Day 1, Durango, Colorado. I really like Durango. I didn't really take many pictures, until dinner.
Day 2, still Durango, we had a great breakfast, then went to Ska Brewing (http://skabrewing.com/). Yes, it was a little early to sample beer, then drink a few pints, pick up a t-shirt, get some stickers, and coasters, then grab a six-pack of ESB, but hey, hair of the dog. In the afternoon, we went to the Sportsman in Navajo Dam...
...for nachos, Negro Modelo, and pool.
Really though, there's pictures posted where I post pictures and, well, I guess nine are a lot of days to report on. On the other hand... this is the third draft of this blog and I could just paste one or both of the others below...
(Attempt 2)
It would be too long and involved to blog my whole vacation, so here's a summary. At 5:30ish a.m., July first, my pal Wes picked me up and we went to the airport for a flight to Durango, Colorado. Wes's brother, and my oldest (longest, not most aged) pal, Brad picked us up and had a motel room booked in Durango. In short, we lunched at a brewery called Carvers; I had an ahi sandwich and a couple pints of a cask ale. Then we trudged back to the motel for a nap. In the evening (I think I slept for about 2 hours), we walked through a beautiful neighborhood to another brewery called Steamworks for a Cajun Boil and a few more pints.
Cajun Boil pic (It would go here, but it went up there)
We hit a couple more bars on the way back to the hotel. Durango is a great town - an outdoor sports mecca. Luckily, also home to 4 breweries. My favorite being Ska Brewery. It's just a brewery with a tasting room, but they make great beer, have cool swag, and staff is great. We went two Mondays in a row; once on the way in to town, and once on the way out. And just coincidentally, Monday is dollar pint day. They even hosted Bad Manners for three days of fun.
After breakfast and our visit to Ska, we headed down to Navajo Dam, where Brad and his fiance, Jenny Lee, live. Navajo Dam seems to exist for the sole purpose of catering to fisherman. The few businesses are combinations of lodges, restaurants and fly shops. Or just fly shops. If you stand a few minutes in front of the Sportsman, Abe's or Rizuto's you'll surely see a pickup truck with fly rods clamped under the windshield wipers, pull up and expel a bunch of sweaty, hungry fisherman.
The Sportsman was the site of our first meal the first afternoon in Navajo Dam. The Sportsman is a fixture in Navajo Dam. The walls are covered with dollar bills with messages scrawled on them, fish mounts, trophy-fish photos, and vintage lure ads. It's cool and dark, serves hearty food with a southwestern touch, and even has a few pool tables in the back. We ate there 6 or 7 times in 8 days. And nearly drank them out of Negro Modelo.
Tuesday morning, we got up, bought 5-day fishing licenses and hit the San Juan to try our hands at some San Juan trout. I think Brad, being a resident, was the hot stick with 3 or 4, and Wes and I each picked up one. Nymphing is a tough way to entice trout, especially being that I've only done it twice, and haven't a clue how to match the hatch. Fortunately, I love fishing, and wading the San Juan is one of the most pleasurable way to spend a morning (well, mid-day)
Wednesday was the 4th of July, and Wes and I moved from Brad's to Chuck Rizuto's San Juan River Lodge, a fisherman's motel where Brad had reserved every room for wedding guests. We met the bride's father, Rich, and sister, Melissa over lunch at the Sportsman. Nice folks. In fact everyone I met attending on the bride's side were good folks.
Wednesday evening we headed to "beautiful" Farmington, New Mexico where Jenny Lee helped organize the 4th of July Parade. We had dinner at the Three Rivers Brewery, sampled beer for the wedding keg (Papa Bear's Golden Honey Ale was the winner based on broad drinkability), then headed to Three River's Tap Room, a pool hall with a lot of beer and my favorite bar accessory, a shuffleboard table.
The parade had a little too much churchin' involved for my taste, so we spent almost the whole time shooting pool, and waiting for the shuffleboard table. We took turns going outside and "entertaining" Bart's daughters. They didn't speak to me for a couple of days after I forced them to look at every picture in my cell phone.
Bart's daughter drove us home, and we had her stop at one of the numerous fireworks stands that line the highway between Aztec and Farmington. That may or may not have been a good idea, but it sure lead to a lot of entertaining moments. Strangely, in New Mexico you are not allowed to FIRE any fireworks that go over ten feet into the air, but you can BUY amazingly cool fireworks that come with firing mortars and are like mini versions of municipal fireworks displays. So we did. We also thought it would be good idea to start firing them off in Rizuto's parking lot at 11:45 pm that night. The bride's sister didn't didn't agree. Nor did the two octogenarian couples staying next to her, or Chuck Rizuto himself. So, when the bride to be pulled into the parking lot moments after we'd been asked to stop, we thought Melissa had called her sister to put a stop to July 4, 2007's festivities. But no, it was an unrelated, spontaneous, midnight nagging.
By Thursday afternoon the Ryan clan began rolling into town in full force. Something like 22 of them. It was a sight to see them all gather on Brad's lawn. Que the fireworks! Yep, we retrieved the fireworks arsenal from our room at Rizuto's and put on a show for the chilluns at Brad's place.
Friday was a recovery day, we may have fished, and in the evening we resumed use of Rizuto's billiard room. Jenny Lee's sister Rachel, and her fiance Barry put on a little concert, dueting and soloing on acoustic guitar. It was quite impressive. I snuck out around ten for the comfort of our room and watched a Man vs Wild marathon until I fell asleep.
Saturday was wedding day. They held it at a winery near where they live called The Wines of the San Juan. It's a rustic, and fairly funky place not far off the banks of the San Juan - and across the road from an elk farm. It was pretty fun. weddings are weird, but if you have enough allies, they can be just like any other party...
See? So, there's a blog and half on my "Mind Scrubbing" vacation, and I didn't even mention the last two days.
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