Karen Completed the Hike to Barr Camp

Karen Allen on Barr TrailKaren and I hiked to Barr Camp on the Barr Trail. The Barr Trail starts in Manitou Springs, Colorado and ends on Pikes Peak Mountain with Barr Camp sitting about half way to the top.

The weather was great for the hike. The temperature was cool with an almost clear skys. A light breeze was blowing.

Karen Allen and Brian Allen at Barr CampKaren pushed hard to make the camp. She was a real trooper on the 12+ mile hike. I think the worst part of the hike is down, because of the pounding on your joints.

Karen is already talking about making the hike to the top of Pikes Peaks.

Winter Warlock Release

 Cp Upload Warlock Logo Small 1Karen and I headed over to the release of this year's Winter Warlock from Bristol Brewing Company.

Winter Warlock is an oatmeal stout that tastes great.  It is only available during the winter months so you should stock up, now.

Karen and I had a blast at the release.  The tap room was packed, but we had seats at the bar.  Russell Noel was working the taps and keeping everyone happy.  A good spread of food was for the taking.

Happy 40th Birthday

40 Well, I hit the big four oh! Karen came out to Colorado Springs to help celebrate.

We had a great time with friends from work joining us at the Blue Star restaurant and Bristol Brewing Company.

Bristol Brewing

Bristol Brewing CompanyI am kicking back at Bristol Brewing in Colorado Springs. You just can't beat this place. Bob Archibald is working the taps in the tap room. They have the 2 bucks for any Edge City (EC) beer deal running tonight. I have had the EC Oktoberfest, EC Pale Bock, and EC English Mild, but more are to come.

Mike Bristol (the owner) is here talking to the patrons.

The WiFi is fast so you have your “after workers” here doing the net stuff. Me being one.

Everyone is coming in filling their jugs (growlers) to have beer supplies for the week. Some have required kegs, but we all have our needs.

Off to Colorado Springs

Well, my work has me travelling back to Colorado Springs just in time to celebrate my 40th birthday. I think I my spend my birthday at the Bristol Brewery and the Blue Star Restaurant.

I have hopes to hiking up to Barr Camp on this trip. I have hiked it before, but this time Karen wants to try to make it all the way, too.

An Evening with Larry Woellhart

Larry WoellhartMy sister has been in town for the first three weeks of August.  And, we wanted to go out one time before she left Huntsville, Alabama.  Karen and I knew our friend Larry Woellhart would be performing down at Kenny Mango’s Coffee Shop so we all went for a wonderful evening of folk rock.  Larry was great as usual.  Kenny’s drinks were great as well.  You can check out Larry upcoming schedules here.

To see all of the photos click here.

Mount Rainier Hiking near Paradise

Paradise Trails at Mount Rainier Karen and I hiked the trails around Paradise area of Mount Rainier park. The meadows in this area were in peak bloom, which the hiking wonderful. Karen felt like she was always hiking up hill. We hiked half of the Skyline Trial to Panorama Point, which has bathrooms. On our return, we hiked Deadhorse Creek Trail and the Waterfall Trail back to the Jackson Visitor Center.

We snapped a lot of pictures during our hike, which can be seen at our photo site. The day was clear so we got pictures of the peak of Mount Rainier, too.

10th Anniversary Trip

Karen and I had a wonderful time on our anniversary trip.  With it being our 10th anniversary, we considered many different trips.  We decided to include train travel on the trip, because we travelled by train on our honeymoon.

We started out by flying to Seattle, Washington.  After picking up our rental car, we checked-in to our hotel and headed to Pyramid Ale.  We had fun finding their restaurant and brewery, because we thought it was located at 1201 North 1st Street, but it was actually at 1201 South 1st Street.  The lady working at 1201 North 1st Street said she is asked about the brewery all the time.  As for Pyramid Ale, we tried a number of their beers along with a great sausage dish featuring three types of sausage.

For our actual anniversary on August 3rd, we decided to travel to Vancouver, British Columbia in Canada.  Our destination was Granville Island, which is a small area within Vancouver that has open markets, artisan shops, boutiques, and restaurants.  The artisans make a wide variety of items including metal works, blown glass, fabrics, and clothing.  Karen had a blast looking in all of the shops.  You could watch many of the artisans work their craft.  We had a great lunch outside at Dockside.  We purchased some bread and sausage to have for dinner back in Seattle.

For our anniversary dinner, we headed back to the hotel and had our bread and sausage for dinner while watching “My Favorite Spy” starring Bob Hope.

The next morning, we went hiking on Mount Rainier near the Paradise lodge.  The trails were surrounded by meadows filled with flowers, which were in full bloom.  On the way to and from Mount Rainier, we stopped in Eatonville, Washington.

As we were driving by Eatonville, Karen spotted a sign for the Eatonville Lion’s Club Art Festival.  Karen loves art festivals.  We found an artisan that had made dishes shaped like fish.  They are shaped such that chips can be place in the body and dip can be placed on the tail.  On our return from hiking, we stopped again tried their famous roast beef sandwich, which was great.

On Saturday, August 5th, 2006, we headed south to Tacoma, Washington to see the Museum of Glass.  Generally, we were not impressed with the museum.  It was very small and this is especially true given the cost of $10 a person.  I suggest that you find a coupon, which we did.  A lot of the pieces are note even glass.  On a positive note, the hands on area, the bridge of glass, and the Hot Shop Amphitheater were great.  When we visited, the hands on area allow us to make something out of glass pieces and wire. Karen's BraceletKaren and I made bracelets.  Mine was not as nice as Karen’s.  The picture about is from bridge of glass, which was designed by Dale Chihuly.  The Hot Shop Amphitheater is a place where visiting artisans can build their glass art while you watch.

We went to Point Defiance Park to see the beach and enjoyed the five mile loop around the park.  On the drive, we take pictures of raccoons.  We stopped by the Camp 6 Logging Museum.

Pike Place MarketOn Sunday, we went to the Pike Place Market in Seattle to see the fish fly at Pike Place Fish.  If you order a fish, I suggest that you stand back, because the fish will start to fly.  We had a great lunch at the Athenian Inn.

On Monday, we started are train ride back to home, but I will post more about that later.