Mat Kearney singing "Nothing Left To Lose"
Chase, Dan, Jared, Steve & I before the concert started.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Monday, September 01, 2008
Roadtrip to Yellowstone National Park
There is no better way to end a summer than a good old fashioned road trip. Drew, Aaron & myself embarked on a 4 day trip to Yellowstone for the Labor Day Holiday. We camped within the park and had a great time.
Just outside of Rawlins, WY I took this pic of the changing landscape.
The first night we spent in Jackson Hole, WY. Notice that Aaron, myself & Drew look clean in this pic. That was not the case by the end of it.
Probably one of the prettiest mountain ranges there is. The Grand Tetons are simply amazing.
This is my favorite pic of the whole trip. This was taken as we were entering Yellowstone.
Giddy up partner!!! So Aaron is as big a horse nut as myself. We took a trail ride inside the park and had a great time. It was neat to see the park at this vantage point. The trail ride leader said 98% of people visiting the park never venture outside of their car.
The IDAHO SPUD. So there is a story behind this candy bar. About 13 years ago my family was in Montana for Christmas. My sisters and parents were out one day while the rest of us were skiing. They stopped at a gas station and Cynthia told mom to get her a Snickers to snack on. Mom decided to get her something local & bought her this Idaho Spud candy bar. They had already gotten back on the road when Cynthia decided to eat it and she thought it was god awful. We laughed about this candy bar the rest of the trip, so when I saw it in Yellowstone I had to buy one. Cynthia, Carla & mom will be getting one in the mail real soon. Yumm!!!
They estimate the herd population of the buffalo in the park to be about 3500 this year. When you see all the land in the park you would think there would be a lot more than this.
We lucked out as far as Old Faithful goes. The geyser erupts every 70 to 120 minutes. Luckily we had just gotten there and it erupted. Sweet!!!
I had to include this picture of Aaron since he rode in the backseat the majority of the time. We opted not to take the side panels for my Jeep since it looked to be great weather the whole time we were gone. The last day when we were driving home it was cold. We drove through rain & snow. Thank goodness we had a ton of blankets.
Huge bull elk just across the street from where we were camping.
It is the Ritz Carlton. Nah, that is just our tent.
Nothing like cooking beans and chicken outdoors. Mental note, no more beans for Aaron on the next trip. :)
I love toasted marshmellows. Of course the only way I eat mine are completely burnt to which Drew and Aaron thought I was crazy. 
So you know the old story how "every village has its idiot"??? Well this idiot in the red cap was vacationing in Yellowstone. First off, you are not supposed to feed the animals. We watched from the Jeep in amazement as what was about to take place. This guy decided to go get his dogs out of his car & I guess he thought they would make friends with this elk. So he takes the dogs down to the elk & basically forces them with the leash to get right up to the elk. So what does the elk do? IT ATTACKS!!! The elk came up on its back legs and started pawing the poor dogs. It is a wonder it didn't attack this man too. Another tourist started shouting at the man telling him how stupid he was. We just felt sorry for the dogs because they got hurt and were crying. The dogs can't help it that they have an idiot for an owner.
Here is the aftermath right after the attack. Notice the elk sticking its tongue out. It is probably thinking stupid tourist & I showed you. The poor dog on the left is the one that got pummeled with the elks legs.
So the highlight of the trip for me was seeing 2 moose. I have never been able to get this close to one before. They are huge. 
September 1st & we have snow in the mountains. This picture was taken right outside of Jackson Hole on the way home.
Maybe it was a good thing after all that we didn't have the side panels on the Jeep. It kept the air circulating since all 3 of us stunk to high heaven. Peww!!!!
Huge rainbow that was welcoming us back into Colorado. This has been a great trip.
Just outside of Rawlins, WY I took this pic of the changing landscape.
The first night we spent in Jackson Hole, WY. Notice that Aaron, myself & Drew look clean in this pic. That was not the case by the end of it.
Probably one of the prettiest mountain ranges there is. The Grand Tetons are simply amazing.
This is my favorite pic of the whole trip. This was taken as we were entering Yellowstone.
Giddy up partner!!! So Aaron is as big a horse nut as myself. We took a trail ride inside the park and had a great time. It was neat to see the park at this vantage point. The trail ride leader said 98% of people visiting the park never venture outside of their car.
The IDAHO SPUD. So there is a story behind this candy bar. About 13 years ago my family was in Montana for Christmas. My sisters and parents were out one day while the rest of us were skiing. They stopped at a gas station and Cynthia told mom to get her a Snickers to snack on. Mom decided to get her something local & bought her this Idaho Spud candy bar. They had already gotten back on the road when Cynthia decided to eat it and she thought it was god awful. We laughed about this candy bar the rest of the trip, so when I saw it in Yellowstone I had to buy one. Cynthia, Carla & mom will be getting one in the mail real soon. Yumm!!!
They estimate the herd population of the buffalo in the park to be about 3500 this year. When you see all the land in the park you would think there would be a lot more than this.
We lucked out as far as Old Faithful goes. The geyser erupts every 70 to 120 minutes. Luckily we had just gotten there and it erupted. Sweet!!! 
I had to include this picture of Aaron since he rode in the backseat the majority of the time. We opted not to take the side panels for my Jeep since it looked to be great weather the whole time we were gone. The last day when we were driving home it was cold. We drove through rain & snow. Thank goodness we had a ton of blankets.
Huge bull elk just across the street from where we were camping.
It is the Ritz Carlton. Nah, that is just our tent.
Nothing like cooking beans and chicken outdoors. Mental note, no more beans for Aaron on the next trip. :)
I love toasted marshmellows. Of course the only way I eat mine are completely burnt to which Drew and Aaron thought I was crazy. 
So you know the old story how "every village has its idiot"??? Well this idiot in the red cap was vacationing in Yellowstone. First off, you are not supposed to feed the animals. We watched from the Jeep in amazement as what was about to take place. This guy decided to go get his dogs out of his car & I guess he thought they would make friends with this elk. So he takes the dogs down to the elk & basically forces them with the leash to get right up to the elk. So what does the elk do? IT ATTACKS!!! The elk came up on its back legs and started pawing the poor dogs. It is a wonder it didn't attack this man too. Another tourist started shouting at the man telling him how stupid he was. We just felt sorry for the dogs because they got hurt and were crying. The dogs can't help it that they have an idiot for an owner.
Here is the aftermath right after the attack. Notice the elk sticking its tongue out. It is probably thinking stupid tourist & I showed you. The poor dog on the left is the one that got pummeled with the elks legs.
So the highlight of the trip for me was seeing 2 moose. I have never been able to get this close to one before. They are huge. 
September 1st & we have snow in the mountains. This picture was taken right outside of Jackson Hole on the way home.
Maybe it was a good thing after all that we didn't have the side panels on the Jeep. It kept the air circulating since all 3 of us stunk to high heaven. Peww!!!!
Huge rainbow that was welcoming us back into Colorado. This has been a great trip.
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Mt. Evans
Beautiful shot of Summit Lake with Mt. Evans in the background.
This is my favorite photo of the day. Look at how beautiful the meadows down below are. This is only my 2nd hike this summer since I've been in Atlanta on business the majority of the time.
Here I am with my buddy Drew. We are going to be roommates in a few weeks as he is going to rent one of my rooms in my home.
Here is Drew with Kiai. She is a a beautiful Border Collie with unique markings. She belongs to a good friend of Drew's and he let us take her on the hike. She made the hike a lot of fun.
Another shot of Summit Lake as we finished our hike. I like the way the reflection bounces off the water in this shot. 
Kaia and I. Oye, does she ever shed. She was in the backseat of my Wrangler and her fur was flying all over us. 
So I had to stop and take this photo. We were jamming to the radio and singing to the top of our lungs when we came upon this mule. Is this hysterical or what? The mule was in his pen and I guess just bored with standing on the ground. Stubborn old mule. :O)
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Florida
The annual migration that my family does ever year to Florida for the 4th of July. The water was the worst I have ever seen it in all my 39 years. Seaweed & greem slime was everywhere. I did not get in the ocean one time in 11 days. Yuck!!!!
Clark, Cary & I went down to SanDestin for the annual Emerald Coast Fishing Tournament. Here is a picture of the winning tuna that weighed in at 406 lbs. This is actually not that big of a fish. They had 3 tuna's to weigh in that weighed all within a pound of each other.
Here is my mom & her great grandaughter Savannah.
My neice Jennifer & I getting ready to bowl one night. Clark kicked out butts as he bowled in the 200's. My high score was only 179.
Here I am with Jennifer's friend Alex riding this contraption that shoots you 300 feet up in the air like a sling shot. You rotate backwards and forwards the whole time. Alex couldn't get anyone to ride this with him so I told him I would. It was a lot of fun.
Jennifer & Rachel feeding the dolphins.
Carla and I enjoying the ride in the bay on our trek out to see the dolphins.
Pat had everyone over to his house for his annual 4th of July bbq. His buddy came in from Louissinna and cooked a feast. Here I am with my sister Carla & sister in law Jeanne. We were discussing our travel plans over dinner. The 3 of us are talking about going to Argentina next year. Sweet!!!!
Out in Rosemary Beach with PJ, Jennifer, myself & Rachel.
Clark, Cary & I went down to SanDestin for the annual Emerald Coast Fishing Tournament. Here is a picture of the winning tuna that weighed in at 406 lbs. This is actually not that big of a fish. They had 3 tuna's to weigh in that weighed all within a pound of each other.
Here is my mom & her great grandaughter Savannah. 
My neice Jennifer & I getting ready to bowl one night. Clark kicked out butts as he bowled in the 200's. My high score was only 179.
Here I am with Jennifer's friend Alex riding this contraption that shoots you 300 feet up in the air like a sling shot. You rotate backwards and forwards the whole time. Alex couldn't get anyone to ride this with him so I told him I would. It was a lot of fun.
Jennifer & Rachel feeding the dolphins.
Carla and I enjoying the ride in the bay on our trek out to see the dolphins.
Pat had everyone over to his house for his annual 4th of July bbq. His buddy came in from Louissinna and cooked a feast. Here I am with my sister Carla & sister in law Jeanne. We were discussing our travel plans over dinner. The 3 of us are talking about going to Argentina next year. Sweet!!!!
Out in Rosemary Beach with PJ, Jennifer, myself & Rachel.
Monday, June 09, 2008
Aids Lifecycle 7, June 1-7
So it is that time of year again. The first week of June is when the annual Aids Lifecycle ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles takes place. This year I was joined by 20 other Colorado cyclists on the journey. We raised close to 65k between us all which is a huge accomplishment during this tough economy. We all ride for different reasons, but the one thing we all have in common is wanting to make a difference in someone's life who is affected by this disease. I ride for my cousin Jay who lost his battle to this horrible disease 11 years ago. It is a great thing when you have 3000 people coming together and put forth such a great effort. This year the ride raised 11.6 million which is outstanding. I've already signed up for next year as have most of my teammates from Team Colorado. Anyone interested in joining us? :)
Here I am with my buddy Colin who dropped me off at the airport to get the journey underway.
My tent mate Peter and I once we arrived in San Francisco. We ate at this Irish pub right beside our hotel and had burgers. Oh gosh, they were so good. They put a fried egg on top of the hamburger and it was great. I had never had a burger like this before.
Thank goodness for bike techs. I do not trust myself to put my bike back together once it has been shipped.
Myself, Noah, Ruben and Peter on orientation day. So if it wasn't for Noah & Ruben I wouldn't have had half as much fun on this ride. We hung out all week together and they definitely made me laugh.
Day 1 arriving at the Cow Palace to turn over our luggage to the gear trucks.Here is Lorrie Jean who is in charge of the ride. I love how she says hello to the riders & roadies every evening at announcements. She makes this ride so much fun.
Here I am with some of my teammates from Team Colorado. From the left are Peter, Noah, Ruben, Eugene, Eric, myself & Jeremy.
Lunch stop #1 next to the ocean. Myself, Josh, Ruben, Eugene & Peter.
Another picture of some of us on Day 1.
Dinner anyone? Eugene and I standing in one of the many chow lines.
Noah, Eugene & Patrick at dinner. I'm thinking Patrick was a little tired :)
Ruben (aka Mushy legs), myself & Peter. The 3 of us flew in on the same flight and were standing around waiting on our luggage. This one lady asked us what we were doing and we told her we were cycling from San Fran to LA. She then looked at our legs and told us how nice they all were. She was standing next to Ruben and touched his calves which are huge. She then said his legs felt mushy & then the reaction on Rubens face was priceless.
So who has the bigger cabbage, Eugene or me? ha
Personally I think my cabbage is bigger.
The story of our week. Dead phones, no place to charge them. I took a multi jack this week and any time we found a charger at the campground we would take full advantage to recharge.
This is Chantal who I met charging her phone and computer on Day 2. Oh what can I say about this girl. She is funny as all get out and has such a potty mouth which most of you know I just love. She is a stand up comic and had us all laughing so hard about her taco & I'm not talking about food. The poor thing was beaten to death. :)
Randy, Peter & myself at the half way point. Woohoo!!!!
Is Miss Kitty cute or what? Randi is so much fun to be around. Here I am with she and Noah.
I think this expression is due to the fact that we are half way to LA. Yes!!!!!!!
My buddy Noah at the pit stop.
Here Peter, Randi & myself are with David from Los Angeles. David is good friends with my buddy Michael who just moved to Australia. We had a lot of fun getting to know one another.
Hello Riders, Hello Roadies!!!!! Here I am with Lorrie Jean. Noah and I had stopped in Pismo Beach to get a cinnamon roll when this lady on the street approached us. She asked what we were doing and we told her we were cycling from San Fran to LA for Aids Lifecycle. She then started crying and told us how much this meant to her. She had lost her brother 2 years earlier to Aids & talked about how hard it was for her to put her life back together after losing him. She talked about her 5 older brothers who turned their back on the brother with Aids and would have nothing to do with him. This was very sad to hear and I passed this story along to Lorrie Jean when this photo was taken. She talked about mine & Noah's encounter that night during announcements. I had heard plenty of stories like this while on the ride, but never one that was told to me personally. Both Noah and I were so glad that we decided to stop and get that cinnamon roll. It put things into perspective for us both and we are so happy we did the ride.
Are my teammates Taren & Katie cute or what? Here they are on Red Dress day. This was their first Aids Lifecycle and they kicked booty.
David, Peter, myself & Noah at a rest stop on Day 6. We had to kill about an hour waiting on the Hwy Patrol to close a bridge to one lane so that we could get across on Hwy 1.
Katie, Taren, Randi, Eugene & Patrick upon arriving in Galeto.
Some of Team Colorado enjoying lunch on Day 6. This was my favorite day on the ride.
I scream, you scream, Eric, Randi & I want our ice cream. Here we are in Santa Barbara enjoying free ice cream from the city. I just have to say that Santa Barbara is one of the prettiest places & the people could not be any nicer. They throw out the welcome mat and make all of us feel so special. It was such a great day.
Myself, Eugene, Josh, Katie, Taren, Eric & Randi enjoying our ice cream.
Oh it was good as we can all attest for.
Great shot of most of Team Colorado. Eugene, myself, Ruben, Randi, Eric, Jeremy, Josh, Taren & Katie.
Here we are stuffing our faces with In -N- Out Burgers. Oh they were good. Katie had never had one and I think she liked them as much as the rest of us.
Here Piggy, Piggy, Piggy!!!!! So this is my buddy Ruben who made the trip so enjoyable for so many people. He and I were constantly making fun of each other with how much we were eating on the trip.
HOW MANY EXPERIENCES DO YOU REMEMBER FOR A LIFETIME?
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