Ken & The Kiwis Visit Summit County ~ A Blast Packed In 14Sep24-17Sep24

Cousin Ken wrangled his host fam sister, Gill, and his & her Kiwi friends to visit Colorado recently. Kala & I hosted at the Nest and we had a blast all across Summit county with Ken, Gill, Alan, Jane & Iain.

Saturday evening arrival was enjoyed at the Nest; getting to know each other, enjoying chopped salad dinner with SW ranch & and grilled peaches, raising toasts with visitor-provided beer, and doing a bit of listening to Dave's Nest Desk & Nest Music Theater were the orders of the eve.

We slept well and arose for tasty bagels on Sunday. Soon enough we laid a plan to hike above treeline, see some aspen color and get to ORB. Ken chose to show his fitness (from his regular "hill workout") despite the elevation hiking out of Loveland Pass over the Snake River valley with Arapaho Basin, Keystone, and Breck ski resorts in the bg. Weather was iffy and overcast on the Continental Divide but we headed out undaunted. Kiwis were excited to do the last 100 ft of vert; "let's get above Mt Cook."

We trundled back down Rt 6 and headed to Frisco to start the imbibing at my favorite brewery, Outer Range. We moved quickly from the view deck to inside as some weather arrived. We tasted and enjoyed a number of beers and ciders, including some French ones, and the stellar wet fresh hopped Strata Gems. The later was acquired on the Summit Can Club for further debauchery.

Kala became DD for the Crusher and we moved on from ORB to the #2 brewer in Summit Co, Broken Compass. I neglected to clarify to cuz' Ken that there are two locations and he & Gill arrived "late" to the original taproom & brewery. BC was celebrating Hoptoberfest and we had a beer while listening to a keen country duo (I guess they were not dad & son, but howdy they seemed it).

Nobody was party weary so we held our reservation at the tasty Aurum (gold room) restaurant in Breck and had everything they made on the happy hour menu. I'd fixed a glitch in the NestMT where a fiber cable had disconnected, and upon returning to Silverthorne we split up and listened all night and had more Strata Gems, or watched the pilot to Patriot (hysterical dark comedy) and enjoyed G&Ts.

I had a squishy melon in the AM but rallied to prepared Dave's Eggs, a signature dish co-opted by cousin Ken as Ken's Eggs, 'cause he added corn kernels ~ maybe. It was to be a sailing day after breakfast but there was nearly no wind on the lake. No matter, we headed out to do other stuff and hiked above the lake looking for "mammals." See, Kiwis go gaga over mammals 'cause they have so few on the islands. We saw a few chipmunks and squirrels, to Gill's & Jane's delight, prompting their feeding behavior. We also stopped at the marina for grins and a quick peek at Mon Ami. We tried to hit brewer #3 in Summit, Angry James, but the Mountain Melt kitchen was closed and we needed nosh. A smidge of rain came and we moved on for nachos & a beer at Dillon Dam Brewing... we didn't do much as we had buratta & heirloom salad and roasted Olathe corn awaiting at the Nest.

 

After that late lunch we put on warmer concert clothes and headed back out (sans Kala & Ken) to the free Monday concert at the Dillon Amp. We heard MTHDS (music that heightens different senses), a Denver DIY hip-rock group that rarely performs now, but they have 4 studio albums ~ they were good; like HERE or HERE.

It was a full moon and there were $12 cans of beer too... so uh, we listened to a keen Sublime tribute band Badfish. They too were very good. The Kiwis loved the bands, the sound at the Dillon Amp, and the overall venue vibe.

To finish the day, Ken's signature ham & cheese sammies were prepared, which I co-opted by adding salami, hot cherry peppers, lettuce, and mustard. Yummm... Again we slept well and arose to "departure day" on Tue AM. Fresh berries & yogurt with coffee and tea was the fare of morning, with the news of the week on the tube. We trundled into the White River NF for some final pics and vibe with the fast changing aspens.

It was a GR8 several days with Ken and old and new friends. Thanks for coming and sharing your warmth.