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Damor

Certifiably Surly
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Everything posted by Damor

  1. Well, this thread is now completely off the rails. @hookem2010, my grandparents had what we'd now call an "off grid" cabin at about 10,800ft outside of Pitkin where I spent my summers growing up. Hold to that place if y'all can, wish we still had ours. If you get a chance to head a little north, the Quartz Creek valley is beautiful. If you don't get objections to driving over Cumberland Pass to Tin Cup, the aforementioned Frenchy's has a stocked pond where your 3yo would probably enjoy feeding the fish, and Mirror Lake is gorgeous. Or you can do a quick informal tour of the hatchery in Pitkin, good for a kid of that age. Don't do the Alpine Tunnel unless you like a terrifying drive which leads to nothing worth seeing.
  2. Talked to a guy in Salida a few years back who said he regretted talking shit about Texans once the Californians came in. Said at least when we bought stuff up we'd at least come up and make use of it. That said, just don't be a dick wherever you go, respect/appreciate the locals, and leave things as good or better than you found them.
  3. I'm embarrassed to say we've never eaten at Garlic Mikes although we usually stay right near there. Nothing against it and I understand it's still great, but we are usually grubby and while it's not fine dining, we're usually in the mood for something other than sit-down Italian. We make the rounds at: High Alpine: gotten super expensive but great pizza and outstanding brews, the Kolsch is probably the best I've had outside of Koln. The Dive: Next to and owned by the Marios folks. Super cool open air seating in the summer, the duck poutine is whaaarrrrgarrbl. Power Stop: greasy ass burgers and breakfast burritos in a kick ass gas station Backcountry Cafe: great breakfast, San Juan Benedict with chorizo and green chile FTW W Cafe: another great breakfast spot Sherpa Cafe: Also in Salida and CB, Nepalese immigrants who make great stuff Secret Stash: Legendary pizza in CB "Himalayan Food": Hidden at the back of the Eldo in CB, amazing stuff, also immigrants who barely speak English. Dammit, why am I sitting here in the heat and humidity? So many poor life choices...
  4. He loves it, though it has its trade-offs of outdoor experiences vs usual college stuff. He'd spent so much time there growing up that it already felt like home. Doing their 5 year outdoor industry MBA. I think my younger son would love to go there as well, but "Wasted State" probably isn't the choice over the front range schools for pre-med. And it's a great excuse to go visit up there. I'm more of a summer mountains guy than winter sports, and yeah, the fishing and river stuff is fantastic. In the spirit of the thread, if anyone wants suggestions on some good places to stay in Gunni or Salida, feel free to PM. I'd rather not put them on blast, since I'd still like to be able to book them...
  5. @Chewbacca that's awesome, my nephew is starting there this fall as well. Good point about the rafting trip for @mdleast or anyone else wanting to start their kid off right -- my older one's "orientation" was a 3-day float trip on the Green. Don't miss out on those opportunities to jump-start things. And yeah, my younger one learned pretty quickly to say he was from "around Austin" (OK, it's within an hour) on his tours. College talk not going away.
  6. Found this link on a Reddit thread, complain away: https://consumercomplaints.fcc.gov/hc/en-us/articles/115000914506-Emergency-Complaints I filed one so that they have all of my personal info. I'd rather be purged in the early days than sit around to watch the dismal tide crest.
  7. Maybe we need a thread about sending your kid to college in Colorado. Seems like all of the schools up there (my older son goes to Western in Gunnison) are great about trying to get kids involved in getting outside, with organized trips and cheap equipment rental for camping, winter sports, hiking and climbing, etc. Some important advice we got for our older one is that it's vital they get out in the winter and do something -- those who hunker down in their dorms and play video games are the most prone to noping out and leaving. Probably true of students in general these days, but those not used to winter cold need to be actively aware of it. Speaking of Eldora, looks like in a more positive development that it's going to be bought by the nearby town Nederland in an effort to keep it under more local control. We drove up there on a whim while there and it's beautiful, just kept going until the pavement turned to dirt and the dirt ran out, went for a hike, and then wandered our way back through the mountain roads. Methinks these kids are way smarter than we were.
  8. Correct, but I think it's got a few years left before Vail buys it. I will measure its eventual decline from the closure of the Patio Pancake Place, though.
  9. @LCHorn are you staying in town? One of my favorite things is that it's so walkable, especially when they turn F street into a pedestrian zone in the summer. We'll go for days without getting in the car, just hanging around, walking to restaurants, shops, etc. Your kids are a great age to enjoy it. Nice park right on the river. They will wear themselves out for days at the whitewater park. Rent them boards/tubes and PFDs and let them go wild. Take chairs to sit by the river and chill, and get a spot on the deck at Boathouse for lunch and beers while they go bonkers. Takeout Mo Burrito and Sweeties for good lunches by the river. Moonlight Pizza is great for kids and has good brews. There's an arcade right across the street with a decent selection of old school games and pinball. Tons of other great restaurants: Sherpa, Amicas, Benson's Tavern. If it's open, the noodle joint on F street across from Benson's is glorious. Several good ice cream shops, we like Chill the best and it's down by the river. Get the Moose on the Loose. Don't miss Joshua Been's studio and gallery. He's a super chill guy and paints in a really cool style -- we've bought way too many of his paintings. Agree on a rafting trip. We've used RMOC a bunch, from basic rafting to kayak instruction and always been happy. If they like it, see about doing the "Town Run" in duckies. They should be old enough to paddle their own. If you want to go fly fishing or learn how, look at ArkAnglers. That's where my family learned. Stuart in particular is a very patient teacher and great with younger kids. Buena Vista is another great town nearby worth a visit. Spend the day at Mt. Princeton and head back through BV, stop for dinner and brews at Eddyline (both locations are great, I like the brewery). Drive up to the Continental Divide at Monarch Pass and take the tram up to the top for great views. OK, I should shut up now, especially since Salida sucks and nobody should ever go there.
  10. @Wiler77 please feel free to share some hiking highlights. I grew up spending summers closer to Gunnison/Pitkin but we weren't big into hiking when I was a kid. Did make it to the top of Fairview Peak a couple times, where my grandfather affixed a "Beat the Hell Outta OU" bumper sticker to the Forest Service firewatch station. If anyone hangs out in that area in the summer, be sure to go get burgers and a slice of Fruit of the Forest pie at Frenchy's in Tin Cup. I'm also a big fan of Salida, but don't tell anyone else. @mdmost I think I said it in the college thread, but did the same with Mines/CU/CSU with my younger one. Headed back to revisit in October. Hard to argue against spending your college years up there. Or to argue with following your kids up there... Speaking of which, @MrX, you're not the boss of me!
  11. I hear y'all. The other flood threads weren't the place to put this, but my son and his buddies went on their first "independent" camping trip together a little over a week ago at this gravel bar on the Llano: I did have him check the forecast before they went, but needless to say since then we've had a much more in depth discussion about vigilance and leaving the camping equipment, leaving the fly rods, leaving the car if need be... just get out. And a NOAA emergency radio is now on the way from Amazon. It's a hell of a lot easier for me to face the fact that tomorrow is not promised to me than to accept that it's not promised to them either.
  12. @Chewbacca what did you end up going with? Rod/reel porn pics aren't loading for some reason...
  13. Much love to those early 80s classics, but eventually the Yesterday's in the Temple Mall closed the doors on its dim, smoky hive of scum and villainy. We held on for a while at Mazzio's Pizza where we were treated to some of the last great gasps of 2D sprite gaming, much of it via the venerable Sega System 16 and variant boards: Alas, all things fade and turn to myth, and the best games forbade continues on the final level.
  14. So do y'all think we achieve Monday Night Rehabilitation by his third term, or does Beef Supreme have to wait patiently until his fourth?
  15. Just got back from doing the same with my younger son. He loves it up there, I'm pretty sure we've lost him to the mountains just like his older brother.. Weird times, despite my parenting they have grown into the most amazing people.
  16. I was pleasantly surprised in Belton. Only got to be there about an hour, but I'd guess 700-1000 people were there in the fiefdom of John Carter the Feckless. Kudos to the olds who showed up, saw lots of older vets. Everyone was cordial, welcoming, and upbeat. Almost zero presence of counter protesters, and LEO must have been staying out of sight. Organizers did a great job. Best sign:
  17. Welp. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
  18. I'm a bit torn, it's my first protest. I'm thinking that since I'll be sneaking away from work to attend for a short time, it's valid to go in my scrubs (with the name of the hospital covered to appease the C-suite snowflakes). A middle aged fat cis white guy with a good job is the last thing they'll be expecting. On the other hand, this is one of my favorite t-shirts:
  19. A passage from Blood Meridian has always stuck with me when I wonder this: “A man's at odds to know his mind cause his mind is aught he has to know it with. He can know his heart, but he dont want to. Rightly so. Best not to look in there. It aint the heart of a creature that is bound in the way that God has set for it. You can find meanness in the least of creatures, but when God made man the devil was at his elbow. A creature that can do anything. Make a machine. And a machine to make the machine. And evil that can run itself a thousand years, no need to tend it.” Part of the epigraph from the beginning of the novel: Clark, who led last year’s expedition to the Afar region of northern Ethiopia, and UC Berkeley colleague Tim D. White, also said that a re-examination of a 300,000-year-old fossil skull found in the same region earlier shows evidence of having been scalped. –The Yuma Daily Sun
  20. The best part is you then have ChatGPT just change all the zeroes to ones, and "wallah," I present to the C-suite the "UnitedHealth Never-Authorize-O-Min (-)5000."
  21. At first I was puzzled by why you would crack peoples' skulls open looking for rice inside. Then all of a sudden the world made a lot more sense that way.
  22. Oh, hello there. We've been waiting for you.
  23. So that, plus this from some other aggy thread: I realize it's a pointless exercise to think about this, but to me it's one of the sadder manifestations of the culture of insecurity and inadequacy at that place, and for some reason has always irked me. I've heard A&M grads brag about how opportunities were given to them which they really weren't qualified for, or how they were selected for things over competitors with a secret "Aggie Ring Wink." I really just shouldn't at all be surprised by the cognitive dissonance that displays with regard to the general political zeitgeist of that place, but whatever. When I interview a Texas grad, you'd better bring your A game. My expectations of you are now higher than your peers, not lower. When I'm working with a trainee who's a Texas grad, I'm more disappointed with you if you're not up to expectations, not more forgiving. I don't know why I find this so discouraging, although maybe it's because (unpopular opinion) I do have some very good Aggie friends who are very competent and accomplished, or because on the whole the state would be better off if that system wasn't so culturally bound to fuck up anything good it could ever accomplish outside of athletics. Just part of the cruel and tragic aggy shenanigans, I guess. And the problem is mine for thinking I could rationally understand that place. Thanks for listening to my TURD Talk.
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