June 30, 2010 - Village to Village

Everyone takes the morning easy except me.  I decide to rent a bike for a couple of days so I hope on my brother's hog (he drives, I am 'bitch') and he takes me to Lionshead village to rent the bike.  He goes exploring on the motorcycle and I head back to Batchelor's Gulch.  The ride takes me about 1.5 hours with the toughest part the ride up the hill to the timeshare.  We then get organized enough to start the 'village to village' hike over the mountain to Beaver Creek resort.  A 20 minute climb up the slopes takes us to a nice trail over the hill and down into the resort.  We have lunch and then take the shuttle back.

The evening we head to the Gerald R Ford Theater in Vail to hear the opening concert of the 'Bravo!' series.  Dallas Symphony Orchestra with Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg.  The excitement was when an afternoon thunderstorm whipped through just before the concert started.  We made it under the roof but since we were next to last row still got somewhat wet.  Nice concert but we all thought Beethoven's 5th lacked something.

June 29, 2010 - Holy Cross Trail

Dan finds a trail that is not too far away from Bachelor's Gulch.  Turns out that it climbs up to a 14er.  The other problem is that the trail head is at the end of a 6 mile dirt bumpy road that takes us close to 40 minutes to traverse.  Mt of the Holy Cross was not our destination, we were just hoping to get a view when we hit the pass.

Left the parking lot and started hiking up and up and up...  Finally we hit the top of the ridge and got a great view of some snow capped mountains across the way but not Holy Cross.  We started down the other side as we got reports of a nice stream to stop at.  I left the others to see scout ahead and I think I got to a view of the mountain.  By the time I got back, they were swearing at me as the mosquitoes were having a feast.

Nice trail once you get above the tree line with lots of wild flowers and views all around.  Glimpses of a marmut and prairie dogs.

We get home and discover that the car is caked in dust.

Hot tub and blue cheese hamburgers and finishing 'Flags of our Fathers' makes the day memorable.

June 28, 2010 - Steamboat Springs and Fish Creek Falls

We get a good night's sleep and head out to Steamboat Springs.  Dan and Becky on their bikes and Lisa and I in our nice cushy Hyundai Santa Fe.  On our way out there we see a sign to the ranger station in Yampa for Routt National Forest.   The town is a 'hoot'.  Dirt road for main street, one saloon, and nice small homes.  Just like you would imagine as a western small town.  We get a few good ideas for hikes and then continue on to Steamboat.  On the way in we find the ranger station and get a good suggestion to see Fish Creek Falls.  Dan and Becky found out that the brewery is closed on Monday's so we walk down the street and Dan picks the first restaurant that has a table outdoors, Winona's.  Had a nice meal where we each split an entree with our mate.

Great hike   The first falls is an easy walk down.  The second falls is a tough climb up about 2 miles.  Dan can't quite make it but Becky makes a push to go past the second falls and find the lake.  Check out more pictures on Shutterfly.

Dan and Becky head out before us and take the long way home.  We make Beet and Goat Cheese salad, beet greens, grilled portabella mushrooms with blue cheese for dinner

June 27, 2010 - Denver to Avon

We get up fairly early considering.  I find out we are in the Stapleton area which is where the old airport used to be.  We find a nice little neighborhood that has a great Farmer's Market on Sunday morning right next to the Kings Supermarket.  In addition to groceries for the week here is what we get at the market:
- Nice cheese danish and a Cranberry/Walnut loaf of bread
- $50 worth of Tenderloin with free #2 of ground beef
- Fingerling potatoes, peas, lettuce, tomatoes
- Colorado's best tamales

We head to Avon and since we took too long, Dan and Becky head on their bikes.  Dan's timeshare is a tough one to find but we eventually make it.  We then meet them in Lionshead Village.  They already ordered at Old Forge Pizza so we have a slice and then check out the bike shops and arts festival.  Dan then shows us Edwards and then we head home to cook our steaks.

June 26, 2010 - Heading to Colorado

Well Lisa and I are headed to Avon, CO to spend a week with Dan and Becky.  On the return we are going to stop off in Lexington KY to celebrate the 4th of July at a wedding of the daughter of our friends.  Actually a friend of Hannah's.  So we decided to drive to Cincinnati, fly to CO, spend the week on vacation and fly back to Cincinnati, pick up Hannah who is planning to fly to Cincinnati and then we all drive down to Lexington.  So far so good...

We leave Pittsburgh with plenty of time to make it to the Cincinnati airport. For a break we stop in Mt Sterling between Columbus and Cincinnati.  A quick walk of the main corner shows that the town definitely needs a facelift.  We find Veterans Memorial Park and eat our lunch.

The trip starts uneventfully as the airport is small and easy to get around.  Lisa figures out how to get WiFi working so we check our email before getting on the plane.  The good news is that trip from Charlotte to Denver will be first class but the bad news is that we have a 3 hour layover.  After buying a few small presents at Harley Davidson for Dan and Becky, we go to Chili's for dinner.  Shortly after dinner we get the first many phone calls from USAir that our flight will be delayed.  Ended up 3 hour delay so we get into Denver close to 1AM their time.  The Red Lion Hotel which I got through PriceLine ended up as a very nice hotel for $39.

July Pirates Games

Thu Jul 01,7:05PM EDT - Phillies at Pirates 2 seats - Turned back

Fri Jul 02,7:05PM EDT - Phillies at Pirates 2 seats - Turned back

Sat Jul 03,7:05PM EDT - Phillies at Pirates 2 seats - Turned back

Sun Jul 04,1:35PM EDT - Phillies at Pirates 2 seats - Turned back

Fri Jul 16,7:05PM EDT - Astros at Pirates 2 seats - Turned back

Sat Jul 17,7:05PM EDT - Astros at Pirates 2 seats - Turned back

Sun Jul 18,1:35PM EDT - Astros at Pirates 2 seats - Turned back but I got 4 tickets and Sam, Nathaniel, Ari and I rode our bike down for the game.  Pirates won 9-0.  Maholm went 7+ innings facing the minimum with 2 outs and 2 double plays.  Jones HR.

Mon Jul 19,7:05PM EDT - Brewers at Pirates 2 seats - Turned back

Tue Jul 20,7:05PM EDT - Brewers at Pirates 2 seats - Turned back

Wed Jul 21,7:05PM EDT - Brewers at Pirates 2 seats - Harry and Sam went.  Pirates won 15-3 with 2 HR by Tabata and 1 by Young.  18 hits!!!  Doumit was injured on a 

Thu Jul 22,7:05PM EDT - Brewers at Pirates 2 seats - Turned back

Fri Jul 23,7:05PM EDT - Padres at Pirates 2 seats - See NY Post for Yankees game. - Turned back

Sat Jul 24,7:05PM EDT - Padres at Pirates 2 seats - Turned back

Sun Jul 25,1:35PM EDT - Padres at Pirates 2 seats - Turned back


Tally for July
Harry - 4
Michael - 2
Money - $0 to Harry
Credit - 26

June Pirate Games

Tue Jun 01,7:05PM EDT - Cubs at Pirates 2 seats: Turned Back

Wed Jun 02,7:05PM EDT - Cubs at Pirates 2 seats:
- Got six tickets for my birthday and invited everyone I knew. Mike, Pat, Jimmy, and Chris showed up. Weather was beautiful until a few minutes after 7 when we noticed the game hadn't started. Around 7:15 the thunder and lightening started and a vicious storm came through. Abbie and Lisa said that there were tornado warnings. Left around 8:30 and the game was eventually postponed until later. Probably will be cancelled unless the Pirates or Cubs end up in a meaningful pennant race.

Fri Jun 04,7:05PM EDT - Giants at Pirates 2 seats: Turned Back

Sat Jun 05,7:05PM EDT - Giants at Pirates 2 seats:
- Sam is taking Natalie to see Collective Soul. I had them on StubHub for a couple of days and they didn't sell.

Sun Jun 06,1:35PM EDT - Giants at Pirates 2 seats Turned Back.  Decided to go to game anyways so I used 2  credits to  get the seats back.  Nathaniel and I tried to ride our bikes to the game but I got a flat tire.  Never made it.

Tue Jun 15,7:05PM EDT - White Sox at Pirates 2 seats - Turned Back

Wed Jun 16,7:05PM EDT - White Sox at Pirates 2 seats - Turned Back

Thu Jun 17,7:05PM EDT - White Sox at Pirates 2 seats - Turned Back

Fri Jun 18,7:05PM EDT - Indians at Pirates 2 seats - Sold on Stubhub for $9 each ($15.20 after fees) Jimmy gave me two seats for a Luxury box.  Mike and I enjoyed the game while eating too much.  Beer, hot dogs, cheese platter, dessert cart (Carrot and Coconut cakes), nachos, cookies...

Sat Jun 19,7:05PM EDT - Indians at Pirates 2 seats - Sold on Stubhub for $9 each ($15.20 after fees).  Went to a party at the Mark house but there was a rain delay.  I ended up going to game myself, buying a ticket for $10. Good game, Milledge needed a HR for the cycle and Alvarez got his first hit.

Sun Jun 20,1:35PM EDT - Indians at Pirates 2 seats - Upgraded seats to club level for Father's Day to take Mike, Nathaniel, and Ari.  The four of us rode our bikes down after Nathaniel's birthday brunch.  It was a hot day and the airconditioning of the club felt great...


Tally for June
Harry - 18
Michael - 8
Money - $30.40 to Harry
Credit - 10