Picnic in Style

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In my last post I made mention of going on an impromptu picnic.  The best kind of picnic.  I decided to do a little research on how to make such an endeavor more efficient.  It is amazing the products available now to take all the vital necessities to enhance your outdoor dining experience.  Check out this site that makes the coolest stuff for a romantic picnic.  Not only can you buy the traditional basket but you can also get all the accoutrements,  like folding chairs and tables.  
I am use to stuffing things into my handy old traditional backpack, the one that carries my laptop to the library and my workout clothes to the gym.  Not the best method for toting wine bottles and bread...unless your like your bread really flat.  The insulating qualities of my current bag are non-existent.  That all can be remedied based on your desires by choosing from a myriad of these picnic baskets.
Perhaps my favorite, because of my active, manly lifestyle is the picnic backpacks.  They contain everything you need...Utensils, beverage thermos, glasses, plates, even the requisite picnic blanket.  The fact that it can be strapped to your back means you can hike to the most out of the way scenic places to dine in style and class.  I favor this type because it means I can be romantic while still retaining my guy card.
It is good to know that these types of options are out there.  So go ahead, buy that bottle of Bordeaux, pick up the chunk of Brie and go hike a 14'er.  Picnics are no longer relegated to city parks.

Interesting weather and some sightseeing

Yesterday turned out to be one beautiful rainy mess.  I love a rainy night.  I was able to watch as the storm developed over Denver.  I thought I might be witnessing a potential tornado forming.  It dissipated shortly after taking this photo.

It is comforting to know that my local library has this...just in case.

A friend wanted to surprise me with an outing.  The rain caused us to have to change plans several times but a picnic and a bottle of wine on top of an overlook in Golden, Colorado turned out to be perfect.   The drive up was an adventure of sorts for me.  The roads were wet, the drop-offs steep, the driver distracted, the passenger white knuckling his camera.   Good times.

I used this photo op as an excuse to put my feet on terra firma for a few minutes.

We passed by the place where I watched fireworks earlier in the week.  One of the coolest firework viewing places I have ever been.  It is on top of the Mesa in the distance.  A group of us hiked up a trail (which was officially closed) filled with switchbacks and loose rocks.  The hike and the top of the mesa were better than the actual fireworks show.   The mesa also overlooked the Coors brewing factory.  I will be making this hike again soon.

As I mentioned before it was a rainy night which was great.  It didn't impair the view too much.  Here is Golden at night from our parking vantage point.  It was spectacular and it is exactly the kind of hidden treasures that I like discovering here in the Denver area.

I have been fortunate to find so many cool people that enjoy the things I do.  But as they told me, I am in Colorado, most people like doing things outdoors.  Awesome!

First Tent Camping in Rockies Part 2

After my monumental hike earlier, we all return to camp to get some grub in our bellies.  We are also awaiting the arrival of new campers that are to be joining us.  This would be Kristen, her dad, Reuben and two of her friends James and Erica.  This new group enlightened me to the ways of the vegan.  More on that later.

First thing we had to do was to show them how spectacular watching the stars from the parking lot was.  It seemed colder this night than the previous.  I was also more tired.  And the group was smaller.  It was good all the same but I retired to my tent by 3:30am in a vain attempt to get some quality sleep.  My slumber was better than the sleep I got the night prior.  I woke up in a better mood.  Not being a morning person I mumble and stumble out of the tent and enter the fire pit area with all the grace of a drunken bull.  My hair doing gravity defying tricks to humor my fellow campers.  I shake the cobwebs from my brain in a record 30 minutes.   This day was going to be a little more subdued and blissfully relaxing.  Everybody, except the new people, were leaving this morning.  I was the only person from the original group to stay.

James and Erica are a married couple who are some of the most different people I have ever met.  I mean that in a very good way.  They are strict vegans and fitness fanatics.  Pretty cool combo.  They turned me on to some incredibly delicious vegan food.  I won't even attempt to recreate the words of the foods I ate, I could barely pronounce them, much less spell them.  I do remember that virtually everything was gluten free.  I have never hunted gluten but it must be a very unhealthy animal because the vegans really made sure it didn't sneak into their food.  I had a preconceived idea of what a vegan ate...tofu burgers, tofu hot dogs, etc.  In fact, the only vegan food I knew was tofu and rice cakes.  They learned me alot this past weekend.  Like pretty much any vegetarian food that tries to pretend to be a meat substitute almost always tastes bad.  You have to make completely original meals.  They influenced me so much that I will attempt to change aspects of my diet to see if I can notice a difference.  This will take much planning on my part because I am pretty sure that everything I currently put in my mouth is not kosher.  Fortunately, James informed me that I should only give up certain foods at a time to keep my goals achievable.  He suggested dairy products first, milk, cheese, eggs.  Supposedly I would see and feel the most benefits from this change.  This alone will be a feat of great magnitude for me.  As long time followers know, eggs represent a bulk of my quick, easy and cheap meals.   At least he didn't suggest that I start with the most difficult ingredient for me to abstain from: Sugar.
Here Erica and Kristen prepare something healthy...While Sam and Tom dine on bacon.

Kristen and her dad also practice a vegan diet although not as strict as James and Erica.  They gave me decaf coffee with coconut milk and stevia.  They used almond butter on their sprouted grain breads.  I drank some horrible concoction called Kombucha with a main ingredient called mother, a mushroom like item that ferments in a carbonated mix and leaves a stomach churning sediment at the bottom of the glass bottle.  I was also fed some wonderful homemade salsa and hummus.  It felt very appropriate to be eating like this in the heart of nature.  My only regret being that the trip was too brief.  I have so much more to learn.

Being a lover of the fire as I am, I always jumped at the opportunity to bring down firewood to make sure that we had an overly adequate supply.  Sometimes these outings required bringing the wood from a mile away, since closer spots had long been picked over.  It was an opportunity to work on my balance and upper body strength.

 Our group also had a little fun playing on logs that had fallen across the miniature river.  Yoga was a common theme (except for my De La Hoya impersonation and Reuben's graceful crane)

And there was always time for a little R&R.

As we were getting ready to leave we spied these little nymphs prancing through the forest.  They spoke not a word, but gestured and flitted around with gay enthusiasm.

Here is a video of my fairy encounter.  

First Tent Camping in Rockies Part 1

I am going to make this post while I still have most of the weekend fresh in my mind.  My mind is foggy now due to sleep deprivation exercises I practiced all weekend long.  You know you are having a great time when you don't even want sleep to interrupt it.  Even if you want to go to sleep the excitement is coursing through your veins like adrenaline preventing sleep from happening.  That's how good this weekend was.

A small group of us ventured up into the Rockies for a little camping getaway.  I rode up with Tom and Sam.  I brought along Nala and a friend, Rebekkah (aka Bekky, Bekka, lifesaver) watched Miss P.  The drive was a little over an hour and the holiday traffic was virtually non existent.   We found the camp site that Amanda, Alyssa and Ian had staked out for us the day before to make sure that we would have one for the busy holiday weekend.   It was primitive camping at its best.  A large parcel of forested land a few dozen feet from a stream.  The stream was either an anorexic river or a bloated creek.  It had a strong flow and several small falls that made falling asleep a little easier.  The water was about one degree over freezing.  You could not leave your foot in it for more than 30 seconds due to the extreme coldness.
We had at one time 5 different tents set up, ranging in size from 5 person down to one man.  The central gathering spot was around the fire pit.  All eating and most socializing in camp was done around the fire pit, whether there was a fire burning or not.
The first night a group of us hiked back down to the parking area and set our sleeping bags in the flower petal position.  This allowed for conversations to be heard by all while viewing the stars.   Here is from the 12 o'clock postition...Sam, Amanda, Alyssa, Moi, Leanne and Tom.

I was trapped between Leanne and Alyssa.  Who ended up being bad influences and keeping me in the parking lot until the sun came up with their in-depth conversation skills.

The next day, after only about 4 hrs of restless, sun filled sleep, everybody is chomping at the bit to go hiking.  I temporarily lost my camera and everyone was gracious enough to give me about a half hour to search for it.  They understood the importance of the camera to me and had already gotten use to me pointing it at them frequently.

 It was a moderately active hike, mainly because it was one continuous incline.  Then at the timberline, where the alpine zone started, the lack of oxygen became very noticeable.  It was amazing.  We went from doing strenuous hiking at a decent pace to short 50 ft walks at an even slower pace.  The trade off was that the view improved drastically with every step into alpine country.

Alyssa adding bandannas as sleeves to protect herself from the sun.

 I was surprised at the amount of snow up here.

 Part of the group...Karen, Daniel, Tom, Sam, Alyssa, Amanda and Nala

 Sam and I swap out.

 Nala really impressed me with her endurance.  But she has paid for it since.  Three days later she is walking around gingerly.  Notice she uses every chance we stop to lay down.  I felt the same way.

 I've got the whole world in my hands...

Here is some video to demonstrate the best way to spit.  Proud times...



More to come later...