Vacation, Part 2: Elevation, Shmel...*catches breath*...evation

Our second day at the Grand Canyon would be one of our most exhausting in recent memory. I mean this in the best possible sense.

We chose to take a day hike, descending on the South Kaibab Trail into the canyon. We weren't sure how far we would go; we decided to see what "felt" right.

The trailhead is at an elevation of 7200 feet. The Colorado River is at 2500 feet. Translation? The trail tends to look like this:


The views were absolutely amazing, though:


This was our view for lunch:


We descended further, until we turned around and saw how far we'd come (gulp):


Yes, we had to make it all the way back to the top, so we figured it was time to turn back.

The downside of hiking into a canyon is that the hard part comes LAST. You're already worn out from coming DOWN the rocky trail, and two and a half hours later you realize you've descended something like 1500 feet.

Now, consider that you're still at almost 6000 feet altitude, and...well, your midwestern lungs just aren't happy with you. We had to stop about every 5 minutes on the way up and take a serious break. We recovered fairly quickly, but we couldn't go far between breathers. Looking back to see how far we'd climbed kept us going, because the canyon rim never seemed to get any closer.

Finally, we made it. This sign was apropos:


To give you some perspective, here's a view of the ridge we traversed:


We celebrated with some haute cuisine:


After all this, we still walked another several miles (on level ground, thank you) to take in more of the views. We were absolutely beat, and we gorged on pizza once we got back to the hotel.

I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

Vacation, Part 1: Erosion is Beautiful

I landed in Vegas at 10am; my fiancee didn't arrive until 8pm as she was flying in from Boston. After a quick spin down the Strip to see what was in store for us later in the week, we got to our brand spankin' new Comfort Suites to get some sleep before our road trip.

About 30 miles south of Vegas is the Hoover Dam. Many statistics are thrown out there about the enormity of this thing. My two favorites are:

1. The dam was finished in 1935. Some concrete deep in the heart of the dam is STILL curing.

2. The dam contains enough concrete to build a 2-lane highway from San Francisco to New York.

It's big. Them are cars up on top.


I pushed our rental Sonata pretty hard; we didn't see the legal side of 90 mph for much of the trip. The speed limit was 75 and we were mostly just keeping up with traffic, so I didn't feel I was being reckless or anything.

The scenery through Arizona got progressively nicer as we approached the highway that would take us to the south rim of the Grand Canyon. We got to our Best Western (quite nice - I would recommend it), relaxed for a moment, then made our way into the park.

There are no words to adequately prepare you for the first time you walk up to the rim and see the vastness and colors and shapes come together. There are no pictures to do it justice, which doesn't stop me from posting some anyway.

You really have to go. Everyone should see this at least once in his or her life:


Here are the layers of rock, all of which are exposed at certain points in the canyon:


The canyon:


You must see the canyon, especially at sunset:


Eventually it looks like this:


We finished our evening with a lovely meal at El Tovar, a lodge next to the canyon that was built in 1905.

More to come...

McCoy's Dinner = Great Success

Check out photos of the event here

IMO, every course and pairing was a hit. Just look at the pictures...your eyes will agree.

I've already got tickets for December, where some of the beers on the menu include McCoy's Winter Warmer, St. Bernardus Abt. 12 (a quadrupel and part of the beer cycle), Samichlaus (with which a Foundry bartender once tried to kill me, and a special Christmas treat from Boulevard (it's a secret!).

Thanks to N & D for attending, and it was nice to meet with owners, chefs, brewmasters, and bloggers (LC, holla!) who made the event possible.

Kansas City: The HORROR

Check this out, featuring local improv legends Dennis and Nikki Dupont!

Trivia, JoCo Style

Trivia, JoCo Style

After our thrice-postponed fall softball finale was finally played Wednesday night, a number of us headed to Tanner’s for food and beer.

One of the things I’ve found lacking in JoCo is a good place to go for drinks. Most places just seem so…generic. This is not shocking for a county which serves as a veritable beacon of beige construction materials.

Tanner’s is the epitome of the JoCo watering hole, in my opinion. There’s nothing necessarily wrong with the place, but there’s nothing right about it either (except maybe the 2 for $8 burger + fries special they were running Wednesday night—really a pretty good deal for an okay burger).

Wrong or right, the room was packed on a Wednesday night. Most of the people were probably there for the cheap burgers, but a good number were also playing trivia. It was standard bar-style trivia: a guy with a mic plays music or movie clips over the PA and asks a question about it.

However, there was one wrinkle I’d never seen before:

EVERY GROUP HAD A LAPTOP.

Seriously. It was open book effing trivia.

Sorry, but what’s the point? To be able to say you’re the most industrious user of Google in the bar?

When the answers were read back, I wanted to throttle people who cheered when they got some of the answers right. Not just because any trivia team worth its salt would have gotten them without a computer, but because all they had to do was type in the title of the song that was playing into the Google toolbar to magically have it spit back the artist who recorded it.

Lame.

How Does That Taste, Improvisers?

I was curious how local improvisers would feel about this:





Comedian Fills Big Shoes At Second City





In summary, a 21-year-old from the KC area took one improv class on a whim to fulfill an elective. Her teacher (EDIT: Brian Posen, who is actually a teacher at Second City, not Brian Posehn, who Bull correctly suggests would not be allowed near college students) suggested she try out for SECOND FREAKING CITY.

Of course, she was accepted.

After one improv class.

Now, granted, she IS a musical theater major, so she had already honed a lot of the tools that would make her a valuable commodity to Second City.

But how does that make you feel?

I admittedly rolled my eyes and thought, well yeah...she probably got accepted into the training program, or MAYBE the touring company.

But I don't know the details, and those thoughts were only to minimize her accomplishments to make me feel better.

If I'm being truthful with myself, my emotions were as follows: jealousy and resentment.

Respite

These last few months have been busy. It seems like it's been a constant stream of stuff hanging over my head.

Remodel a bathroom.
Buy a house.
Sell a house.
Move.
Get settled.
Make wedding plans.
Find a car.
Travel for work.

I've longed to have a couple weeks where I simply had nothing major to do.

I think I'm finally there.

I've been looking forward to the Grand Canyon and Vegas for quite a while, and Ken Burns' work has only made me more excited.

I will fly into Vegas Saturday, enjoy the drive to the Grand Canyon (by way of Hoover Dam and Lake Mead) and back, then spend the latter half of the week enjoying the artificial splendor that is Sin City.

I can't wait.

What I Learned At The Foundry Last Night

-McCoy's Ursa Major Imperial Stout is back, just in time for the chilly weather. Thinking back to the last batch, I may have been a fan. This year's is outstanding as well, though it's poured cold and you'll need to let it warm up a bit. Definitely worth a trip if you're a fan of the style.

-November 3rd is the next McCoy's Brewmaster's Dinner, and it's going to be a doozy. It's all fall food paired with Belgian Trappist beers. I looked for a .jpg of the menu, but couldn't find it. I was drooling. I'll post it once I find a copy. My reservations are in. Let me know if you'll be there and we'll meet up beforehand. It'll be like Drinking for the Cycle plus food.

UPDATE: Found this on the Foundry's calendar...

TRAPPIST BEER DINNER! All of our Brewmaster's Dinners so far have sold out. However, this highly anticipated food and beer pairing is certain to fill up quickly, so make reservations now.

First Course: Chimay Tripel featuring Hazelnut-encrusted Chevre Goat Cheese Truffles with rosemary honey.

Second course pairs a Pumpkin Soup served with Sage Crouton and Nutmeg Whipped Cream with Orval Belgium Pale Ale.

Next up is the Rochefort 10 matched with a Roast Duck Salad, Sun-Dried Cherries, Candied Walnuts and Roquefort Cheese.

On to the Fourth Course: Seared Diver Scallop over butternut squash, brown butter sauce and proscuitto paired with Achel Bruin 8.

For the main course, Westmalle Dubbel is served with a Braised Beef Short Rib, shitake mushrooms and parsnip-turnip puree.

And finally, for dessert, a Double-layered Butternut Squash Pecan Pie with an Apricot Glaze and Maple Whipped Cream teamed with Konigshoeven Quadrupel.

Tantrum: Friday, October 9th w/ Jonathan Bender

Tantrum’s 2nd Friday series at the Westport Coffeehouse continues this Friday at 8pm.

Who: Tantrum Improv Comedy with Jonathan Bender
Where: Westport Coffeehouse Theater, 4010 Pennsylvania
When: Friday, October 9th, 8pm
How Much: $10 (but you can go to http://www.tantrumkc.com/ and check out “Latest News” for details on how to get in for half price!)
(May contain adult content)
http://www.tantrumkc.com/

Call 816-678-8886 for reservations.

In October, we're joined by writer Jonathan Bender, who blogs for The Kansas City Star’s Prime Buzz, which covers Missouri and Kansas politics, and The Pitch’s Fat City. And he’s working a book about Adult Fans of LEGO (he put that in caps, so we’re respecting the subculture). He also performs with the improv troupes Improv-Abilties and Loaded Dice, so we're pretty sure he can handle whatever you guys throw at him.

To get Jonathan started, you'll shout out topics you want to hear about. He can respond with anything he wants to—as long as it’s true. Then Tantrum takes over, twisting and turning his tales into a series of scenes. Get to know Jonathan better by reading his answers to our 7 Questions.

Adam's Rib - Closed

As mentioned here, I was rooting for Adam's Rib. Lots of others were too.

Now, apparently it's closed.

This sucks. I really liked their food AND their people, and I think the place was just hitting its stride. The pulled pork was fabulous, their spicy sauce was great, they had a good lunch special...oh, and JUST TWO DAYS AGO it was named Pitch's Best Barbecue (South Region) for 2009.

Again, this sucks.