Two nights at Thunder Ridge, outside of Woodland Park, CO. This time, Megan and Joe brought their iPod and some little speakers! Woo, jam out, yo! Click on the pic for more.
Category Archives: vacation
Boston. Finally.
Okay, let’s see what I can remember a week after the fact!
Friday, the 4th: As instructed, I called KT when I was on my way to Baggage Claim at Logan. It turned out that Teddy was already at the airport, so she told me to look for a silver car. I already knew what the personalized tags would say, so I saw Teddy before he saw me… which meant that he didn’t get a chance to wave the Colorado state flag that he’d purchased in anticipation of my arrival. He was able to work through his disappointment, and still had a chance to wave a set of New Mexico flags when picking up the THREE carloads of people who were to arrive a couple of hours later. We all spent the afternoon gabbing and drinking fancy Belgian beers and slurping spiked slushies in the backyard, and then it was time for a gluttonous FEAST of steamed lobster and grilled steak. (Yeah, I had neglected to mention my vegetarian tendencies. I knew that it would be rough on this crowd of foodies who were being so gracious as to house and feed me, so I reverted to omnivory.) Then Ted and KT brought out an American flag cake, AND a cheesecake, and we all found room in our bellies for just a little more. Feeling stuffed, we worked it off by walking the few blocks down to the local yacht club for a good view of the fireworks.
Saturday: We started the day with a walk around the perimeter of Deer Island. We saw lots of boats, and met lots of dogs. This was followed by more schmoozing around the backyard, and then we all walked back to the yacht club to await our golden chariot: a cruise around the harbor with Ted’s friend Larry on Larry’s boat. Larry traps lobster for a living, and his boat was large enough to haul 18 of us around in spacious comfort. We spent a few hours on the water and were getting ready to wind things up when Larry decided that he may as well pull a string of his traps out of the water and show us city folk how things are done. It was great to see Larry and his wife, Sandy, at work. There’s a poetry to the efficiency of movement that he’s developed over the years, and his passion for his work was evident. In fact, as we were later finishhing up a dinner where we celebrated Ted’s birthday with an intimate gathering of 34 people (complete with magic show performed by our Ordinary, Everyday, Magical guest of honor), Larry mentioned that even after 30 years, he was looking forward to getting up at 4am and getting back to the boat. That is, he was looking forward to it until we exited the restaurant into a blanket of fog. Everyone stumbled back to the Tiger Mews for dessert (of course!) of not one, not two, not three, but FOUR homemade pies, and leftover flag cake and cheesecake.
Sunday: We made it into Boston proper for a walk through town. By which I mean we took the T into town, walked about three blocks, and stopped at the Union Oyster House (oldest restaurant in the U.S.) for drinks. Feeling refreshed, we walked a few more blocks into Chinatown, and enjoyed steaming baskets of dim sum for lunch. We then headed back downtown and a few of us were lucky enough to get tickets for a Duck Tour! The “conDUCKtor” of our DUKW amphibious vehicle, South End Sara, was Jailbird George, and he did a terrific job. After a day in the sun, we headed back to the Mews for a delicious paella, and fresh coconut cake. And pie. And flag cake. And cheesecake!
Monday: We splintered into smaller groups of Shopping and Sightseeing, and while I know what you’re expecting, I actually joined the folks heading to the aquarium. And what an aquarium! Definitely a sight to see, with hauntingly beautiful jellyfish and electric eels and “shaaaahks” and rays and and and! We had just enough time to work our way up and down through the throngs of kids before we had to find our way over to Boston Beer Works, where we were regrouping for an early dinner before the game at FENWAY PARK. Yeah baby, first row in the grandstand, right behind home plate. Just a little bit of heaven. Of course, after last year’s trouncing of my Rockies by the Sox in the World Series, I had a hard time getting behind the home team. That didn’t diminish my joy at being in one of the last truly historic ballparks in the country, though. The Citgo sign! The John Hancock neon! The Big Green Monster! Oh, yeah, and (sigh), the Sox.
It had been 14+ years since I’d been to Boston, but I’ll try to get back a little sooner next time.
Tons of photos if you click on the one below.
Craptastic Weekend
Yeah, yeah, yeah, what about the Boston photos? Well, I kinda took the weekend off, and am only getting around to uploading them now. Soon, kids.
So, this weekend. Yeah. Well. It starts with my friends, Dave and Jessi, who have been planning on moving to Chicago this summer. “This summer” very suddenly became “Friday” due to an unexpected interview opportunity. So, along with the masses, I got up at 4:30 am on Friday so that I could spend some quality time with Dave, waiting in line* so he could buy a new iPhone. He and Jessi left for Chicago, with my goddog, Oscar, and Oscar’s “sister,” Maddie, shortly after we returned home.
On Friday afternoon, I visited Greg over at Tribal Rites so he could try to fix the color on my tattoo. An hour later, covered with a layer of the lilac it should have been in the first place, it was looking a lot less blue. It still wasn’t the color I had originally intended, of course, but a good improvement. Jay and Alison saw it Friday night at a screening of Hellboy II, and gave their nod of approval.
Saturday morning, and the color was right back to where it started. I’m not real familiar with tattoo ink, but I didn’t think that was possible. Alison and Jay saw it again on Saturday, and were as surprised as I was by the shift. I guess it really wants to be blue. Which is too bad, because I HATE IT. HATE. I spent a YEAR obsessing about this art before committing it to my flesh, and teal blue was NEVER part of the plan. I am too upset to even think about what to do at this point. Saturday didn’t start off on the best note, and then:
The rest of the day was filled with laughter and tears as the remaining crew got together to help load up Erin and Tim’s belongings into their moving truck. I was given the oh-so-important task of holding the Door Open button on the elevator, while a flurry of people efficiently moved boxes and furniture from the third-floor apartment into the giant Penske truck waiting below. We all shuffled out in the afternoon, and Tim and Erin hit the road to Oklahoma a short time later. The only thing keeping me together is the promise of a visit from them at Halloween, our most favoritest of costumed holidays. I spent the afternoon trolling around online for costume accessories for a variety of ideas. I wonder which one will pan out!
Sunday was spent hanging out with Timber, driving around and visiting a (small!) car show and hitting up REI (we both bought nothing, but interestingly, ran into Alison and Jay). I bought a cute little vintage hat at Flossie McGrew’s. I tried and failed to troubleshoot Timber’s newest computer, an old iMac G4 which he found, fittingly, abandoned near a Dumpster. The monitor wasn’t coming on, and I don’t think the hard drive was spinning up (the fan was working fine, though!). He replaced the air filter in my car in the time it took me to make three trips into the basement looking for assorted cables and connectors as I attempted to hook the iMac up to either my MacBook or an LCD monitor to see if I could access the drive. No luck. I am troubled at my failure to diagnose and fix the problem. At least I have a bright, clean new air filter. :D
Four more days at the office, and then I get to fly out to see MANDY, which will help take the edge off. Even if all we do is hang out on the sofa and catch up on DVDs (with the occasional foray to Sebastian Joe’s for a scoop of something interesting, and Edina Grill for pierogis. And the St. Clair Broiler for the great signage and a good malt!), just being able to spend some time with Mandy will be a much-needed weekend.
Tomorrow: Boston. I promise.
*I have been reminded that the rest of the world waits IN line for things. Only New Yorkers wait ON line. I confused a friend, who thought I was talking about buying the iPhone online. I shall henceforth try to amend my communication.
Clecktions!
I know, I still owe you kids the final post about my trip to Boston, with links and pictures (with circles
and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one explaining what each one was). But you see, I didn’t realize that I’d taken 400 photographs, and I only got through my first edit on Wednesday night.
Instead, here’s an interview that I did with Sabrina, the charming blonde mannequin over at Holly Gab (the blog arm of Lucite Box Vintage). I took the photos myself, and in a terrible rush, so they’re not, how do you say, “good.” On the other hand, I don’t have fancy lighting equipment and I didn’t want to drag everything to the level of my studio lights, so… deal with it. :)
Now, does anyone know how to clean white canvas espadrilles?
Filed under collections, fashion, shoes, vacation, vintage
Bahstahn, part II
Fen. Way. PARK.
Yeah, that’s right, I have finally seen the Big Green Monster with my very own eyes. As we walked from the T station to the ballpark, the conversation with my dad went something like:
Ohmigod, it’s the Citgo sign! I need to get a photo.
Of what?
THE CITGO SIGN, Dad!
I don’t get it.
If you haven’t yet figured it out, I was not personally surrounded by baseball fans. I didn’t buy any memorabilia, because the “Big Green Monstah” T-shirt that I wanted didn’t come in a girlie cut. I took a bunch of photos, and I’ll keep the ticket stub. We left after the 4th inning (again, I was not with baseball fans) and piled 6 people into Laura’s car for the drive back to base camp.
Tomorrow, I return home to the land of Coors Field and the Rockies. Also, my hair should calm down to a point where it is no longer swelling into a sentient being and trying to kill me. This humidity is enough to make a gal want to shave her head entirely. Okay, that might be the humidity, combined with the sweltering heat. Every time someone asks me why I moved to Colorado when I neither ski nor snowboard, this very weather is the thought that runs through my head.
I would like to send a shout out, right here and now, to Dave & Jessi. My neighbors, who are also my friends, took it upon themselves to drive me to (and pick me up from!) the airport for this little trip. I know that their upcoming move to Chicago is the right thing for them to do, but I would like to publicly say: SUCKS FOR COLORADO. The whole gang here is very sad to see them go.
Okay, for tomorrow: photos, links, and more detail about food, some sightseeing, and whatever else I can remember. It’s been wicked cool, kids. Thanks fah havin’ me.
shoes and pie 