The View from the Top

For those of you who don't know, I had a long weekend in the Mile High City this past weekend. My friend and I went to Denver to visit her cousin, see the sites, and go to a concert at Red Rocks Ampitheatre. It was a fantastic trip. Denver is a lot of fun, the mountains are spectacular, and Red Rocks was breathtaking. Lots of laughs and lots of fun, despite the stress of flying stand-by and spending the night at the Denver airport. It's all good.

We flew into Colorado Springs on Thursday night, and I was a little disappointed I couldn't see much of anything upon arrival - but more than made up for it later in the trip. Our host had to work Friday morning, so Lori and I walked all around downtown taking in the sites of the museums, shops, people, etc. Very interesting place. Friday afternoon we headed to nearby Golden (Mom's old stomping grounds) to tour the Coors Brewery. It was a lot of fun, and surprisingly Coors is pretty good beer when it comes straight from the tap at a cool 36 degrees. My friend who lives in Vail drove down to go out with us Friday night, and we had a good time taking in the local scene. Saturday morning we had breakfast with drag queens, and then headed to Morrison CO in the early afternoon, where Red Rocks is. Morrison is a tiny (and I mean very tiny) little town whose claim to fame is the Red Rocks Park and Ampitheatre. Which, I have to say, may be the best concert venue ever. We were there to hear a band called Leftover Salmon (Colorado natives who are no longer touring together) and moe. The show was fantastic, certainly everything we expected it to be. Sunday, our last day in Colorado, we headed to the old mining town of Central City. It really did look like something out of a movie. The hour or so drive there and back was definitely worth it. The mountains are spectacular. We were traveling on a state route that followed the path of a creek where people all along the way were rafting, fishing, and swimming in the shadows of the Rockies. It was extremly "Colorado-ish". We made it back to Atlanta Monday evening after spending a long night in the Denver airport. But I can honestly say, it was totally worth it. We are already planning next year's trip to see another show and go rafting! Sorry, the pictures are not in chronological order, but I think you can figure it out. Wow, one would think I'd never seen mountains before...

Percy Sledge @ Strasburg Theater

Who would have thought that we would be sitting in Strasburg listening to a legend?

Here are a couple of shots that show how nice the theater looks after the renovation. Good venue for seeing music. Ok, so the pictures didn't turn out great. You get the idea.

 




 


Percy workin' it hard. Nothing wrong with his soul, it's as intact as ever even if the voice isn't.

 


Mom, up close and personal with the man. Even got a $5 autographed picture. Doesn't get any better than that! Sorry about the lighting. She couldn't get any closer because 1. there were dozens of people waiting, and 2. Well, mom just isn't pushy enough :)

 

Video from camp

I've been playing around with video at camp this year, and though you guys would be a good test audience.

Back To WV-Next Time I'm Going For Good

So we just returned triumphantly yesterday from the three day excursion to West Virginia for the annual All Good Music Festival. The occasion was to celebrate the upcoming nuptials of our good friend Ryan Proctor-A good time was had by all, a ton of music was seen, and well, I realized AGAIN for the second summer in a row that one day Ill head to West Virginia and possibly never be heard from again, other than my occasional bloggings from my mountain cabins. Ok, so maybe I won't be that remote, but you get the point.

Great performances included Grace Potter And The Nocturnals (the new love of my life honestly) Leftover Salmon, Moe, Sam Bush, The late night All-Star Jam that went until 4 am, and too many others to name. I hope you enjoy the pictures of the two tattooed, elf-eared, dreadlocked folks above, we crowned them the king and queen of the entire festival. I don't believe their look needs an explanation. Enjoy the photos.

Peachtree Road Race

The 4th of July in Atlanta was celebrated by many this morning by participating in the 38th running of the Peachtree Road Race. This is the world's largest 10k road race, with 55, 000 participants. I am pleased to say that there were two participants from 991 this year, Jarrett in his 4th consecutive PRR, and me in my first! It was a lot of fun, and I am very glad that I started this Independence Day tradition (even if I am a little sore sitting here on the couch as I write this). This 10k race (6.2 miles) runs down Peachtree Road, beginning at Lenox Mall, running through Buckhead to Midtown, and ending at Piedmont Park (not very far from our house). It was a great route, flat for the most part - there were really only two hills, one of which is "Cardiac Hill" that runs in front of Andrew's old apartment at The Darlington. The entire route is packed with people yelling and cheering, there were water stations, live bands, and water sprayers all along the way. One of the big churches in Buckhead even hooked up a sprayer on their lawn with a sign advertising "Holy Water" for those runners needing an extra kick. It really was a great experience! I should be able to get some pictures online in a few days, crossing the finish line, etc. In the meantime, here is a picture of Jarrett, Cyerra, me, and John Marc in Piedmont Park after finishing the race.

Happy 4th to everyone!

So there was a little wind that blew thru Browntown this past week. These trees used to stand in the grove between Grammy's house and the pool garden. A total of 5 trees were affected. It was quite an operation to clear them out. Complete with cherry picker, mulching machine and a small army of chain saws. Note to Emma: It was probably a bigger job than you and I could have handled. Grammy had to call in professionals to clear it out. The good news is there are now 2 small mountains of mulch piled up over near the creek.




 
 

 

Camp pictures online

I don't know how many of you keep up with the 4-H Center's blog, but we've added a new feature...camper contributions! One of the classes we have here each week is Broadcast Journalism. The kids work on a podcast, a multimedia slideshow and, this year, a blog entry. There will be at least one each week, all the text and pictures will be camper-generated.

http://swva4h.blogspot.com/

More Mexico Pictures

Here are some more pictures of Mexico.


Pictures here include the "Infinity Pool" (last picture, pool on the right) that was just unbelievable. Mom claims that I held it down for two days. Actually it was just too cool to get out of.

The Iguana in the picture below was our neighbor. Each morning he (and several of his friends) came by to check things out. They even hung around the pool, laying under beach chairs (yes, with people sitting on them) and enjoyed watching the people, as much as we enjoyed watching them.

The snack bar facing the ocean was nice too. The great thing about these "all inclusive" places is you can walk in anywhere, anytime and get whatever you want. Even while bobbing in the ocean, or hanging out in the pool, the waiters will bring you a drink (or more) :) Hope you enjoy the pictures. They really can't do justice to how pretty this place was.






 


 



 



 

Playa del Carmen

Here are a few pictures of where Mom and I stayed. I'll post more pictures soon. It was a beatiful place and we are already planning a return trip! It would make for a great family vacation....what do you all think?

 
 
 

Emmalee Gets A New Job

Maybe Emma will post more info about her new job. Stay tuned !

Where in the World is Michael Keith

Seems as though Michael and a group from JMU took a field trip to Vienna! Pictures courtesy of Auntie Mels. It's reported that a fine time was had by all. The visit included a trip to the UN in Vienna. Truly a magical trip for him I'm sure. Maybe he'll post a comment or two. In the meantime, enjoy the pics. I'm sure you'll have no problem picking him out, as he is the tallest in the group! Way to go Mike!! We'd love to hear more about your trip to Vienna and Salzburg when you have time.