The Land of Micro-Breweries..

#25 - Try 20 New Beers - I like the way that beer tastes for the most part. I'm not talking about Lets-Go-Out-And-Drink-Till-We-Pass-Out taste, I'm talking about legit, sober tasting of new beers. I like the different flavors and after-tastes of beers I have never tried before. I used to be very closed-minded about beer, but now I want to get out and try some ones that may peak my interest.

Denver and the state of Colorado are known as the Micro-brewery capital of the U.S. There are micro-breweries everywhere. Even popular ones such as Coors, Fat Tire and Blue Moon are brewed right there around Denver.

Well, I don't have long write-ups, just short little notes I took on each one, but here goes a few I tried:



1. Mothership Wit, Wheat-White, Ft. Collins, CO - Very wheaty but light, aftertaste a tad bitter. Great head throughout. I did not like this beer very much.

2. Mothership Wit, Wheat - I tried this one, the Wheat, at the ESPN Zone in Denver, and I liked it a lot better than the Wheat-White. It had a much smoother aftertaste.




3. Buffalo Gold, Rock Bottom Brewery - We went to the Rock Bottom Brewery in downtown Denver, and we got the Beer sampler, which is about a 4 ounce pour of each of their 8 beers. Jennifer was not too crazy about most of them, I liked about half of them. The darker ales just are not my style. I definitely liked the Buffalo Gold though, it reminded me a little of Fat Tire.



4. Autumn Ale, Breckenridge Brewery - We went to Breckenridge Brewery in downtown Denver as well, and we loved it here (We both even got a shirt!). Our waitress was awesome in explaining everything, and we both liked these beers a lot better than Rock Bottom. This Autumn Ale was the only ale I liked. It was dark, but it was their seasonal beer, and I respected it.



5. Avalanche, Breckenridge - This was my favorite beer I tried all weekend. It was really awesome. It was a very smooth taste, smelled great, and had a really good aftertaste. I need to find out if they sell this beer down here anywhere, cause it was definitely worth it...

Yeah...it's the Rockies!!

#56 - Visit a National Park - I'm sure most of you have checked out all our pictures from our Colorado trip, but I have to blog about visiting a National Park.

I had been to Rocky Mountain National Park before, but not since I was 3 years old. I've also been to Big Bend National Park. This was Jen's first, also her first time to see mountains!!

We had a blast, considering I proposed in RMNP, but we also got to see some amazing scenery. There really aren't words to describe what it looks like being that high and seeing those mountains.

We got to see some really cool elk:





And the Alluvial Fan is a must-see when visiting the Park!







We really had a great time, and Rocky Mountain National Park is definitely a must-see for everyone before you die...

Best Purchase of my Life..

#99 - Secret Goal - This one I obviously wrote out as a secret goal that only I knew about. The goal was to buy an engagement ring. I had been looking around for awhile, and knew it would happen soon, but made it a goal just to keep me going and it really helped me to stay focused.

When I decided that I was ready to get engaged to Jennifer, I knew I wanted to buy a perfect ring. I had little knowledge of diamonds and bands and rings, and wanted to really get into it. I didn't want to just walk into a store and buy the first ring I saw that I liked. So I did a little research.

After a few months of looking around and researching, I believe I am very educated on diamonds now. It realy is an interesting and fun subject to learn about. Basically, there are 4 C's in diamonds: Color, Clarity, Cut and Carat, each having a rating system and each very unique to itself.

I went to several stores and looked online quite a bit before I found the perfect diamond. I was able to see the diamond outside of the setting as the diamond company I went to had just gotten it in stock. It wa sa full carat, which was exactly what I wanted. The cut was Ideal, almost perfect. The color and clarity on it was much better than what I originally thought I was going to get. When I saw the diamond under microscope and in the lights, I knew it was the one.

The band was pretty easy to pick. It is 14K white gold, Tiffany-style. I loved it right away. I picked this ring and actually paid for half of it prior to seeing the final product, but when I went in to pay the other half and see it for the first time, I was blown away.

I believe I made a great call with this ring, and am so happy to have this step taken in my life, as it is a very exciting time! I also have paid for it in full, something I have always wanted to do.

Here are the same 2 pictures of the ring. We are going to get some better pics taken, but all you have to do it see us together if you want to see the ring in person!

MLB Park #10..

#87 - Go to a MLB park other than Wrigley that I have never been to - So while in Denver, Jennifer and I went to a Rockies game at Coors Field. One of my lifetime goals is to go to a MLB game at every active ballpark, and even though that is going to be very hard to achieve, I have to give it a try in every city I am in, right??

Well, it just so happened that the weekend that we planned to go to Colorado, the Astros were in town!! So not only did I get to go see a new ballpark in a new city, but I got to go to my first ever Astros road game!




I had heard plenty about Coors Field before, and how many have called it the most beautiful park in the Majors. One of the factors of this being that if you sit on the 1st base line all the way to center field, you have a clear picture of the Rocky Mountains out of the left field wall. Well, it just so happened for us that Denver decided to get their first muggy, cold day of the year on this Friday, and the clouds were too low for us to see the mountains. Although I had hoped to be able to look at the mountains while watching a baseball game, it was ok because we had already seen plenty of them the day prior and even gone up them.

The game was very cold. I questioned how people live in that city. It was September 5th, and the weather was miserable for baseball. The temps were in the 40's, and the wind was blowing in from left field, so every now and then you would get a nice cold breeze in your face. Even the locals were bundles up in sweaters, coats, blankets. That's not how baseball is supposed to be watched.







The park however was absolutely gorgeous. They had a lot of neat little perks, including a row of seats in the upper deck that went all around the stadium colored purple, which marked one mile high from sea level. I thought this was very interesting..




The fans reminded me a lot of Astros fans. Generally not paying attention to the game, starting the wave at random times, having to have the scoreboard operator tell them when to get loud, but nice and they get into it when they need to. They had stands around the park for Colorado brewed beers (Fat Tire, Blue Moon, etc) that were only $6 each. Even Coors Light was only $6. Compare that to almost $9 at MMP.

The Stros lost. And what's funny is it's their only loss in the last 14 games. Since the All-Star break, we have the best record in the Major Leagues. We are now 4 games out of the wild card. What in the world is going on?!

Overall, I don't think I would put Coors over MMP. I know that sounds strange, and maybe it's cause I couldn't see the mountains, but I have a soft spot for our stadium. I really enjoyed my experience at Coors though. The best part by far is the restaurants and bars that surround the stadium. MMP has a few, but Coors has so many places to go before and after the game, all around the stadium.


Here's a few more shots from Coors Field:

ENGAGED!!

#4 - Get Engaged! - Ok, I know I have not blogged in a long time, but I was anticipating this trip coming up and being able to knock out a few goals, and as it turns out, I am knocking out 4 goals and I have progress on another goal. So I have many posts to post about my goals, then another one or 2 about the trip.



But as most of you know, Jennifer Nicole and I are now ENGAGED! Last Thursday, we left Houston for our vacation trip to Colorado. We flew out early Thursday at 7:20am and arrived in Denver around 8:30 or so Mountain time. Flying while already being nervous is not very good on the stomach, but I made it ok. I knew the whole time that the hours were counting down before I was going to pop the question!




We got into our rental car and began the drive to Estes and then beyond. I had heard about Bryan and Kristen's trip up there from them, and figured this would be an ideal and unique location to propose. We drove through Boulder where the University of Colorado is, and me being a sports buff, I had to stop and take a picture at Folsom Field..




We continued the trek into the mountains on our way to Estes Park. The drive was fun, but long, especially knowing what was in store. Jennifer, not knowing anything, surely enjoyed the trip..






We arrived into Estes, and decided to go ahead into Rocky Mountain National Park, on up Trail Ridge Road, the highest highway in the country. It was definitely quite a haul up the mountains. It seemed like it would never end, especially as my excitement grew more and more. We stopped a couple times up the way to take pictures. I do not look myself in these pictures probably because of how nervous and excited I was. I was however captivated by the amazing scenery that the Continental Divide can provide you with. It really is breath-taking..








Finally, at about 1:45 mountain time, 2:45 central, we arrived at the top of the drive. We got out, I sneaked the ring box from my laptop bag into my jacket pocket, and we began the hike up to the top. Now, here's where it got tricky for me. It was a long hike up. It may not look it from this picture below, but it really was. Not to mention it was our first time outside to really breathe the air, and it had gotten very cold way up there. The air is extremely thin, so it already is very hard to breathe. So if you add that to a long hike, PLUS my heart racing about a thousand beats per minute knowing what I was about to do, I felt like I was going to die. Even Jennifer, who is in amazing shape, had a tough time getting up..




Well we get to the top, which is 12,000+ feet high!!! We take a few pictures, including this final picture of us not engaged, at the elevation sign (look carefully, you can see the ring box in my left jacket pocket, I have no idea how she didn't notice it!!):




Now I know some of you wanted me to have someone take a pic of the actual proposal, but the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to keep that moment private. I wanted that moment, those words, those tears, to be strictly in our memory. I did however get the pre and post pictures. It worked out so perfectly. It worked out just the way I prayed it would. A few people were up there when we first got there so we could gather our breath, take a few pictures. Then they left. So I had her all to myself at 12,000 feet high. So I did my thing, and got down on my knee, and asked her to marry me. She said YES! And of course, I pull the ring out of the box, and drop it (hands shaking so bad). It sucked, but it made it more real. So we got our moment. And shortly after, a man comes up, and I ask him to take our picture and tell him we just got engaged. He was very congratulatory, and took our first picture as an engaged couple:



Then we took a few more, even one of us kissing, with my hat off (which I took off during the proposal by the way):






It was simply amazing how it all worked out so perfectly, just as I planned it. I had never been to this place before, but in my dreams and in my plans, it worked out just as I hoped it would. Plus she said YES!!! We were soo happy and excited. And I was so relieved to have that behind me and our entire future in front of us.

We had an amazing weekend after that, visiting Estes Park and Denver. I will blog plenty more and post more pictures later about our trip, but I know many of you anticipated the actual proposal story.

The ring, as many have asked, is a full 1 carat circle-cut solitaire with amazing quality, on a 14k white gold Tiffany-style band. Here it is below. We are going to have to get better pics when we have our engagement pictures done, cause there's a glare in every pic she takes with the flash. Maybe that just shows off the BLING! Ha, just kidding. Actually I'm not, it really is beautiful.




Ok, thank you to all of you for your Congrats! We really do love all of you and appreciate everything. Our wedding will be in early 2010, we both want her to finish school first (Dec. 2009) so that she doesn't have a wedding being planned in the middle of her final year. We are looking at February or early March as a date, nothing set yet, but will be soon.

I have plenty of more blog posts to come, including a very, very interesting story from the famous haunted Stanley Hotel that many of you will find interesting. Let's just say we both had our first very real ghost encounter...stay tuned!!