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!