Telluride & Denver

After the cancellation of the Flagstaff show, our tour quickly became a full-fledged vacation.

My sister Karen and her husband Matt (and my lovely niece Claire) happened to be in Telluride, CO, because Matt and his colleague Brandon had been invited to attend the 2011 American Conference on Theoretical Chemistry, which was being hosted in town. Tricia and I happened to visit the conference one night during a poster presentation session, but with projects like "Calculating the Spectral Shift for Phthalocyanine in Helium Droplets from Path Integral Monte Carlo" lining the walls, we had little chance at understanding anything and we left feeling like cavemen.


As we entered the quaint vacation home town on what seemed like the only access road, we noticed a sign that read "Icy Conditions Ahead," except someone had spray-painted "PR" before the word "Icy." It was an expensive area indeed, just as the delinquent had astutely warned, but the best thing in Telluride was free: the gondola (or as Claire liked to call it, the "weeee!"). Claire loved it, and rightly so; it was a fun form of transportation and a great way to experience breathtaking views of Telluride and Mountain Village from the mountain in between.

A slightly unnerving sign on top of the mountain:

A view of Telluride from the top of the mountain:

A statue in Mountain Village:

We left Telluride behind after a one-night visit and headed to Denver to stay with Tricia's cousin Jessie and her friend Emily.

Here's a sunset we saw at a gas station shortly before we were hit with some nasty storms along the windy mountain roads:


In a spur of the moment decision, we went to see a Rockies game at Coors Field the next afternoon, and we were lucky enough to have my friend Caroline join us yet again. The first great thing we learned about Coors Field is that you could bring your own food through the gate. So instead of paying $50 for a ballpark hot dog, you could pay $2.50 for a hot dog at Mile High Vienna (only two blocks away) and take it into the park.



The second great thing we learned about Coors Field was that Rockpile tickets (seats in an elevated section in center field) were only $4 or $5. This was mind-blowing to a pair of Chicago sports fans accustomed to watching Bears games on TV due to the cost of Soldier Field tickets being roughly equivalent to a kidney sale on the black market.

The only problem was that Rockpile tickets had sold out just before the first pitch. With our hot dogs in hand, we approached the scalpers across the street and they immediately clamored toward us like the dismembered playthings emerging from underneath Sid's bed in Toy Story. Within seconds, we were surrounded by boisterous men shoving tickets in our faces, and the negotiating began. "C'mon, 15 dollars!? Are you crazy!?" I said, knowing full well it'd be a steal at Wrigley or US Cellular. I was excited by the prospect of continuing to talk them down, but the game was already underway, so we settled on $10 a ticket.

The Rockies lost.

Like San Francisco, Denver is home to legalized medical marijuana. As you can see in the picture below, the dispensaries don't look shady from the outside at all!

Even buildings are nice in Denver.

Later that evening, we tried to go see Caroline's friend Dan play a show at an experimental music festival, but we were a bit too late for that, so Tricia and I stopped for appetizers at a place called The Hornet before sharing a sundae down the street at Sweet Action. The flatbread at The Hornet was absolutely delish, and the ice cream could've been the same, but I managed to pick out a fairly horrendous combination of flavors.

That night, we met up with Caroline and her friends to play some shuffleboard before returning to our wonderful hosts' house for a well-deserved good night's sleep.

Driving Music:
Radiohead - The Bends
The Snake The Cross The Crown - Cotton Teeth
Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
Rachele Eve - Daytrotter Session
Rilo Kiley - More Adventurous
Ween - The Mollusk
Via Audio - Say Something
My Morning Jacket - Circuital
Battles - EP B
Various Artists - Dark Was the Night Discs 1 & 2
Wye Oak - Civilian
Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
Anais Mitchell - Hadestown
Iron & Wine/Calexico - In the Reins EP
Ben Folds - Songs for Silverman

The Walnut Room - Denver, CO - (Day 3)

Our first meal on day 3 in Denver was phenomenal. (If you can't tell by now, we're big fans of food.) It was at Snooze, a brunch eatery that conjures up some truly magical breakfast ideas and executes them to perfection. My French toast sticks, for example, were not your ordinary French toast sticks with maple syrup; they were stuffed with bacon, Nutella, and peanut butter cream cheese. I also devoured a half order of bacon-jalapeno spoon bread topped with honey smoked salmon, poached eggs, cream cheese hollandaise, and chives. And while Tricia was closing her eyes and rubbing her tummy in pure culinary reverie, I managed to steal a couple bites of her over-sized blueberry lemon bar pancake.

Unfortunately, we don't have any photos to document the deliciousness, but if you don't trust our judgment, I hope you can trust Keegan Gerhard's. We spotted the award-winning pastry chef and Food Network host/judge leaving the restaurant just as we were sitting down. No joke.

That afternoon, Caroline took us to Boulder, which was a strange blend of hippie and commerce; it was alright, but I preferred Denver... After walking through a market there and dodging some heavy rain, we ate at a restaurant called Foolish Craig's in honor of my brother.






We returned to Denver in the early evening to participate in a much-anticipated kickball game. (Caroline is in a weekly summer league, and it's kind of intense.) I was fairly confident going into the game, but our team ended up getting pummeled by some huge bros who seemed to be aware of way too many technicalities in the kickball handbook.

The good (and funny) news is that Tricia's name will be appearing in the next edition of the league's e-mail newsletter, even though she's not on the team. She did make a couple of stellar plays.




After the game, we headed to an establishment called Three Dogs and gave the bros a run for their money in a series of other games.

We left Denver the next morning, and Tricia and I stopped briefly at the New Belgium brewery during our drive through Fort Collins. Their brewery tours are already booked through the rest of the summer, so we didn't get to go on one, but it was still neat to stop by and see the massive influx of bikers pulling in to the lot.




Next stop: Laramie, WY!

Driving Music:
Dawes - Nothing is Wrong
Benjamin Riley - I Can See Glory
Andrew Bird - Andrew Bird & the Mysterious Production of Eggs
Bjork - Medulla
Buena Vista Social Club - Live at Carnegie Hall - Discs 1 & 2
The Daredevil Christopher Wright - In Deference to a Broken Back
Dosh - Tommy
Nathaniel Ratelifff & the Wheel - Desire and Dissolving Men

The Walnut Room - Denver, CO - (Days 1 & 2)

Driving through the eastern half of Colorado is pretty boring; the only scenery is dust, dirt, and fake teepees until you get about an hour east of Denver, where the Rockies start to "peak" out over the horizon and trees begin popping up again. (Tricia doesn't appreciate my cheesy puns.)

We pulled into Denver on a steaming Colorado afternoon (the car said it was 103 degrees outside), and met my good friend Caroline and a few of her amigos in Washington Park for a tasty picnic meal of black bean burgers, chunky corn salsa, fresh fruit, and pasta salad. The park was bustling with volleyball players, frisbee tossers, and Joaquin Phoenix lookalikes, and it was easy to see why it was so packed (HINT: parks in Illinois do not have a sprawling mountain range in the distance).

Later that night, Caroline took us to see some 4th of July fireworks. We researched some of the different locations around the city, and we ruled out a number of them quickly. For example, one ad claimed that a certain town had "the best and safest fireworks display in Denver." We could embrace the former attribute, but certainly not the latter. After much deliberation, we ended up heading to Tricia's birthplace, Englewood, and we knew immediately that it was the right place. After some walking around, we spotted the fireworks trailer on a baseball field a mere 50 yards away, and scooted right up to an orange fence adjacent to the entry road where fire trucks were filing in. A wide-eyed boy scout with a fluorescent vest was supposed to be keeping the general public from crossing the boundary, but he allowed several people by with only a mumbled protest a la Milton from Office Space.

After they cut the park lights, the audience cheered, and what followed was one of the best fireworks displays I've seen since local park districts started cutting their budgets for holiday explosives. The grand finale was a bombastic series of red, white, and blue blasts followed by what can only be described as over-stimulation. As the crowd convulsed collectively, I thought I witnessed a giant screaming eagle soaring through the sky unscathed. And then there was black, accompanied by the hum of several strangers becoming accustomed to tinnitus.

The next morning, we visited Red Rocks. (Unfortunately, it wasn't to play live for thousands of people). It was cool to see an amphitheater built so seamlessly into such a gorgeous natural landscape, but it was tarnished a bit by muscular men and women performing excessive feats of strength and endurance.




After Red Rocks, Caroline showed us around Denver's lower downtown area, where we ate some absolutely delicious Ameri-Mexican food at Illegal Pete's, browsed around Tattered Cover (Denver's oldest bookstore), and went on a brewery tour at Great Divide. Unfortunately, the tour didn't include free samples.









Later that evening, Tricia and I loaded into the Walnut Room and met the other musicians. We kicked off the evening and were fortunate enough to have a great turnout and a very attentive audience. It was a real treat to have friends and family in the audience so far away from home.

Kate Moreland, accompanied by a jazzy guitarist named Kevin (who happened to book talent at a local jazz club), played third. She was an energetic performer with a penchant for playful songwriting -- needless to say, her set was a lot of fun to watch.



Caleb Slade was next. We'd heard through the grapevine that his brother is Isaac Slade, the front man of The Fray (known for the hospital TV show staple "How to Save a Life"), and it just so happens that he used to be a member of the band before they hit big. (If you want to read an article on that whole story, here it is: http://www.westword.com/2011-01-27/music/caleb-slade-isaac-slade-the-fray/2/.) Anyway, Caleb played a variety of piano ballads and was joined by a particularly good drummer named Tim Husmann. It was supposedly their first time performing together in public, which is amazing, given how they sounded.



Sarah Slaton ended the evening with a solo acoustic set sandwiched between two strings of collaborations with friends. She was releasing an EP, so it was her night; even though the crowd had dwindled a bit, a good-sized group of her friends/fans pushed up toward the stage, and she interacted with them a great deal throughout her set. The night culminated with a "supergroup" rendition of "Hey Jude," featuring all the musicians who had performed and then some, along with Tricia on the tambourine and me on the shaker. (Before you laugh, auxiliary percussion is an important role.) You can probably find the video somewhere on YouTube.



To close out the post, I should also mention two other things:

• The sound man, Will, was excellent. We talked with him for quite a while after the show and exchanged some music recommendations. He told us we should definitely come back, which is always nice to hear.
• Anson Krekeler, a musician we met at one of Tricia's shows in Chicago a couple months ago, came to the show, which was a neat surprise. He blogged some very kind things about us and the other performers here: http://orangecoastline.wordpress.com/2011/07/08/tuesday-night-at-the-walnut-room/

A quick post about day 3 in Denver is coming soon, followed by posts about Laramie and Boise. Seattle show tonight!