2007 June Archive at gotshoo?

Archive for June, 2007

Colorado you kicked my butt.

Published

shoo

on 6/29/2007

in Colorado and Vacation

. 1 Comment

Not the Avalanche or the Broncos but the whole state. This is what I’ve learned in my week stay in the mile high state.

You can not hit pedistrians like you can in Illinois. There are special signs in the middle of the roading pointing out that you must stop for pedestrians - “It’s state law.”
People bike everywhere. Every city we’ve been to: Estes Park, Fort Collins, Colorado Springs, Durango, Gunnison, Crested Butte; there are tons of designated trails, special bike lanes, bike racks. Bike shops are more plentiful than Strabucks.
Driving in the mountains is not for the weak of heart. Watch out you pacemakers. But it’s soooo cool driving down a 7% grade at 75 to a valley.
Hot is not hot. Someone apologized for the weather when we first came out. It was like 90 with no hummidity. We explained to them that it was nothing and we would just “tough” it out.
No lack of beer anywhere except on Sundays when stores can only sell beer with 3.25% or less amounts alcohol.
Tundra grass only grows a 1/2 inch every 75 years. GTG was very upset at the top of Longs Peak when tourists were trouncing down on the delicate grass.
A 75 mph speed limit on the interstate is the perfect limit.
KOAs are the place to stay. Everyone of them has had wifi.
“Intermediate” means a total different thing in mountain biking language out here.

We’re headed back east tomorrow. Brother, please clean up or hide anything the dogs have torn up.

Model.

Published

shoo

on 6/28/2007

in Colorado and Vacation

. 1 Comment

Didn’t know I modeled for the Bass Pro Magazine.

Starbucks, where?

Published

shoo

on 6/28/2007

in Colorado, Mrs. Shoo and Vacation

. 0 Comments

This is GTG at the top of Pikes Peak. I love how in one hand she is holding her purse and in the other she has newly bought souvenir. I am in the background taking pictures and telling her to come back because Momma GTG will kill me if she gets hurt… or falls off the side of the mountain.

Pikes Peak.

Published

shoo

on 6/28/2007

in Colorado and Vacation

. 5 Comments

We drove all the way to the top. Pretty exciting since guard rails are nonexistant and a 1/3 of the road is a dirt and gravel mix.

Posing with some mountains.

Published

shoo

on 6/28/2007

in Colorado, Mrs. Shoo and Vacation

. 1 Comment

It’s no secret that GTG wants to kidnap me and move us out to Colorado. I just wasn’t aware to what extents she would go. We checked out Garden of the Gods Tuesday night. She asked this couple to take our picture… (the perfect setup). The guy was a photographer. His wife was a real estate broker. They immediately started singing the praises of Colorado. “Ohh, the average temperature here during the winter is only 50…. A great place to raise a family… Sometimes you’ve just got to strike out on your own…” She even dropped us her card.

I know she had to of called ahead and made this setup with the Colorado welcoming committee.

General GTG and Sgt. Gotshoo

Published

shoo

on 6/26/2007

in Colorado, Mrs. Shoo and Vacation

. 0 Comments

Disclaimer: Momma Shoo and Momma GTG, stop reading now. You don’t want to know any of this. You’ll never let us go on vacation together again.

Told you I’m a trooper. A short walk to geocaching sites turned into a three-mile, 7200 foot hike. How did this happen, you ask (especially since I was getting ready to down a couple Sudafed after my last post)?

I did down the Sudafed. We started on our geocaching expedition, and that turned bust really quickly. We didn’t find anything. Shoo asked if I felt up to walking a bit further, and that turned into summitting a mountain while totally high off meds.

We ended up out at the Flatirons, a range that are like foothills to the Rockies. They were created by plate movement, then exposed by erosion. You can actually see the cracks in the cliffs and the boulders that have fallen off. They look quite a bit different from the mountains up in Estes. They’re more crumbly looking, I suppose. Anyway, we ended up summitting the peak of the first Flatiron. (There are five total.)

The hike was much more challenging than our first one out here. It began easily enough…just a bit of an incline, but it quickly got more difficult. I suppose climbing a mountain can’t be a piece of cake. To keep the incline somewhat manageable (if you’re a mountain man with legs the size of my waist who’s been hiking since you were three), the trail cut back and forth. We also had to cross a boulderfield at one point. (We will have pictures later to give you a visual of what I’m talking about.)

Then we managed to take a wrong turn and ended up accidentally clamoring up boulders to scale the mountain. We were about 7000 feet up climbing up the side of a cliff face. (Moms, this is why we told you to stop reading.) We realized our error, and Shooster had to talk me down the side of the mountain. With the Sudafed-head, I wasn’t feeling like I could make it down safely. I won’t lie, it was terrifying. We could look down and see what 7000 feet looks like (really high). We’ll have to show you pictures so you can really get the feel for what we were doing. Again, moms, don’t look!

We found the right trail and continued on our way through a series of switchbacks to finally make the last big push (climbing over boulders with footholes conveniently cut out for us). At the summit, Shoo busted out the video camera, and we made a short video. Then it began thundering (one of those afternoon storms that tend to roll into the mountains), and we hauled bottom to make it down below treeline so we didn’t get fried.

It rained on us a bit on the way down, but nothing too bad. We gulped Gatorade and water when we finally reached the car. Now we’re sitting in Panera (don’t make fun) eating a late lunch and blogging.

We’re off to Colorado Springs next…

Karma is a beast.

Published

shoo

on 6/26/2007

in Colorado, Mrs. Shoo and Vacation

. 0 Comments

Another installment of our Colorado vacation by GTG.

I’m sick. Snotty-nosed, sore-throated, fuzzy-headed, achey-eared sick. And it’s making me miserable!! Shoo was supposed to go on a ride this morning, and I was supposed to summit one of the mountains around here. That didn’t happen because I can hardly breathe or think straight. This is the last time I will ever make fun of Big Daddy Shoo for getting sick on vacation.

I’m a trooper though, so I agreed to an easy bikeride through Boulder this morning. We toured the CU campus, then we went downtown to a small Cajun restaurant called Lucile’s. Shoo’s friend Josh recommended we stop there for breakfast, so we did…and we weren’t disappointed.

Beignet, Cajun doughnut

We began with Beignets, a Cajun doughnut. It was similar to an elephant ear with powdered sugar. Shoo said it tasted like fried sourdough with powdered sugar. Shoo had a sort of eggs benedict, except instead of English muffins, his eggs sat on fried eggplant (which he reminded me he never would’ve tried had he not started dating me). I had an omlet with ricotta cheese. I’d never thought to put ricotta in eggs, but it was wonderful. We also had amazing buttermilk buiscuts with homemade strawberry/rhubarb jam. We each have half left for a snack later.

We’ve really enjoyed biking around Boulder. The people driving actually know how to drive with bikes around, so we haven’t had any near misses with cars like in Springpatch. We headed over to Target to get a new air mattress (more about that later) and some Sudafed. Now we’re heading out to Chatauqua Park to go geocaching.

Told ya I’m a trooper…

More later…

CO Pics 1

Published

shoo

on 6/25/2007

in Colorado, Flickr, Mrs. Shoo and Vacation

. 2 Comments

Finally got the photos to convert (I shot all in RAW) to JPG. I really need to be in bed because tomorrow will be another long day. We’re having a blast!

This picture was taken at about 11,000 feet above sea level.

This was an akward pose and I took several shots of GTG before I got the settings just right and handed the camera off to GTG.

Rasta Pasta.

Published

shoo

on 6/25/2007

in Colorado, Mrs. Shoo and Vacation

. 5 Comments

By GTG

(BTW, no GTG hasn’t taken over Gotshoo? I do all the driving, she naps and gives me a post about the vacation. Fair trade.)

Italian+Bob Marley=Really good food!!

We spent the morning packing up our things and walking through downtown Estes. KOA made a pancake breakfast for us that was wonderful, then we shopped for a bit. We got t-shirts for everyone (including ourselves). We got both the puppies bandanas. Bud’s says “Best Buddy” and Clancy’s “I’m the brains of this family”. (That one may be a bit tounge-in-cheek.)

On a whim we decided to go to Fort Collins to have a drink (or two) at New Belgium. We were each able to choose four beers that we wanted to taste, but only after answering a very deep question for our bartender: “What is your favorite quote or line from a movie?” Both of us had horrible problems coming up with one…but no problems at all choosing which beers we wanted to try. I eventually came up with the quote from Office Space, “Someone’s got a case of the Mondays” (which isn’t quoted verbatim) and I had to give Shoo “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…” from A Tale of Two Cities. Then we got our beers. Of course, they tasted phenomenal…couldn’t expect anything less from our friends at New Belgium.

We felt a bit silly after our beers and decided we needed something to eat before heading to Boulder. We somehow ended up at a restaurant called Rasta Pasta. It was a combination of Jamaican and Italian. We weren’t sure what to expect but ended up being really glad we stopped in. It was wonderful food, probably the best we’ve had so far. Shoo got a simple spaghetti dish with Italian sausage, and I decided to go a little more daring with the Tortellini Jamaica Mon. It was tortellini (obviously) with cheese and a fruity butter sauce. There were also pinapple chunks, banana pieces and grapes thrown in. I couldn’t get over how good it was.

Shoo drove down to Boulder while I napped. We ended up heading to the wrong hotel (again–theme of our trip?), but we made it. We’re now sitting in the hotel, enjoying the free wifi and thinking about going down to the pool.

Nattie and Amanda have been discussing joint custody of the puppies if Shoo and I don’t come home…but we’ll be there!! I miss my boys. Next time they’ll have to come with us on our vacation.

Aspen Tree

Published

shoo

on 6/25/2007

in Colorado and Vacation

. 6 Comments

Out of all the pictures I took yesterday this is the only one that I got to convert correctly. More pictures later of elk, moose, and GTGs.

Still getting hitched.

Published

shoo

on 6/24/2007

in Colorado, Vacation and geocaching

. 0 Comments

Email written by GTG to our parents.

We survived the 14 hour car ride (I actually helped with the driving quite a bit…I didn’t sit and read the entire time)…along with going to the wrong hotel and not knowing where our reservations were. (For the record, I told Chris I thought they were at a Travel Lodge, but he insisted on Budget Inn.) It was a minor setback…just delayed our dinner. We ate at a nice little place downtown called Ed’s Cantina. We sat out on the patio surrounded by huge mountains and overlooking the Big Thompson River which runs through town. The meal was excellent, as was the fried ice cream we had for dessert.

We woke up early this morning and are getting ready to head to the KOA to drop off our bikes to try to get rid of the extra weight so that we don’t get stuck trying to go up some mountain road. I’d forgotten how much I missed the mornings out here. Beautiful doesn’t even begin to describe them. Chris keeps crooning John Denver to me. It was funny the first time.

Still, we haven’t killed each other, or worse, called off the wedding. We’re hiking today…going out to one of the waterfalls out here, then we’re going geocaching. (For mom and dad, that’s the yellow thing I got Chris for Christmas. We’re going to certain coordinates where there will be little treasures that people have left.) Then we’re heading into the park.

So far we haven’t seen any bighorn sheep, Mom, but we’ll be looking. We did see an elk and her calf cross the street. She was considerate enough to use the crosswalk, but didn’t wait for the signal. I’m sure we’ll see more today.

Anyway, off to hike…

Colorado.

Published

shoo

on 6/22/2007

in Beer, Biking, Blatant Recollections, Colorado, Family and Mrs. Shoo

. 5 Comments

By GTG

My family took a vacation to Colorado when I was a thirteen or so. I was going through that whole teen-angst phase where I couldn’t like anything and had to frown and brush my hair into my face whenever my parents were around. I had no problem pouting and complaining all through Missouri and Kansas, but even I couldn’t feign indifference once we finally reached the mountains. I fell in love immediately.
We had a typical family vacation…camping and hot dogs. My parents and brother embarrassing the heck out of me. But even I had a good time.

At 21 I took a job out in Colorado for the summer. I wanted to get away, and it was the perfect place to go. It was an amazing summer because not only did I get to spend my time in a breath-taking place, but I also made some wonderful friends (one of whom will be a bridesmaid in my wedding).

I worked five days a week, meaning I had two full days a week in Colorado to do whatever I wanted. I hiked nearly every chance I got. I also visited Boulder often. One of my favorite places was the New Belgium Brewery (home of Fat Tire). A friend and I followed the Continental Divide to a group of lakes that very few people have been to. (I also got a second degree sunburn on both my shoulders and face that my brother called my “skin disease”).

I’ve been talking to Shoo about Colorado since we first met. I’ve shown him pictures, and I’ve finally convinced him to take a vacation…to Colorado. I’ve planned out our trip (only because he made me). We will spend several days in Estes and Boulder hiking and biking, then make our way to Colorado Springs. From there we’ll head down to Durango (my favorite Colorado town). We will end up back near Colorado Springs in Crested Butte where New Belgium is hosting a bike festival complete with a chainless bike race.

I love Colorado, and I’ve always wanted to live out there permanently. Shoo has never been. I know he’ll be drawn to everything there is to do (especially the brokeback biking) and the beer.

Maybe we just won’t come back…

–GTG

Road Trip Music

Published

shoo

on 6/21/2007

in Mrs. Shoo and Music

. 5 Comments

Personal note to myself: Stop writing in the middle of the night; especially, when on pain killers. Stick to posting YouTube videos.

GTG and I are leaving for a road trip this weekend. I’d tell you, but she is going to do the write-up tomorrow. You’ll have to wait till then to find out our destination.

As of now it’s about 12:15 am and I can’t sleep. My back is sore so I am waiting for some pain killers to take effect before I head back to bed. Sorry, if this post ~~unintelligible~~ readable (thank God for spell check) by the time I hit the post button.

GTG’s Dad is a man of music. Seriously. He has already hand picked the songs for the daughter-daddy dance and our first dance for our wedding. For the road trip I can’t tell you about (point your compass west) he put together 6 different mix cd’s with different themes. One CD dedicated to places: Example: Ray Charles - Georgia, John Denver - Rocky Mountain High… Lot’s of songs with New York, Chicago. Then two CD’s with rain as the theme. We won’t listen to those unless it rains - cross our fingers. One CD themed just for trains. The amount of different types of music and the time it took to put together is pretty incredible, but if you saw his collection it had to been no problem for him.

I haven’t listened to them yet or even looked at the track listing; their being saved for the drive.

This is what I’ve got on my list to listen to:

Cold War Kids - Robber & Cowards

I just picked this CD up yesterday. This is one where I saw the video for the main track and thought it looked pretty cool. The CD so far is about a 3.75 stars out of 5.

Comparable to Radiohead meets the Strokes.

The Avett Brothers - Emotionalism

I got this yesterday too. I bought it after I found out they were coming to Springfield. Denny has mentioned them before and they are one of his top 10 in his last.fm profile. I compared them to bluegrass meets grunge. GTG says they are another O.A.R. clone. She’s soooo wrong. This is a 4.5 out of 5 stars. I think this one will be on heavy repeat on the iPod.

Frank Black - Christmass

GTG actually bought this one for me. Frank Black is a former member of the Pixies… You know “Where Is My Mind” from Fight Club? This is an all acoustic album. He’s got a rough but melodic voice. Props to GTG for getting this one for me. And yes, there is a cover of “Where Is My Mind.” 3.5 out of 5.

Gym Class Heroes - As Cruel As School Children

I love the hip-hop, or at least the stuff that doesn’t repeat “this is why I’m hot, cause you not.” This is another one picked out by GTG, and before it was mainstream. This is definitely a sing-a-long cd. And a whole song about a MySpace friend request. Doesn’t get any deeper than that.

Mix Atmosphere with Maroon 5.

4 out of 5.

Anyone else got any recommendations?