Puerto Rico Pics

Julia and I posted pictures from our adventure to Puerto Rico. As usual Julia's photo album is lushly high resolution and beautiful, while my pictures are a slushy distorted mess, taken with a children's camera.

The image on the left is one we hope to submit to the Denver Post - their travel section prints selected readers' vacation pictures if they are shown holding the Post's travel section. The native savage in the background is actually our friend Paul, who was apparently spear fishing for sand crabs.

Let It Snow, Let It Snow (But Just In the Mountains, Please)

One of the big reasons we moved to Denver is its proximity to the beautiful Rocky Mountains. This winter, Julia and I have been taking advantage of this, using our five mountain Colorado Pass to spend most weekends blissfully snowboarding. In support of our hobby, we even decided to rent a mountain house in Silverthorne with a bunch of people Julia found on Craigslist. Already this has saved us a lot of money and time (compared to getting hotel rooms or fighting I-70 traffic to and from Denver during peak hours).

I unfortunately had to take a couple weeks off, due to breaking my rib during an epic faceplant on Keystone, but I am almost back to normal. Julia and I took off from work Friday to take a trip to Vail, where we undertook the arduous journey to the snowboarding oasis known as Blue Sky Basin. It took us almost two hours to get there from the mountain base at Lionshead Village - there were surprisingly long lines for a weekday - but it was worth it. The vastness and sheer fun of the runs makes Blue Sky a destination we will definitely revisit (but only when we get an early enough start). I told Julia I felt like I was in a surreal snowboarding video game for most of the day.

I unfortunately forgot to bring my mini camera for the Vail trip, but I do have a few photos up from some of our previous snowboarding trips. As the season progresses, I will hopefully add more pictures to that gallery.

Change From a Fuzzy Distance

One of the most exciting things I experienced during this election season was the chance to see Barack Obama, up close, in a Pueblo rally.

I took the day off from work to drive a couple hours south to this Colorado town in which we had never previously spent time. I was surprised at how... gosh darned All-American it was. I drove past the high school with its football team practicing, with smokestacks from struggling factories silhouetted in the distance. It was a scene straight out of Friday Night Lights.

The rally itself took place in a honest to god State Fair, where I could see people of all ages, races, and backgrounds streaming in to see our next president (we hoped!). Everyone waiting in the long line to the rally was excited, and I made friendly conversation with a smart, politically active woman who worked in Boulder and a good natured kid wearing a Chuck Norris T shirt who went to the local high school. It was inspiring to be around all this great energy, and when we finally got to see Obama, walking to the podium just meters in front of us, the whole fairground practically shook from the cheering and excitement.

Unfortunately Julia couldn't come to the rally, but I did take a bunch of pictures, which I have posted to my new photo album site (by the way I definitely recommend using Google's free Picassa application to organize and host your photos on the web - it's really convenient, and again, free!). My pictures aren't very good, and they can't capture the feeling of actually being there, but I do attempt to inject some narration via the captions.