SPRING AND FIRE

Meadowlarks and robins have returned. They may be wondering why they even bothered to leave. Trees are sprouting and weeds seem to be popping off the ground overnight. Spring is here, earlier than I can ever remember. Cabin fever was short-lived. We'll take it. In South Dakota, the ground is dry. Hoping spring rain will add moisture and lessen the risk of fire.  

We fired up the pit and the grill. The air at dusk was chilly and still. 

Keeping our distance from the fire

T-bones and corn on the cob, icing on the cake. JIR 

ROAD TRIP

We have taken a lot of risks in our lives and, for the most part, they have paid off. Planning a 860 mile round trip by car in early March is a risk because some of our biggest snow falls can happen this time of year. Not this year, and not while we were on the road. 

On our way to Denver, we cut through the Black Hills going through Hill City and Custer. Cloudless blue skies and temperatures in the 40-50's when we left

Eastern Wyoming is a vast desolate place so a rest stop is a welcomed sight when the bladder is full. Quiz: what stands out and looks very unusual in this picture? (the answer is just below)

Green grass in winter in eastern Wyoming? Yes, thanks to artificial turf state officials in Wyoming can proudly say the grass is greener in their state (in winter).  And visitors can pose for pictures after they pee.

Why do I want to pronounce the name of this town with a "t" at the end?

Fort Collins, Colorado is a vibrant little city (pop. 150K) where Colorado State University, Hewlett Packard and lots of microbreweries reside. Budweiser also calls Fort Collins home but we won't go there (literally). We enjoyed spending the first and last nights of our trip in Fort Collins.

On the outbound we visited O'Dell and Funkwerks. O'Dell is the granddaddy of Fort Collins microbreweries, noticeable in it's size and complexity. Funkwerks, more laid back and only serving 4 types of saison beers, is a newer microbrewery.

We did not take any pictures in Denver but enjoyed our visit there also. Based on Chicky and Steve's recommendation, we ate dinner and tried Belgian ales at the Cheeky Monk. The highlight of our dinning experience was Cuba Cuba, an authentic Cuban restaurant whose owner is a first generation Cuban-American.  She opened the restaurant because, when she moved to Denver, she missed her mother's good Cuban cooking. No visit to Fort Collins is complete without a visit to New Belgium, perhaps the most popular of it's microbreweries. Friday late afternoon before last call at 6PM is an experience not to be missed at New Belgium. We enjoyed a pint of Belgo, one of their Lips of Faith series IPA's JIR