Rockies Win

It was a beautiful day to enjoy our nations favorite past time. With tickets being so cheap, we decided to catch a ball game before the end of the season. What better way to do it than go to see our new local team, the Colorado Rockies. This game was an experiment to see where the best seats are. That is why there are a few different vantage points of the field. We would sit in one seat and than move to another to find the best. Although the Rockies were on a 9 game winning streak, there were plenty of empty seats in the house.

Though the picture may not show it well, this is a TINY TINY stadium. I couldn't believe how small it was when we arrived. Honestly, there are no bad seats here. Even in relation to Fenway, which is a small park in the baseball scheme of things, this was far smaller.

Here we see JJ standing against the Denver skyline. The park is pretty much right off the heart of Denver. Not a bad sight. The buildings are nice too.

While the baseball game is interesting, we all know why we go to the games. That's right, to eat. First thing I did when entering the park, was buy a bag of peanuts. I don't know what they put in those things, but they always taste better at the park. Maybe because I can just throw the shell on the ground. A culinary mystery for sure.

The game was a close one against the DiamondBacks. We were tied heading into the bottom of the ninth inning. Last batter up. One strike. Two strikes. The pitch, the swing, HIGH FLY BALL INTO THE OUTFIELD. GOING, GOING, GONE!! HOME RUN. Rockies win. 10 in a row. Good thing we were there. Probably would have lost without us.

Red Rocks

Tuesday we had the pleasure to head up to Red Rocks and enjoy the John Mayer and Owl City Concert. Thanks the our great friend, Chelsea, I recieved this amazing and unexpected gift of two tickets to this concert for my birthday.

Never been to the Red Rocks, we decided to leave early so we could have a picnic and enjoy the beautiful scenery that everyone raves about. We hopped on google maps and followed the directions of 18 miles and 22 minutes. Not really thinking that it was rush hour, we followed the freeway route. A few miles into the drive we found ourselves in 6 lanes of stop-and-go traffic. I tried to embrace the experience as an adventure; my first time driving in real traffic in a big city, whoo hoo! A quick hour and fifteen minute drive later we drove up a winedy road following a pack of cars to the parking areas. We decided we had found ourselves a perfect spot when we observed about 20 cars of people picnicing by their vehicles under the rocks. This is the area in the pictures above. Once you drive through the rock tunnel, u arrive in a massive hearding of cars parked in lines up to the venue.

We spent about an hour enjoying our picnic, the amazing view of the city and each others company. Then we headed up the the concert. As we walked up the stairs I started to get winded. Matt explained we were about 6,200 feet, and I could fell it.
We found a decent spot to place our blankets in the open seating area amongst the sold out concert of 9,500 people in the ampitheater. We had an amazing view of the city in the background as the sun was setting. We ventured off to the visitors center and then explored the beautiful grounds. We learned that the Red Rocks opened 1906 and has hosted some of the biggest names in the business including the Beatles, Greatful Dead, Jimi Hendrix, Santana, Rolling Stones, Rush, etc.

(The below pics are off of my phone since I couldn't bring in my Sony camera, but you get the idea, it was pretty neat.)

Washington DC Trip!

We invite you all to come along with us and enjoy a fabulous weekend which was spent in our nations capital, Washington DC. Although, I am sure most of you know what was going on, I will inform the rest of the blog readers of the back story. One of my high school buddies (and former band bass player) Adam Ross, made a wonderful decision to marry a beautiful woman, former Ms. Kaitlin L'Italien, now a Mrs. Allow me to take you on the journey though our weekend.

Thursday 8/26. Day One: Wake up at 3am to drive to the airport in order to catch our extremely early 6am flight. Spend the next million hours on two 2 hour flights to arrive in Dulles, 30 miles from downtown DC. The main event of the evening for us was the attending of a Washington Nationals baseball game. You can see here, the stadium was packed and our seats were top notch. JJ was extremely excited when we entered the stadium, but after an overpriced hot dog and some roasted peanuts, she began to fade quickly. I guess some of us need a little more beauty sleep than others!! (I'm so going to get a punch in the arm for that one!!) After the game, which the home team lost, there was a spectacular fireworks display shot off from a barge in Anacostia River. One of the better shows I have ever seen. I wonder how good the fireworks would have been if they actually won.


Day Two: Culture Day (At least to begin with). Today, Matt's old next door neighbor, Matt (shown above with wife Cory and JJ) made our way down to "The Mall" in DC. We were caught by surprise to see a large amount of people had congregated on the mall that day. Unknowingly, Glen Beck, FOX News blah blah blah, was holding a rally today. We could tell who was attending the rally just by looking at all the middle aged, sweaty, men and women all walking around with folding chairs and American Flag T-Shirts. Interesting as it may be, that is not what we did today. We, on the other hand, decided to attend a couple of the Smithsonian Museums. First, the Air and Space Museum. One of Matt's personal favorites. While, I am sure I have been there over 10 times, every time is more amazing than the last. The shear magnitude of the exhibits in the building are astonishing. Shown here, are pictures of all of us enjoying the museum. One personal favorite is a picture of Matt, and his "Special" friend, Matt.

After our whirlwind tour though space, we traveled back in time. During our visit to the Museum of Natural History we enjoyed an amazing collection of fossilised dinosaurs. Shown here is but one of the many, many, many rooms.

Next stop on our trip through the Natural History museum was the Gems and Mineral Exhibit. Shown top left, is the 45.52 carat Hope Diamond. Shown here for the first time out of it setting since its creation. This picture does not really do the stone justice, but I will have you know... its kinda big. Shown below is some other, less impressive 31 carat diamond. Yeah, I know. Whatever. Top right, shows Matt standing next to the body of a giant squid. Some fun facts about this creature of the deep. It can grow to an estimated 43 feet in length, its primary predator and food source is the sperm whale, and no one has ever seen one alive in the wild. SPOOKY!! Isn't scince fun?! Our last stop within the museum was to the Butterfly Pavilion. This was a large dome one could walk through amongst hundreds of live butterflies. Shown here are a couple of examples of those beautiful insects.

It was getting late in the day and it was time to head back to the hotel and get cleaned up for the main event of the evening. However, being DC, there are a million things to see on the way to wherever you are going. Here are a few art pieces in the Statue Garden right outside one of the many Smithsonian's.

Ok, here we go. The MAIN EVENT (of the evening!!). Being the crazy overachievers both Mr. and Dr. Ross are, what better way to spend the night before their wedding, than to put on a Rock n' Roll show for all their friends. Actually, a little back story about this, Adam and Kaitlin originally met in this band. Adams friend had told him about a girl with an amazing voice which would be perfect for their band. She came, auditioned, sang, joined, and the rest is history. The lovely couple played for two hours in front of hundred of screaming fans!! Awesome. Pictured below, top right, Dan Harris and Matt. Top middle and right, Bride and Groom, (DUH) Adam and Kaitlin. Bottom from left to right, Adam Hess, Dan Harris, Matt "The Man" Olsen, Jon Halpert, and Al McRae (all high school friends of Matt)

After a lovely evening of ROCKING OUT, we made it back to the hotel and rested up for the somewhat smaller MAIN EVENT on Day Three:

Located in a small chapel in the heart of Georgetown, a man and a woman became man and wife. It was a very nice service which had a lot of audience participation. I guess thats what you get from Catholics. Unfortunately, from where we were sitting/standing, we were unable to get a good shot of the groom with the bride, but just close your eyes and image one.

After the ceremony, a bus picked us up and transported us to the reception. A location expertly named, "The Top of the Town". Sitting on the twelfth story, we enjoyed a birds eye view of many of the national monuments. The pictures do not describe how amazing this location was. Never in a million years would I have hoped for this. Visit their website to get a better idea of views. You will not be disappointed. We weren't. (http://www.topofthetown.net/)

While it was hard enough to try and cram so much into three days, we had a few more hours on DAY FOUR: Our flight didn't leave until 4pm so we still had time to see a few things before we left. JJ had expressed to me she would like to see some of the national monuments she had not seen last time she visited DC. Shown below, is the World War II memorial. A fairly new site which I had not seen before either.

A short distance from the WWII memorial was the Vietnam Memorial (shown below top right). You never understand the magnitude of this particular memorial until you are standing there. Next we walked the steps to the Lincoln Memorial. Though there were tons of people in and around the memorial, amazingly enough, JJ is shown here alone with Lincoln. (Top right) We see the view from the Lincoln Memorial over the reflecting pool toward the George Washington Memorial.

While I am sure we did more things, I am just plain burnt out from writing about our trip. It was incredible to see DC with JJ, see all my old friends and make some new ones, as well as enjoy a little vacation to boot. It is unfortunate how quickly reality sets back in once you get back home. Oh well. At least from time to time, we have the ability to escape it.

Museum of Nature and Science

This weekend we headed to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. Located in the eastern side of Denver within the 330 acres of City Park. The City Park is so large that is has the Zoo, museum, golf course, 2 lakes with a boat house, rose garden, fountain, great view of the city and a plethora of pathways to wander.

We decided to start at the top floor of the museum. I chose the Prehistoric Journey exhibit. As we wandered through the maze of exhibits and fossils we finally made it to the dinosaurs!! Here is a really neat exhibit I am next to with trees, a stream, jungle sounds and 2 dinosaurs fighting. We continued through the Egyptian exhibit and down the the next floor. We explored the

Indian Cultures, Expedition Health, Exploration Colorado, and Wildlife Exhibits. This museum had the largest collection of life size stuffed animals I have ever seen. Here is a picture of me next to a post prehistoric ravenous animal. (I can't remember the name.) The last floor had the space odyssey and the gem and mineral exhibit. Here is a picture of Matt next to a piece of a Crystal mine in Mexico that was relocated and reassembled in the museum.

Sunday, we woke up early and went to visit one of the local farmers markets. It had a small bounty of fresh vegetables and fruit and a lot of craft vendors. One item which we have noticed at both the farmers markets we have attended thus far are the fresh roasted green chiles. Here you can see the vendor roasting (and coughing) the chiles in a large drum. Delicious!! We bought our first bag and made great use out of them in some fresh salsa verde.

IMAX Experience

Last night we ventured into the night to the local movie theater which happens to be and IMAX theater! We have heard Inception was a great mind twisting movie to see. At ten in the evening we sat in the dead center isle of a giant theater with just a few other people and enjoyed our first experience in an IMAX film. Now I have been to OMSI IMAX in Portland, but these new IMAX theaters sound and look impressive! The previews for TRON on the screen looked amazing and we will definitely be back to see it in IMAX 3D!!

Boulder and Estes Park

Being Matt's last day before he has to get back to the reality of work and school, Team MOJO hit the road and explored the areas surrounding Denver Metro. First stop on the trip, the town of Boulder. According to the Colorado guide book we purchased, Boulder is a hip and happening area which specializes in alternative medicines, hippies, and a free thinking culture. My goodness, is this another Ashland? After being there for about thirty seconds, we realized the scope of Boulder left Ashland in the dust. Nevertheless, it was a fun place to visit.

Boulder had a plethora of "art" type sights to see throughout the city. And I mean CITY!! It made our little town of Ashland look like a one horse town. We actually visited Boulder during the Colorado Asian Festival which consisted of Asian dancing, food, and umbrella's. All of which we decided to leave for the other tourists to purchase and enjoy.

We walked through the Boulder shops empty handed and drove on to our next destination, Estes Park. The 40 or so mile drive was actually very familiar to Matt. He couldn't place the reason why. It wasn't because he had been there more than 20 years earlier, which he didn't recall one iota (sorry Mom!!!) However, the drive was very familiar.... until he mention it to JJ. THE SHINING!! During the beginning of the Shining when they are driving to the hotel... that's the road we were on. Actually, the Stanly Hotel in Estes Park was the hotel Steven King was originally writing about during the book. He stayed there while writing the original novel. Scary stuff. Thank goodness, we did not get stuck in the snow while here or surely JJ would be a goner............... HEEERE'S MATTY!!

But, I digress. When Matt's mom told him to visit Estes Park, we packed a picnic to enjoy while eating in the park itself. Needless to say, it is only a town called Estes Park. Here is a picture of us enjoying our picnic in the car before exploring the town.

Don't worry though. There was plenty of beautiful scenery to enjoy surrounding the town. Here a picture of water goddess Jessica walking on water.

One thing we haven't yet become used to is the sheer magnitude of the mountains here. Most peaks being upwards of 13 - 14,000 feet. WOW!!!

What's this?! Why, its Jellystone Park. The official home of Yogi bear. He is shown shamelessly posing with the two of us. Thank goodness we had already finished all of our food our he might have stolen our picnic basket!!

We are glad to have had the opportunity to enjoy a little bit of our surroundings before we have to become functional adults in society. Hopefully, soon, we be able to explore a little more of this alien country.

DON'T FORGET TO COMMENT!! YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Adventures in Denver

A lovely Saturday afternoon in Denver. We started the morning out with a double P90X workout. One for the Friday workout we missed because we spent all night looking for computer sleeves for Matt online and another for Saturday. Needless to say by noon and about 2.5 hours later we were starved and soar and hungry. (So with our workout regime; we decided to start from the beginning of the 90 day workout since we just took off 2 weeks to move and had may other interruptions in the 6 weeks prior. Although we had both lost about 15lbs.) We had driven by a Boston Market last week and Matt really wanted to go today since we were so hungry.
I asked Matt for a bite of his chicken here, but he wouldn't share.

We headed downtown to explore. we parked by the art museum and saw theses giant cow. Of course a great photo.

This area off Colfax had so much to look at, the many art museum buildings, the Cell, the library, art in the plaza, etc. We chatted with some people at the museum and they explained we need a whole day to explore it, so we will return again.

This pic was taken in front of the art museum. If you look close I am being swept away with the paper!

Next to the art museum was a plaza that had beautiful flowers and an open area theater with huge columns. We sat and watched a local rock musician play for a benefit called Feed the Need which supports local schools with supplies and money for those in need. The music and idea for the benefit was great but unfortunately there was like 20 people that showed. No PR and it was sad to see. AS we walked further into the plaza the capital building laid int he middle. I got this great pic of it!

We walked past 16th and toward the business district. We found this sign on the ground that explained a bit about the unusual grid system of Denver's city. All of the main downtown city streets sit at a 45 degree angle. It does seem odd.

Before we headed back home for dinner we happened to see across the street from the grid sign this really neat looking building, Brown Palace Hotel. It was really cool and spectacularly classy inside. As we walked in people were having afternoon tea and crumpets in the lobby while a piano player entertained. The dinner menu had an 8 course meal at a great value of 105$ plus tax and tip. We felt a little under dressed so we decided another day perhaps.

Just a side note, the tax thing is hard to figure out here. And it is hard to get used to on our pocket books too. So in the city its like 7.7 but in other areas is 6.8 or less. So it pays to know what cities charge what for what. It depends I guess. There's no tax on necessity grocery items. But things like a cooking spoon or other unnecessity items in the grocery store are taxed at like 2 or 3%. Matt got a new laptop for school and paid $60 in tax, ouch! Good thing he had a rebate so it still was the cheapest one he found.

We made it to Denver!

Our drive to Colorado was 26 hours, 1400 miles and 4 days. Matt drove the giant U-haul pulling the Corolla and I drove the Nissan. It was a long slow drive but we made it safely. This was our first pic in Colorado and I almost missed the sign. But with some evasive maneuvers, I got it. We stopped in Fort OCllins to use the restrooms and it just happened to be a great visitors center too! We must have got 30 or 40 brochures and maps of Denver and Colorado. I even got an awesome free Colorado souviner hat!!! Here is the first pic of the city!

This is a few days later at 16th street mall. I am playing one of the many pianos that line the street. It can be a great conversation piece or a great way for musical bums to become entertainers and make a little cash!

This is part of CU/UC Denver Campus! Here's Matt sitting in the business center of the school, trying to get info for classes! So much prep!
This is the Student Union; Trivoli. Across the street is the Pepsi Center Field! Crazy!
We decided to stroll through the city after Matt got some things done for school. We walked from campus to the famous 16th street mall. What a fun street and I couldn't resist the chance to take a pic by this gigantic Pegasus. And of course as we strolled through LoDo (known as Lower Downtown) we happen to stumble upon Coors Field which is home of the Rockies. Crazy! What you don't see adjacent to the Field is 2 bike cops clocking people coming off the ramp of the freeway and then walking in the middle of the road with their hand out to pull them over and nail them with a speeding ticket. We have heard cops here are not forgiving!

Apartment hunting trip to Denver!

Matt and Darlene went out to Denver to scope out a nice place for us. Which was well worth it because our place is great and we probably would have ended up in Glendale which would have been scary.

This is a pic from the land in Colorado. The plans for the land are pending until further notice, but the view looks spectacular!
Matt's mom being silly!

Matt, Darlene, Shey and LauraLee went to the bridge at the Royal Gorge; Colorado's natural wonder. It looks really far down from the bridge so I have no idea how anyone could fish from it. About 1,000 ft. over the Arkansa River. WOW!