Virginia, Home Sweet Home

The weekend of October 4 was the time for my annual fall pilgrimage to Southwestern Virginia.  I try to time these trips each year in October so I can experience the two best things about the area: VT football and the fall colors.  October 4 was a bit early for the colors, but that’s just how it works out sometimes.

Saturday

Saturday was mostly about the VT football game.  I got to catch up with some good friends from college who I don’t get to see nearly enough.  VT didn’t play especially well, but they did secure the win.  I find that I tend to get aggravated during these games with some of the mistakes that the players make.  I have to remind myself that I’m probably a decade older than most of them, and therefore I should keep my aggravation in check.  It is after all, only a game–and I’m not even playing.

Sunday

I wanted to do two things on Sunday: 1) Eat at the Home Place, and 2) Go Hiking.

The Home Place is a great restaurant in Catawba, VA. Even though the wait can be in excess of 2 hours, I still get the sense that it is a bit of a secret in the area. I don’t know it’s story, but I like to think there was someone who lived there who just liked to cook so much and was so good at it that they just converted the house to a restaurant. The meal did not disappoint.

From 2008-10-05 Tinker Cliffs, Virginia

Vicky, my local hiking companion picked Tinker Cliffs for a good hike which I readily agreed to because I never got around to hiking there when I lived in the area.  Tinker Cliffs is on the Appalachian Trail and can be seen from McAfee knob which I have hiked several times.  The weather couldn’t have been more perfect and a group of us set out including Vicky and myself. The views from Tinker Cliffs did not disappoint.  In fact, I may take my camping gear next year and hike the section of the AT from Blacksburg up past here. It would probably be 40 mile trip, but from the views, you can see it would be well worth it if the fall colors are there.

Be sure to check out Vicky’s post on this as well.

From 2008-10-05 Tinker Cliffs, Virginia

From 2008-10-05 Tinker Cliffs, Virginia

From 2008-10-05 Tinker Cliffs, Virginia

Who Says Denver Isn’t A Hockey Town?

Who says Denver isn’t a hockey town?  I really enjoyed reading this article by John Buccigross.  I never would have seen it if it hadn’t been for the mention of the Capitals on the right-hand side.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/columns/story?columnist=buccigross_john&id=3643046

Playing Hockey on Sacred Ground

OK, that title may be laying it on a bit thick, but last night I had the wonderful opportunity to play some hockey on the Pepsi Center ice (home of the Colorado Avalanche). Maybe it’s not Wayne Gretzky’s backyard pond, but it’s not something we all get to do.  The reason is that one of the guys on my team works for the Pepsi Center and hooked us up. He says they’re trying to condition the ice for NHL play.  Interesting.  Typically I play at the Av’s practice rink and condition that ice all the time.

Obviously the facilities where much nicer than anything I’ve ever used before.  It was a lot of little things like the bench was higher, the boards were covered in this kind of soft rubber so you don’t ding your skate blade hoping on to the ice–things like that.  Also, the lines on the ice were much brighter than at any other rink I’ve seen–probably for TV.  But the thing that struck me most was how impossibly hot it was on the ice.  It was probably 15 degrees warmer than at any other rink.

It was a cool experience.  Probably the neatest thing was seeing the guts of the Pepsi Center.  They wouldn’t let us in the locker room, so we changed in one of the dressing rooms.  They’re interesting–more of a lounge than a dressing room really.  We talked a bit about what rock stars had done whom on the leather couches which was funny and disgusting at the same time–they way most hockey humor is.

The hockey itself was unremarkable.  Our team was out matched and I really got to see how good our goalie is.  Except for an early goal at the end, I skated like crap and had a lot of trouble sync’ing with my line mates.  Guess that’s what 2 months off will do.

James (The Band)

I went out to see a band called “James” (hailing from Manchester, UK) with a couple of friends last night. Their use of a first name as a band name with seven members in it makes it difficult to write and speak in the correct tense and remain understood.  This was a big concert for me because the band hasn’t toured in the US in something like 8 years, which was before I discovered the band.

Most people know the their song Laid. In fact, Better Than Ezra (another one of my favorite bands) covered it on their greatest hits album.  Some people may also recognize Born of Frustration but beyond that they are fairly well unknown in the United States.  This works out well sometimes because we got to see them at the Ogden Theatre which is a relatively small concert venue–and smaller venues are almost always better.  It’s easier to feel connected with the music and the artist.

I don’t have much to say about the concert itself really.  It was a good show.  It would have been a great show except that it started a bit slow and they were really promoting their new album instead of giving more of a retrospective concert that I would have preferred.  Still, I really enjoyed it and I was glad I was able to check of my list because I spent the better part of 8 years thinking I had missed my chance.  We did spend a good deal of time trying to figure out if the trumpeter (a man) was wearing a dress or a robe.  Either way, it looked like it came straight from JoAnn Fabrics.  The lead singer dances like Michael Stipe from Losing My Religion, except on speed, and the keyboard player had I haircut that I hadn’t seen since Simply Red was in the Top 40.  Before you accuse me of being cold, I will point out that good music rarely comes from those of us who conform.

Androgyny aside, this is one of the most underrated bands in the United States.  One of my friends punched them into Pandora and their stuff was mixed in with The Smiths and The Killers–not bad company.  I’d recommend starting with the second disc of “Fresh as a Daisy–The Singles” if anyone was interested in checking them out.

http://www.myspace.com/jamesisnotaperson

Caribou Creek

While the fall colors in Colorado don’t compare much to the colors in Virginia, this year in Colorado has been better than most.  With the huge snows we had last year, the ground remained wetter than average which showed 1) by the relatively few wildfires we had in the state, and 2) the very vibrant yellow color on the aspen leaves.

Brilliant Yellow Aspens

Heather and I packed a lunch and made our way out to Caribou Creek.  We got a bit of a late start as one of us got a little too drunk during the VT football party the night before.  The only real downside to this was that the deep blue color in the sky washes out with the afternoon sun and the cloud build-up.  Other than that, it was a perfect afternoon and the views were quite panoramic.

Fall in Colorado

Came through a couple of hairy spots on the 4WD trail, but nothing my Jeep couldn’t handle.  Don’t be fooled, the stock jeep wrangler is an impressive machine.

Hiatus over–maybe

After more than a year hiatus, I’m going to start writing again–I think; it all depends on time.  A lot has happened in a year, so I have some catching up to do.

Aussie Rules Grand Final is tonight; VT plays Nebraska tomorrow.  Big Weekend.

Vail Trip Report (3/25-27)

So Vicky told me she was going to Vail for a week, so I joined them for a couple of days.  It was loads of fun. It was somewhat unfortunate because I was still recovering from being sick so I didn’t have all my energy and I couldn’t sleep very well.  It was unfortunate for everyone else that my congestion got the better of me and caused me to saw logs all night.

We stayed at the Marriott which is a very pricey hotel, but absolutely gorgeous nonetheless.  Vicky, Stacey, and Kipp stayed the whole week and that was good for them because Vail got about two feet of snow that week, but the sun shined most of Monday which is my favorite skiing (short of powder).

I skied all day in a short sleeve shirt and had a lot of fun.  Steep and Deep remains one of my favorite runs.  I jumped a small cliff early in the day just to see if I truly have all my guts.  Landed it pretty good. Everyone enjoyed Big Rock Park and we all got a ton of skiing in!  Based on the powder they got later in the week, I suspect everyone else really enjoyed the China Bowl.  Too bad I had to return to work.

It was a good couple of days and I got to catch up with my old friend Vicky and make new friends with Kipp and Stacey.  I hope to see all of you again soon.

Taos Trip Report

My buddy Tim Howe and I took a trip down to Taos over the weekend of March 10-11, 2007.  Taos is about 4 hours south of Denver.  We took off about 5:00 PM, had a quick dinner in a Pizza Hut in Pueblo, negotiated a snow storm over La Veta Pass, and arrived in Taos around 9:00 PM or so.

Tim being familiar with the town immediately found the one bar open past 11–a very cool place called The Back Alley Cantina.  The place had pool, shuffleboard, beer, lots of girls, and a band.  Tim and I knocked back a couple of cold ones, but due to exhaustion at work I wasn’t much for going out.  I don’t think Tim fully understood how tired I was.

We set up camp in the car around 11:30 or so where we promptly found out that Tim’s air mattress had a leak.  Tim is a prepared individual and had a patch kit.  The glue in the patch kit had dried.  Bummer.  Tim had a back up patch kit too! This glue was fluid, but the patch only held until we put weight on it.  It was destined to be a night of sleeping on the bed of CR-V.

Being as tired as I was became an advantage.  Tim said I was out early.  This night wasn’t as cold as the night we spent in the car up at wolf creek.  I estimate the low somewhere between 20 and 25 degrees–a little chilly for my relic of a sleeping bag, but definitely manageable.

We got up early, I’m unsure of the time.  Got changed, ate a bit of food and I then got my first taste of Taos.  I really like this resort.  Not allowing snowboarders really cuts down on the traffic.  The skiing is some of the most difficult I have encountered.  Tim and I did a lot of hiking.  On our first excursion, we decided to come down a run called “Tree Chutes.”  It was there that I recognized a picture Erik Makowsky had shown me in the 8th grade from skiing magazine saying “look at how impossible this is.”  I also remember shrugging it off saying “Yeah, it ain’t that difficult.”  I was wrong.  I had to back out of the chute and pick a new line.   The chute was pitched at about 45 degrees.  It was narrow and in need of some snow.  The only way I could see to ski it was to point the skis straight down hill, hit this lip on the left, send yourself airborne, and pray to clear the jagged rocks covered a distance of about 15 feet.  I figured I could do that; I was less certain about landing. See, the landing was on the same pitch, it was early in the morning and the snow was extremely crusty–almost ice-like.  This chute, on this day, was only measuring insanity.  I passed the test by finding another way down.

Tim and I skied hard until about 1:00 PM.  It was a good day.  We came across a run called Cuervo.  This run is not shown on the map.  Tim speculated that this was because they don’t want dumb-asses coming up and trying it.  This was the first time I saw Tim ever say “I ain’t doing that.”  The point is Taos is a tough mountain.  Get in shape, there is a lot of hiking and plenty of steeps.  Next time I go, it will be a powder day.