Tour de Beer

This week has been relatively uneventful. Work has finally picked up a bit and I'm now doing a few procedures a day. It's still a far cry from the amount of work we had in Arizona, but it beats being continuously bored.
The highlight of the week was a 2nd bout of using Seth's fryer. We made home-made corn dogs and crinkle fries. Yum!
Saturday, Mike and I took a tour of several of the Denver (and surrounding area) breweries. Our first stop was in Fort Collins to check out New Belgium. New Belgium has recently started distributing it's wonderful brews in North Carolina, so I was extremely excited to check out their brewery. The tap room itself is huge and sees hundreds of visitors on a weekend afternoon. They allow you two tasters (about 4oz) of any of their beers. I ended up tasting the Abby Ale and the Tripple Belgian. Both were exceptional and haven't made it to NC yet, so I picked up a few bottles of each.
A mile or so from New Belgium was an awesome little brewery called O'Dell Brewing Company. The crowd and tour (which was given by the founder's daughter) were a lot smaller, but the beer was exceptional. Apparently they are in the middle of a brewery expansion to increase the production of current brews as well as start expanding their selection. Of particular interest was their Cutthroat Porter. This was probably my favorite beer of the day and warranted bringing a few bottles home.
Venturing further south, we stopped in a little town called Lyons (which is apparently the gateway to the Rockies) to try beer from Oskar Blues. The interesting thing about Oskar Blues aside from the blues themed pub is that they can their beers instead of bottling. The rationale is that cans tend to be more environmentally friendly and keep the product fresher for a longer period of time. I can attest that they have wonderful beer on tap and will try some of the Old Chub scottish ale from the can when I get home.
Again moving south back toward Denver, we made a stop in Boulder and stopped by Avery Brewing Company. Avery had the day's most interesting selection of beers. The majority of their brews were over 8% alcohol. While I'm not a huge fan of incredibly strong beer, they did have a great deal of character.
The Tour de Beer ended up being a great way to spend a Saturday in Colorado. Not only did we get to see a little bit more of the front range of mountains (specifically the flat irons), but we sampled and brought home a wonderful variety of microbrew beers. If we had more time it would have been fun to tour the Coors brewery in Golden. I'm sure the contrast would have been spectacular!
This week is my last in Denver. Early Saturday my bags will be packed and I'll say goodbye to the Rockies for a while. I've really come to enjoy Denver and could envision staying for a little while. This summer trip out west has been a well deserved break from the hustle and bustle of dental school and life in Chapel Hill. I'm ready to head back to good friends and to finish up the remaining 9 months of school which will likely fly by just as these past two months have.

Rocky Mountain High

Denver is a great town. The majority of folks here are friendly, outgoing, and enjoy being outside. That's evident in the mad dash of traffic heading towards the mountains on Friday afternoon and the equally impressive mad dash back to town on Sunday.
This weekend, Barrett, Lauren and I made like the locals and got the heck out of dodge for the weekend. The plan was for me to drive down to Colorado Springs, pack all our stuff in Barrett's truck, and head to the mountains. Both Lauren and Barrett are big hikers, and as such, they've been tackling some of the better hikes in the area. On the agenda this weekend was Mount Democrat, which is considered a 'fourteener'. These are hikable peaks that have a summit over 14,000 feet. To put that in perspective, Denver is just under 1/3 the height of these summits.
Our plan, as it was revealed to me, was to camp at Kite Lake (near the trailhead for several 14ers), hike to the summit of at least 1 14er, and then head into Breckenridge for some good dinner and relaxation.
Camping Friday night ended up becoming an interesting experience. We arrived at dusk and hastily started pitching tents. In the rain. At 39 degrees Farenheit. Thankfully, the tents went up easily and the rain was never very hard. It did, however, last until several hours after we all crashed. Once the rain subsided and the cloud cover moved on, it got cold. My best guess is that the temperature got into the low 20s overnight.
We awoke early to get up on the mountain as quickly as possible. To fuel our efforts, Barrett made a campground delicacy of maple bacon and scrambled eggs. It was hearty and kept me going the entire hike.
The hike itself started at roughly 12000 ft at the base of Kite lake and ascends up the mountain to 14150. At this altitude, it's hard enough to walk, let alone ascend a mountain! The ascent was difficult at times considering the cold temperatures and high winds. Locals on the trail mentioned several times that the weather was unseasonable. The 4 hour hike really took a lot out of us and we decided not to try the remaining summits in the area.
After hiking, we went into Breckenridge (where a friend graciously allowed us to stay in their ski condo) and grubbed down. Breck is a cool little ski village which has a lot of charm. There's a Brewery, tons of restaurants, and a horde of little shops. I'd definitely consider returning during the ski season!
On a side note, the rotation here has been something of a disappointment. Thankfully, there are only two weeks remaining and I'm in a good city amongst great friends. It's hard to believe that this 8 week adventure is 3/4 complete. I've had a great time out here and would strongly consider returning to the area!

Winslow in the rear view mirror

Friday was our last day in the clinic at Winslow. The experience there was incredible and I learned a ton. I've said this before, but the staff at the clinic were incredibly nice. For our last day, the decided to make us "Navajo tacos" for lunch. To make them, you have to start with a wonderful base of 'Fry Bread', which reminds me of elephant ears (minus the sweetness). On top of the fry bread, you pour a mixture of beans and ground beef. This is topped with tomatoes, lettuce, cheese and hot sauce. The result is amazingly good. I had tacos and was completely stuffed! After lunch, we finished up work in the clinic and said our goodbyes.


Saturday, we packed up the truck and headed onward toward Denver. Our path was a little out of the way, but afforded us the opportunity to visit Antelope canyon near Page AZ. Antelope is a slot canyon that is about 1/4 mile in length, at one point nearly 90 feet deep, and often less than 3 feet wide. The views from the canyon floor are amazing and are often photographed.
Sunday saw us complete the drive to Denver. I'm fortunate enough to be staying with a good friend Seth who been in town for quite a while. Thankfully, Seth is a foodie who knows all the good spots to eat in town and we'll be hitting as many of them as possible. Sunday night, we started it off right at Sushi Den. It's one of my all-time favorite restaurants on the planet and didn't disappoint.
This rotation is shaping up to be much more intense than the last. I anticipate it will also be a very good learning environment. The GPR here at the Denver hospital is unique in that the residents get a great deal of practice with procedures that are tradionally left to specialists. It is a good way to help carve out a niche for yourself. I'm really looking forward to getting more hands on experience and learning all I can.

Last Week in Winslow

This week is my last in Winslow, AZ. I've learned a ton at the clinic, eaten some good food, and met some good people. Our last week here started off with the usual Bingo game on Tuesday night.
The dental assistants Josephine, Julie, and Stephanie had dinner with us at Casa Blanca, which is a relatively odd name for a southwest/mexican restaurant. They did have good food, though. We all then went to the bingo hall for the tuesday night fun. Bingo is an interesting game. You assume it doesn't take much skill, and it doesn't, but it's easy to miss a number or two. I came close to winning several times but still managed to not win a dime all night. Actually none of our party won. It must be a conspiracy!
As I've said many times, the assistants here are great. Most have been doing this job far longer than I've even been considering dentistry. They are willing to go out of their way to halp and love to joke around. It certainly makes the day go by quickly!
Tonight, Mike and I met Marissa (one of the new residents) in Flagstaff for dinner at Bigfoot BBQ. Considering we were in a small town in NE Arizona, my expectations for good pulled pork BBQ weren't very high. Well, I couldn't have been more wrong. Bigfoot BBQ was excellent. The pulled pork was smoked well and was given a generous helping of vinegar based sauce! My dinner was a sampler of their pork, brisket and ribs.
In this last 4 weeks of travels I've become something of a brisket snob. While the brisket at Bigfoot was good and sauced properly, it wasn't the best I've had. Those folks in Texas/Oklahoma know how to do brisket right. My goal when I get back to NC is to acquire a smoker and learn how to cook a brisket properly.
As our week draws to a close, I'm both looking forward to Denver and a little sad to leave Winslow. I'm sure the road ahead will be fun and full of BBQ adventure, but I'm certainly going to miss many things about Arizona.

Out with the old, in with the new.

Friday after work, I decided to take the ailing Explorer into Flagstaff to test drive a few vehicles. I really hadn't planned to buy a new car, but the government is offering a pretty sweet incentive (from the economic stimulus plan) to trade in your old gas guzzler for a more fuel efficient vehicle.

I wanted to stay with a truck similar to the Explorer, so I checked out the Honda CR-V, Toyota RAV4, Ford Escape, and Mazda Tribute. For the most part, the 4 were in the same price range and had similar features. After driving all of them I narrowed it down to either the Escape or the Tribute (which are the same vehicle).

The Ford dealership in Winslow and Flagstaff only had a few Escapes that were overpriced and had too much unnecessary crap. On the off chance, I looked up the Flagstaff Mazda dealership on the web and emailed them about one particular vehicle they had on the lot. They were prompt in getting back to me and welcomed me in to take a test drive. As I mentioned earlier, the Escape and Tribute are the same vehicle (minus a few minor details such as paint colors and trim packages). The Tribute was about $2000 less, included a rebate and was subject to good financing terms.

So I ended up buying my first new car! It's a black 2009 Mazda Tribute (like the picture above). The truck gets, on average, nearly 10MPG more than the Explorer and has almost the same cargo space. It's been fun getting used to a new vehicle. Once I get home I'm sure I'll do the requisite wash/wax/repeat stuff that most folks do with new cars. By then it'll have 3000 miles on it from the drive back and will probably need some cleaning!

Edited to add two things:
1. I'm now back with Mazda vehicles after a year and a half absence. In the past 10 years, I've owned 3-4 Mazda Miatas. Mazda makes a good, reliable, reasonably priced car...which is why Ford bought them and now have them make their smaller vehicles.
2. RIP, 1997 Ford Explorer. Sadly, one of the stipulations of the CARS stimulus package is that the traded in vehicle is crushed and recycled. Hopefully the Explorer is reincarnated as something fun and/or useful!

1997 Exploder for sale, cheap...

Well, the old Explorer pretty much kicked the bucket on the ride back from Vegas this weekend. I think it started with the 3 hour creep through 5 miles of traffic approaching the Hoover Dam. The transmission never really recovered from that. Luckily, we were able to limp back to Winslow with minimal problems.

This morning, we were off due to an 'administrative' day in the clinic. It gave me a good opportunity to take the truck in for a check up at the local Ford dealership. As it turns out, my transmission was deemed, "hosed." That's layman's terms for $4500 to repair one part on a car that's worth less than $2500.

So now I'm scrambling trying to figure out the vehicle situation. I don't trust the Explorer to make it to Denver (which would be the best case situation), but I'm having a difficult time dealing with the local Winslow Ford Dealership who obviously think they have a sucker in-hand. Any advice would be well appreciated.

In other news, tonight was Bingo night! Mike, Jo, Julie, and I spent a few hours down at the bingo hall having fun and eating cake. Mmmmmm...cake. I still didn't win in bingo, but came much closer. Maybe by next week I'll finally win something! I guess it all evens out for the good luck I had in Vegas.

Vegas

In a last minute move, Mike and I decided to head out of Winslow for the weekend. Las Vegas is a short 4.5 hour drive through the desert and easily doable for a long weekend. The drive runs west through Flagstaff and eventually North into Nevada. Our path took us towards the Hoover Dam, which in theory was an interesting stop-off point. In practice, however, we spent 3 hours in stop and go traffic just getting to the Dam. The views of the Colorado River from the dam were breathtaking.

We ended up staying in the California Hotel & Casino which is in the Downtown / Fremont Street district of Vegas. The area is less crowded and you tend to get more value for your money there. Indeed, our room at the California was quite nice for <$100 a night. There are quite a few other Casinos in the district as well as a cool outdoor walking 'experience'.

Friday night, we elected to head down to the Strip to walk through the casinos and people watch. So much has changed since my last visit in 1999. As always, the people watching was spectacular. From what I can remember, we walked through Treasure Island, the Venetian, Bally's, Ceasar's Palace, and the Bellagio. Several drinks and 6 hours later, we decided to call it a night and headed back downtown. I enjoy the strip, but the sensory overload is insane. There are millions of sights, sounds and smells hitting you in the face as you walk by.

Saturday was more low key. We hung out on Fremont Street, had an excellent buffet dinner and watched the fireworks. Many of the casinos in town had their own fireworks displays. We ended up going to the top of the California parking deck to watch. Literally dozens of displays were going on throughout the city. Since Vegas is relatively flat and open, you could see fireworks going off from miles away. I've never seen so many firework displays going at once!

We also decided to try our luck at gambling. I played some slots and video poker which didn't really hold my attention. I'm not sure how people can play those games for more than a few minutes at a time. I did manage a pretty good run of luck in BlackJack and raked in a whopping $45 in winnings. Not too bad considering we played on low minimum bid tables. I look at gambling as more of an entertainment sport than anything else. If I win, that's just a bonus.

All in all, it turned out to be an incredibly fun weekend and got us out of Winslow for a few days. The only negative was that my truck started having problems in the 3 hour delay at Hoover Dam. Looks like the transmission has really started to give up the ghost. In fact, we couldn't put it in Reverse to leave the hotel. Mike had to get out and push so that we could leave! We'll see what the damage is after I take it to the mechanic this week.