sorry...this one is long...my trip to colorado

5/24/06
hey there folks from chief dani (doncha love this chair)...how is everyone doing??? i have recently returned from a wonderful trip all over Colorado and a bachelorette weekend in vegas...and as the saying goes...what happened in vegas, stays in vegas...i am hoping to get some pictures from vegas as i didn't take any...i know, i know...shocking...but there were too many cameras already...so hopefully some of the women i went with will pass some shots my way :)

below are pictures from my excellent trip to colorado...i saw lots of folks i haven't seen in a while and it was superb to catch up with all of them...i promised if i took their picture i would put it on the blog...so here is the trip in a nutshell....

the first stop was having lunch with my good friends renny and janice...i know renny from when i was in CA with NASA for two weeks...he is an educator too...although unfortunately he just went into the hospital for some surgery and the cleaning of a staph infection...if you know renny, he would love to hear from folks...so get in touch with me if you need his e-mail address...we had lunch together before all of hospital stuff, at a great mexican joint on colfax...i have been there before and it is YUMMY!!!!
after lunch with renny and janice i went to one of my favorite book stores in the world...the tattered cover...and sat with an amazing book called "What We Eat"...its a photo journal of different families from around the world and what they eat in a week...blew me away to see how much coca-cola families in mexico drink...or the pringles alongside the seal meat in greenland and just how much more of everything the US families had compared to the third world folks...just incredible...after reading for a while i headed on out to spend the night with my ice friend paddy and her daughter olivia...and don't forget their energetic short haired poodle jack...paddy cooked minestrone for me that was delicious...you just never know if ice people can cook, because we never get to on the ice...here's a shot of paddy and her daughter and jack...thanks for a great time...you all rock :)

next stop was the next day up in longmont where i met my old teaching buddy and friend corey and her daughter ellie...ellie is adorable and talk about mellow...the waitstaff loved her and her super cool hat and she seemed to have fun looking around and smiling at folks...such a cutie...for those of you in Colorado...corey's husband is an acupuncturist...specializing in relieving folks of their migraine headaches...he has a great track record so get in touch if you would like to have him work with you....lunch was tasty at the pumphouse...and the company was outstanding...to see more cute picture of ellie and her mom and dad...check out their blog : http://spaces.msn.com/elliesmom/

around this time i finished an excellent book called...Skipping Towards Gomorrah...the use of the 7 deadly sins to pursue happiness...it is written by Dan Savage...who writes the syndicated column savage love...and it was hilarious...if you get a chance you should read through it...it will have you laughing out loud....next stop on the dani colorado tour was also in Longmont...i got to visit with my short, loud friend becky and her family...husband mike, step-daughter kristy and sons jack and ben....it was a great time seeing the family and catching up on the past few months...we also got to watch the Antarctica DVDs i have and jack was astounded...below is a picture of the whole family...speckled with shadows from the leaves of their trees...

after my excellent time with becky and her family, i headed over to another ice friend's place, brandon's, and met his girlfriend keri...we all waited on good friend bill to arrive for dinner and hung out catching up...we had dinner at a tasty eye-talian place (i hate it when people say it like that!!!!) and then had a competitive two games of settlers of catan...if you have never played this game...its a bunch of fun...you should try it....here we are hanging on brandon and keri's couch...

the next morning i got up to meet a person i had met in thailand for breakfast....i haven't seen jo since october and even then we only hung out for a few days...but obviously we had a good time and kept in touch...jo is an energy worker and her friend tony is a mechanic and all-round good guy...it was great to grab some grub with them and catch up on the rest of jo's trip and the rest of my trip after thailand....and of course, what is coming up for both of us.... for the next stop i had to drive close to four and half hours...across the state...through the rockies...and what an impressive drive it was...PLUS...some of the ski slopes were still up and running...but most of them were mostly green and closed down for the season...if you have never been to the rocky mountains...you need to get there...they are just stunning in my opinion :) i was on my way to visit a great couple from the ice...lynn and tom...now normally lynn and tom are on the ice for the winter...but i was lucky and they weren't this year...i got to see their new house, experience their garage sale, go to an arts walk in grand junction and visit the colorado national monument...plus we had some amazing indian and tibetan food...all in two days, it was a blast of a time....i have a link to their blog on the right hand side of mine...feel free to visit them whenever :)

back over the mountains i went, did i say they were amazing....wowowowow.... to meet up with a past student of mine who has now graduated college as of a week or two ago...man, i am getting old...but below you see allison...an old overlake student of mine...she has just finished studying at colorado college and is taking a year off before pursuing her master in global healthcare...it is amazing what happens to students as they grow up...so many cool experiences and so many excellent career paths...i love that i get to stay in touch with so many...keeps me young and involved :)

after hanging with allison i met up with my excellent ice friend from pole, kelly, who was hanging at her mom's cool co-op housing in colorado springs...such an amazing idea for a living community i have to say...kelly had just returned from a month in costa rica learning spanish and traveling the country and is headed in about a week to honduras to volunteer as an engineer for a project concerning water in a region of honduras...can you say i know so many COOL people!!!! we had an excellent thai meal (the portraits of the queen and king were on the wall - always a good sign) and some real tasty sundaes for dessert...yummy....it was awsome to catch up and hear all of kelly's stories....lucky me i got to see her twice :)

the next day kelly and i headed up to the raytheon polar services corporate office in centennial to see a bunch of folks...i am always amazed at how many people i know who work there...walking through the building was a bunch of fun...it was great to see people and catch up and be able to tell them where i am headed next in my journey...many of them will be headed back to the ice come august...i don't envy them at all...i got to have lunch with three awsome ice women who have been in the program for a long, long time...it was great to hear their stories of where they have been and where they are going...plus, lunch was pretty darn good as well...below you see me with peggy, suzi and esther...these are some of the beautiful faces of the antarctic program...and they make me smile :)

after lunch with my ice buds i headed back into denver to watch a rockies game with my good friend lt. dan...another ice person, can you believe it??? dan is a NOAA core officer, cribbage player, an improving cook (not that i know that yet) and wonderful friend...who comes from PA...yes, you read that correctly...dan and i are trying for the trifeca this year - to see each other in three different states...we have two under our belts - PA and CO, with WA to come :)

dan and i had amazing seats at rockies stadium...seventh row up from the field, down the third base line...prime territory for foul balls...AND one landed about 5 feet from dan...but he didn't try for it...no mitt...the folks across the aisle from us had a mitt and they didn't even try...what a bunch of wusses i say :) the reason we had such good seats was due to another ice friend, keros...keros is a groundskeeper at rockies stadium (coors stadium really)...and we got to watch him "keep" the grounds...and i picked him out...which i thought was too cool...because he was the only guy on the field wearing boots...seems like a good move...and he did a great job...we took him out afterwards for some drinks and pizza as a thank you for the excellent view :) here's a shot of keros and i...love that bazooka shirt...

next up was a trip out to golden for lunch...where i met up with yet another ice person.. aimee...who is there working for outward bound...although has an indoor desk...i have to say i really liked golden...i hung out by the stream that goes through the center of town, watching all the kayakers...they looked like they were having a blast...the one downfall, aimee feels, to the town is the way how it smells like beer and aluminum cans all the time...i personally liked the beer smell...but didn't have to deal with the can smell...here's aimee and i...

i got to hang with dan and kelly and kelly's friend rosie some more..which was a bonus for me...and then it was my final, busy, last day in town...i met another ice person...paul ... ice weatherman extraordinaire...who has moved on to police disbatch in denver and will be headed to CA to continue this with his wife and mother-in-law...we met at the downtown tattered cover bookstore, which was great for chai...i met paul's wife renee for a few minutes before having to race to my lunch date :) below is a shot of paul and renee...

after a great time with paul i raced back down to centennial to grab a quick lunch with another ice buddy...holly...holly is the man to know when you are on the ice concerning anything computer oriented...he has access to the best stuff, has a terrific knowedge base and has an incredible projector for movies...he is THE man to know...here we are outside of the corporate offices...

for my last stop in colorado, my good friend bill and i went to our "ice mom's" place...nanc and her husband mac are excellent hosts...and nanc always makes too much food and its always delicious...and we lucked out...kris, nanc and mac's niece, was still in town as well...we had a wonderful visit with these ice friends and it was great to see nanc...my ice mom, who i have missed...she is doing well with her health, which really makes me happy...and if you look closely at the picture below, you'll see she has short hair...and wants to be just like me :) it was a wonderful way to end my visit to colorado...so many good people...so many good conversations...so many good laughs...such a terrific trip!!!! thanks to all those who put me up (put up with me) and met me for food or drinks...it was awesome.... below you will see mac, kris, bill, me and nanc....thanks again to all :)