South Dakota Hunt

 Dad and I went out to South Dakota for a little pheasant hunting.

We flew the Piper Arrow to Aberdeen, and got picked up by John.

 Nearing the end of the first day of hunting in Millette, everyone was checking cell phones!

 Limited out at 3pm.

I rushed off to the airport to shuttle the plane from Aberdeen to Highmore.  Highmore was named for it's high elevation not for it's short runway, but I didn't need much at 1800' elevation.  The airport is used for crop-dusting operations with several big hangers and no FBO.  They did have tie down hooks, but no ropes.

I went banging around on the hangers and met Dillon who said the airport doesn't provide those, but he offered some ratchet straps from his pickup, I said I'll drop them here by the door on Saturday when I leave.

 While I was in Highmore I went to the nearest restaurant.  Maybe the only one in town 790 population.  The rest of the hunters finished packing up their stuff, (minus the ham) and had the birds from the day cleaned and ate dinner before heading the 75 miles down to pick me up.  I hadn't intended on sitting by the clock, but I was watching it...  "Time to spare go by air" -- Bill Brown

 After ~3 hours they picked me up, and off to the new hunting ground.

 The wind picked up for the next couple days, 20-30 sustained and gusts to 60 in the forecast which I believe since we did have trouble standing at times.  I'm glad I had the plane tied down with ratchet straps, we checked on it after the first day and the plane had moved enough to loosen one strap.

 They have very pretty sun rises and sunsets.  Click for the full size image.

 Plenty of dogs to help us out, and one cat that helped with the bird cleaning after the hunts.

There was a lot of big ground to hunt, probably too big for our group of 10.  We didn't limit at the new place, but there were a lot more birds in this area.

Sunday, Funday, Ski day - WHAT? **or 'the things we see on a ski day'

So, yesterday was Halloween and Handsome wanted to be a cat wearing a pink fleece cat onzie.   As with any good (cat) mom, I obliged his request.

Today was a different story - A Basin and Loveland FINALLY opened this week so we headed up for a few runs this morning.

 We planned to see Alex but ran into Paul as well!

On the way home we saw some interesting sights.......

As we drove over Loveland Pass we saw the following.....  We were apparently 1 of the last 2 cars allowed over before it was shut down completely due to this lovely semi full of honeybees that rolled over in front of us.   The police hadn't arrived yet but a tow truck a CDOT truck and an ambulance close behind.....  we saw the police en route later.

 Read all about it on 9news.

A little further down the road I spot something that looks odd in the back of a pickup.....   A closer look as we drive by reveals a dead body and nothing more.  whew.

Then a walk up for some sushi for lunch - we've had our eye on this all you can eat sushi place (on Sundays).  Of course, for the amount we eat it was a draw on whether or not there was any savings with the all-you-can-eat route so we just ordered off the menu normally.  It was delicious.

On the way up there we saw this laying on the ground.....   The SUPER-DUPER FUN PAGE.... with a corndog....?

Ames for the Warren Miller showing

We headed out to help Boomer present the debut of Warren Miller Films in Iowa.

 Some fun at the art walk in Des Moines

 You can't visit Boomer without checking out a local Brewery, this is Fire Trucker

 The capital was on the tour.

 The movie and the Monoski.net booth went over great!  Boomers pants always take first prize!

Happy Anniversary

The Anniversary gift finally delivered.

Andrea's idea, I just had the window.

Annual Hot Wing Cook-off

I competed this year in the hot wing cook-off at Kerry's place.  I made a chipotle lime hot wing with a chipotle jalapeno dipping sauce.  They were pretty good.  Good enough to tie for first place against the reigning champion.

Sorry no pictures of hot wings.  Only the sunset over Lyons CO.

Southern Colorado Tour de Cure

David, Ed and I rode in the SoCo Tour this year.  Great views, but we modified the route a little for our own pleasure.

We headed out on the 100 mile route, but skipped the rest of the route all the other riders rode.

We rode up and around the Garden of the Gods loop.  Great views!

Tour de Vineyards

 We headed west to check out a ride we have been talking about riding for years.  Tour de Vineyards.  Hosted in Palisade Colorado, riding through wine country...  Well Colorado wine country!

We didn't catch any photos on the ride (two hands on the handlebars you know)...  And yes there was wine tasting at the aid station, but not for us.

We did spend some time with Scotty.  Great to see him, it has been a couple years, but as you can see above, he still has some of that fabric from the White Knuckle All Mountain Swallow tail, an it is in his kitchen.

 It seems when we visit our ski friends in the summer, we always get to go check out the local ski resort, Sunlight Mountain.  Well they need a little snow!

 When in Glenwood, do as the locals do.  We stopped at the Oktoberfest and picked up a little food before heading to the hot springs.  Karyn's first time at these springs!

 And a casual (nothing is casual when it comes to eating with Scott.  We had to stop by his garden to find some fresh vegetables.