Wine Bistro in Southlands. Try this wine, either cab or merlot, you can't buy it in liquor stores, only restaurants serve it. Dinner at Ellis/Bert's, Ellis's own spaghetti recipe and chianti of course--I won the new rummy card game (beginners luck). Then a pot luck at Dave/Loraine's new home. Pot lucks are one of my favorites--a table full of people's specialties to choose from--Jan's Montana beans are the best--I really liked their Heineken Light, too.
Good Exercise--walked to the last two parties--almost 4 miles total. Cycled to the rec center for kickboxing this morning.
Great Retirement--Even though this weekend was Labor Day, us retirees can enjoy it too. Especially when some of the partyers have to work tomorrow.