A few weeks ago, Jen and I spent a weekend on a ranch. She had asked me to teach her how to ride horses, brand calves and hunt mountain lions. We did ride horses. More pictures upon clicking on the picture.

After ten days of hiking, slipping, camping, showering under waterfalls and living on a banana farm; I am back from the wild. My trip to the Kalalau valley gave me some much-needed perspective what matters, what doesn’t matter and then some. Here are some of the then somes:

• Living on a banana farm with Jen’s uncle Joe and a guy named Pirate has given me new found appreciation for the finer things in life, most notably Coors Light.
• A Mac-N-Cheese-Spam dinner with a guy named Bill (a stone mason who lives and works on the Kalalau trail - without being paid) was the last meal I will ever eat containing spam.
• When camping in the place where they filmed Jurassic Park, you should wear mosquito repellent (Mario…nope) and filter your water (Patrick…nope).
• Hiking on top of 3000ft cliffs for a week, I got to see a lot of wild goats. They like heights. I don’t.
• We survived a heck of storm on top of one of those enormous cliffs. You won’t ever see me not finish my plate again.
• I read five books and 1500+ pages during my trip. Walden was the best. It made me want to garden. And buy one of those cool new Amazon Kindles.

I uploaded 400+ pictures to my Flickr account. Here is one of my favorites. Sunsets Footsteps. Click below to get to the rest.

 

On Saturday, Jen and I went to the University of Montana Homecoming Football game. Well, we were going to go to the University of Montana Homecoming Football game. That was before Jen lost our tickets on the way to the business school tailgate party.

I am not sure who ended up sitting next to the business school dean and his wife, but it wasn’t us.

To Jen’s credit, she immediately conquered to buy two new tickets, which were in the North End Zone, next to some guy named Dave and his wife Becky. Dave was the ultimate griz fan from Lincoln Montana, who knew everybody and made sure nobody had to go for too long without sipping on his peppermint schnaps filled flask.

 

Going back to Montana is always a very special occasion for me. Considering I only spent one fifth of my time in Big Sky Country, the impact it has had on my life is much more significant. Most of that is thanks to the people who live in Montana, many of who made this trip so remarkable.

- Thank you Vick and Jean for letting us stay at your place and for being such wonderful hosts.

- Thank you Jakki and MaryEllen for continuing to let me speak to your classes.

- Thank you Dean Larry for getting us those Football tickets that Jen lost.

- Thank you John and Diane for letting us stay on the ol’ Sleeping Child Ranch.

- Thank you Rob and Katie for filling us in on the brawl with the county commissioner’s husband in the bathroom of a casino.

- Thank you Scott for what I am not allowed to thank you for.

- Thank you Darby for the pizza and for reminding me that somewhere someone is enjoying a beet pickled egg right now.

 

On Friday, Jen and I went to see Elton John at the Adams Center in Missoula. Before I babble on any further, let me just tell you that Elton John is someone who I consider to be an absolute superstar. Seeing him live in Missoula, Montana was a rather surreal experience.

A few things to note about the concert:

Elton John played for 2 1/2 hours straight. No breaks, just occasional gulps of hydration. If anyone left the concert unsatisfied, then it’s because they were stupid. Including the lady I had to sit next to at the Staggering Ox.  I mean, come on, how often do you get to see a 60-yr old knight rock out for that long.

Jen immediately offended all the senior citizens who were sitting around us. She was trying to tell me that this probably one of Elton’s last shows, as he’s just getting really old. Turns out being 60 wouldn’t be half bad for the crowd of elderly surrounding us. 

Nice Jen.

 

On Sunday, before flying back to Portland, my buddy Ben (the guy with the carpet on his chest…and back) took us out to go wakeboarding on Chatfield Reservoir near Denver.  I am happy to report that I drank the most water that day. My hair loss has also progressed to the point where I need to worry about putting sunscreen on my scalp. Great. Here are a bunch of pics for you to look at.

Better late than never, here are some pictures from Joe’s wedding. Happy to report that I wasn’t the oddest looking guy at the wedding. Beat by one. My buddy Joe met this local guy in a bar the evening before, and decided to invite him to his wedding. Him and his magnum 45. No joke.

 

Christian and I are having a good time in Denver. Here’s a momentary capture of a little backseat concert from last night. Now we’re off to the mountains to see Joe get married. There are many more pics from our trip so far on Flickr.

Denver has been a lot of fun so far. We decided against heading to the Grand Lake today, as I was still wrapping some work stuff and well, Denver has been a lot of fun. Anyways, once I get back to Portland I am going to try and live healthy again. These extended binge trips usually make me appreciate the concept of balanced living. Mostly, I just need to sleep more, drink less, stretch and stop drinking so much darn caffeine.  Anyways, that’s for Sunday.

I have to say, being in contact again with my childhood friend Christian has been pretty fun. He just graduated from college and now seems to be spending his time talking about jobs, visiting family and doing a new video every Thursday. Believe it or not, he’s heading to Mallorca to film his next video. The more I watch these videos, the more I feel the need to do something dangerous and document it for the world. The mario blog gone dangerous. Check out the trailer for Christian’s upcoming Mallorca trip.