Opening Day

Opening Day madness in RockyTown! This place goes crazy for opening day baseball... and against the D-Backs? Bonkers! When I stepped out of my office at lunch today, LoDo smelled like a fresh beer. Ahh, Spring.

Total CAR-nage

The winter driving season started off with a bang this morning as I counted 11 wrecks between my house and the office. The most impressive display was this 20+ car pileup just north of Larkspur.

 

Multnomah Falls

We took the boys to Multnomah Falls with all of the cousins yesterday... It's good to be back in the Northwest!!!

For my birthday, we moseyed a couple of miles down the street to Dove Valley this am to watch the Opening Day of Broncos training camp. We got to see the first glimpse of the Orton, Quinn, Tebow show. Pretty cool! My money is on Quinn, but Tim Tebow mania has swept over Denver. The fans are NUTS. The iPhone pictures are just ok, and the movie leaves quite a bit to be desired, but hey, better then nothing, I guess.

Thank you everyone for the Facebook birthday wishes - it is so very cool to get to hear from everyone from all of my different points in my history. AMAZING! You are all awesome folks and I'm stoked that you took some time out of your Sunday to say "hi" to me and wish me well. Thanks so much.

Brady Quinn Handing Off

Kyle Orton Over Center

(Not a) Good Morning!

I'm just happy I made it to work alive... after battling several man-made obstacles on the roads this am - namely some smoker-lady in a Subaru from Illinois whose mission it was to set a new record for a minimum speed on a freeway (you know who you are, lady) and a giant piece of rubber re-tread that smoker-lady swerved over and kicked up on me, a deer jumped across four lanes of northbound traffic, lept over the median and snapped off its antlers on the driver side window of the person immediately in front of me in the left lane of southbound traffic. His window shattered (I heard the glass break @ 65mph) and the deer's antlers flew into the air and landed on the road shoulder. I swerved into the center lane, while the deer jumped back to the northbound lanes. After several more near misses (now being viewed in my rear view mirror), the deer jumped back to the southbound lanes and froggered his way across all four lanes to "safety". Holy crap.

November Skiing

I don't mean snow skiing... I mean water skiing. That's right. This November 2nd, I was able to get out on the Cherry Creek Reservoir and rip my arms off with a couple of good slalom sets. It's been so long that it felt quite the picture below. The water is down to 52 degrees, but we are going to see if we can get out through Thanksgiving.

Half Dome

Two weekends ago, my family traveled to Yosemite National Park to celebrate my Mother-in-law's 60th birthday. Parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends all gathered at the Yosemite Lodge to spend 3 days and 2 nights in the remote splendor of the Yosemite Valley. Three of us were lucky enough to set out on an early am adventure to summit Half Dome, one of the park's most prominent formations. We began before dawn on what would be a 9 hour 15 minute hike that spanned over 18 miles of forested, switchback laden, waterfall infested, horse-poop littered trail. After we crossed over the top of Nevada falls, we worked our way up the last 4+ miles of the backside of the massive rock. At this point, even though the sun was directly above, the temperature kept dropping. Clouds were moving in and our pace was slower due to both fatigue and the increased grade. At last, we reached the cables that support and guide hikers to the very top. The trek up the cables was scary. Very steep. Very little protection from the elements and from just plain falling. Of course we made it and were able to peer over the sheer edge of Half Dome into the valley below. Absolutely crazy. I highly recommend it if you are in the area. As with most hikes - especially in places this significant - there was a definite peace at the top. Not only the peace that comes with effort and accomplishment, but especially the humbling peace that comes with being surrounded by such awe-inspiring elements.