Yesterday they had a surprise baby shower for me at work. It was pretty cool & we got a lot of good gifts. I was pretty embarrassed with a bunch of people all staring at Denise & me as we opened gifts. Kathy B. (a.k.a. Lil' Bit) and Julie Wofford arranged it & even got Denise in on it. I would have been totally surprised, but the day before the shower Fes, from work, said in his usual Fes accent, "I can not make it to your baby shower, but I'll send you the gift." We got a lot of cool gifts including a Descendents onesie, Social Distortion onesie & Social D toddler's T-shirt - all from Hot Topic. Pretty much the regular crew was there except for Jon Sorenson because he pulled an all-nighter editting German commercials & the Fram Monkey becuase he wasn't invited.
Vacation Continued
When we last left off from our Summer Vacation 2004 Denise & I had just stopped overnight at Colorado Nat'l Monument & were trying to get some sleep after a long day of traveling. Easier said than done. Little did we know that we would be parked next to an episode of Cops.
Sunday, 8-1-04
We woke up well-rested (despite the civil dispute) about 7 AM, took a walk down to a swimming hole & snapped a few pictures of the rim rocks of the Colorado National Monument. It should be noted that Denise dipped her feet in the water. I didn’t. I hate getting wet unless my whole body is going to get wet. We drove a short distance to the town of Fruita in search of breakfast & the Mike the Headless Chicken Statue that I saw on the internet. Couldn’t find either so we stopped at City Market, purchased a doughnut with sprinkles for me, & a croissant & yogurt for Denise. Then we drove through Burger King & ordered a large “bare-footed” coffee, or at least that’s what the lady at the drive-thru called it. While we were in line for coffee, a black cat crossed our path & it worried me, but it turned out to be a perfect day.
We headed toward CO Nat’l Monument, entered the park & drove up Rim Rock Rd. We then parked at the visitor’s center & after visiting & buying some post cards we headed out on a bike ride on the scenic road. I on my mountain bike & Denise on her road bike, we left at 10 AM & vowed to ride for an hour before turning around & heading back. The ride was awesome; hardly any traffic - just other riders. The road hugs the red rim rock canyons & overlooks Fruita and the town of Grand Junction. The best views however, were of the deep canyons that are home to only plants and animals.
Denise rode well. At 11 AM we were supposed to turn around except she wanted to continue on in order to get in 11 miles. After that we turned around & climbed back out of the canyon to a nice long descent. It was a nice ride. Afterward, during the slide show at the visitor’s center, Denise pointed out that we didn’t even fight on our ride; in my mind, a very successful ride.
After taking a spit-shower in the visitor center bathroom (I washed my feet), we drove back down to Fruita & went in to Over the Edge Bikes. The guy in the shop was friendly & said there is 1,000 miles of trails in the area. Maybe I’ll ride some of them next year at their Fat Tire Festival. We bought a pint glass & water bottle, but what I really wanted was the used Gary Fisher Super Caliber 29er that was tagged at $1599. I walked away from it and got in the van headed for Grand Junction.
In Grand Junction we stopped for lunch in the scenic downtown area that reminded us of a bigger version of State St. in Redlands. We ate at Rock Slide Brewery. I had Salmon Caesar salad & a pint of the house hef, while Denise had Chicken Fried Steak & mashed potatoes. My salad was pretty good & Denise was more than satisfied with her lunch. The hef wasn’t great, but everything else, including the service was top shelf.
Because it was Sunday nearly every store on the street was closed so we high-tailed it for Glenwood Springs. We arrived between 4 & 5 PM & checked into our motel – The Silver Spruce Motel. The room meant our first shower since Friday & it felt damn good.
Glenwood Springs has lots to see & do so we headed out on foot & began exploring. We crossed the old bridge that arches over the Colorado River into the downtown area. The buildings were very old, mostly made of red brick. Doc Holiday is buried in town so there was a Doc Holiday Tavern, however due to our big & late lunch we didn’t dine there. Instead Denise had a smoothie at a book/coffee shop & I opted to keep walking to work off my lunch. Although it was closed, I spotted a bike shop in town that I made plans to stop by on Monday morning to try to pick up a group ride.
After walking around we stopped & played a round of mini-golf at a small 18-hole course above the Glenwood Springs Hot Springs. Playing in front of us was a mom & her two kids. Although stern, she was a softy compared to the woman playing two spots ahead of us. She was accompanied by her two little girls & kept accusing & scolding the youngest daughter (about 3 years old) of cheating. At nearly every hole the little girl did something wrong & got a stern ass-chewing from the mom. Just as I about to call the Glenwood Springs Child Abuse Hotline, the threesome finally abandoned at the start of the back nine, mostly likely to go get a beating somewhere out of site. I bet that’s how Tiger Woods’ dad used to be. Speaking of beating, I ruined Denise on the mini-golf links. On the back nine I finished on par & in total I beat her by 14 strokes. Ouch! She did shoot the only hole in one & I congratulated her on that.
Denise took the walk of shame across the street to the old & huge Colorado Hotel. We peeked in & then walked a few blocks of the city to check out some houses. I finally decided to eat Subway around 8 PM. I had a chicken creaser wrap & Denise had a salad. After eating we retired to room to plan the next day.
To be continued...
I promise no bike stuff next time.
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