Looking to visit Denver again

[Borg561]

So, as I mentioned in Cindy's thread about getting Zippy back, I want to come out and visit you guys and gal(s) again. I was originally thinking late-August or early-September, but now the end of September is looking attractive (the Great American Beer Festival is in Denver from 9/24 - 9/26).

Pretty much any time from August 24th on works though, minus the week of Labor Day. I need at least one day to drive out there and one day to drive back, and we need a Friday, Saturday, or Sunday to visit Sean. Other than that, I need some time to get out to Stranahan's again (unless one of you guys would be willing to pick something up for me, I'll send the money; I need to e-mail Jake & Jess about this) and I'd like to get up to the Odell brewery in Fort Collins. How soon before you underage guys are old enough to legally drink?

Other than that, I don't really know of much else to do besides taking a drive or two out into the mountains. What would you guys recommend/plan?

I know everybody has different schedules, but what days work out best for you guys? Midweek, weekends, specific dates? Also, when do you guys normally throw your winter tires on? I'd like to get out there before having to do that.

Oh, and is Eric still around or just really busy. Haven't really seen much from him lately. Figure when I do make it out there I'll probably/hopefully be crashing at his house again.

Justin

[Borg561]

Double posting, but I didn't feel like editing.

Clarification. The calendar at work is open from the end of August onward. Doesn't guarantee I can get the time off, but the sooner I have a firm date the better.

I looked at the CDoC link you provided Cindy. Looks like they recommend requesting a special visit if you'll only visit 1-2 a year. Which facility is he at? For public ones they say to request a special visit app from the facility, for private ones, I've downloaded the app, but they want a date/time requested, so we'll want to iron that out first. They also want name (I know his first name at least), DOC#, etc, but I can get that through PM/e-mail/phone once the basic trip details are planned.

Justin

[milehigh96caliti]

Hey Justin...His DOC# is 115004. It's also on the inmate locator here:

https://exdoc.state.co.us/inmate_locator/offender_search_splash.php

He is at Buena Vista - here's the link to their page;

https://exdoc.state.co.us/secure/comboweb/weblets/index.php/facilities/view/2

I'm good any weekend with enough notice except October when my son is getting married in Texas. Eric is still around just really busy. He went with me to see Sean last weekend. You can prolly crash at his place but he's getting married this summer...:biggrin: Oops that might be a secret! :eek:

Dave is 21 now...I don't know about Clay...I must have had to work last year when you were here...:rolleyes: Or putting in OT!

Anyway I'm game for whenever you get here...can you just see a caravan of ti's parking in the prison parking lot? :yes:

[milehigh96caliti]

Oh yeah he's the first sean that comes up when you do a first name search...:smile:

[milehigh96caliti]

Justin...fill out the normal visitor app and send it in. The Special Visit App is limited to the private prisons. Sean's in a state facility so you just do the normal one. What can I say...the privates are weird...:rolleyes:

[elchicano]

I'll be 21 on the 26th! So i could go this time, clay is over 21 so he should be good. Keep me updated on this as i would really want to go this time.

[milehigh96caliti]

We'll have fun...there's a 3 adult limit for visitors at the prison but I'll call and see if we can make an exception or something....then I guess it really would be a "special" visit! I went today and even with 3 feet of snow in Conifer the roads were dry and it was an awesome drive...the mountains were gorgeous today.

[Borg561]

Have either of you talked with Eric recently or pointed him this way? With him getting married this summer I'd hate to plan on visiting the same time he'll be on his honeymoon. And as far as where to stay, heck, give me a driveway and a bush and I'll sleep in my car. Wouldn't be the first time.

Justin

[milehigh96caliti]

I'll email the link to him. If you can't stay with him, you can stay with me. I have enough room and it's no problem. He's going to help me move on Sunday and I'm taking Zippy up there so he can fix his motor so he's around. He's in Chicago til Friday and then he'll be back.

[cali-ti]

I can't guarantee where I'll be or what I'll be doing. Getting married at the end of June, going to Malaysia for 2.5 weeks in July, have to go to Chicago for work for two weeks in August, and will be moving my fiancee/wife from NJ to CO in September or October (also will need to go to Chicago for work for two weeks in October). I'll do what I can and if I'm around you're welcome to stay.

[Borg561]

So does anyone have anything planned for the few days before Labor Day? As much as I don't want to be driving home Labor Day weekend, I've got something going on the week after and that last week of August would be tight, but still probably doable. Looking right now at coming out Sept. 2nd or 3rd, going out to see Sean Saturday (didn't realize it's as far of a drive as it is, but it looks like a nice drive), then probably driving home Sunday. I'd like to get out to at leas one of the breweries out there Avery is in Boulder, New Begium and Odell are about a mile apart in Fort Collins). It would be nice to take a drive though the mountains again (Lefthand Canyon Dr this time?). Break's over now, so I'll post more in he morning if I can think of anything else

Justin

[milehigh96caliti]

I'm game for whatever...I don't know if that's my long weekend at work or not, but I'll go down for the drive and see Sean. It will be fun and it is beautiful going that way. You can tell everyone when you get home that you went to South Park. :icon_poke

[cali-ti]

Don't know that far out yet. May be taking advantage of the long weekend to move Sze Lin to CO, but don't know for sure.

[milehigh96caliti]

Justin...did you get your visitor app sent in? Dave sent his in the other day...Eric and Sze Lin and Dave and I are going to see Sean on June 28th. I'll ask him today what I need to do for special visits for more people. I think it's ok as long as one or two are from out of state.

[cali-ti]

Things are still in flux for me. Sze Lin got laid off so her move out here may come sooner rather than later. The loosely coupled plan now is for me to fly to Chicago for work in August and then fly to NJ and then we drive the moving truck out to CO. I haven't yet booked my trip for August because she's going to be checking with some heating/plumbing companies about the refurb they're doing on the house. After that, she should have a better idea of when things will happen.

[Borg561]

Sorry I haven't been around much. Busy with both jobs (anyone ever lost 750GB of data on a RAID array?) and some other things. The garage fire last night didn't help (a post on that in a bit). I'm good to go for driving out there Wednesday, Sept. 2nd and coming back either Sunday the 6th or Monday the 7th.

As for plans, I have to get back to Stranahan's to pick up some whiskey, and since they do tours on Thursday's, that would probably be best. I'd still like to get to at least one of the breweries out there and another mountain drive would be fun. The three major breweries are all open Tues-Sat, so Friday would probably be a good day for that. Not sure if we could work a drive in Firday or if it would be better to do that Sunday. What does everyone's schedules look like for that weekend, if you know yet?

Justin

[milehigh96caliti]

I got your PM but it got lost yesterday...I replied but I don't know if you got it or not. I work Wed - Sat that week which is good! I get off at 9 am in Longmont but I live by DIA. If you want to make plans with the guys for Saturday, then we could go down and see Sean on Sunday. Visiting is from 9:30 - 2:30. We usually make it by 10:15. Depending on traffic (glad it's not Labor Day Weekend!), we should make it back to Denver by 4:30 or 5 pm.

You'll basically have the house to yourself at night since I'll be at work, but the dogs will be happy for the company. Dave (el chicano) lives close by so he can maybe come over and hang out with you. Eric and Sze Lin should have some idea of their plans, I think they might have her moved out here by then. He's in Malaysia with no puter or iphone so we'll have to wait until he gets back to see what's going on with them.

We have a new guy in Stapleton (Jeff), who is bringing his Ti down from Canada. We should invite him on a drive and see if he'd like to go. I'll PM him this link and see what he says. Zippy is still out of commission, Eric hasn't had time to fix the sunroof, he has been a busy guy all summer...so I don't think Zippy will be going anywhere. Too dangerous with the sunroof half open and our crazy weather.

[Borg561]

I'm good for those days off, so I'll be driving out there Wednesday and driving home Monday. Sounds like going to visit Sean would work out better on Sunday? If that's the case I'm sure we could find something to do. For some reason I just looked and I see the Rockies are in town playing the Diamondbacks. Looks like plenty of tickets available, and they won't break the bank like tickets at Yankees Stadium.

Edit: So, as much as I love beer and whiskey, I'm not an alcoholic, and I know there's more to Denver than just microbrews/brewpubs. I'm going to e-mail Jake at Stranahan's in the morning. They recently moved to a new location (the old Heavenly Daze brewpub near I-25 & Alameda Ave) and are not currently open for tours. I *have* to get there to buy some special whiskey, and if there's interest I can probably get us a tour if they're still not open yet.

Is there a Denver tourism website? I briefly thought about the Gateway Colorado Automobile Museum (http://www.gatewayautomuseum.com/index.php) (they bought the '54 Olds F-88 Motorama car at auction for $3.24mil a few years back), but it's a 5-hour one-way drive. That'll have to happen some other time. I could always bring my 360 out with me as well (I've got Gears, Halo 3, pretty much all the standard racing games, Rock Band 1/2, and a bunch of others). About six weeks to go, so no real rush, but I'm the kind of person that hates not having things planned out.

Justin

[milehigh96caliti]

Justin - send another visiting app. Sean hasn't heard anything so he thinks they either didn't get it or it was rejected for some reason. Did you send a copy of your driver's license with it? Anyway the plans are good with us so send in your app again ok? :smile:

[Borg561]

Yup, sent a copy of my license with it. Does it need to be a color copy or does B&W suffice? For the address, do I need to just use the PO Box, or do I need the 15125 Highway 24 & 285 as well? Think I just put the PO Box # on it last time.

[milehigh96caliti]

The PO Box works fine. The copy can be either one. It may have just gotten lost in the mail or something. Send it off today and they'll have it by Wednesday and then he should know something in a couple of weeks.

[Borg561]

Got it sent off Tuesday morning. I had a tattoo appointment after work Monday and didn't have time to get to the post office. Could I call them to see if they actually received the app or is that something they'd tell Sean?

Gonna see about setting us up for a tour of New Belgium up in Fort Collins on Friday. Talked with a marketing guy a few weeks ago and he said he could try and get us on one of the VIP tours. Got a friend in Colorado Springs that for sure will go, so I'll tell him 2 definates, and possibly as many as 6 (you, Dave, Eric & his wife as the others).

Justin

[milehigh96caliti]

They got it and you're approved! Sean told me today when I went to seen him. YAY! We'll hit up Dave and Eric. Eric's in Chicago this week working...I'll IM him tomorrow and see what's going on. I definitely have to work Thursday and Friday so I can't do the tour and I'm sad! But glad you're finally approved to visit!

[elchicano]

Hello guys, it's been a while. Well I'm not 100% sure if i'll be able to join you guys. As of right now my work schedule is all wacked out. I'll let you guys know when we get closer to the date. Also i talked to clay and he seems to be pretty busy too.

[cali-ti]

My wife, Sze Lin, and I should be in the area, but I'm using the last of my vacation moving her from NJ to CO in August, so I won't be able to do a brewery tour during the week :( We'd certainly be up for a group visit for Sean though!

[milehigh96caliti]

Cool! I really need a head count by Thursday at the latest. If more than 3 adults go he has to request a special visit and he has to list everyone on the request. Justin, Eric, Sze Lin and I make 4 already...Dave if you're going, then we have to add you. Sept. 6th is Labor Day weekend...Sunday...does that help your work schedule any? I hope you can spend a little time with Justin over the weekend, he might be bored with just me! We can definitely go up to Mead and hang out with Eric and Sze Lin on Saturday when I get home from work.

Lemme know k?

[elchicano]

Umm I not really sure i think i might be in nebraska during the labor day weekend. So what day you got to know by sept 4th?

[milehigh96caliti]

He has to put in the special request 14 days prior. It's almost the middle of the month so he should prolly put it in this coming Friday.

[elchicano]

well count me out then i don't want you guys to do extra paper work and in the end for me not to show up, again. So yeah if I don't go I'll do a drive with you guys or something. I still got that car cover to give you cindy and i have a haynes repair manual you can have as well. There may also be something else i might be delivering depending what sean writes back. ha!

[elchicano]

oh yeah i have a question, do any of you guys know if i can make it possible for the Roundel magazine to be delivered to sean instead of me. I don't read them and i know he would get a kick out of them.

[milehigh96caliti]

It's not more paperwork, he already has to do it for more than 3 people. He can put down all of us and if you can go, cool...if not we'll be sad! :frown:

I'll tell him when I talk to him tomorrow. Can you go to the magazine's website and see if you can change the person and address for it? And there's usually a customer service# on the masthead. Usually they just need your subscription acct#.

If you could entertain Justin on Friday night that would be cool since I have to work. You guys have to decide where to go on the drive Saturday. Hmmm...how about Pike's Peak? heh heh Til I get my brakes done, I'll be driving the mustang gt...so this should be fun!

[cali-ti]

Driving down to Pikes Peak would make for a long weekend as that's like 2.5 hours from my house. How about driving up to Estes Park? The Stanley Hotel (of "Shining" fame) is up there along with Rocky Mountain National if people wanted to go in there. I wonder if Ridgeline Road is completely open yet (believe that's the highest paved road in the US or something like that).

[milehigh96caliti]

Oh that would be cool! Estes Park is a great place to go! It's Trail Ridge Road and yep it's the highest continuous highway in the US. More trivia...Colfax is the longest business street in the world...it's in the Guinness Book of World Records. Our little state is pretty cool!

[wolferj-RIP]

Y'all could just drive out Historic Route 40 from Aurora until you end at my house... :)

[milehigh96caliti]

Believe it or not...40 is Colfax! The only interesting thing about Colfax these days is that the hookers get chased from one end to the other...there's like 3 different counties and they just move from one to another. :wink:

[milehigh96caliti]

Ok I am thinking...:eek:...if we go to Estes Park, then should Justin come and stay with you and Sze Lin on Friday night? I can take the dogs to my mom's house too and that way I wouldn't have to go all the way home and come all the way back.:eek:

He can either go up to your place on his own or he can follow me up to Longmont which is out of his way. What do you think? I get off work at 9 am Saturday morning, we could meet for a quick breakfast burrito at Santiago's and then drive.

Dave are you game? You could meet us at either place, Longmont or Mead.

[cali-ti]

I think that would work for us. Can't say what state the house will be in then but ... whatever :)

[milehigh96caliti]

Oooh your first houseguest in coupledom! :biggrin:

[Borg561]

Estes Park sounds great. I haven't been there or RMNP since I was like 7 or 8. I'll stay wherever would be easiest for us Saturday.

I e-mailed the New Belgium rep about doing a tour Friday. Haven't heard back yet. If we do get up there on Friday, O'Dell is literally a hop-skip-and-jump away.

Trying to do three things at work, so this will suffice for now. I'm sure I'll think of something later and post again.

Justin

[jeff]

Are you guys talking about this weekend? You should sign up for the RMWBMWCCA autocross!! It's at DSGP tomorrow. I'll be there!

[Borg561]

Labor Day Weekend. I don't know if you've met any of the guys and gals out there, but I'm sure you'd be welcome to join us that weekend. I'll be out there from Sept. 2nd through the 7th.

Justin

[jeff]

Oh that's right, I remember reading that earlier in the thread. I'll be out of town from Friday through Monday.

[DustenT]

Hello CO folks! I'm a little late to this party, but count me in. Eric and I go way back, and some of you might remember me from my DASC'd 318ti days.

My wife and I are moving to Denver August 29th weekend and we'd love to come out and meet some fellow enthusiasts. Estes Park sounds like a great idea, so does Rockey Mountain National.

Where are we meeting, and what time?

:tongue:

[Borg561]

That's great! Looking forward to meeting you. Not sure where we're meeting Saturday, but it sounds like it will be at Eric's or somewhere for breakfast.

If you're not busy the afternoon of the 4th (Friday), I'll be heading up to Fort Collins with a friend from Colorado Springs to tour the New Belgium and O'dell breweries. The rep I've been e-mailing from New Belgium needs a firm headcount, so let me know ASAP if you want to go. Don't know exact time yet, but it would be early afternoon (1-3pmish).

Justin

[milehigh96caliti]

The more the merrier I say! So far Justin is staying with me until Friday night and then he's going to stay with Eric and Sze Lin in Mead. I have to work in Longmont Friday night and I get off at 9 am Saturday morning. I'm thinking we could meet for breakfast in Longmont and then take Hwy 66 up to Estes Park. Or we can just do brunch in Estes and then drive Trail Ridge Road. Open for suggestions either way.

lol...the e46fanatics crew is taking a drive to Idaho Springs to BeauJo's Pizza this weekend, but I'm working to late to go...but the pizza sounds good!

[DustenT]

The more the merrier I say! So far Justin is staying with me until Friday night and then he's going to stay with Eric and Sze Lin in Mead. I have to work in Longmont Friday night and I get off at 9 am Saturday morning. I'm thinking we could meet for breakfast in Longmont and then take Hwy 66 up to Estes Park. Or we can just do brunch in Estes and then drive Trail Ridge Road. Open for suggestions either way.

lol...the e46fanatics crew is taking a drive to Idaho Springs to BeauJo's Pizza this weekend, but I'm working to late to go...but the pizza sounds good!

We were in Idaho Springs a couple weeks ago and the line for BeauJo's was out the door. Is the pizza that good, or is there just not much for good pizza in CO?

We can meet anywhere, Longmont or Mead. I like the idea of Eric cooking me breakfast though!

That's great! Looking forward to meeting you. Not sure where we're meeting Saturday, but it sounds like it will be at Eric's or somewhere for breakfast.

If you're not busy the afternoon of the 4th (Friday), I'll be heading up to Fort Collins with a friend from Colorado Springs to tour the New Belgium and O'dell breweries. The rep I've been e-mailing from New Belgium needs a firm headcount, so let me know ASAP if you want to go. Don't know exact time yet, but it would be early afternoon (1-3pmish).

Justin

Touring New Belguium sounds like fun, but I'll have to work until 4ish on Friday, so that probably won't work. Thanks for the invite!

[cali-ti]

I'll have to talk to Sze Lin and see what we can hook up. We'll be in transit over the next four days or so. Then we'll have some settling time. It'll be nice to be co-located and be able to get out and do things with people. Dusten, we're looking forward to hanging out with you and Kirsten! Can't believe you're finally getting moved out here!

[Borg561]

Hope you guys have a safe and uneventful drive to Colorado. Taking I-70 or I-80 across?

Justin

[cali-ti]

I80 ... if it's anything like getting a flight out of o'hare, it'll suck total balz, I'm so sick of the midworst and east coast flights!

EDIT: Thank God for BEER!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-jOEAufDQ4

[Borg561]

Awesome. Any idea when you'll be passing through/stopping in Omaha? I'd be willing to meet you guys for lunch/dinner somewhere (and show you an awesome beer place we have here). I'm off all day Saturday, work Sunday from 8:30am until whenever (usually 6:30, but as early as 3pm or so). Feel free to call or text, 402-350-3217.

Justin

[milehigh96caliti]

Wow this next couple of weeks is going to fly by! I hope anyway work-wise. Justin what time do you think you make it to my place on what, Wednesday? That's my Monday so I usually take a nap before going in to work...just let me know when you think you'll be here. I'll PM you my addy so you can map everything.

[DustenT]

I'll have to talk to Sze Lin and see what we can hook up. We'll be in transit over the next four days or so. Then we'll have some settling time. It'll be nice to be co-located and be able to get out and do things with people. Dusten, we're looking forward to hanging out with you and Kirsten! Can't believe you're finally getting moved out here!

I know, it took long enough to get everything worked out!!!

[milehigh96caliti]

Sean's excited about you moving here too...he was stoked when I told him on Sunday!

[DustenT]

I'm here! The 18 hour drive with a 26' truck w/trailer for the m3 was not a lot of fun, but we are finally here!

HUGE THANKS to Eric and Sze Lin for helping us unload the truck. We mobbed it and had the truck unloaded in like an hour. I'm looking forward to meeting up with everyone soon!

[cali-ti]

Glad to help, just sorry that Steve got stung in the face by a bee! Not a good "thank you" for helping you move to CO :(

Looking forward to this coming weekend and getting out. Sounds like we'll be flying out to CA the following week to help out my friend out there ... just when I was looking forward to spending some time at home getting things done!

[Borg561]

Did we decide about going down to Buena Vista/Salida on Saturday? If we don't and we go up to Estes Park/RMNP like previously talked about, my friend from Colorado Springs is interested in possibly coming as well, and he'd like to know ahead of time if possible. I'll probably head up that way Thursday as well, since I won't be able to fit both brewery tours in on Friday, and there's some trails in RMNP I'd like to check out (Bridal Veil Falls; Nymph, Dream, & Emerald Laks and the Pool of Jade; Gem Lake). I don't have to be back to work until Friday the 11th either, so if anyone wanted to do something on Labor Day I could always stay another day (if that's fine with Cindy/Eric, whoever I'm staying with then).

Outside of the chance for a little rain, the weather forcast looks nice. Really looking forward to seeing you guys and gals again/for the first time.

Justin

[cali-ti]

Sze Lin and I need to fly out to Ontario, CA on the morning of Monday 7 Sep now ... we're booking it today.

Sounded like we were going to go up to Estes Park, having breakfast here at the house in Mead before we head up. We'll need a tally on who all is coming so we can prepare for that :)

Cindy mentioned that the Denver was having the Taste of Colorado or something the same day so we could either go up and come back the same way or go all the way through Rocky Mountain National and drop down to I-70 and head back to Denver that way. Depends on what all we want to do. The Stanley Hotel is right there in Estes Park so I'm sure we'll want to stop there.

There's a park fee per car of something like $20/day or better deals on longer passes if you plan to do RMNP again or other National Parks. I think I might need to renew my card for another year.

[milehigh96caliti]

Believe it or not...we're still waiting for visiting permission...they haven't told Sean yet but I called and they said they will let him know...hrummmmph. I'm not worried but what a PITA. I really couldn't find much on Salida/BVCC, so I thought we could just stick with the original plan plus go to downtown Denver for the Taste of Colorado...our last summer blowout.

I'm off til Wednesday night next week (no I'm working this week), you're welcome to stay if you would like. Sean's BFF Ryan is going with us (except to see Sean) and he'll be here too...so you'll have guy time! LOL...he's 32 and he's fun...lookout Monday Night Football! Anyhoo...this will be fun!

[Borg561]

What time are we planning on doing breakfast Saturday morning? It's almost a two hour drive from Colorado Springs to Mead, so he may just want to meet us there when we're ready to leave. I'll give him a jingle tomorrow.

Taste of Colorado sounds fun. I've not been over to the Grand Lake side of the park. I had read that they were doing paving work on that part of US-34, but the website says paving is done and final striping will be done by Sept. 2nd. Also, if we go up and come down the eastern side, do we dare go up Old Fall River Road (gravel road for the final 9 miles)? If anyone wants to do some hiking, I have a book about some day & overnight hikes in the park. Gives approximate round-trip times, distance, directions, and a box with an scale overview of the scenery, trail conditions, difficulty, and solitude (how crowded the trail likely is). Some good hikes ranging from 45 minutes jaunts around a lake to 13 hour trips from one side of the park to the other.

I've heard of the Stanley Hotel, what's it's significance? Oh, and the $20 fee is good for seven days, so it'll cover me if I head up there more than once.

Looking like I'll head home Monday. Just found out I have to work Tuesday night, and I don't care to be on the road for 8 hours then have to go to work. I'll probably stop by the Forney Museum Monday morning. Sounds interesting and that way I don't have to drive into the sun as much on the way home.

Justin

[milehigh96caliti]

I get off of work at 9 am Sat so I'm going to Eric's right after work...I should be there around 9:30 or so. Depending on how long breakfast is I would say leaving around noonish would be close. Grand Lake is beautiful with a huge lodge...not sure if it's open but it's really nice to visit

Stanley Hotel - The Shining with Jack Nicholson. We can do a ghost tour. I've never done it, they cost $13.00. Kind of a touristy thing if you're interested.

Here's the link to it. I liked the 4 hour tv miniseries better. It was closer to the book than the movie was.

http://www.stanleyhotel.com/

[wolferj-RIP]

I liked the 4 hour tv miniseries better. It was closer to the book than the movie was.

+1!

Go do the touristy thing... It's easy to deride the local tourist stuff when you live there, but I always find that I enjoy it afterwards...

Have a great time, and wish I could join y'all!

[cali-ti]

Thinking we might get out of here before noon, but we'll see :) How late does the Taste go?

Hey Justin, what time Friday night were you thinking you'd be getting to our house? There's a Ski sale in Aurora that goes until 7pm that we were thinking of hitting (be nice to get Sze Lin skis and I really need new boots).

I'll send you my cell phone number in a PM.

[milehigh96caliti]

+1!

Go do the touristy thing... It's easy to deride the local tourist stuff when you live there, but I always find that I enjoy it afterwards...

Have a great time, and wish I could join y'all!


lol...every time we went up there we just decided it was too expensive w/kids and all...this time might work though!

[Borg561]

I'm always up for touristy. Isn't that part of the purpose of a vacation?

I'll be following Cindy up on her way to work Friday night, so if we leave her place around 7:30, it will probably be a bit after 8pm.

Taste of Denver lasts until 10pm Saturday and Sunday. Website: http://www.atasteofcolorado.com/ Lists what all the vendors are going to have, music, attractions, etc.

Justin

[cali-ti]

We need to get a count for breakfast on Saturday. Who all will be here? Here's my guess, let me know if there are changes from this.

1. Eric
2. Sze Lin
3. Cindy
4. Ryan
5. Dusten
6. Kirsten
7. Justin
8. Justin's friend from CO Springs

Please respond ASAP, thanks :D

EDIT: Proposed breakfast includes the following:

1) Quiche
2) Cinnamon pecan sticky buns
3) Fig streusel
4) Mimosas
5) Espresso/latte

[Borg561]

Mike won't be able to join us for breakfast. He said he should be able to join us afterwards, but it will depend how much work he has to do for a grad class he's taking.

Not sure if anyone else is not a coffee drinker like me. I'd be willing to bring a thing of juice if you'd like.

Justin

[cali-ti]

We'll have orange juice already (for the mimosas). If you want something other than that, feel free to bring some along :)

[milehigh96caliti]

Sounds Yummy! Ryan's not coming either. He picked up a gig in Ft. fun working a soccer event Friday and Saturday. He's going to come down on Monday and hang out for a couple of days. Dang it! Well he'll have me for Monday night and then I'm working Tuesday so I can take off Friday and go to see some friends of ours play at the Toad Tavern. Good times!

[cali-ti]

So updated list (still waiting for Dusten and Kirsten to confirm) is:

1. Eric
2. Sze Lin
3. Cindy
4. Dusten
5. Kirsten
6. Justin

[DustenT]

So updated list (still waiting for Dusten and Kirsten to confirm) is:

1. Eric
2. Sze Lin
3. Cindy
4. Dusten
5. Kirsten
6. Justin

Confirmed! We'll be there around 9ish. I'd like to do the entire drive through RMNP if possible, and probably won't do Old Fall River Road since my car is actually clean for once. :)

[milehigh96caliti]

Well we all had a good time with Sean yesterday. He was so happy to see everyone and especially talk cars! The 4 1/2 visit flew by and I'm really glad we had no issues having all of us visit. Thank you Justin for making the trip and taking care of the animals for me while I was at work! And thank you Eric and Sze Lin for the yummy breakfast and for helping out with Justin's stay! Happily tired today and just hanging out at home...:smile:

[Borg561]

I definately had a great time and it was nice to see Sean and Eric again. Definately plan to get out there again next year, just don't know when for sure. Gee, does BVCF do 7-person visits (the four of us, Dusten, Kirsten, & Dave)? :-)

I noticed there's no easy way to get from E-470 heading south to East I-76. Followed the sign to take US85 to I-76, but that's for westbound traffic. Pulled off at the 88th St. exit, filled up with gas (36.76mpg from our stop in Fairplay), then headed back east. There wasn't a toll camera for getting off south E-470 onto US85 either, so I'll be interested to see what my final bill is.

Justin

[DustenT]

It was great seeing and meeting everyone, breakfast was awesome. Here are some pics from the drive to Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park:

Stanley Hotel:
http://photos-g.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs246.snc1/9334_147229628632_667098632_2455750_2923518_n.jpg

Eric in line:
http://photos-h.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs246.snc1/9334_147229638632_667098632_2455751_2529977_n.jpg

Justin in my mirror:
http://photos-a.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs246.snc1/9334_147229643632_667098632_2455752_7979764_n.jpg

We got really high up there:
http://photos-b.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs246.snc1/9334_147229648632_667098632_2455753_2233521_n.jpg

Sunroof drop:
http://photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs266.snc1/9334_147229668632_667098632_2455756_2542097_n.jpg

RMNP:
http://photos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs266.snc1/9334_147229673632_667098632_2455757_3078544_n.jpg

[DustenT]

RMNP:
http://photos-g.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs246.snc1/9334_147229678632_667098632_2455758_3750965_n.jpg

http://photos-a.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs266.snc1/9334_147229688632_667098632_2455760_1211156_n.jpg

http://photos-b.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs266.snc1/9334_147229693632_667098632_2455761_2666289_n.jpg

http://photos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs246.snc1/9334_147229713632_667098632_2455765_1595822_n.jpg

http://photos-h.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs246.snc1/9334_147229723632_667098632_2455767_2052361_n.jpg

http://photos-b.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs266.snc1/9334_147229738632_667098632_2455769_2825629_n.jpg

[DustenT]

Taste of Colorado:
http://photos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs246.snc1/9334_147231228632_667098632_2455787_2295013_n.jpg

[milehigh96caliti]

Those are great pics Dusten! I love the grey skies over the state capitol at the Taste of Colorado and it didn't even rain while we were there. Very cool!

[milehigh96caliti]

FYI Justin!

http://www.9news.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=122976&catid=188

[Borg561]

Ouch. I'll definately be looking for the bill to come.

Dusten, those pics look great. I especially love the one of the capitol building. Currently resizing mine before throwing them online. Don't think my webhost (or my cell phone connection) would like me dumping 350+ megs of photos. Hopefully I'll have them all up by tomorrow.

Justin

[milehigh96caliti]

Hey Justin...FYI...You can't pay it online without the bill but you can call and do it over the phone. I paid mine yesterday cause that story freaked me out...apparently THEY don't need the bill# to pay it but you do...ehhh...scammers...it is a private tollway that the State of Colorado leases...blah!

[Borg561]

Okay, pictures are finally up. Tripod's been upgrading their sitebuilding tool for the last week and it's been causing hell with the entire site. Sent all the pics to work and I've been wrestling with them all day. Not sure how many pages it is, but there's 219 pics total that I uploaded.

http://msbeta.tripod.com/rmnp

Edit: A handful have some brief descriptions, I'll add more as time allows. I think I enabled comments, if anyone cares to.

Justin

[elchicano]

Looks like you guys had fun. Wish i could of been there but i was in Grand Island, Nebraska. I would be Ti less so i think i would feel kind of out of place.

[Borg561]

It was a great time and I think we all wish you could have been there (probably more fun than Grand Island). Cindy was driving the Mustang and my friend from Colorado Springs that I met of Friday drives a Focus, so you wouldn't have been out of place. Besides, the cars merely brought us together in the first place, it's the people and the friendship that really matters.

And I think I'm going to wait until my car is paid off before looking at moving. I peeked at some jobs and apartments on Craigslist the other day, and while I don't think finding a job and such would be hard, I'd hate for something to happen to the job or I end up not liking it, and then have to worry about bills. With the car paid off, that's two fewer bills and $300/month less to worry about.

Justin

[Borg561]

So how well is the license plate toll actually working? I haven't received a bill in the mail yet. I just got off the phone with them (was on hold for nearly 15 minutes) and they found nothing under my name or license plate. I wonder if I should call back if I haven't seen anything by the end of November, or just let it slide and assume they're not going to bill me.

Justin

[milehigh96caliti]

Well I used it the last weekend of Sept and hadn't seen a bill. I posted on the Denver Post today and a guy from E-470 sent me a PM. I gave him my plate# and he sent me the bill in a PDF file. He said they mailed it on Oct. 6th. But to their credit, I had forgotten to change my address on my license plates...which I have done but still there's no way the post office can forward something (if they even do any more) in 30 days. I got mine all paid up today and I'm not using it any more. Here's the email for the guy I talked to. Email him and see if he can find it. DKristi@e-470.com Dave Kristick Director of Operations, E-470 Public Highway Authority He's a bigwig there!