Wonder Weekend In Denver ~ Sushi Den, Hungarian F1 GP, Denver Outlaw Game, Watchhouse Concert @ Botanic Gardens 24Jul26-26Jul26

Friday... Kala & I headed to Denver for 100° heat and a bunch of fun with family & friends. We arrived Fri and Matt joined us for sushi at the excellent Sushi Den on Pearl. We'd never been but heard many good things. This was the best sushi in CO we've had, by all our accounts. We chose nice blue label dry Junmai Gingo that was light and tasty; we had an awesome albacore sashimi appetizer and many nice nagiri pieces including barracuda and sea bass, along with normals. The "fresh today - dated 7/24" list was superior. It was plenty close to Letha & Matt so we will definitely be back.

We stopped for a Sancere for a future concert and I was fortunate to score some La Cumbre Project Dank, a bi-annual special concoction of dank, bitter IPA ~ it is always different. I liked the Vinyl Edition, so bitter... Kala did not.

Saturday... We rose early for F1 qualifying in Budapest on Sat AM. My fantasy team was advantaged as for the first time this season a Mercedes did not qualify in pole position. Lando Norris did in his updated McLaren ~ and I am the one who's hung in there with Lando and with McLaren. Good for me. Hope he has race pace too as the Ferraris and Max are nearby and known to start well.

Afternoon held a double header of pro lacrosse games at Barton Field on DU campus, the home of the DU Pioneers and the Denver Outlaws. We used to have season tix back in the day when games were at Mile High but we've not been there in a while. We had great seats on the midstripe in row 4 but unfortunately the games were not competitive... the Utah Archers crushed the Maryland Whipsnakes in game #1 (so effing hot in the sun) and worse, the Outlaws were trounced 18-8 in game #2 by the Philly Waterdogs. We thought we'd do well when we took the opening faceoff to the goal in the first 5 seconds ~ that never happened again and I quickly flipped to the rally cap. The only solace was that there are a number of CO players on the Waterdogs. We had fun but left early due to the drubbing.

Sunday... We awoke again early for the F1 race. "Sunday Is For Formula One!" Lando raced well and drove well on this twisty circuit and topped the podium for the first time this year. Ferarri was hobbled with penalties and Max did Max; Kimi was 3rd.

We headed out to grab nosh at Mendocino Farms on the way to the Watchhouse concert. Food at this chain is excellent and perfect for a take-in situation like a concert at the Denver Botanic Gardens. Yoho was tarp runner and we were food suppliers; of course we also each brought a nice bottle of wine for the event (Edgar's Albarino and the Sancere). Jim secured a nice front spot stage right. Two Runner opened the show and were "fine" but I was surprised by the big lineup shift at bass, and more importantly fiddle... long-time Two Runner, also from Nevada City. Emilee was gone and a new player was "in." I don't know the drama but I did like Emilee. Paige did the most as the opener, as usual.

We came to see Watchhouse and their set was completely fabulous. First off I was freaked out a bit with the addition of percussion, then we saw a sax! For only 2 weekends did the lead sax guy, a brother of the bass player (often present), join the show. Great addition. Watchhouse played much of the latest album Ritual, but then launched into an unscripted setlist of whatever we yelled out. The band was tight and the duo sounded fabulous through Andrew's sad stuff to some more happy times. The Watchhouse concert was excellent, especially as it was enjoyed with our good friends, and good nosh, and good wine.

 

Thanks everyone for a great weekend in Denver.

Telluride Bluegrass Festival Day 1 ~ Awesome Lineup, Fab Weather, GR8 Friend, And Challenging Logistics 17Jun26-18Jun26

Yoho & I followed the 2 concerts in Summit Co with 3 full 14 hr days of concerts at the 54th Telluride Bluegrass Festival in San Miguel Co. Wednesday was a travel day hauling the BC20X over a couple more mountain passes into our camping spot for the weekend, the Mary E Illum CG, on Natl Forest land. It was tight but I squeezed it into one of the few remaining spots at the CG, which is 7 miles from town. It was hardly the bucolic setting advertised. During normal operating conditions the campground hosts 20 sites... during the festival there were 800 people there ~ so cozy. On the way we stopped at Amica's in Salida.

Dining @ 221 S Oak ~ It ended up being a tasting ground as well as a listening ground for us. We decided to go upscale nightly for dinner... Telluride has some great choices and Yoho's eldest had visited a friend there on occasion and Jim wrangled recommendations. Rachel has connections and was trained for finery by J&M, so she steered us wisely. Jim was daily responsible for booking fine dining reservations for us ~ worked well. The arrival night we chose to skip FirstGrass up on the mountain in favor of going to 221 S Oak for a fine dinner and bottle of wine. We took the Crusher into town and were offered 3 hr free parking... which exceeded our hopes as we observed 3 miles of cars parked on either side of the road into town. Dinner and vino were excellent from Chef Eliza. Our experience was pretty wild too as 10 min after being seated, Tedeschi Trucks (Susan & Derek) sat down beside us! We'd see them tomorrow night as headliners.

Back at camp I needed to park the Crusher Too a mile up the road and walk back. We had nightcaps under the canopy while a team of kids played bocce with lighted balls.

Festavarian Scamper Logistics ~ We clothed in layers, coats on early (and likely late), and headed to the shuttle to town to queue for the "tarp run" entry to the grounds. We were not early at #607 in line but caught the view of Bridal Veil Falls from the queue. With just 2 of us we learned we could weedle into tiny spots. And nearby Festavarians, to which we were referred, were nice and accommodating. We had to go front-back vs side-side on Thu.

 

 

Day One @ TBF ~ As shown we anticipated a killer day 1 lineup and over 14 hrs of music. Woohoo. Chris kicked of the show with interpretations of Bach on the mandolin, and his original schtick-work. We visited with Brian & fam and dined during the Scottish Dallahan show but they were excellent from afar and at the chix sandwich spot. Sorry Wilke family; bad f-stop on the cam made you all fuzzy. Back to our listening spot we caught the emerging country start Noeline Hofmann ~ fun with good voice and band. Peter Rowan, of Grateful Dear and New Riders writing fame, played next ~ he's good, and old. The grounds have comprehensive port-a-potties, a merch tent, food vendors, an artist signing spot, and other vendors selling cool stuff. I found my mtn & fish vibe for the rest of the concert @ Loki.

 

 

VID

AJ Lee & Blue Summit and Telluride House Band ~ Next up was one of my favorite bands currently: AJ Lee & Blue Summit. A strong member departed Blue Summit for the '26 year and season, Bakersfield's own XX. He and Sully Tuttle were kind of dups in the band anyway... both great guitarists with good singing voices for lead and vocals, and both songwriters of note. So, bummer, but I understand. AJ won the IMBA top vocalist last year! Their set was a hoot of a wide range across their 3 album catalog, including covers. Very good, always. I caught a vid of one of AJ's unreleased tunes but I can't recall the name. The Telluride House Band sounded great and was in '26 composed of a spectacular lineup: Jerry Douglas/dobro, Sam Bush/mandolin, Edgar Meyer/bass, Chris Eldridge (Critter)/guitar, and Stuart Duncan/fiddle. I was texting with my friend Pippus of Victoria and he mentioned many players were the same as when he came to To-Hell-You-Ride 36 yrs ago... and they are still great. Noeline was asked to join for a tune and the band got campy when Bella 'didn't have a 5 string capo' so Noam Pikelny (Pickles, a great banjo player) came out to be his capo for a song.

 

VID

Watchhouse & Tedeschi Trucks ~ Closing day 1 were two great bands I also "came to see." Watchhouse played at twilight and crushed it. Emily & Andrew have a great way with words and playing ~ Andrew is often sad in songwriting but his poetry is epic. Emily is sweeter but the NCarolina duo joins each others stuff seamlessly. We've seen them before but this was a completely stellar show at a beautiful time-of-day in 'summer' in the San Juans. Tedeschi Trucks are an awesome 10 pc multi-genre band from FL. Mostly it's blues and soul but anything can happen with them. Susan & Derek are the bandleaders who each can hammer guitars and Susan's voice is killer. Plenty of stuff from their latest albums but also crowd pleaser Sly & The Family Stone covers of "everyday People." We noted the shift for the headliners... no sitting and it's time to bundle your tarp. Jim and I got back the shuttle exhausted but satisfied for sure. Returning across the festival grounds with tons of shit still in the way in the dark was harrowing but a lesson for Day 2.

What a day!

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.