Vacation: Miscellaneous

A few miscellaneous photos from Denver.  Here's Jen and Eryn at Casa Bonita.  I think Eryn had more fun when she was littler, but she really enjoyed going back to relive the experience we had with Grandma Madeline and my parents.



And here she is near Chatfield, reading a book in the park near a small rocky spillway.


One of the things Eryn really liked four years ago was her ray gun that made lots of noise.  When presented with the opportunity to replace it, she upsized.

Vacation: Concerts

My family was supposed to plan vacation, but in the interest of making sure there was something to do, I scheduled two concerts at the Chatfield Botanical Garden annex.  It was a nice place, near the mountains in Denver and not too big.  We sat just left and behind the sound and light controls for both concerts and had a great view.  Surprisingly, with the marijuana laws, it didn't smell like smoke at all.  The timing of all those smoking laws fit well with the relaxing of the marijuana laws.  So I suspect people are eating it and using oil, but not puffing.  That was nice.  Smoke in any form is no fun at a concert.

Here's Sara Bareilles.  That was the second night.  It was a good concert except for the women next to us getting louder and louder as they drank more and more.  I'd have preferred they toked up (well, in a fashion - eaten a brownie, I guess). I bet they'd have been mellower on pot rather than alcohol.  I thought I'd lost my sunglasses as we were finishing up and I was able to go back and scan the area by locating their nest of empties.

I was a bit disappointed she didn't sing Gonna Get Over You.  One of my favorites.



Eryn preferred the concert the night before by The Barenaked Ladies.  I've got to say, they did a great concert.  Good patter, good songs, all the favorites, and a montage of modern pop at the end including Wrecking Ball that was hilarious, followed by a lot of extra songs that weren't there's and serious bouncing around.  A smaller audience than Sara Bareilles who seems to draw an LGBT crowd and larger percentage of young women overall, but an enthusiastic crowd as evidenced by the fingers.  Wooo!


Eryn went up to the stage after the concert and came away with a set list that now decorates our refrigerator.  She told me the next night over and over how she wished that concert would have been second because it was obviously going to be the better of the two.  Then she tried to read her book in the dark to prove herself right.  Well her you go daughter, BNL is second here.

Vacation: Room 204

Welcome to Room 204 at the Super 8/Ramada Wheat Ridge (Denver).  we hope you enjoy your stay.  This sign will be the nicest experience of your stay.  You say you book sight unseen based on a Booking recommendation and a pool for your daughter?  Non-refundable, so make the best of it.



Smart guy - you checked for bed bugs, unlike one of the travels at Trip Advisor.  Sure, the toilet overflowed on the last day and you had to go tell the front desk staffer who seemed clueless about what to do even though you assured them you'd turned the water off so it wouldn't flood the room below.


It's a bad sign when even the vents are bent.  I wonder what someone was hiding up there.  Maybe this reviewer has an idea? (via Google)

"HOLY CRAP. YOU BETTER PROMISE ME KNOW ONE EVER GOES TO THIS PLACE YOU MIGHT GET PIMPED OUT SERIOUSLY. it was like watching cock roaches scatter in the night outside the window. ME and my friends took turns watching car and people go in and out after getting with what we assumed was prostitutes. There was plenty of Drug dealers and THE ROOMS WERE DISGUSTING AND SMELLED, the doors trimming were you shut and locked it looked as if it was kicked in a lot so they kept replacing the trimming. It felt unsafe even with the doors locked being there. If you're a family traveling looking for a decent price for a night this ain't worth it, spend the extra money and go somewhere nice this place is GHETTO. I live in Detroit and I wouldn't even stay here or wish this place of living on my worst enemy."



This hole isn't so bad - maybe it's just for a very big cable/satellite wire.  And maybe the ants coming out of it were laying the cable.  Then again, maybe it was a hidey hole.  What do you think reviewer #2?

"There was a group of young individuals in the lobby talking about a party they were having at the hotel. One individual was talking on his cell phone in the lobby, explaining how he could get any drug they wanted. We were apprehensive to stay as we did not want a loud party to interrupt our sleep."



Ah, the pool.  Looks nice from here.  But from here you can't see the health department sign on the gate declaring it closed down that last day.  Or the disappointed look on my daughter's face.  Other reviews seem to state that's almost always the case, and Eryn found a review describing homeless people bathing in it.  I suspect they weren't really homeless.  There seemed to be a bungalow full of migrant workers right next to the pool.  If their shower/bath facilities worked as well as ours, they were probably making due.  Albeit in a way the health department did not approve of.  Hey, other reviewer, didn't you want a place with a pool?

"Wanted a place with a pool. They advertised a pool but after I checked in we went to find the pool and they didn't have one. They used to but said it was in bad shape. I told them that is why I picked them to stay in and said I wanted a refund so I can find a place with a pool. The front desk lady acted like she couldn't do that and had to get special permission from someone on the phone. We just checked in.... I was serious and stood there with my kids and our luggage until I received a refund. She finally got a hold of someone and they offered to let me drive to another one of their locations that had a pool. I thought that was just so nice of them (sarcastic), but decided to go ahead since I was going to have to go find another hotel anyway with a pool (they offered me absolutely nothing for my inconvenience and acted like I was asking for a lot). I drove to the new location. The original location had a free full breakfast. This new location was in a bad neighborhood, did not have the same breakfast facility, and wasn't clean. But I was there and we were going to make the best of it. It did have a pool. We went into the room and it was so thick with cigarette smoke (and something else I'm not sure of) my sons and I couldn't breath (it was a non smoking room). The room was extremely dirty. The sheets had black spots and the cover to the bed had something hard and crusty on it. I felt like crying. We were in Denver because my uncle died and I wanted to have a relaxing night with some fun with my boys. The whole afternoon and going into night was the most frustrating I have had to ever deal with during travel. I'm not very picky, but this was bad. I decided to call the super 8 headquarters because I was hoping they would be able to refund my money because where I was at was not where I originally paid. The second location was comping my room since I already paid at the other place."



The nicest, cleanest light switch.  If you weren't willing to touch them, then you couldn't really see them.  At least at night.  Bonus.  That hair dryer doesn't do anything.  It's for show.  How clean was it other reviewer?

"I wouldn't even give this place one star. I'm here with my kids and fiance and let me just say ew. We asked for a non smoking room it smells like a bar the door doesn't look like it's secure and did I mention the twakers downstairs. Never again this is f***ING disgusting."



The shower/tub referred to above.  We didn't try it until morning when I realized the shower didn't work at all.  So I tried to take a bath, but there was no plug.  So I used a washcloth to stop it up.  But I was concerned it would overflow into that hole in the tub.  The sunglass-ed woman I saw bringing her breakfast back to her room despite admonitions not to (who was trying hard not to look at me) seemed to have it all worked out.  I'm pretty sure she hadn't taken a shower in an extremely long time.  She didn't look like she'd even been in the sun in a long time.


The door.  The frame had been pried up in several places with a crowbar and the chain was attached to this loose piece of framing.  I put several large items in front of the door before we went to bed so there would be some warning.  I was more worried about my father in law's car, but it remained unmolested.  The only shady characters I saw in the lot were the two janitors who spent an hour picking dirt out of cracks (literally about a handful) rather than picking up the obvious fast food trash in their lot.


Here's the plaster hitting the floor from the frame.  They sunk the frame an inch deep into the wall, so when it started to pull out it was pulling half the wall with it.  Fortunately, it was a relatively rain free and stranger free night unlike for this reviewer:

"The girl at the desk at no idea what to do when the tornado warning said to seek shelter. She also did not believe my husband when he said there was someone in the room we were assigned. We had to embarrass the people and ourselves!"



Did I forget anything?  The awful breakfast with the grease all over every surface and the two guys (one older, one younger with a family) arguing about who was more religious and what appropriately speaking tongues sounded like?  The people sort of sitting in chairs staring at people in the dark?  The customers showing up only to sit in the entry for 30-60 minutes despite their being no other customers?  The food on the walls in the other building?  The amazingly dirty carpets?  The smell of musty smoke everywhere?  If you're in the Denver area, buck up, spend some extra cash, and follow this international advice:

"Schmutzig, musste 30 Minuten auf das Personal warten um das Zimmer zu bekommen. Pool geschlossen. Einrichtung völlig veraltetet."

Favorite Moments of 2011

I have three favorite moments from 2011, and they're in order, despite that my family isn't first.  I suspect they'll understand, given that the first one is a.) bicycling and b.) with Ming.

1.) Bike the Border with Ming.
2.) Ride from Colorado to Montana with Grandma and Eryn
3.) Orlando with Jen and Eryn

This is not to say I like vacations with my wife the least, it simply points out that bicycling trumps all.

Great Divide - Denver

I cajoled my family into going to two breweries while we were in Denver. The second day we went downtown to Great Divide. If a cop asks, I'll say it's just a story, but I was angling to eliminate three generations of my family downtown that day. Five people in the car, four of them talking while I was driving in a circle trying to zero in on the brewery. I sort of forgot there were things like stoplights. A few other drivers were keen to remind me they existed.

You'd think it would have been easier to find with a big beer bottle hanging off the corner of the building.


And an amusing beer truck out front.


My grandma and mother were enjoying the sun.  Keep in mind we were in the mile high city, and it was relatively toasty out, even with the snowy mountains nearby.  Compare that to a few days later when it snowed 7" in Sidney, or when it was 30 degrees for the Ironman here in Minnesota.  Grandma looks great for 95.


The bottling room.  Can you tell I spent some time in the taproom prior to the tour?  I was enjoying some of their casked beer which was running closer to the 10% alcohol range.  A few of those on top of the tasting glasses, and it was definitely having an effect.  Eryn LOVED the bottling machine.  They were loading a palate of bottles into it while we were there.  It just picks them off one row at a time and feeds them into the line.  Hasenpfeffer Incorporated!  John from work told me there's a name for it - something like "the paletizer."  For obvious reasons.  There were also kegs - whiskey kegs - in the brewery for making the casked beer (delicious).  I asked the tour guide about them, and she said they were a local brewery, Stranahans.  Kyle said he though Stranahans and Great Divide traded in kind - casks for mash to distill.  They have a tour as well, so when I go back, that's a definite destination.  Apparently they do limited bottlings (140) of whiskeys with names like "SCW Triplewood Snowflake".  If it tastes as good as the name, I bet it's wonderful.

Reexamining this picture, I really do look soused.  It doesn't help that my pants don't actually fit and I look like I need a rope belt with them sort of sticking out the top of my leather belt.


Eryn wasn't so sure she wanted me to take this picture, although she thought it was pretty funny.


She drank so much she was dancing on street poles afterwards.  I like this picture because she's smiling and cute, and there's a hidden brewery in the background as well as a bike.  Beer, bike, Eryn...definitely things that make vacation enjoyable.

Casa Bonita - Denver

I'm not sure I liked Casa Bonita.  It seemed a bit cheesy, which is never my favorite motif.  But Eryn loved it and had a great time, and that's what counts.  I can handle a bit of cheesy if it keeps the kid happy.  Casa Bonita is this restaurant in a somewhat rundown part of Denver that has a big tower out front, serves food reminiscent of Don Pablo's, and features entertainment, the highlight of which is local divers from the college who dive off faux cliffs into a deep pool.  There are also western gun fights, a game room, a haunted tunnel (which Eryn refused to traverse after noticing there was a strobe light.  She hates strobe lights), and dancing monkeys, which were actually a dancing ape if you want to be precise in your nomenclature.

Grandma and great grandma walking up to the restaurant.  What you're not seeing is the run down strip mall with almost no one in the cracked parking lot or the couple fighting about lost keys before going to work. But they do a good job of maintaining the tower and fountain area - they looked nice.


The entry area fountain.  Eryn getting a happy picture taken.


Me doing what I do at fountains.  Can't go to lunch half full.


Inside the restaurant watching the divers.  Obviously enjoying herself.


We didn't notice this until later, but there was a very nice area behind the falls in the restaurant (at the back side of the pool) where there were fake rock walls and some booths.  It looked like a good place to have dinner, except I can't imagine Casa Bonita being the place for a romantic evening (lots of kids, and Don Pablo's food factored in).


They had a gift shop, although you could also buy toys on the floor and a waitress was wandering around with toys from table to table. Eryn wanted a "flasher" (her words and Casa Bonita's words, not mine), and got my usual "are you sure?" when confronted with cheap toys. But Grandma was easier to convince and got her this nice laser gun. I include a video so you can appreciate exactly how annoying it was whenever she got it in her head to shoot it for 5 or 10 minutes in the van during the drive.


We took this picture for Eryn's cousin who loves My Little Pony.  I don't think LissyJo would like Casa Bonita, so I'm doing my part to ensure she ends up there.


If there's already a driver, why are you also driving?  Who wins?  The painted guy who's been practicing forever or the kid in the sunroof?  The hole in the wall is fake derelict so you can imagine you're driving through a slum.


A fun time, despite my snarky comments.

Denver - Oskar Blues IV, The Brewery

After dinner at the Oskar Blues restaurant, we headed over to the Tasty Weasel, which is their brewery/onsite bar.  The guy we'd met earlier had told us tours were still on, despite Easter Sunday, but when we got there we were told it was closed, and one of the guys in charge was in his bike clothes, fat tired bike in the back of his running pick up.  He stopped what he was doing and took us inside so I could buy some beer.  I love it when you can buy beer at the brewery. There's something seriously wrong in Minnesota.  This is in their work place.


I don't think you can see one from this view, but they have a few Surly cans on the wall.  They were very complementary of Surly.  Note the live music that happens at the brewery.  Their beer is in cans, but it's delicious.


He couldn't get into the beer cabinet, and had to go find me some from the back.  But this had a nice display of their cans.  Next time I buy a beer fridge, I'm getting a glass door.


This is what happens to all the leftover cans.  Those blocks are hard to move.


I don't know what to make of this.  I didn't want to hold him up, so I didn't ask.


These were brand new.  They like to keep the kids busy while the parents are on the beer tour.  And I imagine they're fun to play if you're there drinking, or if you're an employee.  We need these in the basement at my workplace where the developers have shared workspace.


It looked like this at Schell's when they bought Grain Belt and all the leftover can stock.  But the black cans are much stealthier looking.


Second picture of Eryn and I near the equipment, the outer wall of the in-brewery tap room in the background.  Great brewery!  I want to go back some day when they're running the tour or just having happy hour.

Denver - Oskar Blues III

Very cool - Oskar Blues has people who just meet up to play blue grass and drink beer.  Eryn liked it that there were so many guitars.


This doesn't look comfortable at all.  But my wife would probably prefer it to my kitchen drawer that achieves the same historical perspective on my drinking history.  Maybe all those nubbins are deceptively comfortable, like a full body massage.


More fountains made out of kegs...I have a keg.  I should try this.


See...purdy.  I wonder if my neighbors would approve.


The Oskar Blues tower.  A giant can of beer.


Finally, a picture of the front of the restaurant.  Eryn loved the ribs.  And the pulled pork. And the wings.  Reminded me quite a bit of the food and ambiance at Dinosaur Barbecue in Rochester, NY.

Denver - Oskar Blues II

The women's bathroom had Flash Dance on the door.  The men's bathroom was a plethora of old album covers.  I listened to the soundtrack from 2001 repeatedly as a kid.


And the soundtrack from Close Encounters!  Someone at Oskar Blue's is a serious nerd.


Quite the collection to look at while you're taking a whiz.


But there's more.  Art...beautiful, wonderful art.  This is fuzzy, so I suspect you can't tell it's Sheryl Crow.


Alison Kraus is a bit closer to real life.


And the point here isn't Amanda Bynes half dressed, although she was very good in Easy A with Emma Stone as the Bible banger.  The point is the Ten Fidy, which was delicious, though very thick, and that Fat Squirrel, from just over the border in Wisconsin, was another placer in the top 25 new beers.

Denver - Oskar Blues I

Eryn and I flew into Denver today to meet my parents and grandmother so we could drive my grandmother back north to the farm in Montana.  Usually we'd head down to Tucson to pick her up, but time was tight with ballet (Eryn, not me), so we only had Sunday morning through Saturday morning to make things happen.  We were still going to head down to Tucson, but my parents wanted to see more of Eryn, so they met us in Denver to trade grandma.  The best thing about that is the beer.  I haven't been to Denver before (just skirted it), and haven't even been in the area long enough to tour a brewery before, so this was my big chance.  I'm not talking about Budweiser and Coors.  I'm talking about good breweries.  Odell.  Great Divide.  Oskar Blues.  Breweries that are like Surly and Summit.

Today we went to Oskar Blues.  Unfortunately, it wasn't doing tours on Easter.  But the restaurant was open, and the guy who was on his way out of the brewery to bike stopped long enough to sell me some G'Knight from the brewery and let me look around for a minute.  Hell of a brewery.  The focus is beer.  Bikes.  Kids.  Fun.  I'm jealous.  That's what a job should look like.

This is a flight from Oskar Blues restaurant, just up the street from the brewery.  Couple of IPAs on the list.  One is 10% and smells like it's made out of crushed flowers, there are so many finishing hops in it.



I liked the flight so much I took a second picture with my stout in the foreground.  As a second beer, I had a glass of TenFidy.  That's like drinking concentrated Guinness.  It's got some real chew to it.


I know this is fuzzy, but vaguely readable, in case you want to know what was in the flight.  Check out the % on the alcohol.  Might as well be drinking two beers for every one.


Ingenious use of a keg.


Eryn trying to "pick up" the keg.


A better attempt.


When that didn't work, she went to a straight fashion shoot.


Girls' bathroom.  Flashdance is how you could tell.  What a feelin'.  I must be peein'.