Alright alright. I’m back. Back in my art room. Back in the thick sea-level air. Where do I begin?

Thursday night: Brother came down from his place out west to meet me. Ate lobster at uncle Joe’s house to celebrate his traps being full of sea-roaches. Drank beers at Murphy’s and fell asleep for a few hours on my back on my living room floor before taking the cab to the airport at 4 am. Flew a lot.

Friday: Got off the second plane and drove an hour and a half with old man to his house way the hell up in the rocky mountains.

The walk from the car to the house was maybe 20 feet at most, but my brother and I were both short of breath. We live five minutes from the ocean on the East coast while my old man lives in the mountains on the Busch label. It was crazy how winded we were the first few days.

After putting our stuff away we sat on the front porch and cracked a beer with the old man. A Busch beer. Then it set in… His house was pretty badass. Check out the view from his front porch…

It was almost silent up there. Every now and again you’d hear a truck drive by or a hummingbird would buzz your head. Pure awesomeness. Up there you can stand outside and pee all over your yard while firing a gun if you want to. Some day I’ll live in the woods again. Just so I can spin around and pee and fire a gun into the air legally.

The trip’s staple activities were horseshoes and beer drinking.

The old man was deadly accurate, having about 20 years more playing time than us but after a few days we were able to dismantle him a few times each.

On the nothern perimeter of his yard there is a creek that runs through.

I was standing a few feet from where my bro-magnon brother is standing in the above photo the morning of the second day when a deer came barreling through the brush STRAIGHT AT ME. HOLY SHITBALLS I’M OVERREACTING. It was a doe and she was no threat. Still, I readied for combat and was relieved when she quickly cut left and disappeared back into the thick brush. My brother was ready to get her in a full nelson so I could work her brisket with tenderizing punches.

Here’s my brother stomping around looking for more deer taken from atop the roof of the house.

The next day we headed out to the Royal Gorge to see the largest suspension bridge in the world. It was a tourist trap full of crying children and crappy attractions…

…Other than the gorge itself, which was pretty damn cool.

Here’s me standing all creepy and gay like Mr. Burns in my Colorado hat and screaming elk t-shirt.

The next morning my brother and I drove dad’s truck way the hell out to Buena Vista to hit the rafting trip we planned. We got out by 6:30 a.m. Halfway through the drive, after the mountains gave way to huge open plains, I was startled when a bird found it’s way in front of the truck’s windshield just in front of my brother’s face. Danny, all 6′5″ 200 lbs of him recoiled like a 72 year old woman in the front row at a Gallagher show and yelled “SHEEEEEEE-ZUS!!” in a bellow that sounded like Louie Armstrong.

The rafting trip is going to get it’s own entry when I get all the photos from him in the hopefully near future.

All in all it was a great trip and I could type and type about it forever. I’ll keep it somewhat brief and give some quick cliffnotes on everything that ruled about Colorado.

Horseshoes and beer at 1 p.m.

Grilling.

Wildlife.

Taking the old man’s motorcycle out on the ridiculously scenic highway for a 60 mile ride (some of it sans-helmet just to try it).

Free billiards.

$2 beers.

Nachos.

Happy hour at the strip club.

Free 17th row seats at the Rockies game.

Perfect weather.

Rafting.

I met Lita Ford at the airport.

I’m just kidding about that last part. Kiss Me Deadly just came on iTunes.

My brother and I cracking a rotten log in half in search of grubs to eat because we want to be like Bear Grylls from Man vs. Wild.

Seeing the old man again.

Head out to Colorado if you ever get the chance. It rules hard.

This entry was posted on Friday, July 27th, 2007 at 3:46 am and is filed under Uncategorized.