It
was busy in our house this last month with parties, racing, traveling,
fostering, and the band playing out.
Susan
and I celebrated our ten year wedding anniversary by having a get together at
our house on August 3rd. Susan put up yellow and blue
decorations (our wedding colors) and I did the cooking. I stayed in the
kitchen most of the afternoon starting around 1:00 to prep the food. I
made two enchilada dishes (chicken and beef) and put together a taco bar.
We invited both new and old friends and had a pretty full house with 25 or so
persons in attendance. Matt and Jana were able to make it which was great
as her due date was in five days and she looked ready to pop. Susan had
everyone sign the guest book from the wedding and put out pictures to look
through (evidently I was very baby-faced until recently). After dinner we
had a champagne toast and served a two tiered cake. The cake was very
delicious (much better than the horrible cardboard-flavored one at our wedding)
and there was ice cream to go with it. The time flew by and we saw the
last friends off from our home at 1:30 the next morning. I thought I made
too much food but it was just enough as there was very little left at the end
of the night. Everyone seemed to have a really good time and we’re hoping
to get a few of these same friends to come to our upcoming twenty year
anniversary in 2023.
On
August 11th we had another rallycross event at our favorite
location Colorado Off-Road Extreme (CORE). It’s a lot of fun as the
terrain is varied and allows for diverse courses. We bought another set
of rally tires and were looking to try them out. They are inexpensive
re-molds of previously used rally tires and produced in Finland. When
Alvin mounted them he noted how much softer they are than our other rally tires
so we were worried they wouldn’t work well. We needn’t have vexed
ourselves though as they performed very well. I not only got first in my
class (fourth time in a row) but also had the fastest overall time of the day
beating out other drivers I have no business being quicker than. The
experience was not completely positive though as the tires were indeed much
softer and it showed through the thrashing they sustained. They look to
be wearing out roughly twice as quickly as our other tires. There is no
warranty on tires like these so we’ll be saving them for the national level
events.
On
August 15th we brought home another foster pug named
Tina. She’s eight years old and fawn in color. She spent most of
her life in one home and was given up for financial reasons. Tina doesn’t
appear to have any health issues and is very sweet. The prior owner said
she didn’t like toys but when I tried baiting her with one at home she took
right to playing with it. Tina needs to lose a little weight and is
getting a restricted diet to that end. Like Lucy before her, Tina gets
free reign while we are out and has behaved well. She used to sleep in a
utility room with a cat at night but has adapted well to snoozing in our bed
with the other pugs. There was almost immediate interest in adopting her
so we’re hoping to get her into a new home soon.
We
were finally able to make our way up to South Dakota over the weekend of the 23rd-25th.
We were going to drive up there a couple months back but cancelled because of
nearby forest fires. Susan and I went as part of a group of seven.
Sandra and Gregg (our neighbors), Alvin and Kari, and Dan (a rallycross buddy)
met us at the Bowles Wal-Mart at 6:30AM on Friday to start the journey.
We made our way up I25 as a somewhat cohesive group.
Our
initial destination was Deadwood as Sandra wanted to gamble for a few minutes
but there was some confusion and Kari and Alvin ended up splitting up from us
and taking a different path. The remaining five of us (sans Kari and
Alvin) arrived in Deadwood and Sandra proceeded to play the slots. Susan
wanted to play too and I allowed her to lose two dollars on the penny slots (it
was only going to be one dollar but I couldn’t resist her charms). Sandra
came out a little ahead and eventually Kari and Alvin caught up to us in time
for us to leave to find lunch. We settled for a burger place called Sugar
Shack a few miles outside of Deadwood. They had some unique burgers and
we enjoyed the food while talking fly swatting techniques.
After
lunch we went in search of a hotel. We purposely hadn’t made reservations
as we weren’t sure exactly what we were going to do. Susan had, of
course, done research so we weren’t completely going about it blindly
though. We drove towards Mt. Rushmore and stopped at a place that had
inexpensive motel rooms and cabins. We initially asked about the motel
rooms but, on a whim, inquired about the cabins. It turned out they had a
cabin big enough for all of us and the cost was less than the motel
rooms! It took us about ten seconds to decide to go this route and we
unpacked our stuff in the cabin. The cabin was fully-furnished and I
decided it would be fun to cook a few of our meals. We went out and
bought enough food to make two breakfasts and dinner for the evening. I cooked
and we ate well that night. We played a game called Cards Against
Humanity which was fun but probably not Lawson family appropriate.
The
next day we had plans to see the major sites and cruise around on the windy
roads all over the area. After breakfast we went to Mt. Rushmore where we
ogled at the monument and ate ice cream (evidently Thomas Jefferson wrote down
the first ice cream recipe in America). We went there first as the light
is supposed to be better in the morning (more Susan research). We then
drove off to cruise the twisty roads.
This
ended up being possibly the best part of the trip. Our convoy of cars
included our newer Miata, our neighbor’s WRX, Kari’s S4, and Dan’s
turbo-charged Volvo. Susan had found a road that had THREE loops and
several tunnels just wide enough for one car. There was virtually no
traffic at all and we had a LOT of fun zipping around the curves. I’ve
always thought that Colorado had some great roads but I believe the roads we
drove in the Black Hills were a cut above.
After
a few hours hooning it up on the narrow roads we made our way to Crazy
Horse. When you go the immensity of the monument-in-progress is slightly
lost because of how far away the visitor center is. It is truly
incredible and I hope it is finished someday (in our lifetime). We ate
there and the younger members in the group headed to a cave lantern tour at
Jewel Cave National Monument while Sandra and Gregg went back to the cabin.
The
cave was interesting but not as long as we’d have liked. The guide mostly
wore authentic garb and was very knowledgeable about the Black Hills area and
caves. Only half the people were allowed hold a lantern and Alvin and I
got the honor. Because of this those without lanterns had to walk between
those that did. The cave we were in had some perilously steep places with
stairs that were almost like ladders. We were lucky enough to see a few
bats flitting about and got a good history of the cave’s discovery and eventual
transition into a national monument. Based on wind and pressure studies
they estimate that 95% of the caves are still undiscovered and there are
regular 4-day explorations that occur. We were all thinking it sounded
like a fun excursion for our next trip to the area but there are a few catches.
Besides the fact that only experienced cavers and geologists are allowed, one
must be able to fit through some pretty tiny spots for long stretches.
Most notable are two areas called the miseries and the mini-miseries.
The
miseries are 800 feet long and 8.5 by 24 inches in dimension. The
mini-miseries are only 400 feet long but gets down to only 7.5 inches wide in a
few places. There is a box in front of the main visitor center which has
an 8.5 by 24 inch opening to simulate the miseries. Kari and Dan (super
scrawny) fit without too much of a problem but Susan and Alvin barely managed
(still thin). I decided I already have enough humility and declined to
try the passage.
On
the way back to the cabin we picked up BBQ supplies for dinner. After
grilling and eating we played another bout of Cards Against Humanity which
Alvin surprisingly won (he won the night before too). We had a really
good time and there was a lot of laughter.
The
next day we said goodbye to Sandra and Gregg and the rest of us went to the Big
Thunder Gold Mine for a tour. It was one of the 10 worst producing mines
in the area and the guide enjoyed reminding us of that fact over and over
again. Roughly $200 worth of gold was dug out in 50 years of mining (which
is less than what was made on the tour we took). It was started and
worked in its entirety by two German fellows and goes 360 feet back in the
mountain (they finally called it quits at 75 years old). The neighboring
mines, literally just a few feet to the left and right, each made over a
million dollars. It is called the Big Thunder mine because of the noise
the ore made as it landed on a 600 lb piece of steel used to collect it.
Those are some interesting facts. The rest of the tour was the guide
trying to engage two young kids who were having none of it. It was a
so-so affair and we all agreed that we should have gone to a different mine or
another cave instead. This was the last touristy thing before heading
home.
The
drive back to Denver was a fast one and we stayed together all the way to
Cheyenne where we ate lunch. We found out that the Miata can go 110 MPH
with the top down on a slight decline in 5th gear and we made
remarkable time. All in all it was one of the more memorable trips Susan
and I have been on in a long time (besides the Caribbean cruises).
Everyone had a fantastic time and we’re already looking to plan another in the
near-future.
The
band played a “show” at a Parkinson’s benefit event last Thursday night.
The quotes are there because we were strictly in the background and didn’t have
any amplification at all. The event was held at a large house by Wash
Park to thank the larger donors for their past and (hopefully) future
contributions. Buck’s girlfriend Kari works for the foundation and the
band she had originally booked fell through so she asked us to fill in.
We played light rock in the backyard by the pool. It was a somewhat gala
affair with catering and valet parking. The food was good and it was a
surreal experience to be there. I don’t think we’ll be doing it again but
overall it was interesting. It was also nice to have the band play out
again (it’s been many months since we’ve done anything).
This
last Saturday we had another rallycross which was fun. My streak of wins
was broken but I managed to hold onto 2nd. We used our GoPro
camera to film the racing for the first time in awhile and it was fun watching
them all after we got home. See two of the videos here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqN9RyWjvGU&feature=youtu.be and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yE5iRR1BKg&feature=youtu.be On Sunday we helped some friends
with changing the brakes on their car and later went to Sandra and Gregg’s
house across the street for pot-luck appetizers and games. We used Monday
to recover from our non-lazy Sunday.
tldr
(too long didn’t read): We had a rocking 10 year anniversary party, raced in
two rallycrosses, got a new foster pug named Tina, took a fantastic road trip
to South Dakota, and the band played at a rich guy’s house.
*phew*
That
was a long update. As always we hope this finds you all happy and
healthy!
Max
and Susan
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