Mt Sniktau

Saturday morning Sarah and I got up at the crack of 10, and decided that since the weather was so nice, we should head up into the mountains. I'd been begging to climb Mt Snicktau for a few months now, so Sarah finally relented and we jumped in the car and headed west.

The trail head for Mt Sniktau is at the top of Loveland Pass which is only about 1h 20min from Denver. Once we arrive at the trial head we quickly realize that it's packed! Just a crap ton of cars a loads of people all over the place. Not ones to let a crowd ruin our day, we start up the trail. Luckily for us, the crowds were your typical rocky mountain tourists, and they couldn't penetrate the invisible force field that is 100 yards from all Colorado roads. They simply turn around at that point, take a picture, and get back in their car. Sarah and I enjoy the rest of the hike in complete solitude and spent two hours soaking up the summer sunshine.

Afterwards we jumped in the car and drove to Silverthorne to check out the condo we're closing on. On the way we happened to pass a winery, so of course we had to stop and do a tasting. The winery is called D'Vine Wines. They are an interesting winery because they purchase all of their grapes from California and make their wine in small 6 gallon batches, just like home winemakers. Because their batches are so small, they do custom wines and will make any blend you want, as long as your purchase 6 gallons worth.

That's something I may have to try in the future...

FLICKR!

mmmm Beer

Things have been pretty slow on the Bishop front as of late. We've put in an offer on a condo up in Silverthorne, CO and are working through the closing process with the banks. Right now our closing date is set for the 29th of May, so hopefully we can get everything pushed through by then. After our last issue getting a condo, in which no banks would not lend to us, the issue this time is a little different. Now, banks will loan you the money, but the mortgage insurance industry is refusing to do anything. If you have less that 20% down, they banks will do the loan, but since you can't get PMI, the whole deal falls through. For now we think we've found a lender who says they can work it out, and we've got our fingers crossed that something doesn't come up and bite us in the butt once we get to closing.

On another note, I've just kegged, or mini-kegged, my most recent creation, a Honey Kolsch. This is my first time using these mini-kegs and as long as everything carbonates correctly, I think I'm going to like them. It's a heck of a lot quicker than filling 50 bottles, and it forces you to share your beer with friends since you don't want it to go flat once you open it. Hopefully I'll have a BBQ at my place soon and we can tap one and taste it's crisp, frothy goodness.