Snowshoeing the Rockies

Can you walk? Then you can snowshoe... and they were right, even I was able to snowshoe, you might argue if I am able to walk though ;-)

Living that close to the Rockies is a great opportunity to try the different winter sports right there... this time snowshoeing.





All that fun I had with a good friend of mine, Birthe. She proofed to be a good and merciless leader through the snow and even over this frozen lake...

Oh boy... what they forgot to tell me earlier on was the exhaustion and the pain in muscles your are usually not use... but never less fun anyway ;-)

Happy Easter!

Wow... time is flying by these days. It is Easter? Already? Again? Well, that explains the huge number of chocolate eggs, bunnies and of course pips filling up the local supermarket shelves.

And funny enough we had white Easter over here... exactly like a few thousand miles to the east in my hometown in Germany.


Well with this peaceful picture of Cadbury chocolate eggs, chocolate bunnies and of course pips sitting happily in the snow, I would like to wish you all a Happy Easter with your family and friends. I can assure you that after taking this picture this scene wasn't that peaceful anymore... what happened next I leave to you imagination ;-)

Pimp my ride

While traveling the United States you come across some very interesting and sometimes even very nice cars. Just remember my post about the overloaded van (see archive). It seems like most Americans have a very nice and old Thunderbird sitting in their garage just waiting for a sunny Sunday afternoon ride. So what would you do if you don't have one of these antique cars ready to go but a bunch of Dollars to spend?



Well you go for a not that antique but even more expensive car, and if this is not enough you do what this fella in La Jolla did to his car: He customized it with fake bullet holes on the left and a list of suppose road kills on the right. Wow! How innovative is that? The only thing which kept me sleeping well that night was, that he is most likely to be in the single digits with his gas millage (25l+/100 km) and would need a petrol station wherever he is going! Thanks god that the oil prices are falling again ;-)

The 3000th visitor

Well... who had guessed that my blog is getting visited that often?! I didn't expect that at all and I am very happy to see that beside the so called 'usual suspects' of colleagues, friends and family there are lots of people from around the globe interested in my adventures in the New World.



Even after 14+ months it still amazes me how much is here to see and do.

So let me thank you again for calling by! I am sure that the next posts will not disappoint you in giving my very subjective view of Colorado, USA and all the rest ;-)

Ekki

Happy Paddy's Day

I think it is no breaking news anymore announcing that Paddy's Day is this year on Monday, but that was the reason why we had already Paddy's weekend over here. Including packed pubs and the obligatory street parade which is the biggest of its kind in the mid-west. After 3 1/2 hours waving to a never ending stream of floats and marching bands you surely agree to that too!


Most of the floats were celebrating their Irish heritage and it was really impressive to see how many Irish dancing schools or Irish/Scottish pipe bands are around. Other were not really related to Ireland as such, but still interesting to see. Especially the huge number of antique cars.


A commonly unknown fact is that at the time the Death Star blow up it had a quite big and vibrant Irish community on board. To remember their sacrifice this float was put together ;-)
Alright, Death Star... Irish pubs. That doesn't really work well together, but if you keep in mind that more the 25% of the Americans think they are direct descend of Irish immigrants, so are the actors in that movie too. And suddenly it is not that far fetched anymore ;-)

And there was a surprise waiting for me too... the next president(s) of the United States were already there. Hillary and Obama sharing the presidency! Funny though that Obama was whiter then the bodyguards protecting the limo :-)


I wish all of you a happy Saint Patrick's Day! Have a pint for me back in Dublin :-)

Don't be silly 1

Today I went to Walmart and bought a plastic box for sorting some stuff. Not a thrilling topic for my next post you might think, and even I was pleasant surprised if I found out that I can even make a whole new series of posts out of it... the 'don't be silly' series. But have a look for yourself now:Well... lets step back here for a moment. After laughing out loud about that sticker I asked myself, who is buying a box like that and is butting their baby in it? Nobody with common sense thats for sure. Thing is that over here you have common sense too but you also have lots of people who know how to use the courts to their advantage. For them you have stickers like that I would think... but what makes it even more concerning is the idea of a mother or father actually doing that to their baby, just to get money out of Walmart. Scary!

But not every warning has to be serious like that... and from now on I will collect the most funny ones and post them here.

So be good and don't put babies in plastic boxes ;-)

Companion for a week

Last week I was quite busy. Not only with house-sitting for a good friend of mine but also with a new companion... for that week at least. Because this house came with a cat... Kylie. And we had a blast watching television together. Man... now I wonder if I should go for a cat myself or if I am getting too old enjoying this sort of things :-)

Party on top of the world

The title may sounds a bit 'over the top' ;-) but that was exactly what was going on at the last weekend in Breckenridge, which is a little ski resort up in the mountains. A good friend of mine had her 7th leap year birthday which needed to be celebrated the proper way.


And what better way then renting a ski lodge up the mountain and celebrate for a whole weekend. By lodge I mean a 6 bedroom house which easily accommodates 30 people ready to party.

Apart of this astonishing view we also had two hot-tubs, plenty of room, lots of birthday cakes and of course booze.

Well, what can I say after a three days party in a top-notch ski resort in the Rockie Mountains? I have to come back and this time I have to ski actually... ;-)