Some Holiday Things ~ But Kala Was In Kansas 25Dec25-21Jan26

Kala headed to Kansas in Dec to be sainted, and help her cousin with medical treatments there so Matt & I and others went through the holidays for the 1st time in 45 years without her. The stockings were up and Matt, Letha, and I did a gift exchange over a classic holiday meal at sushi! Matt enjoyed his bounty and LPC & MLC enjoyed their F1 dish towels. I scored a keen Shun serrated utility knife for skinned veges (really like Japanese steel) and enjoyed a world class DDH IPA, DDH Ghost in the Machine, once in Summit for skiing and audio work.

I did host my good friends Bro Brown & Donna... always a pleasure. Of course I was over at the Lodge for some nosh and brews too. And our friend and neighbor Alan brought us a treat of boozy eggnog!

We rolled into January dry as a bone here in CO so not much skiing but I did get out with BroB and Richard... we crushed some speedy blue & black laps @ the Key and Richard made guac, tacos, etc for dinner and we watched some football. I also snagged another keen DDH, from ORB this time of course ~ Slush was excellent.

I headed back to COS and hosted a Natl Champ watch party with Bob, Alan, Jim, and Dave (no team pic; just setup). We had my nachos and lobster raviolis with Sriracha and tomatillos... and some nice beers (except for Alan, who's doing NA January ~ respect).

In Dec25 Matt & I laid plans for the Rolex 24. I watched the Roar Before The 24 in preparation. And, Jim & I took out the FlyBox a final time before cold weather set in again. We hit some keen local brewers and capped with excellent sushi over a nice 4 hour night.

Decent holiday time, all things considered ~ I'm looking forward to Kala's return.

Birthday Week In COS & Mtns ~ Nosh & Wine, Indian Food, ORB & Ski Events With Friends 20Nov25-24Nov25

Nov 20th ~ Scott & Peg and we went to Cowboy Star for a keen happy hour outing. We wrapped the evening with some killer bottles from Edgar: a Grand Reserve Tempranillo and Gracias, a super tasty blend of Graciano & Carignon. Graciano is a rare grape from Rioja, Spain.

Nov 21st ~ Kala and I just hung out and tasted some excellent Indian food from Zaika. Plenty of leftovers as I always order big.

Nov 22nd ~ I headed to Summit to gather some friends for a F1 watch party and a tasty dinner at Sauce on the Blue. We had a great table and entrees and then headed to the Nest Theater for the Las Vegas Gran Prix. Max won but Lando came back for 2nd ~ except he was disqualified for running his pan .1 mm shy... sheesh.

Nov 23rd ~ Bro Brown got us out early to queue in the Peru lift line for 30 min before opening. Good move actually 'cause the day became crowded at the Key given that the kids are off school; it was a weekend; and, there's limited terrain open thus far. It was Jim's first experience skiing in November and it was my first weekend in a while! We headed home pretty early but got plenty of runs on all the mtn offers right now. We hit the spa and I offered the tasty leftover Indian food. We then gathered again for a fun afternoon/evening at a private event held at ORB for Can Club members (that's us!) ~ 5 x 10oz pours of popular stuff and discussions with staff. The event included service and a tour from head brewer Luke ~ he was good and answered our many Qs. We had a blast and solved many world issues and tap-handle queries. Thanks for DD Bro Brown.

Nov 24th ~ Jim & I met up with Dave for runs again down Keystone's white ribbons. Always a good rip with my mtn climbing buddy. Great days with great friends.

Skied The Key For My 1st Runs ~ No Snow, No Legs, Just Fun 03Nov25

Keystone has done a solid job again with snow-making early season, on the open white ribbons. There is precious little snow elsewhere out here. Despite it being 62° at the base today (I helped a chunky 5" lizard back to the sun after he'd wandered into shade & cold), I had a good time on all 3 open lifts (I didn't take Ranger) and associated runs. Snow wasn't scraped off after WE but for one smallish section, and the bottom was warm and malleable. I was surprised that even on an early Monday the River Run lot was filling up... to park on my favored N side of the lot I did take the back row. On the hill and lifts the skiers were not as noticeable and all white ribbons were navigable without incident. Woohoo; it begins. I tried to hit Last Chance on the way home but alas construction has them closed for the time being. 

Springtime In The Rockies ~ Good Golfing, Hiking, Fishing, & Skiing Mar25

Golf... One hopes it'll always be like this. The fam got together at City Park GC in Denver to enjoy lunch and a round with Kala & Matt; Letha even came for outing and drove the cart.

Hike... Sure we have snowy and colder days but between those... yeah. Kala & I are prepping for our trip to Big Bend and have been hiking around some together. We're both coming off of illnesses so we're working up to the longer, steeper hikes. Around Blodgett Pk and the open space there, right behind our house, is always fun.

Fish... March sees the beginning of the cutthroat & rainbow simultaneous spawn... that's why we get big cutbows. The tailwaters of the South Platte, Arkansas and Blue Rivers near us are strong fisheries where that dynamic plays out annually and I partake... not in the spawn but the more ready availability of the biggest fish as they turn red, gain hookjaws, and get randy. We don't fish the spawning beds (redds) but nearby is game.

Ski... Spring skiing on the sunny 45° days is awesome, and there are plenty in March. We alternate these with dumpers in Summit Co; so fun. Plus, being able to aprés at one of the best breweries in the country sucks not, especially when the boyz can break away from duties.

Ski & Party With Bro Brown And Yoho During Guys Week ~ MN Mafia In The 'Hood 05Feb25

It is that time of year when lifelong friends, and family (yeah, all male) of Bro Brown come to Summit for winter fun. I usually visit, dine, and ski with these Minnesota Mafiaosos some during the week long event. Too, my buddy Yoho joins as well for parts of it. Well, with a less generous pass held this year, Jim & I only jointed for Breck & Keystone outings. And, through strange administrative turns, Jim didn't get his normal Epic Local pass this year and I had to flip him some Buddy Passes... dang, even they are very expensive. Too, at the ticket booths not everything was smooth ~ there's some glitch in the system with Jim's pass. Anyway, try as we did to catch up with Richard & Brown and their team, we couldn't at Breck and didn't at Keystone. The last we saw of Brown-sign was parking next to the Vanagon in the Airport lot. We did share some pops at Broken Compass after runs at Breckenridge, and we did dine that evening at The Lodge. Later in the week we skied another nice day (weather here is 20° above normal right now so think spring snow conditions) at Keystone. Part of the show is giving the young Brown & Hubbs boys some music education via the NestMT... it was a good time with them too, despite missing them on the slopes. Yeah that's a decent shot of the 10 Mile range from atop Bergman at KS.

Sierra Hull Concert @ Riverwalk Breck ~ Awesome Fun With Sheldon & Kala In Summit 11Jan25

Kala and I headed to Summit the back way after her morning return from Boulder on I25 was 10mph in blowing snow. We had no big issues, even over Wilkerson and Hoosier passes; I drove Kala's great new Lexus car. Too bad LPC & MLC, I made you fried rice servings but we avoided Denver. We were heading out for some winter fun and a concert with the spectacular Sierra Hull.

When we arrived in Frisco we stopped at ORB for a hazy DDH and to pickup my Jan allotment. So good.

Then, we ate the fried rice stuff. Dave met me at Keystone for some corduroy dreams Fri morning... yeah it was -4° when I left the Nest so it was a cold, at least windless, day on the slopes. We got runs mainly on Outback & Bergman; it did warm to mid-low 20°s.

We rested during the afternoon then primped for dinner and the concert. Breck was gorgeous with holiday lighting for the team selfie that included Dave's lifetime buddy Rod, who came out with us. We dined at the excellent Aurum, of course during happy hour pricing, and then headed to Riverwalk. I said "it's GA so let's queue at 6:30 for 7pm doors." Yikes it was cold but we were 1st in line and actually were let into the building by the security volunteer. Nice.

The show opened with Stephanie Landring who had a humorous shtick, good songrwriting and a great voice. She's touring with Sierra, who she met in her town of Nashville, so that says a lot. She'd written others' songs for 10 years before going solo in 2024 with her first album.

Sierra Hull was outstanding as always. Sure she's 3 time mandolin player of the year... but her range of material and styles, songwriting, singing, and band-leadership combine with those outrageous technical skills to deliver truly great shows. She played 3 different mandolins, and a guitar, for the show. The pic far above is an Octavia, a larger, lower octaves, mandolin. She also played her classic bluegrass mandolin as well as a 3rd newer larger one that she most often plays. Styles of course included bluegrass but they did rock; they did folk/Americana; they even did a cool swing number. There were great covers from Doc Watson and Bill Monroe but also Tears For Fears! The accompanying band was very tight, now being in their 3rd year together. The sound in the Riverwalk was also improved from our last event attended there... it was really very good, as was the locals' vibe in the audience. All band members were not only jacked in with pickups but also miced over their sound holes... and there was a band sound man "behind the curtain" doing an initial mix before passing to the venue sound man in the back (we were initially sitting next to him). On a couple occasions they altered the micing to electrostatic/condenser to better pick up all the vocals in a tight harmony; most of the time they are all individually on dynamic mics. The floor layout was unexpected for the show but turned out advantageous... there were only 4 rows in the back with seats and the rest of the theater was tiered, but standing room, mostly. We initially sat with a decent view in the front row of the back seating but we ultimately roamed about and moved up to 12 ft away for half the show. The crowd and opportunity were fun ~ hard to imagine but it was not sold out to the 1,000 ticket level. I was again thrown off the stage trying to grab the setlist. Sierra's moving on to a show in Denver @ Mission and then a show in Aspen @ Belly Up. It was a completely GR8 kickoff show for us for 2025... and enjoyed with good friends.