Here is an nice picture of Grandma Elsie and Aunt Kathryn. I think it was taken in December of 2002.
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Grandma Elsie and Aunt Kathryn
Here is an nice picture of Grandma Elsie and Aunt Kathryn. I think it was taken in December of 2002.
Flashback to 1984
I found some old pictures of the family. These are from my first holy communion in 1984. At that time we belonged to St. Peter the Apostle Church, which was a little old white church in Parsippany. That church was knocked down 10 or 20 years ago around the time we moved from there and replaced with a huge modern one. I haven't been back there in ages.
In the picture above, you will see me as a 8-year-old in my communion get up with my parents, my grandparents, Aunt Kathryn, Uncle Jim and my cousin Peter. We all look so young!
Skiing in Colorado
In early February, Guillaume and I and some friends took a trip to Colorado to go skiing. We enjoyed great weather and had an
excellent time.
After flying into Denver, we got our rental car and immediately headed to Idaho Springs in order to grab some lunch and a beer at the TommyKnocker brewery. Idaho Springs looks like it hasn't changed much since it was founded in the 1800s. The brewery gets its name from the TommyKnocker spirits that haunted the gold miners back when Idaho
Springs was a gold mining town. While our waiter was a bit of a space cadet, the food was good and their beer was delicious. We bought ourselves a "piglet", which is like a small cardboard keg, of the Tommy Knocker Ale (I think) to take home with us. All the breweries in the area seem to sell these piglet things.
About 45 minutes or so later, we arrived in Dillon, where we
picked up the keys to our condo that we found on vrbo.com. Our condo was located at the base of the mountain in Keystone. We decided that we would stay in Keystone because I had stayed there before with my former roommate, Lindsay, and also because of its proximity to other nice mountains, such as Breckenridge and Vail.
The condo was excellent! It had a nice kitchen, two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a balcony, a gas fireplace and access to a hot tub. We could see Keystone mountain from our balcony. There were long icicles hanging from the snow-blanketed roof. A short bus ride took us to the village where there are restaurants and shops. We could walk to the base
lifts.
We arrived on Saturday and the next day was Super Bowl Sunday, so we decided to stay close to home. The football lovers stopped skiing early to watch the game at a dive bar conveniently located near our condo. The Goat was an interesting place and was filled with locals. A BBQ snack bar was attached to it. The menu included Tater Tots and our dinner cost us about $7 total. Needless to say, we only spent one night at The Goat.
On Monday, we hit Breckenridge. It was a brutally cold and windy day. Despite our millions of layers, we could still feel the wind coming through our jackets. We hid our faces behind masks and gators and shivered on the chairlift. During lunch, the more
expert skiers hit the bowls while Claudina and I waited in the lodge. The views from the lodge windows were gorgeous.
The next morning we woke up with aching calves and spent the next few days in Keystone. Eventually, we headed to Vail to experience the chi-chi village and try some new trails. Vail was
very,very, very nice, but the trails seemed a bit flatter and more crowded. We had dinner in a nice French restaurant in the village. All in all it was an excellent day.
Back at Keystone, we skied our favorite slopes and ate at the Snake River Saloon. Before dinner, we shot some pool as we waited for a table to open up. It was quite crowded and had a different (better) atmosphere than The Goat. I ate a delicious steak and Guillaume tried the pork with black cherry sauce. It was really good. Another night, we went to the BigHorn Steakhouse where I had a delicious rack of lamb. Yum.
As usual, the vacation was over way too quickly. I can't wait to go skiing again.
excellent time.After flying into Denver, we got our rental car and immediately headed to Idaho Springs in order to grab some lunch and a beer at the TommyKnocker brewery. Idaho Springs looks like it hasn't changed much since it was founded in the 1800s. The brewery gets its name from the TommyKnocker spirits that haunted the gold miners back when Idaho
Springs was a gold mining town. While our waiter was a bit of a space cadet, the food was good and their beer was delicious. We bought ourselves a "piglet", which is like a small cardboard keg, of the Tommy Knocker Ale (I think) to take home with us. All the breweries in the area seem to sell these piglet things.About 45 minutes or so later, we arrived in Dillon, where we
picked up the keys to our condo that we found on vrbo.com. Our condo was located at the base of the mountain in Keystone. We decided that we would stay in Keystone because I had stayed there before with my former roommate, Lindsay, and also because of its proximity to other nice mountains, such as Breckenridge and Vail.The condo was excellent! It had a nice kitchen, two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a balcony, a gas fireplace and access to a hot tub. We could see Keystone mountain from our balcony. There were long icicles hanging from the snow-blanketed roof. A short bus ride took us to the village where there are restaurants and shops. We could walk to the base
lifts.We arrived on Saturday and the next day was Super Bowl Sunday, so we decided to stay close to home. The football lovers stopped skiing early to watch the game at a dive bar conveniently located near our condo. The Goat was an interesting place and was filled with locals. A BBQ snack bar was attached to it. The menu included Tater Tots and our dinner cost us about $7 total. Needless to say, we only spent one night at The Goat.
On Monday, we hit Breckenridge. It was a brutally cold and windy day. Despite our millions of layers, we could still feel the wind coming through our jackets. We hid our faces behind masks and gators and shivered on the chairlift. During lunch, the more
expert skiers hit the bowls while Claudina and I waited in the lodge. The views from the lodge windows were gorgeous.The next morning we woke up with aching calves and spent the next few days in Keystone. Eventually, we headed to Vail to experience the chi-chi village and try some new trails. Vail was
very,very, very nice, but the trails seemed a bit flatter and more crowded. We had dinner in a nice French restaurant in the village. All in all it was an excellent day.Back at Keystone, we skied our favorite slopes and ate at the Snake River Saloon. Before dinner, we shot some pool as we waited for a table to open up. It was quite crowded and had a different (better) atmosphere than The Goat. I ate a delicious steak and Guillaume tried the pork with black cherry sauce. It was really good. Another night, we went to the BigHorn Steakhouse where I had a delicious rack of lamb. Yum.
As usual, the vacation was over way too quickly. I can't wait to go skiing again.
Mark's Safari
From Mark about his safari trip:
The safari was a little trip that I took to an orphanage about 1 hour from Lake Victoria. There are 50 kids there from 5-18. A woman from Peter's church donated $400.00, which I took out there to buy food. They almost never get meat, so I bought 50 lbs. of beef for dinner while I was there in addition to the maize, rice, and beans. It will last them about a month. I wanted to take some pictures for an article I am writing for the Hunterdon County Democrat. I hope it will raise some money for them. I came back via Kisumu, the third largest city in Kenya. It is on the edge of Lake Victoria and I had a good time eating stewed fish that was freshly caught. It's one of my favorite towns. I was on the back of a motorcycle, no helment of course, and a car hit the motorcycle. The two of us went bouncing off into the bush in the dark. No injuries, but it did make my heart pump. I flew both ways which takes about 45 minutes each way from Nairobi.
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