Colorado Trip, Part III - Fort Collins

During our trip to Denver, we decided to take part of a day and head up the road to Fort Collins, which we knew as being the town of one of my favorite brewers, the New Belgium Brewing Co. New Belgium is known most widely for its Fat Tire amber ale (named after the founder's bike, on which he toured Belgium for ideas for beer), although they make a number of other really great beers.

Here's us in front of the brewery - it's a really nice facility.



Due in part to their heritage, but also to their company culture, they promote bicycling as a primary way of getting around (Fort Collins is fairly small, so it's not too hard for some of the employees to bike to work), and they sponsor bicycling events around the country. They also promote sustainability: in 1999, New Belgium became the largest private consumer of wind energy (presumably in the U.S.) and the first brewery to be 100% wind-powered. It is also 100% employee-owned, which is pretty neat.



We were greeted with samples of their Sunshine Wheat beer, poured from a can. Their beers are traditionally bottled, but they've actually begun canning a couple (Fat Tire and Sunshine Wheat) - and you know, they're really not bad out of a can!



We were there on a Saturday, and it was busy. We had gotten there earlier in the morning to get tickets for one of their free half-hourly guided tours.





And here were some interesting things we saw on the tour. The dress below was actually made from clippings from aluminum cans - our tour guide, the one who made the "dress," said it was not the most comfortable thing to wear, but that it was fun making it. We believed her.



New Belgium sign, signed by a bunch of people (probably employees).



Fat Tire shadow-box wall art.



Bikes hanging from the ceiling.







And here we came to the area with the large tanks for mashing, boiling, and fermenting the stuff that becomes beer.



There were some really neat tiling designs around the tanks, with each tank having its own unique tiling. This one shows the three maidens from the label of their Trippel Belgium ale.



Stephany checking out one of the tanks.



While on the tour, we got to sample a beer that the brewery doesn't actually sell. It was their "La Folie" ("the folly"), a "sour beer" which is brewed in old oak barrels previously used to ferment wine. The beer takes on a strong, sharp wine taste - it was a bit bizarre, but after a few tastes, we found that we liked it.





Our tour guide told us that it's important to the employees that they have fun while they work - because, hey, they make beer. In that spirit, they have a fairly large indoor slide, which we got to slide down. Here's me at the bottom.



After the tour, we visited their "Liquid Center," where they would bring you samples of whatever four beers you selected. We enjoyed trying a couple that we were less familiar with, including another one that they don't sell in wide distribution.



Us towards the end of our visit, enjoying some beer right from the source.



And a shot of the brewery as we departed.



This was a really nice day trip for us and a nice addition to our vacation. It's fun to know that now, whenever we enjoy one of our favorite New Belgium beers, we'll know exactly where it comes from and the culture of those who made it. Pretty cool.

Thus concludes our Colorado trip. Tomorrow, we start our second week of work and life in Albuquerque for the summer. Things continue to go well, as do we. We are glad to be staying in touch with some of you who we left in Texas, and we are glad to be spending time with those we love in New Mexico.

With love,
Nathan & Stephany

Colorado Trip, Part II - Denver

After leaving Colorado Springs, we made the short drive up to Denver through the rain. That's a neat part of the country up there, for sure - lots of trees, mountains, and hills, and green everywhere. Normally, we would have tried to make it all the way up to North Colorado to a town called Craig, where Stephany's grandparents live. However, they were down in Denver this particular weekend with the rest of Stephany's dad's side of the family for Jessica's (one of Stephany's cousins) high school graduation, which we also celebrated while we were there.

The first evening started out mostly with basketball. We played an old-school game of Around the World, and I think I was probably the worst one there (apparently there is no strict immediate correlation between height and basketball skill). Here is Stephany's cousin Quinton, with Uncle Jim (his dad, one of Stephany's four uncles) in the background.



Despite my terrible skill, Stephany actually captured some pretty cool shots of me throwing the ball in the general direction of the backboard. Next to me is Brandt (another cousin) and Falon, a neighborhood family friend.



And one of Steph. I think she got one or two spots ahead of me. She loves playing games with the family, almost regardless of what it is! Next to her is Uncle Paul.



And another one of me, magically flying through the air, in all my oppositeness of glory...



And this is how Stephany sunk one from way back - no kidding. It was both hilarious and impressive.



Uncle Jim, quite the baker, made a carrot cake for Stephany's birthday. It was quite fantastic.





On the right is little Sarah, the youngest of the cousins. A couple of nights later, she helped Stephany play poker. Okay, not really, but that's what Stephany told her she was doing, and it sure was cute.



Stephany displaying a piece of the delicious cake. To the right is Uncle Donnie, whose birthday we were also celebrating.



Stephany and Uncle Jim. Jim is closest in age to Stephany's dad Bob, who was the oldest of six siblings. Jim also lived with Stephany's family for a while out in Southern California when she was younger.



This was quite the typical scene in the evenings. The Sheltons are big game-players, and poker is usually the game of choice. Here is Brandt, Uncle Jim, Uncle Moe (at whose house we were staying, with his wife Gwen), Grandma & Grandpa Shelton, and Stephany. We had a lot of fun playing cards with the family - good family time.



That big stack of chips there to the right of Stephany - yeah, those were mine. :)



Here's a good pic of Stephany with her great-grandmother, "Granny." She turns 90 this year. It was good getting to spend some time with her during our visit to Denver, where she lives.



And finally, here is one of us with Grandma & Grandpa Shelton on the morning before we headed back to Albuquerque, about a six-and-a-half hour drive south. It was a nice visit.



The last time we had made it out to California and Colorado to visit Stephany's family was in July of 2007, shortly before law school started. We were really glad to have the time to make it out to see the family again before my clerkship started. It was a good vacation for us.

Nathan

Colorado Trip, Part I - Colorado Springs

After we made it out to Albuquerque, we unloaded our stuff for the summer at Stephany's parents' home and then headed up to Colorado to visit some family and friends. Our first stop was Colorado Springs, where we stayed the night with our friends Stacey & Alex and their little girl Hope.

Since it was Stephany's birthday, Alex cooked a big breakfast for us the morning after we spent the night with them. It was pretty terrific, and it was a great way to start out Stephany's birthday.



And here is the wonderful family. Stacey was in our wedding, and they got married about two weeks after us, in September 2006. Good friends.



Here is Stephany with Stacey. An interesting detail is that Stephany, Stacey, and Alex all worked quite a few years back at a Christian TV station in Albuquerque called YTV. Stephany and Alex were VJ's (video jockeys), and they all did production. Pretty cool.



Here's one of me playing with little Hope. She's a real cutey, and we had a good time getting to know her a bit - she was only a couple of weeks old the last time we saw her, so this was fun.



While we were there, we took a tour of Focus on the Family. They have a fairly large bookstore on the campus and a really nice children's play area. We had fun playing with Hope there. That's a big slide to the left of Stephany, which starts and ends inside the building - Stephany met the height requirement (i.e. she wasn't too tall, as was I), so she slid down, and we met her below.



And here was a little Narnia exhibit they had - we passed through the wardrobe! It was fun.





We very much enjoyed our time with Stacey & Alex in Colorado Springs. Later that day (still Stephany's birthday), we headed up to Denver to spend time with Stephany's dad's side of the family there.

Nathan

Back in the Q

Hey, everyone! We just wanted to provide a quick update that we made it out to Albuquerque and are getting settled in out here. I started my summer clerkship at the law firm (30+ attorneys), which is going really well so far. Yesterday was orientation, and today the work started. I'm clerking with two other students (both guys - we all share an office), and it's working out really well. Stephany started today at a Starbucks out here, and it seems like it will be a good thing for the summer. We're enjoying spending time with Stephany's parents, Bob & Diane. Other than that, we're just getting into a routine and trying to start connecting with some people here in town.

We still have some photos from our Colorado trip to post, so those will come soon. We leave you with a random photo of the New Mexico Rail Runner Express, the relatively new light rail connecting Albuquerque and Santa Fe, that Stephany took on our drive up to Colorado Springs last week.

With love,
Nathan & Stephany

A Springtime, Dallas Wedding

Our last event in Dallas before moving out to Albuquerque for the summer was the wedding of our friends Josh and Kathryn, both in our church home group. They are a great young couple, and we were so glad to celebrate their marriage with some close friends, many we have known almost our entire two years in Dallas. Their wedding and reception took place at the Dallas Arboretum. The weather threatened rain, but it turned out to be a beautiful evening.



Here is us with some of our home group people: Megan & Cade, Andi & Brian, and Anne...



...Kim & Isaac, us, Jalyn, and Debbie.



Here's a pic of Jalyn and Steph.



And a few pics of us.







One of Isaac and me.



Jalyn and Debbie.



And finally, one of Alan and me. Alan is a dentist, as was my father. He and his wife Sharon have been a great encouragement to our group, and they are good friends. They also helped out with some of the wedding work.



It was so much fun celebrating with some good friends on the night before we left town! It was a very sweet time, and we were very happy for Josh & Kathryn. And if you haven't had the occassion to visit the Dallas Arboretum, it was worth seeing.

The next morning, we finished packing up the car and headed out to ABQ!

Nathan