Adventures in the Mountain time zone, searching for Tim Tebow, and one really bad cat

Recently, my roommate Jesse wrote a blog about his trip to Niagara Falls with his parents.  I also went on a trip recently, but not with his parents and not to Niagara Falls and not to play poker the whole time.  So it's definitely not the same thing, but he's inspired me to share the nonsense that was my first trip to the Mountain time zone!

Friday Night: What's the best way to prepare for a four hour flight? Sleeping pills? Finding a good movie? I actually don't know, but it definitely wasn't pitchers of PBR in the financial district after work (too many bathroom breaks!).  So the adventure began out of a raining, cool Boston to a surprisingly warm Denver.  Highlights include TV provided by JetBlue, getting picked up at the airport in a Hummer (f-you environment (it was only an H3)), and eating a cheeseburger while the people around me on the plane gawk at my eating habits skills.  If you haven't been to the Denver, when you leave the airport, you are greeted by a scary looking horse that apparently fell on its sculptor and killed him... welcome to Denver?

Saturday: B and I were out in Denver to visit on of her brothers, who has an awesome person roommate, a dog (Ky (spelling?) a Rhodesian Ridgeback-Boxer mix) , and a cat simply known as "Bad Cat" (will be explained).  Quite the baller living situation.  Bad Cat likes to play a game where it sneaks into your room and will try to play with you while you try (unsuccessfully) to sleep. She really is just a bad cat (she deliberately tried to open the shades!).  Anyways, after arriving in Denver the night before and while adjusting to 2 hour time swing, we headed north to Fort Collins (not before Bad Cat sat underneath the car for 10 minutes so we couldn't leave), where there are a great many breweries to enjoy.  We ended up touring and hanging out at New Belgium, the 3rd largest craft-brewery in the country.  This was by far the best tour I've been on (sorry prude New England breweries that don't let you do shit), even after missing the first 15 minutes of the tour.  I tried my first sour beer (not as terrible as it sounds) and had a winter seasonal that was bottled 9 minutes before we got to try it (mmm fresh).  Also ended up trying a coffee infused beer at Fort Collins Brewery at dinner.  But enough about beer (don't ask about the fish fry)... onward to the mountains!

Saturday Night: I haven't mentioned the altitude yet, but you're supposed to drink lots of water and adjust nicely so you don't lose your shit.  But not us, we went higher in altitude to go camping in the mountains.  The short hike (300 yards uphill) between the car and camp site was exhausting.  I mentioned it was nice out, so it was a great night to be up there, and we had a tent set up for us so there wasn't much roughing it.  I've never seen the stars so bright, but that what happens when you live on an east coast city.  Anyways, it was a great time, made some impromptu cocktails and B had her first shotgun, so you know its a good time!  The fire and noise kept the bears away (but I still think I could kick a coyote in the face real good).

Sunday Morning: When you wake up groggy and a little slow, whats the best remedy? GUNS!!! Being out in the mountains provided a perfect opportunity to shoot some guns (not at animals, stupid), including some pistols and a shotgun.  I have shot pistols before, but the shotgun was something new and exciting (it was awesome and hard to miss targets with).  For the second day in a row, B could say she had shotgunned for the first time (get it?).  Luckily, the sound of guns kept the bears away.

Sunday Afternoon/Night: Following our night of camping, a meal for the ravenous campers was nessecary. Welcome, Big City Burrito of Fort Collins, CO.  If you've been to Fort Collins and don't know what I'm talking about, I refuse to acknowledge you're survival because obviously you have cheated natural selection despite your utter stupidity.  This place has some of the best burritos around, along with some unique options (potato-cheese burrito B got) and crazy selection of hot sauces (now Craig...).  Our drive back to Denver afforded us time to take in the gorgeousnessality of Colorado.  The burritos kept the bears away.  We got back in time to see the end of the Patriots game (later time zones on Sunday=football heaven), and with the proximity to Invesco Sports Authority Field at Mile High (wtf is this name?) made me think of how close to Tim Tebow I could be, given the Broncos had a bye week.  That night, out in Denver (while keeping an eye out for said Mr. Tebow) I experience a new level in meat-sanity.  Here are the highlights of my trip to a Brazilian steak house:

• At least 4 types of steak
• Lamb
• Chicken heart
• some type of Yak (B's brother tried it)
• Rattlesnake sausage (keeping the snake population in check, one sausage at a time) 
• And the best thing I had.... Sweet and Sour Chicken

Monday: Monday started out with an encore performance by Bad Cat.  Here's the play-by-play of what happened:

• Bad Cat sneaks into the room during a bathroom visit and hides underneath the bed until everyone's asleep again
• BC swipes at B's toes from under the bed, followed by pouncing on the bed to play the classic Cat and Mouse game, where BC is the cat (duh, stupid) and our feet our the mice
• BC draws blood from B's toe. As I laugh at B's misfortune, (Tim Tebow telepathically instructs) BC aligns karma by clawing my leg real good
• BC is ejected off the bed
• BC stealthily climbs back into bed, but under the covers on B's side
• I spot BC's body through the covers and alert B
• B launches BC across the room
• BC, tired of the bed games, goes for the high wire act finale, climbing the curtains to the ceiling, before losing her grip, crashing to the floor, knocking over a painting and waking us up for good

The rest of Monday included some sneaky good Thai food and a trip to the famous music venue Red Rocks, which made me wish Boston had a venue like this (like BoA Pavilion but crazier and in the mountains).

Although I was never able to locate Tebow, the rest of the visit to Denver was enjoyable, puttering around the city and preparing for our return trip.  Monday Night/Tuesday was the first red-eye I've ever taken.  I went to work that next morning (boo!).  I nearly lost my mind Tuesday afternoon...Save me Tim Tebow! Save me from the witchcraft!

This week in Bear News: This feature has prompted friends to find bear news and share it with me, so thank you for the bear updates everybody.  My only concern is that all the bear stories are crime related (bear-racist liberal media?). Two stories I heard this week:

1. The jail brake by all those animals in Ohio, a bear was one of the fugitives, I dunno if was killed or anything, but it def did better than those other dumb animals that can't even cross a highway properly... (thanks channel-K for breaking this at the crack of dawn)
2. Apparently a baby bear broke into a grocery store and was found in the produce section. Obviously the bear was lost (where's the deli/meat aisle?).