A Few Days in the FORT>

I had some flexibility in when I could venture up to Ft.Collins for a few days. I chose to go the weekend that Sean Kelly was getting married. It turned out to be the only day that I could catch Andy Wiess still in town.

At this point, Sean had only been married for less than 1 hour.

The wedding was so relaxing and unpretentious. It was held on an organic farm on the outskirts of town. The weather was gorgeous and the music was spot on.

I found a seat next to ANDY and his wife as dusk fell.

Who knows if I'll ever get married, but I did store away a few ideas from Sean's wedding.... Especially the mobile pizza oven operation they used to cater the dinner.

basil, spinach, onion, & garlic before the oven

coming out of the oven

perfection!

River levels were TOO high to swim in the POUDRE.

Mel & Marcus enjoyed the FREE BOX

I had a nice sit down with Melissa and Marcus at their crib and met their two kids. I think I met Jackson when he was in diapers, but now he's almost out of high school. We rehashed old skate stories from my time at CSU. Sure we talked about Rich Johnson and the time that Rich and Marcus lived in OMAHA. Good laughs and stimilated memories. It was amazing remembering how much I loved skating the TJ MAX shopping center after hours with Jack and Monty and whoever else was around.....

It encourages me to see a restaurant that stands for something

Tasty Harmony is my favorite eatery in the FORT as of the past few years since Heidi and I discovered it. I had the pleasure of getting a few meals there.

Been craving taco for months, so I tried the tempeh tacos. just ok.

down home and Southern...I ate this plate for Klich.

YUM YUM's is the first place I ever consumed a falafel sandwich, and because of that I hold it close to my heart. Anytime I'm in the Fort, I get at least one falafel. I remember the owner being pretty old when I first started going there in the early 90's. This trip, I rolled up and barely recognized the place. It's gotten a facade face lift and they expanded into the adjacent storefront. The falafel business is going good. And the old man was nowhere to be seen, but his daughter is now the face of the business and we got to catch up. She thought she remembered me from when she was a youngster hanging out at the restaurant....

Falafel from YUM YUM's - the pic doesn't do it justice

My last evening in town, I was passing time at THE BEAN CYCLE. Most of you know my disdain for coffee, BUt I love this place because there is so much more going on there besides hot beverages. It shares space with MATTER bookstore. They prominently display at the front of their space a COMMUNITY wall that showcases local struggles and activities. I found a zine for a local organization called HAMMER TIME. This group facilitates a tool sharing project, a FREE STORE, info shares, and a garden among other things. They had limited hours and on this SUNDAY in question it was slated to be closed.. But I rode my bike out there and found a few members hanging out and they showed me around..  Super cool and right up my alley... Wish that would have been in existence when I was living in the FORT>

The Community WALL at the Bean Cycle - so informative

The sign on the building - HAMMER TIME!

A massive community garden on the property

The tool Co-op and FREE STORE share the same space.

fort collins skateparks in the next installment.....

Sessions & Illya

Sessions navigates a nosegrind.

Tuesday night is old man night at Lafayette. Sessions, Roth, and some other old timers session the big bowl.

Mark Roth - hot eggplant.

Back tail on a rock extension in the small bowl.

Earlier in the day, Illya and I skated some of the smaller elements of the park.  We each got a line.

Sessions had to mow the grass before flying to HAWAII

I got to hang with Sessions and his gal pal Meg on their last night in town. Hawaii in JUNE, I suppose things could be worse.

Sessions & Meg both found a little something in the FREE BOX

We took a trip with PEARL to the dog park.

Since they were leaving for over a week to HAWAII, I was the gracious recipient of the CSA BOX. The next day at ILLYA's I went to town.

The CSA steam down...

 Earlier that morning Illya, Taytem, Boone, & I took a bike ride.... Boone flipped out when we saw a car transport trailer getting unloaded on a side street. I would have reacted in a similar fashion when I was Boone's age. We all had a fine time watching the procedure.

BOONE - fully absorbed....

I got a kick out of Illya's tee

And now for some random photos from my time in BOULDER>>>>>>>>

course 1...some sorta wrap

I splurged at got the 3 course RAW dinner at LEAF off Pearl Street.

course 2 - a thai salad

course 3 - veg lasagna

AYCE buffet at a spot in South Boulder called Tsing Toa.

And I had another excellent stuffing of my face at a spot called NEPAL CUISINE. It was a lunch buffet and I failed to get a good picture.  
If you recall my time in TULSA, I had the good fortune of meeting a local named Margaret. Margaret knew Buffy.... Turned out Rob Kirk used to date Buffy. Buffy used to live in BOULDER. And through my recent connection to Margaret, I began to communicate with Buffy. She suggested I visit the Meditation temple where she used to practice. I stopped in for a brief visit and met Martin, the current caretaker.

Martin is the current caretaker and grounds were beautiful.

Adam rides again.....

AVS.....adam van slyke is one of my best friends...... We first met at Overload or was it RANCHO's market and six years ago, he up and moved across the country to North Carolina. I had the pleasure of skating NC with him last April, then in SEPT of last year I flew back out East to attend his wedding.
          Rebecca and Adam didn't take the traditional honeymoon trip.   They actually waited....and planned....and in FEB of 2011 they rented out their house and hit the road for close to six months. Knowing about their trip was a LARGE inspiration in planning my own adventure. Once we both knew we would be on the road at the same time, we schemed to see where our paths might connect. First it was maybe going to be AUSTIN, then OCEANSIDE, then PORTLAND.............but all those possibilities did not materialize.

Pirate and Adam land at Illya's

Thankfully it all came together in Colorado. Adam met up with me at Illya's and we got down to the good times. Rebecca had flown EAST for some family issues, so it was just Adam and his puppie PIRATE>

The free box made an appearance.

VAN LIFE.... tying up the curtains for the day

Farkle came out at VG Burgers

How miserable does Adam look?

 TOOBING on Boulder Creek is a tradition, but with the spring SNOW MELT and subsequent HIGH run off the creek was at RAGING RIVER proportions. Adam and I did get in the creek, but only for a second.... all the snow melt makes for a FREEZING swim. Other more brave souls were doing some toobing....
                                                                  Feel the FURY!!!

a very sobering dip

We both love playing disc golf and played the 9hole in south Boulder.

Van life!

We met Sessions at the skatepark for old man tuesday

                             We drove up BOULDER CANYON and checked out the WATERFALL

Adam and Pirate stand beneath the fury~

A little further up the canyon is the town of Nederland. A few years back they got a skatepark, and I'd never been to it so we skated the NEDERLAND Skatepark. Adam filmed a line of me.....

The last game of FARKLE before Adam's departure.

We played some more Farkle, ate out a few more times and then ADAM jetted off to CHICAGO to pick up his bride at the airport. Hopefully next year I'll be able to get all the way across the country to see Adam in Carrboro, NC.

Illya.......on the front range

Illya is one of my oldest and dearest friends that I made in Colorado. He lives in Lafayette and I do my best to visit him every year. He has been married for close to a decade now and I fondly recall attending his wedding. Now, he and his wife, Sarah, are parenting two youngsters.... I was in a hurry to get to Colorado so I could squeeze in a visit with Illya before he went on his summer trips.

Illya was anxious to show me his newly constructed COOP and chickens

FEB 93....illya and co invade the backyard on DOVE St.

 A lot has changed since Illya and his long island homies would visit me on school breaks in San Diego. He's now in the role of MR. MOM and loving every minute of it. He has many interests these days along with parenthood and his skateboard no longer consumes his life as it once did. BUT the big development in the last year has been the opening of a world class skatepark a mere 6 blocks from his home. I can't speak to how much he's been using it, but we wasted no time in getting down there for some rip roaring.

YEP... Dad still got it. back D on a weird spot.

Taytem and Boone got the VAN LIFE tour

Taytem and Illya took me on a hot afternoon to the spring fed pool in El Dorado Canyon. This place is in the very same steep and narrow canyon where Mark Roth loves to do his climbing. The pool has a slide and terrific spring board.

Yes, it was magical.

After hours of levitaion, I finally sank to the bottom.

 

I love backflips !

On the drive back to Illya's home, we drove through Boulder and took at the look at a swimming spot that Sessions showed me a few years ago. This year with the heavy snow season, spring runoff was HIGH and the thought of getting in the creek was intense.


Illya, Sessions, and I packed up the car and went skating outside their neighborhood. First stop....a ditch. Sessions wasn't into skating here, so he got out the cameras.....

smooth, long and not too steep + a few curbs to toy around on

always feels good to do a frontside rock.

two brothers from different mothers out skating

Illya dips into a lipslide.......

NEXT STOP was Broomfield Skatepark where we met up with CRISIS owner, Jeremy Frankovis...aka FUZZ.

We all had fun in this bowl, but Sessions kills it.

Transition or Ledge...Fuzz rules the park. Back LIPSLIDE

 I filmed a three trick line....

Fuzz lipslides up the ledge.... not easy, folks...

SESSIONS and ILLYA... creekside lunch after skating 2 spots

Fuzz at CRISIS in the command and control module.