The sign at the top of the Continental Divide that warns you about the howitzer shells that are used for avalanche control.

Lovers at Vail

Kendra, Stephen, Susan, Big Fred at Red Rocks

The top of Chair 4 at 4pm on Sunday April 17th, the last day that Vail was open for the season. Lots of beers and champagne.

Stephen, standing on the Continental Divide. This is what you come to 1.5 miles before you get to A-Basin (which is at an altitude of about 10,000 feet at the summit....highest in North America)

One of the back bowls at Vail....I think there are something like 7 of these things....

Holy Colorado. Kendra and I journeyed to the wild west last Friday (the 15th, tax day) and returned yesterday (the 23rd). We were in the Denver/Boulder area, and it was an amazing time. The real reason for going was to attend Cousin Brian's wedding, which was held on Thursday. It was a nice, simple affair, at a lodge by a lake in their new home town of Evergreen. I really liked two things about the affair: For one, there was very little religion involved.... instead, it was about the two people getting married, and two, the after-party. The afterparty was held at the "Loft Suite" that Brian and his new wifer were staying at, and it was amazing. Danielle (the wifer) had a bunch of her Canadian river-raft guide friends down for the affair, and we all had a splendid time. There was a bunch of drinking, a hot tub, some Michael Jackson, and plenty of nutt-shots and fisticuffs. It was one of the best parties that I've been to in a while. Other than the wedding, Kendra and I went snowboarding (twice at A-Basin, once at Vail), did some bouldering at a rock gym, went to the world famous Red Rocks, checked out Boulder, visited Kendra's friend who live in Fort Collins, and generally had a wonderful time. We would really like to move there, and hopefully this will be happeing in a year or two. Woohaaa.

In other news, I saw M. Ward play at the Middle East two weeks ago, and he was excellent. Check that guy out.

p.s. Words cannot describe the awesomeness that is snowboarding/skiing out west. A-Basin is a stoner/hippie "for the locals" mountain, complete with it's own in-bounds bowl that puts Tuckermans to shame. In the spring time, they have something called "The Beach", which takes place at the bottom of the mountain and resembles the parking lot at an Allman Bros show......tons of people with grills, beers, dogs, lawn chairs, hot tubs, etc. Vail is simply one of the coolest places that I have ever been in my life. HUGE bowls. The place is enormous, and trying to describe it is useless. You have to go.

Dr.Beardsworth. Automation comes naturally for Greg.

The Lady with a tropical drink

John "Cocheese" Williams.....a man of sobriety and impeccable manners.

Willie......

Two big weekends to recap here: Last weekend, I saw Dave Procachini (sp?) play at Orange Street in Wastefield. They were really good, with highlights being the Chili Peppers' Airplane and a rousing rendition of Danzig's Mother. On Saturday night, Kendra and Monty had a superhero party, which was amazing. I admit that at first I was a bit skeptical of the concept, but it turned out to be one hell of a time. Kendra was Captain Sea Legs, and I was Math Man. Monty was Lobster Man, and his now-ex-girlfriend came as a giant set of testicles. It was pretty good all around.

This past weekend was Charter day, and it was also grand. Friday was a lot better than most pre-charter day Friday nights tend to be. I saw a lot of people that I haven't seen in a long time, which is always pleasant. On Saturday we started boozing quite early, and the weather was fantastic. We did the standard nice-weather roof drinking and socializing, and then went to the hotel. I brought a James Brown CD with me, and snuck some real funky tracks into the somewhat-lame playlist, and there were many "Pops for Pope" chants throughout the night. Kendra and I cut a rug. It was a good time. Didn't make it down to the Ruck either night, but that's ok. Vern didn't even make it to charter day, as he passed out from drinking too much chartreuse and missed the busses. Classic.

I recommend that you check out Perfect Sound Forever.

I also recommend that you check out Fela Kuti. The man invented afro-beat, and his music is really cool. It's a bit of an acquired taste (of which I am still acquiring), but I picked up his Expensive Shit/He Miss Road, which is pretty good and has a great story behind it. Apparently, the Nigerian police raided his commune in Lagos with the intention of planting a joint on him. He quickly snatched the joint, and ate it. He was then taken to prison, where they were going to wait for him to move his bowels and pass the spliff. He switched his shit with another inmate's poop, and the Nigerian bastards found nothing. He was released. There are lots of awesome stories about this guy.