Stranahan's

Ryan loves whiskey and especially Stranahan's Colorado Whiskey, so Saturday evening for his birthday I took him to Stranahan's for the distillery tour.  Stranahan's is a small batch distillery that only makes about twelve barrels of whiskey each week.  Recently, they started selling the product in other states but they couldn't keep the shelves stocked so they pulled distribution back and I believe are selling only in Colorado until they can increase production. 

Fermenter:

Copper pot thing.  I don't remember what it does but it's towards the end of the process.  They are adding a few more of these to help increase production.

The 1,000th barrel.  Signed by then Mayor and now Governor Hickenlooper.

Other random distillery pics:

Ryan doing his taste test.  I think he was very happy that Denver County is not a dry county like the county where Jack Daniels is distilled.  And he got to have my sample too because I don't like whiskey.

Afterwards, we had dinner at the adjoining restaurant, Rackhouse Pub.  It is not owned by Stranahan's but they sure had a lot of Stranahan's bottles on the top shelf!

They actually had a lot of different whiskeys so Ryan was able to try a couple new ones.  I think he enjoyed his whiskey themed evening.  And the food was really good!

Iron Girl

Before I start my post - Happy Birthday to Ryan!!!

Last weekend I participated in the Boulder Iron Girl triathlon, which was my first triathlon ever.  It was considered a sprint triathlon, which is 1/4 mile swim, 17.2 miles bike, and 5K run.  I trained for it pretty solidly for the past few months (minus a couple vacations in there) and was so excited for the event.  Friday night after work Ryan drove me up to the Boulder Reservoir to drop off my bike in the transition area and afterwards at home I organized all my gear I needed for the event.  I was up at 4:30 Saturday morning to make my final preparations and drive up to Boulder.  Once we got there, I headed into the transition area to drop off the rest of my gear by my bike.  So this is what a sunrise looks like.

Heading down to the beach for the swim after I set up my transition area.  The transition area is where you go between each event to put on/take off gear. 

Here my age group is entering the water for the swim.

This is a picture of the course.  We had to swim around those giant cones. 

Here I am coming out of the water and running to transition to ditch my cap and goggles and put on my helmet, sunglasses, shorts, socks and bike shoes.

On my bike and ready to go.  I think Ryan was displeased about the beard that got in front of the camera on this shot.

The transition area with no bikes!

Here I am dismounting and heading back into transition to switch out my shorts, shoes, and remove the helmet but add a shirt.

And here I am finishing up my run.  (In the light blue shorts).

I had such a fun time participating in my first triathlon and I beat my goal time by 3 and a half minutes.  I was super pleased with my run but could use some work on my transition and bike time.  Being typical me, I already have a plan to work on these items for my next triathlon so I can reach my next goal.  Unfortunately I probably won't be able to participate in another one until next year; however, on a positive note that gives me plenty of time to practice.

Many thanks to Ryan who spent most of his weekend carting me around and cheering me on for this all women's event. 

Rough Life

Ryan works at home sometimes and whenever he does I bombard him with questions about the fur babies.  (He calls me their (s)mother.  Very funny).  Today he shared some pictures with me to let me know how/what they were doing.

They sure have a rough life, don't they?

And here's another good picture from the Warrior Dash that I haven't shared yet.  Who else thinks Ryan must have done a freaking swan dive into the mud pit?

Weekend Warriors

Wow!  What a weekend!  We started if off Friday night with taco night and got to have some of Ryan's mom's delicious homemade salsa.  YUM. 

Too bad all of our taco shells were busted up.  Thanks Ortega.

It was still super delicious!

Saturday morning I got up early and headed to Bear Creek Lake Park to meet up with a few other girls and practice a triathlon.  It was my first open water swim and my first practice where I did swim, bike, and run back to back.  It was great to get the practice in and fun to do it with other girls participating in the race.  I forgot to get a picture at the park but here I am tired and sweaty after I got home.

Then Ryan took me to Mannekin Frites, a new french fry shop in Olde Town Arvada.  All they serve is fresh, thick-cut french fries, various dipping sauces for the fries, and beer.  The fries and beer were delicious!

We got Ryan some new shades because he busted his on a mountain bike ride a little over a week ago.

Then we thought we would watch Transformer 2 at home in preparation for watching Transformers 3 at some point in the theaters, but a friend called Ryan and offered us 2 tickets to the Broncos game that they weren't using.  So to the preseason game we went!  And the Broncos won!

This morning we got up bright and early to run the Warrior Dash at Copper Mountain with Scott, Sue, and Lauren!  The Warrior Dash is a 3.15 mile trail run with 11 obstacles, like crawling through a mud pit under barbed wire, climbing up a cargo net, running on a balance beam, etc.,  along the way. 

Here we are before the race:

Here Sue is pinning on Scott's bib.  Even though he completely busted up his shoulder yesterday on a mountain bike race he still walked the entire race trail.  Some people thought it was his costume because a ton of people dress up for this event!  (I ran by Papa Smurf for a while).

And here we all are after!

Our Warrior faces.  I think Ryan managed to get mud on every part of his body.

Battle wounds:

Reward for the hard work:

The drive home took forever but we stopped in Idaho Springs for some Beaujo's pizza.  We had so much fun today doing the Warrior Dash with friends! 

Bushwhackin

During the summer we have church service outside on the patio, which is awesome because there is a pretty view and the mornings are always so nice and cool.  However, we noticed (and heard other members mention) that some bushes were slightly obstructing the view.  A couple of members used to trim them; however, they decided it was time to hang up their tools when they turned 70.  So...who do you think decided to go and bushwhack?  Here's a hint:  not me.  I asked Ryan if I could help but he declined the offer and I think it's because he practiced safety third (and not safety first) to trim the bushes.  If you can tell by where that house sits in the background, there is a pretty steep hill right behind the bushes.  I don't even want to know how he got back there to trim the backside...

After his good deed, he was recognized during church service so I guess that prompted him to go back last week and trim the bushes on the pathway to church which we overheard someone call "nylon grabbers"

He was rewarded this time with a home cooked meal while I was out of town.  It's pretty nice that he is kind enough to volunteer his time and it's also pretty nice that people are appreciative of his efforts.