Sail On - Hike On - Ride On 14Jul18-16Jul18

We sailed Dillon Rez and enjoyed too many wines; we hiked the Gore Range Trail to Boulder Lk from Rock Ck TH and endured many mosquitos; we rode Dillon to Copper along the lake and 10 Mile Ck among a throng of downhillers. Despite many wildflowers on the hike prior, Kala in particular was not enthralled with another selfie at midpoint of the Copper ride. A GR8 weekend with the Brantleys in Summit while other mates rode the Triple. Too, I hosted friend Scott Kizer with his lady Natalie and friend captain and doctor David Gray on Dillon Rez in some varying, but fun winds.

Sarah Shook & The Disarmers 13Jul18

On Friday the 13th, in the arts district of Denver, at the Hi-Dive club and bar, Kala & I, joined by Ross & Cat Nordstrom, caught Sarah Shook & The Disarmers. The show was very good and the band was very tight despite this being just the opening night for the band's summer tour. They were fresh and strong and only the crowd was buying them shots. Sarah spun her dark outlaw country tunes while band-members wailed brilliantly on pedal steel, lead guitar, standup bass and drums. GR8 show. We started with dinner and beer at Historians Pub where great brisket was had. On finding our headliner didn't start till 10:30pm we found other diversions before the show - including very good sours and IPAs at Baere Brewing nearby. I really liked the Totes IPA after tasting the 4 they were featuring. We may have gone back to Hi-Dive too early to catch opening act Timmy The Teeth who's set deteriorated from early fun toons and keen whistling to howls and dull lyrics and sameness. None the less, it was a fine night to be out and about with Ross & Cat on one of their first date-nights away from their handsome and happy kid Lucas... another milestone for them.

Cool Kidz Pic 26May18

Throwback to Phoenix in May 2018 @ Josh Gordon & Hannah's wedding @ Monorchid. The photographer grabbed these cool kidz hangin' near the bar - yeah, Jerry Garcia tie in deference to my good friends out of Long Island.

Back In The Nest 11Jul18

The 2 day return trip from NorCal was pretty uneventful but there were some cool sites. While we hit no new Natl Pks, at the Nevada-California border in the Mojave Desert we came upon a huge solar thermal power plant called Ivanpah. It was awesome - many coordinated mirrors reflect light onto a barrel of suspended water which turns to super-hot steam which drive turbines. I think its the largest of its kind in operation - 400MW. These still aren't cheaper than burning fossil fuel but we gotta keep tryin'.

We also passed through awesome plateau-river formations for many miles in UT, AZ & CO. Here the Virgin River cut some rocks near Littlefield, AZ. Not far from SW Utah where we intend to spend some weeks in the fall.

Back To Tin City & More 09Jul18

After a great dinner at Trexler's last evening, Kala & I and Anne & Steve headed into the dens of lions again today for more big Rhones. We hit Tin City in Paso Robles - where the start ups serve - and we started the day at the excellent Herman Story room where I was S. David Brantley and the Milk & Honey and Nuts & Bolts flowed strongly both in 2015 and 2016 variants (no pic there). We enjoyed lunch at Buona Tavola before going nano 1st @ Cordant/Nelle, then 2nd @ Aaron and 3rd @ Levo.

Mostly meh @ Cordant... the pinot noir was their best IMO. We met two of the 3 employees who were great people. The winemaker was away.

Better at Aaron, good winemaker, at least with his Rhones; we all bought the Trespasser from the super-talker pourer dude... it was 20 minutes before he asked about us.

Levo was again decent like Aaron from this just 28 year old winemaker (somebody is well-backed). The Grenache was the hit for me... 2X into the Silverthorne cellar. Labeling was weird here - the winemaker himself designed juxtapositions of flowers and weaponry for each offering.

Paso Wino 08Jul18

We are in SLO and headed to Paso Robles today to hit some wineries... anyone surprised? We started Italian @ Pelletiere (ex-wife of Denner) where we also dined lunch on the grounds, moved to French @ L'Aventure, and finished Spanish @ Edgar de Bodega. Edgar was "on" as usual; he made a trip in just for us and opened nearly everything in the house - all of which was very good... Scott's half case is full and I walked out with more than I should've. Awesome day with industry insiders and club members and gr8 friends (Dana & Grant, Anne & Steve, Kala & me) in cool spots.

Another great day of tasting with Edgar, who came in specifically to pour for our team. His wines again were the strangest blends and the very best we tasted. Our event included a tasting of the 2014 Tempranillo Reserve from a bottle, which we'd tasted direct from the barrel last year - 3 years on oak; woohoo. Topped off by his back-story and wine explanations and willingness to keep pouring - Edgar de Bodega is one of the very best winemakers in SLO Co in our opinion. Ten new bottles for the Silverthorne cellar - gotta replenish - now to consider joining the club, which is finally open again, hmmm.

Pinnacles NP & Firestone Walker While Inbound To SLO 07Jul18

Kala and I snaked through the agro region of NorCal as we headed to SLO. In part to avoid weekend wrecks on #101 and in part to stop at Pinnacles NP - a spot we'd never visited and likely would not pass again. We hiked a brief way up to old volcanic formations stemming from the San Andreas fault plates crashing into each other a millennium ago. It was 104° so we did not dawdle on our way to 108° Paso Robles. We ate and drank at Firestone Walker's main taproom and restaurant where we enjoyed the latest from Leo v Ursus, a double west coast IPA called Doublus. Tasty pizza and burger too.