Lefties Get the Blues

Well, let me start off with some apologies for the delayed posting. This post will actually cover the past couple days I spent in Denver, away from my laptop. So I guess I'm not really apologizing, since I have a legitimate excuse. Easiest apology ever!

Ahem, so, this tale begins with waking up, as most stories should, on Saturday morning. Lisa, Josh, and I were all destined for Denver- which was a bit of a drive. Four hours isn't too bad, but those long, straight roads in the grasslands can get to you after awhile. Thankfully, we had a completely safe journey, only halfway in part due to this sign:

Middle middle middle... And then we arrived at Denver! Yay!

Our plan was to meet up with Josh's brother, Nate, as his shift was ending. Until then, we decided to visit a few breweries and sample some Colorado beers. I designated myself as the DD, since I knew Josh and Lisa would be able to appreciate the complex flavors with more aptitude (not to mention my stomach had never completely settled from most of the past week). We went to Dry Docks brewery, situated in Aurora (one of those smaller cities inside a large city), then moved to downtown Denver for Great Divide. What's that you say? Pics or it didn't happen?

The proof is in the pudding, I always say. I mean, I said it once... just now. Finally we met up with who would be our host for the night, one of Josh's friends named Jordan. It was alot of fun for someone such as myself, who grew up almost strictly in small towns, or outside of small towns, to get an insider's peek into another city besides Grand Rapids. Each city has a unique flavor, much like the beers that they produce. (Though I discovered that my vocabulary for the latter is not quite on the up-and-up.) I'm almost certain I could spend much more time in Denver in the future; two days left me woefully inadequate to paint you a complete picture of the city. So, moving on!

That night we ended up at Nate's restaurant, met up (randomly, I believe) with more of Josh's friends, and found our way back to Jordan's apartment. The next day, we started fresh with Nate, Jordan, and his wife Heather, striking out for The Cheeky Monk, a restaurant/pub. We arrived at about brunch-time, and had some brunch, because we decided that would be just about perfect timing.

At last, it was time to depart from that cheeky monk, and we set out for the Left Hand brewery. I'm sure some of you may recongize... THIS SYMBOL??

No, it is not one of Manos's hands of fate. (10 points to those who get this reference.) Anyway, their brewery was pretty cool. It had a birthday party going on at the time, so it was quite busy, and there was a live folks/blues band playing in the corner! We had some samplers, and surprisingly enough, before long someone came up to us and asked Josh if they knew each other. Did everyone he go to college with move to Denver? Oh yeah- pics!

That's Jordan, Josh, and Lisa in the first picture, in that order (if you read/view from left to right.) I don't know the people in the other picture. It was mostly of the sign. I could make up some names though.

The friend we met, whose name turned out to be Matt, told us that he lived barely four blocks from Jordan, and we made plans to hang out later that night. Finally, we departed and headed for a brewery I had never heard of before called Oskar Blues. This was probably my favorite brewery pub in terms of ambiance. It had that sort of eclectic, carefree, jazz flow about the bar. Er, I mean blues.

I loved the fact that you could see the factory-like portion of the brewery behind it all. No attempt to hide or put on a gussied-up face here, and I can appreciate that. They even make their own hot sauces with their beers- and Josh, a hot sauce guru, could not resist. We were informed by the bartender that just around the corner was their actual pub/restaurant, where we could indeed purchase chicken wings infused with such sauces. It became our next priority. But before we left, I decided to use the bathroom...

Note the Founders sticker, fellow Grand Rapidians. And the beer can on the handle. Found that pretty awesome, as well. Then, wings happened:

And our faces burned orange with the might of their taste!! After a hard day of imbibing many a palatable beverage, we went to meet up with Matt, as we had promised. A short stop by his place turned into a lovely jam session when it was discovered that Nate, Jordan, and Matt all played guitar, and Matt had a left-handed one available for Jordan! Josh and I got to sit back and enjoy some fine strummin'.

And that, my friends, is the end of that tale, which ended with me falling asleep. See, I brought it full circle. Aren't I clever.

But Who Watches the Watchmen?

Welcome, fellow followers, to another fun-filled feature focused on frittering away the fragile future we all forfeit. And also alliterations.

Since Josh is a mountain man who builds a cabin with his bare hands in the peaks of Colorado for a living, he was away for a few days this week, leaving Lisa and I to fend for ourselves. Fortunately, we had quite a few places in mind that we had passed up earlier in the week that were not too far from here, one of which being the already featured Crestone, and another being an alien observatory alongside the highway. Buckle your astro-suits and pressurize your cabins, cause it's going to be another trip to the New Age, and the road is groovy, man.

The day before I had called to see what their hours were. We had driven by before and it had appeared to be a small hut with some short scaffolding attached, and not much else. No cars, people, or anything. I got the answering machine, and was politely asked by an older lady to leave my phone number, and she would try to get back in touch with me. "Manu-manu," was how the message ended. I had to hang up before she got my laugh on record. If any aliens are reading this blog, can you please reassure me that that is universal for "have a good day" and not something like "I now control your thoughts?" Thanks.

So, we decided to just go and make the most of it. We managed to get there while someone was running the shop, which was what the hut had been. The scaffolding was the famed alien watchtower, where you could come at night to stand in the middle of the desert and watch for the visitors. However, the true jewel was vortex energy garden. The center of not one, but TWO energy vortexes. Apparently the tradition is to keep the energy going by leaving some small token behind; just anything will do, really, as it will be infused with your good vibrations and continue the flow. The interesting side effect of this is, that after a few years (WARNING: art joke ahead) it began to look like Dave McKean's closet.

In answer to your next question: yes, it was that awesome. Apparently there have been multiple sightings recorded at this exact place. I'll post the website at the bottom for those of you interested- it's quite the read.

Here, Lisa carefully monitors the skies from the observatory, maintaining a constant flow with the energies below her. After scanning the vista for a bit with no luck, we decided to head out. But, true to form, we added a bit of our energy to the swell...

Next up was Crestone. Driving out into the wilderness once again, we were now much more sure of where we were going, but we were completely unsure of what we would find. Unfortunately, once we did arrive, we found out that most hippies go home at 3 pm! A few of the stores we had wanted to check out were already closed, but we visited what we believed to be a tea shop on the corner of the road into town. (Yeah, you can get that specific with towns like these.) To our surprise, it was an organic produce/grocery store galore, with a wide selection of teas imported from all along India and China. The shopkeep was a soft-spoken lanky bearded man who was eating a pomegranate when we entered. After a bit of wandering around and not finding much in the way of tea, I decided to ask him about it. He laughed and took us down a narrow hallway into his office, where he proceeded to open two huge drums full of bags of sealed tea. He handed me a list and left us to peruse the tea selection while he attended to other customers. I'll just interrupt myself here to say, I love Crestone.

Before that moment, I didn't realize how little I knew about tea. Lisa had been to China for half a year, and began to educate me. We decided to try a Pu-erh tea, which according to a website I will post for you, is from the Yunnan province in China, and allowed to grow a thin layer of mold on the leaves to give it a distinct earthy flavor. The shopkeep informed me that the Pu-erh style of tea was many times used by nomads for its hardiness. I wasn't sure if I wanted to dive right in and buy a whole ounce before I knew what Pu-erh meant to me, and was told "No problem, let me set you up with a sampler of it." In a few minutes Lisa and I were enjoying hot steaming Chinese style tea on the front porch of his shop, surrounded by the mountains and saying hello to the regulars that came and went out of the store.

There's the sumptuous lady herself.  While the Pu-erh tea did allow me to reminiscence upon my days spent among the mules in the Grand Canyon, the flavor corresponded more to the mules than the canyon itself (to me at least- form your own opinion.) So, we went ahead and tried an Oolong tea, which is somewhere between a Green and a Black tea in terms of flavor. After a few cups of Monkey-Picked Ti Kuan Yin tea, our conversation slowed to a halt, and we entered a Zen-like state of mind. We communicated with only a glance- our words became feelings.

Well, maybe- but we did have to look at each other and laugh. I knew I had to have more of this tea. As we were checking out, our state of mind was lingering, and I was neither here nor there- so when the shopkeep asked us if we were drunk, it took me a minute to recollect my thoughts and question the absurdity of his question. But by then, it was obvious, and he just smiled.

By then, the day was beginning to feel accomplished, and we started on the long road back home. However, let me take this time to reflect upon the fact that no matter where you go in life, you're always watching people. The more interesting question is... who's watching you?

The Watchtower's Website
A quick lesson on tea
The tea shop

There's a Desert up here??

Hello again, avid readers! I know you've been trembling with antici----------       pation.. for my next post. It's been about two days since I got into Colorado, and apparently I brought some bad Michigan weather with me. Here's my view of Mount Blanca (and for those of you who don't habla espanol, that means, Mount Whitey) on these first couple days--

This is, of course, the view from the the Kleine Deter's backyard. (I don't know how they stand it.) But, when I commented on the panoramic vista and gorgeous open spaces, the family scoffed at me and cursed me for bringing cloud-filled days of light snow and rain. It wasn't until mid-afternoon on the second day that the weather moved on and my eyes were opened...

Unfortunately, of course, the pictures doesn't do the experience justice; standing there with fields stretching out in front of you, disappearing into the blue haze and melding with the white-capped mountains... I still can't get over it.

Then, yesterday, one of Josh's (the friend that I'm staying with) college friends, Lisa, came up from California to see us. It turns out that she is on a journey too-- across the United States, mostly on the east side, seeing family and friends... But more importantly, making a point to stop at all local breweries and pubs along the way. Turns out she's a bit of a beer snob, and while we were in Del Norte (spanish for "of the north") we stopped by an up-and-coming brewery called Three Barrel.

Turns out it's SO up and coming, that it's something of a second job for the owner, and the brewing process itself is done in the back of his insurance company's office! But, Josh was good friends with him and we got to enjoy a private tasting, and I must say... there was not a beer that I did not like (and I've never been much of a beer expert.) Josh and Lisa would analyze each beer, emphasizing their knowledge with advanced terminology that I was content to sit back and soak in, while soaking up the tasty beers.

It was really interesting to learn how varied and unique beers can be, and to get an inside look on the small business vs. large corporation aspect of a fairly new brewery.

Then today, we decided to have adventure time, and headed out to one of the nearby wonders of the world, the Great Sand Dunes National Park. The dunes were formed because of the unique positioning of the mountains, streams, and winds in the valley. The sediment is brought down from the mountains via the streams, then blown backwards towards the mountains by the wind, where it collects into massive sand dunes. In the summer, they have spring streams that flow at their bases and the sand is just as hot as any beach, but we were there in the winter, just after a snow.

And there's the lovely Lisa and Josh. Aren't they cute?? We trekked into the wide open dunes, but decided to not journey to the top of the dunes, per some advice from Josh, who claimed the view was not worth the sand-filled hike. I choose to believe him.

Really gorgeous. The snow snaking along the dune's ridges was such a strange combination of natural elements. Once we had had our fill of the chilly desert, we moved on to a more... New Age-y destination.

A small town near the base of the Sango de Cristo mountain range that encircles the valley (the Blood of Christ, so named for the pinkish hue the mountains take on in the setting sun) named Crestone boasts a unique history. In the 1970s, the owner of the land is said to have discovered a set of unique crystals in some caves underneath the mountain, and was inspired to create a community that would be a world spiritual center. By 2006, several homes and businesses had begun to inhabit the area,
including but not limited to: a Hindu temple, a Zen center, a co-ed Carmelite monastery, and several Tibetan centers.

We decided to take a quick tour of the town through our van, and if I wasn't a person who disagrees with stereotyping, I would agree that the town fit every single one of them. Taking a road out away from the town, we wound around the mountain's base on an increasingly difficult single-lane road. We passed many signs for the retreats and centers nestled away in the mountains, but we finally stopped at a Tibetan Buddhist stupa, apparently filled with many important relics, including the bones and hair of some of their spiritual leaders.

We circumambulated, per tradition in a clockwise manner, enjoyed the view, then headed back down the mountain. But, on the way, we managed to get some killer shots of the country side.

Finally, we returned home to some delicious craft beers, deep fried chicken wings, and homemade hamburgers while the moon began to take over the sky, casting the shroud of twilight across the land. All in a day's journey.

Phew! All that, and some cool links!
Information on Crestone
Lisa's BeerAdvocates.com profile (for my beer snob friends!)
Three Barrel Brewing Company Support your local brewery!

7500 feet up

I have finally arrived at beautiful Alamosa, Colorado! Flying out from the Denver airport was the highlight of the trip, and I'm kicking myself for not taking a picture of the city's lights at night. It was almost like a second starry night underneath us. It was also exciting because I got to fly in a Beechcraft 1900D, 19 Seat Turbo Prop, that looked something like this--

And I can't remember that I've ever flown in something that small. Unfortunately it's quite cloudy right now, and in the first picture (the view from the Kleine-Deters front lawn) you can't see all of the mountain that is there. It is literally breathtaking though, with an elevation difference of around 7000 feet, I've noticed my breathing is not quite what it could be.

Now that I'm here, I'm going to be focusing alot on working out, finishing preparations to go to Korea, and most likely having adventures. Those mountains aren't just for looking, ya know!

P.S. It's quite windy today, and I just saw two lone tumbleweeds mosey across the backdrop of the mountain, with the horse in the neighbors yard looking on. Gotta love the west.

On My Way

All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go...

Headed out to beautiful Colorado tomorrow! My flight leaves at about 1 pm, and I'm going to be taking lots of pictures, because I figure everyone wants pictures of me getting onto an airplane, right? Actually, it's more of a habit building process. I need to get used to taking lots of pictures and having my camera ready at all times. Why, you may ask?

Well, for those who don't already know, my trip to Colorado is a stepping stone in the process of jumping the big pond and diving into Korea (South Korea, mind you. I'm not quite sure how well I would be received by their northern brothers.) My plan is to land a job teaching English there to the little Korean children.

And since I can't take my friends, family and loved ones with me as carry-on, I'll be (trying to) update this blog as often as possible with my adventures and with pictures. If you take into account that I have A) Never fluently spoken another language, B) Never been outside North America, and C) Have a degree in Fine Arts, not teaching... my adventures should be varied and hilarious.

I hope you're all looking forward to it as much as I am!

I used to get high for a living

So much to update. Later, later...

I love the Discovery Channel

And here's why.

www.fanvswild.com

Let's roll the dice, see if I can't go to Canada with Bear Grylls....

...Daddy needs a new pair of shoes...