No Blue River Blues

We have a nice studio condo right on the Blue River with great views of the town and mountains. Pleep was very excited when he heard the setup was a Murphy bed. He thought it meant the Murphy girls were hooking up with us for the Oktoberfest event. Sadly, we had to tell him no but assured him they would be celebrating Oktoberfest in New York, Atlanta, and Pensacola.

Breckenridge is an old mining town. In fact it is celebrating it's 150th anniversary this year. It was founded in 1859 during the Pike's Peak gold rush. A second mining boom in 1879 focused on silver and lead. This led to the Victorian town that is still evident everywhere. Breckenridge is the largest historic district in Colorado with more than 200 structures on the National Register of Historic Places.

We started the day with a walking tour of the area that included many of the historic buildings. Main Street is the heart of Breckenridge with shops, galleries, restaurants and bars many housed in old Victorian buildings. After wandering through several galleries, we stumbled into a leather goods store where Ed looked at many very nice coats. Pleep and Delete liked the decorations - stuffed moose heads, bears, Indian headdresses, and other western items. They had a lot of fun playing on the displays while Ed tried on the coats. The staff there enjoyed watching the show.


After a tough day of touring and shopping, we headed up to the Breckenridge Brewery & Pub to sample their fare. We've always liked the Breckenridge Avalanche and other ales. One of their fall special brews was an India Pale Ale which is one of Ed's favorites. Pleep insisted the economical decision was to order a pitcher. After he & Delete had their share, Ed suggested they needed to go back in the bag before they were in the bag.

Are We There Yet?

We had the perfect day for the drive from KC to Breckenridge. Great weather, minimal traffic, very little road construction and Pleep & Delete were well behaved. There was a minor issue when we hit the wind farms. Pleep wanted to get out and swing on the giant windmills. He thought it would be great to try and swing from one to the next. Ed told him no and to just pay attention to working the Garmin to find the next fuel stop.

In addition to the wind farms, we saw a lot of sun flower, sourgham, milo and winter wheat fields. There's not much between KC and Denver. (We don't count Topeka.) The Flint Hills are very pretty but it's a long straight run up into Denver with nothing much to look at put the plains, grain silos, and cattle.

The IPOD comes in very handy because the radio stations are few and don't offer a lot of choices. Once we lost Mike & Mike on ESPN Radio outside of Topeka, we switched on the IPOD and let Pleep pick his favorites - Willie Nelson, Jimmy Buffet, Cyndi Lauper, and a mix of classic rock.

Before we left home, Ed did a bit of research on where to dine in Breckenridge. He found a number of places. For the first night, he decided we needed to hit happy hour at Mi Casa for the $1 tacos and cheap beers. Since happy hour was 4-6, we had to hit the road early and minimize our stops - fuel, restroom, no lollygagging or stopping to eat. Pleep agreed because he wanted to hit happy hour too. We had coffee and peanut butter/strawberry preserves on tortillas for lunch in the car. Total "stop" time for the trip was 30 minutes. It would have been even less but we ran into a delay at the Denver gas stop.

We pulled into the hotel by 4:15 and hit Mi Casa by 5. It's a great place right on the Blue River. After dinner, we had a nice walk around Breckenridge to orient ourselves before the Oktoberfest. When we returned to our condo, we found that it had a pub in the lobby with $1.50 beers. What's not to love about retirement so far?

Pack It Up

Yesterday Pleep had a full morning of practicing his Guinness toasts. This resulted in the need to take a long nap. He didn't want to let go of his new pin but he did turn it off so that it wouldn't keep him awake. We rousted him up later in the day and headed out to Nebraska Furniture Mart with Chris Carnicelli. Pleep insisted on Carnicelli buying the Lazyboy couch and pop-up coffee table for the new digs. Pleep can't wait to visit, hang out on the couch & pop-up the table with a load of Guinness & bananas. Ed's a bit nervous about the thought of Carnicelli & Pleep kicking back in the reclining couch and having the table too loaded. They may never leave the living room. Carnicelli claims that Pleep has taken several of Chris' clothing items and is holding them hostage until he's invited to the new place.

Departure tomorrow means securing the house & packing today. We find that we have to pack for 3 climates. Colorado is projected to be cold (60 to 33F at night); Vegas is hot (100F), and Santa Barbara is at the always popular 75 to 55F range. Plus there is a lot of electronic gear - computers, Garmin, IPOD, mobile phones, cameras, etc. This requires a lot of cables, chargers and bags. Pleep and Delete were in charge of the list. They decided to make sure to stick with the electronics. There is less of a chance of being left behind that way.

ETD tomorrow is 05:30. It's about 700 miles to Breckenridge. With the 1 hour time change to Mountain time, we hope to pull in around 16:30 to 17:00.

250 - Arthur's Day

Guinness is 250 years old. At 17:59 GMT on September 24th 2009, remarkable celebrations will be happening all around the globe, with glasses being raised to Arthur Guinness in over 150 countries. From spectacular events in major cities like New York and Kuala Lumpur, to intimate affairs at your local bar or pub…wherever you are you can join the party and toast the great man.

Pleep hooked up with the Guinness Girls at O'Dowds Irish Pub last Friday. He started drinking the Guinness 250 and was rewarded with a Guinness kit - spoon, button and t-shirt. He promised the girls that he would spread the word on his blog.

Pleep decided to practice his toasting skills so that he would be ready on the big day - next Thursday. He'll be in California so he'll be up early toasting Arthur. He tried to get Ed to join him in his Guinness is Good For Breakfast campaign but Ed deferred and he had to drink alone.

One Week To Go!

Ed's been very busy in his first week of retirement: organizing the garage, defrosting things, supervising tree trimming and landscape work, etc. We've finalized the last of our reservations and have included a stop at Manitou Springs, Colorado for a visit to Pikes Peak. Now all we have to do is organize the gear, pack the clothes and pack the car.

Pleep is busy making the list of what to pack. He and his new friend, Deletrious O'Connor a.k.a. Delete, are number 1 and 2. Delete is one of Ed's gifts from his retirement party. He sports a nice Generali red ribbon around his neck. According to Pleep, having a moose along for the ride is a good idea. If we are stuck in any sudden, unseasonable snow storms, Delete can pull the car.

The Simpsons

Our friend, Dan Carvill, is a big fan of The Simpsons.  He lives on Guernsey where they don't get the latest episodes.  We thought it might be fun to experiment with including the show in our blog to see if he could watch it that way.  If you haven't seen the show, check it out.  It's a fun mix of comedy and irreverent social commentary.  We hope Dan can watch the Simpsons this way.

The Road Goes Ever On And On

Only two weeks to go. We've mapped out the trip to the coast and back. It's a total of about 3,500 miles and we're glad it's all in the car. No airports, no queues, no delays, no conference calls, no meetings and most importantly for Ed, NO BLACKBERRY!

Pleep has been studying the maps and playing with the Garmin. He is planning on being the navigator and wants to make certain there are no wrong turns. He thinks his experience on the drives to Daytona Beach has prepared him for this trip.

 
Pleep's also been doing a lot of research on the internet to figure out which hotels are the most "monkey friendly", in walking distances to the best pubs and restaurants, and have the best user ratings. He's been loading up the IPOD with his favorite music and audio books. Pleep favors country music and the collected works of Curious George. Ed may find the need for a bit more variety.

We plan on doing a bit of blogging while we are on the road.  It will be the easiest way to catch up on what we are doing and to see what trouble Pleep has gotten himself into.