4.29.2010
Phase One: Leave This to the Roaches and Mice
I woke up this morning to what looked like a harmless yet annoying couple of inches of snow. Lo and behold, when I went outside to start packing the car, at least twelve inches had accumulated on its roof overnight. Oh, Winter Park.
Thankfully, CDOT informs us of gnarly weather conditions...chains chains everywhere and roads farther west were closed. Original plan of going westish-southish? No more. Getting out of the snowstorm as soon as possible was the new mission.
Out comes the map. What'll we hit if we drive straight south? Why, Santa Fe, of course! Off we go...taking the more inefficient but generally less snowy route (and cross the continental divide only once, rather than three times, in a day).
Somewhere in the black mining hills of South Dakota there lives a young boy named...wait, that's wrong. Somewhere in the almost-in-New Mexico part of Colorado is a tiny little town on Route 285 called Antonito. This town is a ghost town. What seems to once have been a semi-luxurious hotel is now boarded up, as is almost every other store front along the main (read: only) drag in town. Stuck somewhere between mining territory, agricultural land, and better days, had there been less wind across the Southern Colorado prairies you might actually have seen the tumbleweeds rolling through town as neglected doors creaked and banged. As it was, the wind was whipping far to quickly for any such nostalgia.
Continuing on...detouring to Taos, lots of fake adobe-pueblo architecture, but the old stuff was cool. The artsy area seemed interesting, except being a semi-ski town it was "mud" season there too and everything was closed, like it is in Winter Park. It started sideways snowing so we had to leave. Stat.
Victory! Santa Fe! Found a hostel for $35 for the night, plus a $2/person/day internet use charge. And chores. Oh well, it's not like I haven't been cleaning for two days...besides, it's cheap, and it's all so Dan can do work and earn $$$ which will come in handy some day.
Thankfully, CDOT informs us of gnarly weather conditions...chains chains everywhere and roads farther west were closed. Original plan of going westish-southish? No more. Getting out of the snowstorm as soon as possible was the new mission.
Out comes the map. What'll we hit if we drive straight south? Why, Santa Fe, of course! Off we go...taking the more inefficient but generally less snowy route (and cross the continental divide only once, rather than three times, in a day).
Somewhere in the black mining hills of South Dakota there lives a young boy named...wait, that's wrong. Somewhere in the almost-in-New Mexico part of Colorado is a tiny little town on Route 285 called Antonito. This town is a ghost town. What seems to once have been a semi-luxurious hotel is now boarded up, as is almost every other store front along the main (read: only) drag in town. Stuck somewhere between mining territory, agricultural land, and better days, had there been less wind across the Southern Colorado prairies you might actually have seen the tumbleweeds rolling through town as neglected doors creaked and banged. As it was, the wind was whipping far to quickly for any such nostalgia.
Continuing on...detouring to Taos, lots of fake adobe-pueblo architecture, but the old stuff was cool. The artsy area seemed interesting, except being a semi-ski town it was "mud" season there too and everything was closed, like it is in Winter Park. It started sideways snowing so we had to leave. Stat.
Victory! Santa Fe! Found a hostel for $35 for the night, plus a $2/person/day internet use charge. And chores. Oh well, it's not like I haven't been cleaning for two days...besides, it's cheap, and it's all so Dan can do work and earn $$$ which will come in handy some day.
4.28.2010
My Only Friend, The End
So. Our apartment is brand-spanking clean (or possibly sterile), clothes are packed, food and dishes are scattered about the kitchen for last-minute tending to, and I'm trying to read as much of my book as possibly before the car sickness sets in for the next seven weeks.
The plan is to leave at some ungodly hour of the morning (though still after the sun has risen, thank the lord) and drive in the general direction of Telluride, CO, i.e. southwestish. A new, possibly joint blogging venture should commence in the not to distant future and I will keep this updated as to how that can be found.
It's been real, Colorado.
The plan is to leave at some ungodly hour of the morning (though still after the sun has risen, thank the lord) and drive in the general direction of Telluride, CO, i.e. southwestish. A new, possibly joint blogging venture should commence in the not to distant future and I will keep this updated as to how that can be found.
It's been real, Colorado.
4.26.2010
On the Road to Nowhere
When I woke up this morning I had in my head the idea to go on a grand adventure. Where to? Why, into the wild, of course! Several topographic maps and a cup of coffee later I was out the door with naught but hiking boots, a pair of jeans, my camera, and a couple of layers for warmth (the thermometer did read 40).
By my not-so-expert reading of the topographic maps, I could essentially walk straight up the road, and keep going, and keep going, and I would somehow or another reach the top of the continental divide. Quite the ambitious plan for it already being 10:30 am, but what the hey, not much else to do. To avoid being stuck in the woods forever with nothing but a Sigg full of water and some dried fruit (and a headlamp, just in case), I gave myself the turn-around time of 1 pm. If I couldn't reach the divide by 1, I'd turn around. At least I'll have had a nice long walk.
Two hours later, after much trudging through the fresh snow of the last three days on Forest Service roads (thank god for Smartwool), I reached the Vasquez Peak trail head and the entrance to the Vasquez Peak Wilderness Area. Further exploration would have eventually led me to my goal, but it was almost one and I was hungry. I turned around, leaving the peak to be conquered another time. Possibly with snowshoes. And definitely with food.
Sometimes, I guess, you don't know what your destination is until you get there.
Total elevation gain: Almost 2000 ft.
Total time: 4 hours
Total distance: I have no idea, I was walking through snowy woods.
By my not-so-expert reading of the topographic maps, I could essentially walk straight up the road, and keep going, and keep going, and I would somehow or another reach the top of the continental divide. Quite the ambitious plan for it already being 10:30 am, but what the hey, not much else to do. To avoid being stuck in the woods forever with nothing but a Sigg full of water and some dried fruit (and a headlamp, just in case), I gave myself the turn-around time of 1 pm. If I couldn't reach the divide by 1, I'd turn around. At least I'll have had a nice long walk.
Two hours later, after much trudging through the fresh snow of the last three days on Forest Service roads (thank god for Smartwool), I reached the Vasquez Peak trail head and the entrance to the Vasquez Peak Wilderness Area. Further exploration would have eventually led me to my goal, but it was almost one and I was hungry. I turned around, leaving the peak to be conquered another time. Possibly with snowshoes. And definitely with food.
Sometimes, I guess, you don't know what your destination is until you get there.
Total elevation gain: Almost 2000 ft.
Total time: 4 hours
Total distance: I have no idea, I was walking through snowy woods.
4.25.2010
A Misguided Rainstorm
"And in Winter Park today, 34 degrees and sunny."
Then what's all this white stuff coming down from the sky? Did the sun turn into particles and is collapsing to Earth? Is it opposite day? Is this about relativity, like it's sunny here compared to, say, a hurricane? Because that's certainly true. Thirty four is no lie - these sun particle flakes are fat and wet and cushy and the roads are clean, if wet. But I've yet to see the clear blue sky and ball of flaming gas and mountains on the not-so-distant horizon.
These poor rainclouds, they think they're going to be spitting rain every once in a while and then moving on but "oh no, we can't have that," says the Continental Divide. "Your rain will turn to snow and we will trap you here for days and days on end." It's very Winnie the Pooh and he's just a little black raincloud.
Then what's all this white stuff coming down from the sky? Did the sun turn into particles and is collapsing to Earth? Is it opposite day? Is this about relativity, like it's sunny here compared to, say, a hurricane? Because that's certainly true. Thirty four is no lie - these sun particle flakes are fat and wet and cushy and the roads are clean, if wet. But I've yet to see the clear blue sky and ball of flaming gas and mountains on the not-so-distant horizon.
These poor rainclouds, they think they're going to be spitting rain every once in a while and then moving on but "oh no, we can't have that," says the Continental Divide. "Your rain will turn to snow and we will trap you here for days and days on end." It's very Winnie the Pooh and he's just a little black raincloud.
4.23.2010
Onions Have Layers
So far today I have:
Gotten a car stuck in the snow, and almost gotten stuck a multitude of other times.
Almost spun off the road.
Thrown a cord of wood off a third story porch into a foot and a half of snow, and it was buried again half an hour later.
Baked a dinner-plate sized chocolate chip cookie. And a couple dozen normal-sized cookies.
Learned that Indians still lived in the Fraser Valley until the 1880s. Also, lots of different Indian tribes used to fight over this land. I love non-PC pamphlets from the 70s.
Read a book written for ten year olds about Rockett and her friends ... replete with flashbacks from middle school when we played Rockett's New School every day.
Hibernated. Ah, how I love snow days.
Gotten a car stuck in the snow, and almost gotten stuck a multitude of other times.
Almost spun off the road.
Thrown a cord of wood off a third story porch into a foot and a half of snow, and it was buried again half an hour later.
Baked a dinner-plate sized chocolate chip cookie. And a couple dozen normal-sized cookies.
Learned that Indians still lived in the Fraser Valley until the 1880s. Also, lots of different Indian tribes used to fight over this land. I love non-PC pamphlets from the 70s.
Read a book written for ten year olds about Rockett and her friends ... replete with flashbacks from middle school when we played Rockett's New School every day.
Hibernated. Ah, how I love snow days.
4.22.2010
Climb to Safety in Case of Floods
This is the bizarre, fickle nature of mountain weather: one minute it is clear, sunny, and warm, half an hour later it is cloudy, and an hour later it is pouring rain. As soon as you reach an altitude of 8000 ft., this summer rainstorm has become a blizzard whose clouds shroud the mountains around you. Yesterday I sat outside in a bathing suit and today there were at least three inches of snow accumulated. It's not winter but it's certainly not summer. I guess spring is just the catch-all for everything in between.
4.21.2010
Strawberry Fields Forever
It almost might be spring. That mecca of delicious produce, Safeway, wants us to think so anyway. Two pounds of strawberries for $3.49 (with the Safeway card, of course) and two pounds of rhubarb for $5 (with the Safeway card, of course) in the end managed to wrest several dollars from my wallet with the hopes of ushering in the change of seasons in style.
Naturally, something in the spirit of the not-yet-season had to be prepared and, imagining myself in July, it seemed the best option was strawberry-rhubarb shortcake. Unfortunately, it isn't July, and we're not in Maine with Gillespie's strawberries and rhubarb from the garden. But it is what it is and anyone who knows me knows I can never get enough of strawberry-rhubarb anything even out of season...especially if there are shortcake biscuits involved.
On a side note, trying to empty the house of perishables, this afternoon's activities involved guacamole, tomato-cucumber salad, mango-tomato salad, buttermilk rye bread, oatmeal wheat bread, and the crown jewel, a round loaf of cinnamon raisin that could punnily be called cinnamon raisin' after it took over half the oven. I don't think we'll starve anytime soon.
Naturally, something in the spirit of the not-yet-season had to be prepared and, imagining myself in July, it seemed the best option was strawberry-rhubarb shortcake. Unfortunately, it isn't July, and we're not in Maine with Gillespie's strawberries and rhubarb from the garden. But it is what it is and anyone who knows me knows I can never get enough of strawberry-rhubarb anything even out of season...especially if there are shortcake biscuits involved.
On a side note, trying to empty the house of perishables, this afternoon's activities involved guacamole, tomato-cucumber salad, mango-tomato salad, buttermilk rye bread, oatmeal wheat bread, and the crown jewel, a round loaf of cinnamon raisin that could punnily be called cinnamon raisin' after it took over half the oven. I don't think we'll starve anytime soon.
Long-Range Weaponry
So the upside of having geeky boy roommates is that they come with cool gadgets like projectors.
The downside to this situation is that they demote the TV and DVD player to closet-status because, according to boys, everything worth doing can be done from a computer.
Luckily projectors connect to computers which play DVDs, so movie problem solved.
Also luckily, geeky roommate #1 has a TV feed that goes into his all-powerful computer.
Unfortunately, silly girls like me don't know how to use such things. All this new-fangled technology has me in a tizzy. And all I wanted to do was watch some TV. Tough luck, Audrey.
The downside to this situation is that they demote the TV and DVD player to closet-status because, according to boys, everything worth doing can be done from a computer.
Luckily projectors connect to computers which play DVDs, so movie problem solved.
Also luckily, geeky roommate #1 has a TV feed that goes into his all-powerful computer.
Unfortunately, silly girls like me don't know how to use such things. All this new-fangled technology has me in a tizzy. And all I wanted to do was watch some TV. Tough luck, Audrey.
4.20.2010
Nothing Against Texans, But...
"Isn't there another way to get to Boulder? I don't like all that going up and down and up and down."
"Well, you have to cross the Continental Divide no matter what way you go...Boulder's on the other side."
"Well, you have to cross the Continental Divide no matter what way you go...Boulder's on the other side."
Bruce, Part II
Scene 1
The clouds are dark and the sky is stormy. The wind is fearsome; it is alternately snowing and raining, the rain drops cold and the snowflakes huge and wet. It might be snowing up top but at the base it is miserably pouring wetness from the sky.
Foot traffic through the village is slow. Chance is on the bar and I am on the register. Bruce enters through the door, his usual "OW" and love of life a bit tempered by the heinous conditions outside.
Bruce asks for a double.
Bruce: I got money, honey, I got money.
Audrey: Are you sure you don't want a triple? To get you through that rain?
Bruce: Give me whatever you want, honey, I got money.
We give Bruce a triple. Hey, he deserves it.
Chance: Hey Bruce, did you do a rain dance or a snow dance last night?
Bruce: I don't know, man, it was so wild I couldn't even tell.
The clouds are dark and the sky is stormy. The wind is fearsome; it is alternately snowing and raining, the rain drops cold and the snowflakes huge and wet. It might be snowing up top but at the base it is miserably pouring wetness from the sky.
Foot traffic through the village is slow. Chance is on the bar and I am on the register. Bruce enters through the door, his usual "OW" and love of life a bit tempered by the heinous conditions outside.
Bruce asks for a double.
Bruce: I got money, honey, I got money.
Audrey: Are you sure you don't want a triple? To get you through that rain?
Bruce: Give me whatever you want, honey, I got money.
We give Bruce a triple. Hey, he deserves it.
Chance: Hey Bruce, did you do a rain dance or a snow dance last night?
Bruce: I don't know, man, it was so wild I couldn't even tell.
4.17.2010
The MJ Mystery
Who is Mary Jane? Why does she have her own mountain? Why does she have her own ale?
Mary Jane Ale - found only on tap and only in select locations on the resort itself, is a complete enigma. Legend has it - well, from the mouth of a Pepperoni's bartender - Mary Jane is brewed by Coors (semi-local, although macro) especially for, well, Pepperoni's and other mountain establishments. Anxious to find information on the elusive ale, local web wizards have googled near and far for more. No luck...until now.
About a week ago, Denver Westword's blog had a short piece on beers brewed by Blue Moon, evidently a subsidiary of Coors. Apparently, bartenders lie (sort of).
That same post, as well as other blogs and not-necessarily-reliable internet sources also attribute the delicious Jane Ale to Sandlot/Blue Moon/Coors. Neither the Blue Moon nor the Coors website mention anything about their special mountain ales (Copper, Vail, and Aspen also have their own). But hearsay and the technology revolution all seem to agree on this one fact - do we take their word for it?
Further investiagtion is obviously called for.
Mary Jane Ale - found only on tap and only in select locations on the resort itself, is a complete enigma. Legend has it - well, from the mouth of a Pepperoni's bartender - Mary Jane is brewed by Coors (semi-local, although macro) especially for, well, Pepperoni's and other mountain establishments. Anxious to find information on the elusive ale, local web wizards have googled near and far for more. No luck...until now.
About a week ago, Denver Westword's blog had a short piece on beers brewed by Blue Moon, evidently a subsidiary of Coors. Apparently, bartenders lie (sort of).
That same post, as well as other blogs and not-necessarily-reliable internet sources also attribute the delicious Jane Ale to Sandlot/Blue Moon/Coors. Neither the Blue Moon nor the Coors website mention anything about their special mountain ales (Copper, Vail, and Aspen also have their own). But hearsay and the technology revolution all seem to agree on this one fact - do we take their word for it?
Further investiagtion is obviously called for.
4.15.2010
Night
It was as if I had just jumped back a year in my life. Flashing lights, a DJ spinning and pumping bass, high heels and designer handbags coming at you from every direction. Techno remixes of Pink Floyd were interspersed with MIA and Lupe Fiasco. What is usually the favorite local hangout - $2 PBRs, pool tables, live bluegrass/rock most nights - had all of a sudden become a scene out of the collective past life. Except for the familiar grungy basement surroundings, our beloved mountain bar was nearly unrecognizable for its astonishing similarity to a metropolitan dance club. We could have been in New York or Philadelphia, Madrid or Montreal - for the music and the chaos but also the unusually equal male-female ratio. Something about two free drink tokens tends to draw the girls out of the woodwork, apparently.
4.14.2010
"Can You Tell Me Where There's a Store?"
"What kind of store?"
"I don't know, just, like, a store, with stuff."
"Well, I'm not really sure what you want..."
Working in retail, ludicrous comments are far from rare. Attempting to save ourselves from the mundanity of our jobs, over the course of the season (particularly the latter half, when absurdity becomes more apparent) we have compiled a delectable selection of Quotes of the Day. While complete understanding probably requires a more indepth knowledge of the complexity of Starbucks's1 inner workings than the coffee layperson possesses, the hope is that each reader finds something to chuckle at in our anthology.
While not a comprehensive collection of every ridiculous thing said this season (I wish), it will certainly give a taste of the idiocy - and hilarity - that retail employees all over the world deal with on a daily basis. And don't worry, I won't do it all at once.
As Bruce would say, "that's what makes the day go round...OW!"
1See The Elements of Style for the reason behind this grammatical choice vis a vis pluralization.
"I don't know, just, like, a store, with stuff."
"Well, I'm not really sure what you want..."
Working in retail, ludicrous comments are far from rare. Attempting to save ourselves from the mundanity of our jobs, over the course of the season (particularly the latter half, when absurdity becomes more apparent) we have compiled a delectable selection of Quotes of the Day. While complete understanding probably requires a more indepth knowledge of the complexity of Starbucks's1 inner workings than the coffee layperson possesses, the hope is that each reader finds something to chuckle at in our anthology.
While not a comprehensive collection of every ridiculous thing said this season (I wish), it will certainly give a taste of the idiocy - and hilarity - that retail employees all over the world deal with on a daily basis. And don't worry, I won't do it all at once.
As Bruce would say, "that's what makes the day go round...OW!"
1See The Elements of Style for the reason behind this grammatical choice vis a vis pluralization.
4.13.2010
Another One Bites the Dust
We've now entered that period of time fondly thought of as the waiting period. Today is the Sunday of my first real weekend in months, and after today there are only five days left to the season. Yesterday's 60 and almost sunny has morphed into today's 30 and snowing. Road trip preparations are starting to get underway, by which of course I mean there is a plethora of lists taking shape. Bring, do, buy, send home...it's too early to clean and pack but too late to keep grocery shopping and stocking cupboards. Bare-dom is impending. Over the last seventy-two hours, a loaf each of wheat and rye breads, pita bread, buttermilk chocolate chip cake/cupcakes, and apricot almond muffins have taken shape. (Sorry Daddy.) Rice is gone, semolina flour almost so, no more lentils, the barley's almost out. I am left with, as always, more tea than I know what to do with and three different varieties of dried beans. I suspect I will become an expert at cooking beans on a campstove. Mmm, delicious.
4.06.2010
Road Snowpacked and Icy - Slower Speeds Advised
Five inches of fresh (heavy) powder reported at 5 am this morning. At 11 am, it was still snowing. Trees were silent and the snow was dense. Snow flies in your eyes from every direction. Thirty-five mile per hour (35 mph) winds thrash your face. Zero visibility up, zero visibility down, and forget side-to-side. Fly off the chair to avoid its whip. It's possible you just might make it, skating uphill into brutal headwinds. Trees come out of nowhere and all of a sudden you're safe. That is, until Travis starts mini-slides at you from above. A gust of wind comes at you and the white-out is blinding - quite literally - until it subsides. The trees protect; the trees hoard. Exposed, the wind blows you uphill; up and over the ridge, down into the bowl, cutting the only tracks through knee-deep snow you plunge back into their embrace. Four hours of mind-numbing, bone-chilling wind are made worthwhile by endless stashes hidden deep in the forest. Ah, springtime.
4.04.2010
Bunnies and Eggs
Weirdly enough, this is the first time I've ever lived anywhere that people care about Easter. Never before, in my whole life, have I been wished a Happy Easter. Little kids, big kids, old men, resort hosts, everyone seems to be into it. What is this holiday, anyway? Resurrection or chocolate rabbits? I know I am lamentably ignorant in this matter, but is it my fault that I've never been exposed to the (believing) Christian majority that makes up this country?
On a happy note, two guys from New York came in and it was discovered that they were Jewish. We exchanged a joyous "Happy Passover!", and I was relieved to be within such close proximity to other Jews after living in such a void for so long. Speaking of Passover, I'm getting pretty sick of rice and curry since that's all I've eaten for the last three days. Thank god for following Sephardi Pesach - otherwise I would be oozing grease from all the fries I would have had to have eaten.
On a happy note, two guys from New York came in and it was discovered that they were Jewish. We exchanged a joyous "Happy Passover!", and I was relieved to be within such close proximity to other Jews after living in such a void for so long. Speaking of Passover, I'm getting pretty sick of rice and curry since that's all I've eaten for the last three days. Thank god for following Sephardi Pesach - otherwise I would be oozing grease from all the fries I would have had to have eaten.
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