Beer, Mountains, and Friends... and Then More Beer

It's nice to have friends.

But it's sad when friends live so far, far away. Luckily for us, we have an awesome state that entices people to come visit us. Of course, the fact that they kind of like us may have something to do with it, but it's mostly all of the cool things we have here in Colorado. Like lots of different breweries.

Over July 4th weekend, we managed to entice some visitors with the promise of beer, mountains, and fireworks. Matt had another 4th of July show, so he needed lots of manly help. Our good friends John, Dac, and Alex were up for the challenge, and Dac's wife (and one of my favorite people), Alisha, came to turn the whole thing into an awesome vacation.

When everyone arrived on Friday night, we first had to venture out for provisions. Like Matt, the guys are all big beer snobs. And what better place to explore new beers than Colorado? We headed to the store, and returned with sixty-some different bottles of beer. While it was meant to last six people four days (and we had leftovers!), it still seemed like a lot. But the guys wanted variety, and variety they got.

The rest of the night was spent playing with YouTube videos and looking at funny college pictures of John. John was pretty funny in college.

John, sometime in 2004.

The next day, we were off for...

DAY ONE - Beer Day

One of our favorite places to visit in the state of Colorado is the New Belgium Brewery in Fort Collins. We've toured the place a couple of times, and we LOVE the mentality of the company. Employee-owned, environmentally friendly, and fun! We had to show it off.

New Belgium stuff.

Despite the brief fear that I would have to sit all alone while everyone else went on the tour (there were only five spots available), I managed to squeeze into the place of a no-show at the last minute! Woohoo!

Fun going behind the scenes with Bernie, our tour guide. John was very happy.

Pretty.

At the end of the tour, we got to ride a fun slide - just because New Belgium is awesome like that.

Whee!

Of course, we couldn't hit up Fort Collins without checking out the other awesome beer places. We had lunch at our favorite FC haunt, Choice City Deli, then headed to Fort Collins Brewery for more tasters.

FCB!

That night, we were pretty pooped. We sat around our little fire pit, enjoying the beautiful Colorado weather and S'MORES!

Fire!

The following day was...

DAY TWO: Mountain Day

We had to show off some great views of our state, but we really wanted to do something we hadn't done before. So, instead of the typical Trail Ridge Road drive (which is beautiful), we chose to drive to the top of Mt. Evans so Matt and I could experience something new, too!

So pretty.

Near the top, there is a pull-off for Summit Lake. Because John's phobia of mountain roads caused him to freak out during the drive, we made the stop to check out the beauty and give John a breather.

Obligatory pretty-scenery photo op.

John decided not to continue on the narrowing road, so the rest of us finished the drive to the summit without him. It was probably a wise decision because the road got a little scary at points. But we made it, along with MILLIONS of other people.

Ah, the serenity of nature.

After parking towards the top, there was a little trail to make it to the official summit. Matt, Dac, and I fought the altitude and summitted! Of course, it's not quite as rewarding to summit a fourteener without actually climbing it, but the view is still spectacular.

Wow.

At the summit and the almost-summit parking area.

Once we picked up John for the trek back down, we decided that he needed to relax. What better place to chill out than the Mellow Mushroom, a cool little pizza place downtown with TONS of beers on tap? And what better activity to continue the fun than Settlers of Catan?

Fun times.

While we'd had a blast all weekend, the big event was yet to come. The next day, it was time to blow some stuff up!

Skiing... In July

You had to know this was coming. With Matt's ridiculous obsession with skiing that consumed our all of our weekends during the winter, it was only a matter of time until he managed to ski in all four seasons. This year, we actually went skiing IN THE SUMMER! Colorado's crazy, huh?

We had tons of crazy snow in the high country this winter and spring, and it managed to stick around (barely) at Arapahoe Basin Ski and Snowboard Area through the month of June. When Matt heard the news that A-Basin was going to stay open through July 4th, he HAD to go. And when I say "HAD" I mean he took an entire day off work and un-summer-ized our skis just to head up there on July 1st.

No ski traffic in July!

Of course, just because there's still some snow lying around, doesn't mean it's the most ideal conditions for skiing. Temperatures were consistently in the high fifties, so the snow was slushy and gross, and most of the runs were closed because there just wasn't enough snow. But A-Basin managed to keep one small area covered enough for the public to ski and ride safely.

On the lift up! Where's all the snow?

While we started the day in pretty typical spring skiing gear, we quickly realized that we would need to shed some layers before we got way too hot in the almost-60-degree temps.

On the lift in ski pants and light jackets.

Losing the jackets.

And finally, breaking out the shorts.

Many of the skiers and boarders were doing runs shirtless (the men) or in bikinis (mostly the women). Matt and I weren't quite that brave, but we really wanted to be able to say, "Yeah, I've been skiing in shorts."

We so crazy!

Matt, enjoying his last ski day of the season.

One of the fun parts of spring/summer skiing at A-Basin is skimming "The Pond." As the snow melts, a small pond forms on one of the runs. Early in the spring, people are actually able to skim all the way across the pond (sometimes). By the time we went up, there was no chance that anyone would be able to make it across. But that didn't stop some of the crazy die-hard skiers and boarders.

He's skimming... and then he's not. But notice: he manages to keep the beer he's holding from going under. Priorities.

After skiing, we had some mediocre barbeque, looked for marmots when driving over Loveland Pass, and headed home.

So, my final thoughts on skiing in July: not great skiing, but an awesome experience.