Archive for the 'Colorado' Category

DP

IMG_3951.CR2, originally uploaded by gotshoo.

I took some photos of the dogs tonight, but I just wasn’t feeling it. The lighting sucked and I can only take so many pictures of the dogs on the couch. So instead, I present the daily photo as one from our Colorado trip last summer. This picture is currently my wallpaper on my iPod.

Our trip was only a week long and in that time we went from Estes Park to Durango. That’s pretty much from going from the top of the state to the bottom and it’s a lot of driving.

The coolest part had to be driving through the mountains. At one point you’re in the valley passing a stream, the next you’re going uphill at a 35 degree grade and then heading back down with rocky sidewalls going 70+ mph. It’s an incredible rush if you’ve been stuck in Illinois for most of your life.

I’d love for any excuse to go back out there.

First family turkey dinner.

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This post is a little late in coming, but a good cook blog can never be rushed? Last year for Thanksgiving we snapped a ‘family’ photo and posted it for the intertubes to see. This year we did the same, but Thanksgiving put us in a coma of turkey and we forgot to hit the post button.

Well, we may of missed the Thanksgiving post, but GTG loves turkey so much that she made her first turkey tonight and invited our parents over and our favorite Berry. So in last year’s Thanksgiving tradition, here are things we are thankful for (these are all coming from me, GTG may update the post later on):

1. A cutie-pa-tootie wife (see last year), who’ll slave night and day over the best turkey in the world (this way up) then go to Target and buy me pajama pants because I need pajama pants.

2. Two ‘boys’ that act like real life brothers. They fight, they race down stairs, they get in trouble.

3. A new set of family members that are awesome. A brother-in-law who is going to be a sound engineer and can talk music and computers. Parent-in-laws that are just way too good to a Mr. and Mrs. Shoo.

4. My family, who will kick in a hand, a buck, or word for any situation. Possibly two hands with the future DIY projects coming up.

5. Colorado, some day we will be back.

6. Our friends in high and low places, where they always know our name.

7. Work.

8. A brother that put on a great best man speech.

9. A happy family.

Ties the room together.

We are in possession of an original piece of art by John Romang based off of one the photos I took on our Colorado trip this summer. It was given as a wedding gift.

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More Rocky Mountains.

Uploading the last of the Colorado pictures. Looking back, I could do it all over again.

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Great Sand Dune National Park

Great Sand Dune National Park

More info…

Try them all.

These were taken at New Belgium in Fort Collins. You get to try four different kinds of beer.

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Townies.

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This was taken at the Fat Tire Bike Week in Crested Butte. The guy above takes old townies (fixed gear bikes) and refurbs them. He joked, “I do more hands on work with Schwinns than Schwinn does now.” He had some awesome looking bikes; check out the blue and white one right-center of the picture.

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I wish I had gotten his contact information but GTG and I had just been beaten up on guided mountain biking trails. We crashed back at the KOA shortly after this.

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We later on joked that we wanted matching townie bikes for our wedding gift.

Pikes Peak View.

Believe it or not, I still have plenty of CO photos left.

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This was taken from the top of Pike’s Peak.

Dogs on couch.

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It’s been a while since I’ve put up some dog pics.

A moose and a spider

GTG <3’s Moose

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GTG dislikes Spider

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CO Skyline

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Pit stop on the side of the road, took four snapshots and they came out looking like the above.

Back home.

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We’re back home. See what we bootlegged!

Geez, lot has happened in a week. “Nessie” is slithering around Lake Springfield (Dave, I thought you were kidding), Heinzel is posted all over the SJ-R, TV 20 is still doing some outstanding reporting, AC and JP have iPhones, and my grass is green again.

I am headed back into work tomorrow. Anything for not another 15 hour day of driving.

I’ve got about 3 GB of photos to sift through.

I am pooped.

Colorado you kicked my butt.

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.

Pikes Peak

  • 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.

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

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Starbucks, where?

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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.