Garden

Garden is still producing! I try to bike there every other day. I picked 10# of tomatoes on Tuesday, another 8# on Thursday. Sooo many tomatoes haha. I will admit I've been harvesting the gardens that people abandoned as well. Sadly over half of them are unattended, rotten veggies everywhere. Our peppers didn't produce that much, luckily one abandoned garden has!

We made a yummy spicy chili earlier in the week. Still roasting the cherry tomatoes for sauce too. Steph's new favorite lunch is a roasted tomato brie sandwich with a fried egg.

 The tomatoes look kinda dead, they are actually pretty health. The top layer browned from the frost we had a few weeks ago. They wanted to grow higher, next year we're going to put t-posts in the middle of each cage so they can climb.

 Brussel sprouts are coming! I probably won't grow them again (take up too much space), still fun to experiment.

 the "mother" eggplant, this thing has 10+ on it, been producing all year

We had a pathetic mini 12" eggplant too, Steph is proud of its harvest

Birthday in Denver

I asked Steph for a sushi dinner in Denver for my birthday. We were driving through on our way home from the wedding.

We had no agenda whatsoever for the day so I googled "best coffee in Denver" and ended up going here.

Next, we walked around (people watching) Cheesman Park and decided on the botanical gardens, neither of us have been to it. They had a chihuly exhibit, I want to go back and see everything lit up at night!

It was super hot at the gardens, time for beer!

 Coffee beer @ renegade

Denver Beer Company was by the sushi place. They're known for crazy flavored beers: graham cracker porter, basil lavender saison, etc.

Erik and Britt came down from Longmont, along with Joan and Chalie from Boulder(no pics). 

The sushi was awesome, they surprised me with birthday green tea ice cream. Thankfully no singing :)

We ended the night with one more brewery, Black Shirt. All of their beer is a variation of a red ale. They even designed a glass for their flagship red:

 Thanks for a great birthday Stephanie!

Arthur's Rock

I got a nice hike in this morning, went to Lory State Park, which is just 10 miles west of Fort Collins. Reminded me of the trails in Boulder, very similar.

I barely saw anyone, it was super nice being in the quiet mountains.

Enjoy!

"natural" stairs

you can see the summit from here

horsetooth reservoir is super long, more than 10 miles 

Jim and Jamie's Wedding @ Keystone

We just got back late last night from Keystone / Denver. Jim was my roommate during my internship Minnesota, fellow packaging peep. He moved to Denver about a year ago.

we stopped at Dam Brewery for lunch and were randomly seated by all the guys! Actually not that surprising haha

We were kindly given a upgraded room with an awesome view. We explored the trails during our free time before the wedding. Perfect time of year to visit the mountains!

Beautiful Steph!

The ceremony was on Dillon Lake. Everything was very simple: music was played from a ipad! Both of their family are from Michigan, wasn't more that 50 people total.

they wereworried about the weather, there was a 90% chance of rain earlier in the week, ended up being great

the reception was in a rented mansion. again super simple, just finger food and dessert (and good beer!)

the boys

Arizona

Erik and I found cheap tickets to go visit our friend Dan in Flagstaff, Arizona last weekend. He picked us up Thursday night, we stayed until Sunday

On the way to the Grand Canyon (1.5hr drive). Largest Ponderosa pine forest in the US!

Made it to the Canyon. It was super hot, we just a short 2-3 mile hike. Never seen more foreign people in one place, I think we were the minority. Lots of euro backpackers

the views were amazing, I want to go back and spend a few days exploring

disc golfing in Flagstaff

We drove through Sedona on the way back to Phoenix

stupid camera guy! haha. It was super hot there too, we didn't make it outside that long. All the stores/restaurants have water misters setup to help with the heat.

deep thought?

Last stop: In and Out in Phoenix. Animal style fries: america cheese, pickles, grilled onions topped with thousand island

Erik and I both really like Flagstaff. It is at 7k feet, so a little cooler than Phoenix and the surrounding cities. Very very similar to Colorado!

I'll post more pictures later, I accidentally left my camera with Dan. All the guys are flying in for Great American Beerfest next week.

Brewery Bike Cruise / House Warming Party

party prep (tour de fall)

most of the crew

after our first brewery, horse and dragon

if you zoom in you can see Mom and Dad in the back

2nd Brewery - Odell's

 

chalie and joan @ odell

 I sadly didn't get a lot of pictures. We ended at New Belgium, I played the state game on my bluetooth speaker. The Coopers/parents rode home afterwards, we had a BBQ and bonfire at our house. Lots of people camped outside in the yard

Mom and Dad were awesome, easily rode more that 7 miles!

Tour de Fat

catching up on old posts with my newly acquired free time :)


Steph and I participated in the the Tour de Fat bike cruise earlier this month. It is basically a big party with a ~3 mile bike ride. No theme, people just dress up crazy. We fit in well!

They donate all the money from food/beer to the local bike nonprofit

this guy said his kids were bored riding last year so he built a moving playground, complete with a swing inside it

creepy joker!

near the end of the ride

steph the unicorn

it was nearly impossible to find bike parking, this was a common site