crowds

Belly up has been bringing in some great shows.  I saw Bush a couple of weeks ago.  Bush was good---the crowd was interesting.  18-78 in age range.  And I got stuck on the floor surrounded by a group in from Miami who told me before the show that they were really cool, and had done 'a ton of lines and a lot of X'.  Guess what--they didn't have to tell me cause the sweating and the need to rub up against everyone made that pretty obvious.   Bush yea---crowd yuck.

Last Saturday I saw Lyle Lovett at Belly up.  Great show.  Long show.  Past my bedtime.  And wow the crowd was tall.  Weirdly tall.  Everyone on the floor in front of me was pushing 6'2".  Still I managed to get a nice view of his ugly mug and enjoy some funky Texas tunes.



Speaking of crowds yoga was SRO yesterday (probably due to rainy conditions).  Really tight.  I fear a was sweating on many different types of body augmentation.  And the instructor who normally drones on and on ran out of things to say.  " holy shit I don't have anything to say"  Your faithful blogger normally would take a softball like that and smash it out of the park but having been tossed from multiple yoga studios I decided to let it pass.

But seriously if my crowd problems are coked up people from Miami at a Bush show, tall people at a Lovett show, and intimate conditions at yoga I got no problems at all.

Except maybe rental problems.  I swear I will get to it but I want to give you the whole story and closure seems impossible to get.

Another quick trip to STL coming up---with daughter.  Let's hope I don't have to secure my mask first and then hers.

big update with pictures

What did we do for our 1 year anniversary of living in Aspen?  We moved.  Our lease was up and so we ----well my wife packed us up and we (actually she and some highschool kids) moved us across the street.  I flew to St. Louis to root my dad on through surgery.

To answer your questions---my wife did NOT divorce me for leaving her high and dry for the move.

My Dad is doing well.

Our new rental is very small--too small and not well enough furnished.  Here is a picture of my 'furnished' office.

Please note the nice chair and filing cabinets and drawers and shelves and quote from the Bible.  Well at least I got God on my side while I blog, however the lack of a chair is shortening the time I am willing to sit here blogging.

Oh yea and that last flight to St. Louis.  

That is yours truly and yes that is my oxygen mask.  When you lose pressure at 30k feet it does deploy.  And the pilots do try to get you down to 10k feet ASAP even if that blows out some folks eardrums.  Your blogger was lucky to be chewing gum at the time so my ears are fine.  Sadly one of the flight attendants and many passengers not so much.  My legs were torn to shreds by my seat mate who was a little nervous.  Try not to sit next to a woman with really long nails.  After a quick return to Denver (40 min outbound but only 18 to get back) and smoke coming from the oxygen compartments and a 4 hour wait on the ground we were offered the chance to do it all over again.  The second flight was much less crowded.  Bonus right?

File this under things I didn't know.  The berry crop is light, and acorn crop is coming in late so 

BEAR ALERT.  Keep everything locked even if it is hot.

We are moving again cause the current pad is just not working out.  And I am flying to St. Louis again to wish mom a happy b day and root dad on during rehab.  

The new place is great (move date aug 21 same day as start of school).  Book your dates now.  It's in Aspen.  It's over 6k feet and has a hot tub.  And if anyone has any job ideas help cause I am sure I can't afford the place.

Stay tuned for my rental saga---renting in Aspen is almost crazy enough to make you want to move anywhere else.  

Tahoe V Aspen and the winner is...............(this is a unifnished post flying to stl for dad surgery and then moving at the same time holy shit)

Before announcing a winner let's compare the two really great resort areas:

                                                  Tahoe                                                Aspen  

Population                            36k (summer surge 1m)                     9k (summer surge 70k)
Population of nearby cities   Carson city, reno sparks 400k    grand junctions + glenwood springs 70k
                                              LA + San Fran area 25m             Denver area 700k

number of resorts                12                                                  4
typical base elevation         6k                                                  7.8k
tallest peak                         Freel peak 10,866                          Elbert  14,439
squaw V. highlands         9.050 peak, 6,200 base                   12,400 (bowl peak) 8,040 base
Recent skiing gold medals        yes (julia mancuso)              no
Water sports                    everything                                      good paddling and fishing
hiking terrain                 very rocky lots of pine                  not very rocky good mix of trees
mountain biking            not really (see rocks)                       everywhere all the time
mountain bike pedals         flats                                                clipless
skate boarding      everywhere all the time (flat around lake)    just in town of aspen and skate parks
schools                       not so good                                              good
affordable housing            yes                                               no unless you are in subsidised housing
private jets                    trying                                              not enough parking for all of em
weed                            yes --illegal                                       yes
food                          excellent                                                  ok
local food sourcing         yes                                                    yuck
local wine                         oh yes                                            oh no
local beer                         great                                                 good
lift lines                     OMG yes                                             ohh man I had to wait 1 min i'm calling it
ranching history            no                                                         yes
mining history              kinda                                                huge
music institute                no                                                         yes
ideas fest                         no                                                         yes
physics institute             no                                                          yes
gambling                        yes                                                         no
prostitution                     yes                                                       bring your own
snow                    bipolar (700 in or 70)                                     200-400
ski terrain       best cliff jumping in north america            lots of good stuff if you know where to look
ice rinks                 1                                                                    2

And the winner is..................Aspen.  biggest difference..the crowds.  CA is an amazing state and I would put it way over CO (hosting both summer and winter olympics, best food and wine and everything from Tech to aerospace and defense and hollywood too) but the LA and San Fran area are huge and if you want to go to a great mountain area Tahoe calls loudly---and millions go.  Lift lines can be crushing and you can get tons of horrible skiers to doge around.  Aspen is a pain to get to--approaching from Denver you pass Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge and Keystone plus others.  Why keep going to Aspen?  Most don't.  When you get here you are rewarded with minimal lift lines, and empty trails.  I also prefer hiking on less rocky paths............

and if you read this far I am publishing this right before moving the computer and after coming back to STL--surgery went well but my flight to STL..... includes smoke, masks and my seatmate running her fingernails all over me..............................

Questions for the NRA---Tahoe part 2

So as I am sure you inferred from my previous post we did not stay in the most fancy of neighborhoods in South lake.  After arriving we walked (me and dogs--daughter is on her scooter) down towards the lake.  As we prepared to cross highway 50 and Ski Run BLVD to get to the lake my daughter looked up Ski Run and said:

"hey dad why is that guy walking down the middle of the street with a long gun?"

Great question but before we get to that some background.  I grew up with a shotgun in my closet.  I have more NRA sharpshooter patches (from the 70s when the NRA was about gun safety and education not gun rights and gun sales) than I could fit on one jacket, and I have read just about all the Robert Ludlum books.  Using my Jason Bourn skills I peeked at the guy with the gun and decided to cross the street to join the large crowds by the lakefront where we were less likely to stand out as an individual target and we could always retreat into the water.  We walked around for a bit, and then decided to try heading back home.  When we got back to the intersection 4 police SUVs had pulled up and the police had their guns pointed at the aforementioned guy from behind their doors while discussing next steps.

OK NRA---my daughter asks why are the police harassing--looking to arrest the guy?

I said " he was acting kinda strange and had a gun."

She says well assuming he has a permit and he looks to be over 21 and a bit drunk what is the problem?

Great question.  Was this a jaywalking bust?  NRA how do I answer my daughter?

Also for all you second amendment rights folks---if the guy up the street with the AR 15 had felt threatening to me should I have pulled my Sig Sauer and charged him to close the distance fast and eliminate the threat?  With an AR-15 he has both more rounds and much more effective range.  I do have two dogs who would charge with me and give me a chance at closing from 150 meters to 15-20 meters where I feel pretty confident I could land 5 out of 17 rounds.  Yea right.  And the moment I pull my piece I am now a clear and present danger to others, does the guy with the AR unload on me and my daughter and poor pups?  What about other bystanders?  Now you got two guys running around waving guns--what is to say they don't feel threatened and pull their weapons for self defense.

Or let's say I choose a slightly more defensive posture--I pull my weapon but leave it pointed towards the ground while backing towards the heavily populated lakefront.  Again that could be perceived as dangerous by others around the lake who then might have started a gunfight with me.

Seriously NRA this is a safer world?

End result I didn't have a weapon, nor did anyone else besides the crazy guy and the police who managed to disarm him without firing a shot.

Back to my daughter's question--what law did he break?  And why am I sure that having everyone carry a piece is a sure way to more shooting deaths.

Road trip to Tahoe ----much to say but going to start with the quick hits

My daughter participated in a hockey camp last week in Tahoe.  Coming soon:  compare and contrast between Tahoe and Aspen, a series of questions for the NRA and other cool stuff, but first the quick hits.

We (daughter, dogs, and stinky hockey bag) drove to Tahoe.  This lovely 975 mile trip allowed me to cross driving across the country off the bucket list.  Ok yes I didn't do it in one trip but San Fran to Tahoe has been done many times, Aspen to Chicago a couple, and Chicago to Cape Cod so many times I can tell you where the best fruit stands are along interstate 90 in upstate NY.  The final piece was UT and NV.  If I never do the drive from Salt Lake to Reno again my life will be richer for it.

Things I saw along the way:

1.  Sign in UT off highway 6 for Starvation road.
2.  Modified sign in UT warning of Beer (used to be Deer) crossing for next 10 miles.  Sadly no beers sited.
3.  A sign announcing no services this exit, or this one, or the next one, or............um my daughter has a bladder the size of a cherry tomato and I consumed about 10 mountain dews----next exit we pulled off, dropped our pants and peed.  One mile later a sign announced a rest stop 1 mile further.  Below daughter pulling a runner during pee break (she almost made it but for the lack of water)



4.  Long stretches of 80MPH speed zones.  If we weren't stopping to pee every 45 minutes we could have made the trip in record time.
5.  125 miles of visibility.  Coming east at West Wendover I could see all the way to the Wasatch mountains.  Wow.


6.  Casinos everywhere.  The first one is at West Wendover which is built right on the border of UT and NV.  In UT you can't get a beer and a shot, no gambling and no prostitutes (but multiple wives?  is there a relationship between those two?)  Anyhow, cross the border and you got beers, shots, sex for money and gambling everywhere (in truck stops, gas stations---if you found 10 people you found a casino along this section of I80).  And the Casino in West Wendover set back from the state line would make Lincoln park property line setbacks look generous.
7.  A sign announcing a slot tournament.  Uh doesn't a tournament imply skill, is there any skill involved in slots?
8.  While waiting in line to order some most excellent tacos in South Tahoe I got nailed on the head by a huge pine cone.  Seems there is a chipmunk who lives in the very large pine tree who doesn't like people buying tacos.  After that didn't work he pelted my car with branches and pine cones.  That is one bad ass chipmunk.
9.  Best gas station ever in UT---an employee cleaned pretty much my entire car--I am looking desperately at the sign that says self serve and saying WTF---he said it was no problem, glad to help and would I like any info about the Book of Mormon?
10.  We spent the night on the way to Tahoe in Winnemucca --I was later told by a friend this is known as the prostitution capital of the world---I am not sure about the world but it would give Amsterdam a run for its money.
11.  While driving around Tahoe (from Squaw to South lake) I spotted Jerry Garcia no fewer than 13 times.  Also more pot smoking in CA than CO.  A lot more.
12.  Our most excellent VRBO rental house was located in an area that made us feel right at home if home was the not so nice parts of south Chicago.  My daughter asked a number of times about why we didn't have bars on our doors and windows when all the neighbors did.  And yet it was really just a solid working class neighborhood located 1/3 of a mile from the lake and 1 mile from the rink and 1/2 mile from base of heavenly ski area.  And yes it's true you can buy a small house in a ski town for 300k.
13.  Walking the dogs at 6 am I ran into a guy dressed like a sith lord twirling his sword.  I ran into him 2 more times over the next 5 days.  Did I mention the weed consumption in CA?  Sorry the photo is not great but it needed to be taken on the QT.




14.  Under the heading of bad dog---my younger pulled a runner in the desolation wilderness.  She was gone for close to an hour.  I figured she had gotten mashed to a pulp in a waterfall but I found her about two miles down the trail heading up the hill with a couple of Coeds (one of whom was wearing a tee shirt that said 'maybe later').  Bad dog?  Good dog???????
15 Bad dog II---3 days later even higher up in the desolation wilderness we get to Gilmore lake.  Its frozen.......ish.  I grab the good dog and leash her up, the bad dog heads towards the lake.  I pull out my handy bag of dog treats......she looks at me, and  I swear gives me the middle finger.....claw, and runs onto the lake.  Way out onto the lake.  100s of yards onto the lake.  I am thinking once again of dogsickel, but she makes it back (very wet).



Thats enough for now--for the 4th my daughter will be riding with the Aspen Junior leafs float, and I will be slinging beers at the AVSC picnic (all bloody day).


Oh yea and my daughter watched 22 hours of Glee, both Vacation movies, and Sherlock Holmes season 1----whatever happened to mad libs?