edpaffjr.comMy friends Karen and Aaron were married in Newport, Rhode Island at the beautiful Belle Mer Island House a couple of weeks ago. It was a wonderful time with many close friends, wonderful food, and delicious drinks. Before helping them celebrate their wedding vows, we also spent time exploring Newport. We had a big group dinner at the Brick Alley the night before, which might be my favorite meal of the trip. I would highly recommend the Triple Hot! Hot! Hot! Buffalo Pasta. Earlier on the day of the wedding, we took a tour of the famous Breakers mansion and enjoyed a nice lunch at the Marina Cafe & Pub. I really enjoyed our time in Newport, but the large tourist crowds and traffic congestion made me happy to only be spending a couple of days there.
Archive for 2010
Before ducking out of Massachusetts and heading back toward Rhode Island for the wedding a few weekends ago, we made a quick stop in Cambridge to see the Harvard University campus. I didn’t take very many pictures of the campus, but it was cool to see, and we even sat in on a tour for a bit. We attempted to grab lunch at Mr. Bartley’s Gourmet Burgers, but the line was insane. Instead we ended up at the Cambridge Common for great food and a wonderful beer selection. I don’t recall what everyone ordered, but my Uncommon BLT was excellent! After lunch we headed toward Rhode Island with a quick stop past the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. We didn’t even get out of the car, just drove through, as we were running out of time. Here are a few pictures from the day that was filled mostly with travel.
To kick of the weekend Kim and I walked over to The Local Daylight Diner (2217 East Mississippi), a place we had visited once before back at the beginning of July. On that visit, I recall ordering lunch as it was getting late in the morning. I enjoyed the chicken salad sandwich very much, and Kim really enjoyed the crème brûlée oatmeal that she ordered. We both tried different items on this weekend’s visit. I went with the mini Belgian waffles, which are served with a mixed berry compote and fresh whipped cream. I also ordered the signature hash browns, which are covered in green chile and cheese. Kim decided to have an egg sandwich with pepper jack cheese and soyrizo.
Once again the food was great! I would absolutely order the mini Belgian waffles again, and while I did enjoy the signature hash browns somewhat, I would have preferred a little more of a spice to the green chile. Kim remarked that she enjoyed her egg sandwich, but that she should have ordered the egg over hard, as it was very runny upon arrival. The service isn’t the most speedy in the world, but they were definitely busy on our latest visit. There wasn’t an open table both inside or outside on the small patio. This newly opened diner must be doing something right, and we will definitely be back in the future.
While my dad was in town, we also took a drive up to Fort Collins to visit both Odell and New Belgium Brewing Companies. We stopped at Odell first where we sampled twelve different brews (all the regular beers and a flight of pilot brews as well) and then took a very nice tour of their facility. Despite producing some of my favorite brews, I had never taken a tour and I was glad to finally check that off the list. Our second stop was at New Belgium, where reservations are now accepted for tours. I didn’t realize that before my dad’s visit, but we decided to stop anyway and have a few tastes. The waitlist was pretty long for the tours, if there were even any no-shows, so we took the three free sample chips each and headed inside to taste some brews. Next time I will have to plan ahead for any visitors who want to head up north for the tours.
The real highlight of this trip occurred on the way up as we took a small detour over to Lyons, Colorado for lunch at the Oskar Blues Grill & Brew. I’ve driven past this restaurant numerous times on our way to and from Rocky Mountain National Park, and have always wanted to stop in. I figured with my dad in town, this was a perfect opportunity to stop in. We arrived on a quiet Wednesday afternoon and were immediately seated at a booth by the windows. I had my dad sample Dale’s Pale Ale first (another of my favorites), while I opted for the One-Nut Brown Ale. For lunch I decided to try the Turkey Reuben, while my dad picked the Pulled Pork Sandwich, and Kim opted for the Chicken Avocado. The definite highlight was the Chicken Avocado served grilled with bacon, lettuce, tomato, swiss, and guacamole on naan bread. Also delicious were the side of Texas Toothpicks, deep-fried slices of onions and jalapeno, along with the rest of the meals. I didn’t hear any complaints as we nearly cleared all of our plates. I definitely hope to stop again on our next trip through Lyons.
Something happened last night that hasn’t happened in over sixteen years. My dad took me to see the band Rush, who has always been one of his favorite bands. I grew up listening to their albums, and when I was eleven years old he took me to my first ever concert, which happened to be Rush. We went again the day after my fourteenth birthday. Both times were at the Riverfront Coliseum in Cincinnati, now known as US Bank Arena. I don’t really remember much of those concerts, and prior to last night I hadn’t seen Rush in concert again. So I don’t really have much to compare last night’s performance with, but I thought it was pretty awesome. While they are definitely getting older, and the lead singer, Geddy Lee, can’t quite hit the same notes he once could, they are still very talented musicians.
It’s well-known that Rush doesn’t very their setlist throughout a tour, so we already knew what they were going to play. This obviously takes away some of the excitement and anticipation out of the show, but I’m sure it helps the band to really play these twenty-four songs very well. And one bonus that I hadn’t thought of before is that you can play your bathroom and concession trips around the setlist, which I did take advantage of last night. One noticeable thing about last night’s setlist was that they played their entire Moving Pictures album in order from start to finish, thirty years after it was recorded. Other highlights of the night included nearly all of their top 100 hits along with other favorites of mine “Freewill,” “Marathon,” and the first two parts of “2112.”
As I already mentioned, their musical ability is amazing. For just a three-piece act, they sure can put out of ton of different sounds. Neil Peart on drums is always an amazing site to see. Many consider him to be one of the best around, and he definitely put on a show last night. His drums solos create an entire song on their own. Contrary to another great drummer, Carter Beauford from the Dave Matthews Band who is always smiling, Neil rarely cracks a smirk and appears to be very serious and dedicated to his craft. Lead vocalist, Geddy Lee, is also the bassist and is quite accomplished in his own right. And when he gets the chance, Alex Lifeson on guitar can really play a mean lead solo.
The stage was set with all sorts of props covering the speakers as the band often seems to do. Their lighting equipment was really good, and they had amazingly high quality video screen taking up the entire back of the stage. Both sets of music started with a comedic video starring the band members if various costumes, and there was even a video at the end of the show with the band members playing themselves in normal attire with cameos from Jason Segel and Paul Rudd who pose as Rush fans. I was amazed at how many people not only stayed through the last note, but stuck around to watch the video at the end which must have went on for ten minutes. Needless to say the show was excellent and I know that my dad had a great time seeing them at Red Rocks for the first time.
After checking out Fenway on our first night in Boston, we spent the majority of our second day walking the Freedom Trail. We started in Boston Common and made it all the way to the USS Constitution, which I’m told is about two and a half miles. It certainly felt like it was longer than that, but the effort was well worth it. The amount of history along this trail is unparalleled, at least as far as the U.S. goes. I would highly recommend the walk, and I think you’ll agree after flipping through these photos.
If you recall, we recently spent some time in New England. The first activity we took in was a baseball game at the legendary Fenway Park. My friend Jay secured some tickets for us from StubHub, and though they were located in the second to last row, we were all excited to see the stadium. I was prepared to see lots of history inside the stadium, but I wasn’t ready for just how small it really is. Despite being in the top rows of the outfield, we still felt close enough to the action. We spent about half the game in our assigned seats, and the other half of the game walking around the park and taking it all in. Here are some pictures from our experience.
After three years, I feel that the Mile High Music Festival has finally worked out most of their kinks. The layout of the stages was by far the best yet, with very little sound bleeding. We never encountered any lines at the concessions, parking was easy, and the traffic after the shows was light. We took advantage of the new reentry policy to grab jackets and extra chairs when needed. Everything seemed to go very smoothly. The only thing I would change now would be the lineup. There were definitely some good shows, but also some disappointing ones.
Dave Matthews Band was obviously one of my favorites of the weekend. The set wasn’t full of rare songs, but was a good variety of the hits and a couple of surprises as well. Other good acts from Sunday included Weezer, Jimmy Cliff, Ozomatli, and Danielle Ate the Sandwich. I was excited to see My Morning Jacket, however I didn’t feel their live show is as good as their studio recordings. Train was also fairly good, and thanks to Doni’s obsession with them, I was able to get very close for a few songs at the end. The Drive By Truckers also provided a decent set.
Saturday wasn’t as good of a day for me. Things started off very strongly with The Motet. However, I was not impressed with One EskimO or Nas & Damian Marley. ALO and Amos Lee put on good sets, and after a rough start the Steve Miller Band put on quite the show. Phoenix was another that I didnt’ particularly care for. And Jack Johnson was as to be expected, good for a while but playing a bit too long. Rusted Root didn’t sound very good either, or maybe it was just a bad spot for us in the back of the tent.
Overall it was a good weekend. I’m sure I will return again next year, but I’ll keep my fingers crossed for an even better lineup.
The Mile High Music Festival is back for its third year. This time our friends Doni and Phil are coming back to Denver for the festival, after taking last year off. Just like last year, I have put together a spreadsheet guide for myself, which breaks the entire day into 15 minute increments. This definitely helped last year, and I’m hoping the same is true for this year. Though I can’t tell for sure, it looks like they have expanded the festival back to its original size the first year. This should definitely help eliminate some of the sound bleed from last year. The lineup is also spaced really well so that neighboring stages aren’t playing at the same time, except for the Wolf Stage and Bison Tent. I hope this doesn’t become a problem like it was last year, but at least there appears to be a street between them packed with booths. I’m really looking forward to this years lineup. Obviously I enjoy the headliners, and there is a lot of midsize talent to entertain the days.
Before leaving on our trip last Thursday, I had a hockey game on Wednesday night. I also had another game last night, ending the regular season. We should have won both games but came away with only one win, which was from last week. In that game we faced off with the fifth place team in the league, while we sat in fourth place. We had beat this team before with a final score of 7-4 and this game would be very similar to that one. In fact the game ended with the same exact 7-4 score. I managed to get one assist in the game while playing back on defense.
Last nights game was against the second place team, who we lost to earlier in the season 6-2. Last night we took it to our opponents early on and had a nice 3-1 lead at the end of the second. Unfortunately our scoring ended there and we allowed the other team to score three unanswered goals, resulting in a 4-3 loss for our team. We actually played pretty well against them, but in the end we couldn’t escape with a win. The loss secured our position in fourth place to finish the league, while a win could have bumped us up to third. We will play our first round playoff game against the team that we beat the last week. I will miss the game, but hopefully the team gets another win so I can play next Sunday in round two.