Tuesday, February 16, 2010

A Trip To The Mountains

This weekend Andy and I decided to take a trip up to the mountains to car camp then ski the next day. As we drive along the hour and a half drive up to the camp spot in the canyon we have time to chat and entertain ourselves. Andy decided that he would wave to every car he met along the way. I guess the small town back country friendly feeling got to him. As we went along he waved to each and every car. Soon we discovered that almost every person driving a car did not wave and people driving trucks waved! We wondered why we thought that would be: People in trucks are generally more easy going? People in cars have places to be and aren't as friendly? Perhaps the people in cars are less sure of themselves on twisty mountain roads and therefore keeping their grips firmly on the steering wheel? Who knows?
About half-way up the mountain it started to snow. Blowing large flakes swirled around as we continued up the twisty roads of the canyon. We were listening to some good old hopping zydeco music in the car and the flakes seemed to be dancing along with the music. Soon the sky was white with flakes but we could still see a little ways in front of us.
When we got to our campsite the snow was still falling. We prepped the site to set up our tent and as we were about finished setting it up the snow stopped (which I thought was a bummer!). Blue sky started to show through the clouds. But, like they say about Colorado weather, "If you don't like the weather just wait ten minutes" . Because about 10 minutes later the sky darkened again and it once again started snowing. This pattern continued the rest of the evening and through the night.
That evening we took the opportunity to be near a completely frozen river to test our guts on walking on ice. It is a very strange and unique view-point to sit in the middle of a river that is completely covered with dense ice as the wind blows loose snow around on its surface like a isolated desert.
That night we made a thoroughly warming dinner of "mountain man breakfast" in the dutch oven. It filled our bellies and we still had enough for the next day. After dinner we decided instead of warming up with some hot chocolate we thought we would have some toasty Saki. Andy put the bottle in the outskirts of the fire and we turned it slowly to warm. Into warmed cups we poured a small portion of Saki and drank up. Because the bottle was large we put it back in the fire ring to have again. A little while later we reached to fill our cups but as Andy turned the cap steam started to burst from around the cap. We decided maybe we should wait a second before trying to open it all the way.
Well, it was cold and we were in need of some warming liquid so we probably didn't wait long enough. Andy got the lid off and went to pour it out of the cup and as the not-as-hot liquid passed through the very hot neck of the bottle an explosion of Saki shot off. Andy held out the bottle as it exploded from the top like a bottle rocket. Our astonished faces met and we just laughed. Of course, as Andy laughed some of the contents of the bottle spilled into the fire and flames shot up. As I am asking him if he is OK, he looks down in the bottle and realizes with a forlorn face that all of the saki is gone.
It would be an awesome science experiment to try again, or perhaps a really awesome James Bond trick. In a predicament Bond would say to his current sexy vixen, "Here honey drink this" She would argue that now is not the time to drink, but he would insist. Then he would toss the half empty bottle into a fire, (landing perfectly aimed at the villain) and it would explode out and Bond (+vixen) would make their awesome escape. The only problem with that is that people would not believe it could happen. But Andy and I, through experience, can tell you it can... yes it can.