Rocky Mountain High - Episode II

On Friday, Steve-O and I awoke feeling refreshed, though a bit peckish. A stop at Einstein Bagles took care of that and from there we loaded our bags and gear into the car and drove back up to Boulder. Our plan was to take in some brewery tours or at least hit some of the tasting rooms. One place was of particular interest for us was the Redstone Meadery. What they produced was not beer, but mead - a wine made from honey (instead of more common grape wine). Apparently mead is the oldest alcoholic drink known to civilized man, pre-dating beer or wine by thousands of years. I've heard of mead before and have always been keen to try it, but never knew where to find it. So at last, here was our chance. We walked in and there was the owner, ready to greet us and he proceeded to give us the grand tour of all things "mead". It was very obvious this guy knew his stuff and was definitely passionate about his product. One of the little tidbits he shared was that the term "honeymoon" comes from mead. Back in the day, a newlywed couple would drink the honeywine for one full lunar cycle beginning on the first night of the marriage. This was to ensure the birth of a healthy baby boy. Upon hearing this, Steve-O and I looked at each other and realized - "Score! Wedding gift!"

From there we rolled over to the Avery Brewery and sampled all twelve or so of their brews. I was surprised by how many of them I didn't like - these were very sweet, almost like a malt liqour. But they did have a few that were quite tasty and by the time we were done with that sampling, it was time to shove off and start making our way to Breckenridge.

We decided to take the scenic route and along the way I snapped a pic on my iPhone of a ridge of mountains. After an hour or so of mountain driving, we finally made it to Breck where we met up with the rest of the folks gathered for the wedding of my good friend Ryan to his fiance, Annie. A small reception was going on in town, and afterwards a few of us made our way to some randomw irish bar for a nightcap. From there we made it to the condo we had rented and hit the sack, in anticipation of the wedding the next day (and the snowboarding!).

I awoke to the smell of food being cooked (eggs, toast, and bacon) and after doing my part to not let food go to waste, then got in my gear and we headed out. The sweet thing about this condo was that is was right off the slopes of Peak #9. Steve-O gave me about 20 minutes of instruction before we both agreed that it was time to take my first run down the beginners slope.

We got onto the lift and about fifteen minutes later we were at Ten Mile Station (where the actual wedding ceremony was to take place in just a couple of hours). I started down and of course ended up spending most of that first run down the slope on my rear and in a few cases, on my face. But all in good fun, we got to the bottom and grabbed the lift right back up as it was getting close to time for the wedding.

At Ten Mile Station, we bore witness to the union of Ryan and Annie (and some smart alec comments by passers-by). The ceremony was short, but very cool! I can't think of a more beautiful backdrop.

After that, we spent the rest of the day going up and down that slope and by the end, I think I was starting to catch on. I still have some things to really get a better hang of, but overall, I did really well! I think it's safe to say that I have found a new hobby - truth be told I can't stop thinking about it and looking forward to the next time.

More to come later...