White Ranch Open Space Night of Adventure ("Bears," Rain, and Meteors, Oh My!)

We finally had more than two days off (we have been working a ton, including a nine day streak so that we have seven days off for our anniversary at the end of this month) and J and I were ready to go do something epic. Like possible bear fights, torrential rain and wind, and exploding space dust epic. J wanted to go camping, I wanted to watch the two meteor showers that were going on (Delta Aquarids and Perseids). We were able to combine both into a truly epic camping trip.

Meteor count was about thirty: twenty-eight or so from the Perseid meteor shower (shout-out to comet Swift-Tuttle) and two from the Delta Aquarid meteor shower. :) We watched for just under an hour.

We didn't nab any pictures of the meteors but Google it. The Perseids are gorgeous and the Delta Aquarids were a happy surprise. The showiest Perseid we saw was a blue streak that exploded with two fireballs. You couldn't miss it; it was a spectacular fireworks display! Space makes me smile.

We hiked a mile in to our campground ready to beat the thunderheads that were forming very promising looking rainclouds.

We were able to pitch our tent and organize all of our goods before a rain shower started. With our food in the bear bin and our gear in our tent we settled down in the sprinkle to...

...drink our beer! That didn't last long though as it began to rain more heavily and we escaped to our tent for 20 minutes to let the storm pass.

It was relatively nice the rest of the afternoon/early evening on our part of the mountain. The sun came out though threatening clouds surrounded us and more than one occasional light sprinkle began and ended as we cooked.

See? Even a rainbow came out!

J and I preparing our hobo packs: all kinds of good veggies with some olive oil, salt, pepper, chili powder, Worcestershire sauce, and in J's case some fresh jalapenos from our plants. Wrap that up in aluminum foil and throw it on the raging flame.

Also, goodies for tonight. Instead of s'mores we have coconut cookies and dark chocolate. We also have some herbal teas to prepare at 2:30AM when it is chilly and we are meteor watching!

As our food cooked the thunder and lightning storms continued. The lightning was a special show as we could see all the different storms traveling over Denver. We never tried to capture the lightning as it was too much fun to enjoy it.

The sky looked especially eerie at this point. There was a very bright blue patch of light that opened up for the longest time.

But enough about that, food is ready! And it was cooked to perfection.

J also rocked some corn on the cob.

J as evening fell. By the way, not to alarm anyone, but he was patrolling because we kept hearing some sort of weird animal, which we decided was a bear. We ended up hearing about five different whatever-it-was's and we doubted that there would be that many bears in one area. Just in case, we had a plan to run to the vault toilet and lock ourselves in there if we saw one. Flawless back up plan.

Don't forget dessert: melted dark chocolate and coconut cookie goodness.

As the sun set one can start to see the city lights over the Denver Metro Area.

My turn to be in the photo shoot. This was taken with the "good" Canon camera. :P

Annnnd...this was taken with the iPhone. We finally had some downtime and even walked to the north side campgrounds in order to have a better view of the city lights before we went to sleep. We headed back to the campground, prepared for bed, and doused the fire when...

Ummm, all hell rained loose! There was a bright bolt of lightning, immediate thunder, and we ran to the tent with barely enough time; the big, fat drops were already flying. If you open this image you will see that the red and yellow dot is on a green park. That's RIGHT WHERE WE ARE CAMPING. Two and a half hours later the rain finally subsided, we hadn't washed away, and were both surprisingly dry. Then the wind started up for another two hours. That was awesome, too. THEN my alarm went off at 2:30AM for us to depart the tent, sit on top of the picnic table, and watch for meteors. (No pics as we never caught one on camera. J was able to take lots of pretty star photos though!)

The next morning we were thankful for sunlight so we could start to dry the tent out. Some water had made it in but we think it was mostly condensation. Our Thermarests had kept us dry and our down bags did their job as they never were wet.

Breakfast was left over veggies scrambled with eggs and seasoned as well as butchered pancakes smothered in blueberry preserves.

Lastly, we forgot plates and we didn't have a fire poker. That is where The Rock came in (pictured, bottom). For those of you who know me well I like The Rock the actor, so The Rock in this picture was referred to as Dwayne Johnson. The larger rock was called Dwayne Johnson, Jr. They served well to move around large, hot logs, hold our aluminum foil food, and make us laugh. All things the real Dwayne Johnson would have been great at doing, as well.

It was a wonderful camping trip with way more excitement then we originally planned. Mostly, we are so glad we finally made it out to White Ranch this summer. I think we've made it there every year we've been in CO and it'll be a sad year when we don't. I think if I had to pick only one place to camp this would be it. Close to the city but still in the foothills, multiple amenities, a great Open Space administration, and fabulous views. My absolute favorite.

-TJ

Hunt

Love you so much, Hunter...we will miss you. ♥

Succulents: I mentioned I would write this a few posts ago.

I've been wanting to start a succulent garden for a while. First, I think they would do well here in Colorado. Second, they'd even be in a small enough decorative container that I could bring them indoors during the winter and they could actually, you know, last through the season.

When J and I went to the Denver Botanic Gardens, we picked up a super cute and kind of spiky little guy that I fell in love with as soon as I saw it for a few dollars on the shelf. My plan was to just have him but then a trip to Lowes turned that in to a gorgeous little ceramic garden. Here is the garden when I started it just a few weeks ago (you can click to enlarge all photos and I suggest it)...

They are colorful and glossy, and blushing and one is even a little "dusty" looking.

So allow me to introduce you! First we have Oscularia deltoides. Native to the southwestern cape, South Africa, deltoides is my Denver Botanic Gardens acquisition. Supposedly it grows like a weed and will produce almond-scented flowers in the spring. He really does have the coolest, spikiest, leaves:

Oscularia deltoides

Next I want to start by saying that there are a lot of different crassula out there (just check out that list on Wikipedia). Specifically, though, we are growing Crassula marginalis rubra "Variegata". That's a mouthful. This plant is TAKING OVER! It is growing like a weed. It may be my first transplant and I may actually try to do it in a hanging pot because this thing is out of control. It's known as Calico Kitten. The leaves blush rose-lilac in drought or cold. You can see a slight pink blush just on the edges of some of the leaves:

Crassula marginalis rubra "Variegata" Calico Kitten

The next plant has two pictures and it is Anacampseros rufescens.  Another plant from South Africa, this one is a gorgeous rosette shape with little hairs along the stem (which you can see in the second picture if you enlarge it). The first picture is of the bud and the second picture is of the rosette itself. The second picture was taken two weeks or so after the first, all that green on the rosette is new growth! And wait until you see how tall the bud has grown as well! I haven't done much more research but I think it is either closely related or almost synonymous with the Sedum you will see shortly:

Anacampsesros refescens

Anacampseros rufescens

Next up is Echeveria runyonii cv., "Topsy Turvy". This guy has gorgeous blooms but our little dude is not there yet. His leaves look covered in fine powder almost. Echeveria hail from Mexico, but Topsy Turvy is apparently a mutant form that originated in California. It really does have some splendid blooms if you have a chance to follow the link or Google it:

Echeveria "Topsy Turvy" / Echeveria runyonii cv.

My next and last little guy is Sedum adolphii or Golden Sedum. We wanted some glowing, warm color to contrast the Echeveria, Oscularia, and Crassula and compliment the deep purple of the Anacampseros. (Side note: I love the word Anacampseros, it sounds like it should be a dinosaur.) Our Golden Sedum fit the bill:

Sedum adolphii / Golden Sedum

Now for the pictures from today. This is just a few weeks later. Here is the profile shot, check out the Anacampseros!

And here is the shot you need to compare with the very first picture. See how the Crassula has taken over in its little sections? 

It's my happy little garden that I'm hoping to have last through the winter. :) Fingers crossed!

-TJ

Friday Night Out On the Olde Town!

Date night! J and I dressed up all fancy for the opening of the Bernard Ballroom in the space above the Arvada Tavern. The Love Royale was the band playing and they were fun and funky. As always, we had a blast. :)

Picture at the Flour Mill.

I decided it had been awhile since my last Aperol Spritz. :) Side note: I miss Italy.

The Love Royale takes the stage.

On the way home we stopped at the park under water tower.

And then we had the munchies so I threw together some pasta with garlic, sun dried tomatoes, and fresh basil. No big deal!

Denver Botanic Gardens and New Belgium Brewery

J and I have had an exciting four days off which are not quite over yet! First, my mom was in town, then we took Tuesday to view the Denver Botanic Gardens on a free day, and yesterday we took our friend Justin up to Fort Collins for the New Belgium Brewery tour before he leaves Denver for China later this month.

The Botanic Gardens definitely took us a few hours, powering through. I didn't take many pictures as I was trying to just experience it. Public gardens are one of my favorite places to explore (see Selby and Morton Arboretum). I had never been to the Denver Botanic Gardens before and I can't wait to visit in other seasons.

New Belgium is always a fantastic tour! Twirly slides, hoola hoops, free beer, the most informative beer tour there is in Colorado (I think) and free beer! (Did I mention that already?) They were booked out about a month and a half for their tour, which is also free, and so J and I were a little bummed that Justin wouldn't be able to see it. We showed up anyway and waited "standby" and made the first tour at 11AM!

Poppies in the welcome garden.

There were butterflies the size of small birds all over the grounds.

There were some fun water plants I'd not seen before...like this one. And a water three leaf clover, and a water lilly that looked like a fuzzy snowflake.

J in Marnie's Pavilion. Orchids, bromeliads, water.
Humidity.

Not a great picture, but look towards the background. This was called Monet's Pond and it was full of bright reflection and lots of different waterlilies.

Like this one.

A personal favorite.

J and I left with this little bugger and a pretty cream ceramic pot. I've been wanting to do a small succulent dish garden for a while, so this guy is going to start me off. I went to Lowes today and bought 4 other succulents. Post to come soon!

Pre-tour beer.

The room where they make the sour beer. Yum!!! (My personal fave of the beer tour,)

All employees receive fat tire bikes on their one year anniversary, and each year's model has a different look.

The fall seasonal! These had come off the line while we were at the start of our tour. Super fresh! We were also the first group to sample this year's seasonal, so we were super lucky, too. P.S. It is really tasty.

Hmmm...

Salmon with Black Bean Mango Salsa and Asparagus

J has been having a good ol' time utilizing his new grill he bought so that we could cook our food camping in the midst of a fire ban. Last night we made grilled salmon with Black Bean Mango Salsa (a rehash of this recipe) and grilled asparagus, simply done with olive oil, lemon, salt and pepper.

The simpler salsa consisted of a can of black beans, rinsed; one mango, diced; a small red onion, chopped; a jalapeno, deseeded* and chopped. Throw those all together and allow to sit while cooking other aspects of the dish. At the end salt and pepper to taste and voila! I actually liked it better, but it was less of a "salsa" type accompaniment.

*Depends on how spicy you would like your dish to be.

My Mom & Wine...Two of My Loves!

My beautiful mom came to visit for a quick day trip on Monday. She flew in to Chicago and we took her to Snooze in downtown Denver, showed her our condo and our little, familiar downtown, and circled back around to the airport where we did dinner before seeing her back off to Chicago. It was a quick and whirlwind trip but well worth it! We were so excited to have her visit. :D

Once we knew she was safely in the air we tried out Vino Volo at the airport, something we always wanted to do but can't when we are in uniform. J ordered the South African wine flight and I chose the white wine flight. Our favorites?
We both liked: 2011 Groot Constantia Shiraz, Constantia, South Africa - currants, plums, raspberries, pepper, cloves
I liked: 2011 Pikorua Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough, New Zealand- grapefruit-y and crisp, lovely
J liked: 2011Val De Vie Barista Pinotage, Western Cape, South Africa - lots of coffee, chocolate, cherry