Erich's Photo and Travel

Did I fail to mention that we are buying a house? Michelle and I have been searching and searching for a home to buy. We flip flopped on buying new or used, farther away from Michelle’s work or closer. We looked in Aurora, Commerce City, Brighton, Denver and Westminster. Guess what? We ended up buying a new home right here in Thornton. The new house is two miles north of here. Being that close is nice as we can basically visit anytime we want to check the progress of the house. The house is a two story with full finished basement (actually making the house a three story). 3 1/2 Bath and 4 Bedrooms. We kind of stumbled upon these homes while we were driving around looking a different housing area. Hardwood floors in the kitchen and breakfast nook will be standard as well the granite countertops in the kitchen and master bath. The remaining baths will have Corian countertops. We have a couple of appointments setup for the design center where we will pick out the colors for the ca...

Has it been eight weeks already? I am sure that Travis feels that he has been there at sixteen weeks. Oh, I forgot to say that Travis will be graduating from his Air Force Boot Camp in a few days. Travis called us today and he seemed very anxious to moving on with his Tech School Training. Travis scored a whopping >90% on both of his exams. One was a written exam and really don’t remember what the other one was. Here is a couple of pictures of what Travis looked like before he went off to boot camp: At the Colorado Rockies game last summer (they won). Taken the day he signed his contract for the Air Force. Another pic from the Rockies game (yes, they still won) I will post some more pictures sometime next week. We wonder how much he has changed. Not just his physic but his overall mannerisms in general. I am sure that he is no longer a slob (Travis wasn’t a real slob when he lived with us, he was just unaware what dirt actually was). Here is a walkthrough of th...

Well, the weather started out blue skies until we got to Idaho Springs (about 40 miles outside of Denver). It appeared to have snowed the night before. Once we got through Idaho Springs the weather began to get a little nastier. I had planned on washing the car before we left and I am glad that I didn’t as the muck began to cake on the further we went.

Time to escape the cold weather of Colorado and head out to where it is warmer! Yes, that’s right, California. It has been a couple of years since our move to Colorado and it is time we go home for a visit. I can’t think of a better way to get to California other than driving. It’s only 1,200 miles and we could do that in one day (we’ve done it before on a trip to Indiana) but you know us, we are making a three day trip out of this. First stop, Moab (Arches National Park). We always wanted to go to Moab (to break in the Jeep Wrangler) but we just couldn’t find the time. One thing is for certain, there won’t be any crowds.

We have had a hankering for some Mediterranean food for the past week or so. I talked to a co-worker of mine, Laufnick and he recommended a place in Boulder called, The Med. Since our nephew, Travis just signed up for a four year stint in the Air Force, we decided this would be a good way to celebrate. Okay, a little more about the Air Force….Travis has been interested in enlisting for quite some time but he had to do some prep work before he could be considered an applicant. Travis had to drop about 30 pounds before he could enlist. When Travis made his goal weight, he contacted a recruiter (which was a nightmare by the way) and started the enlistment process. This past Tuesday, Travis took his entrance exam (and scored a whopping 92%) and took a physical. After successfully passing his physical and spilling his urine on his roommate (another story to share at a later time) he officially became enlisted. I looked up The Med on the internet and from what I saw, the place looks...

Due to complications (on Travis’ part) we got a late start on our departure to the restaurant but we still made our reservation. When we arrived, we were greeted by an absolutely beautiful hostess (that was your first hint Travis, stay in school and attend CU) who gave us the option to enjoy our meal on the outside patio. After a few twists and turns through the restaurant, we walked out onto the patio. The seating was a little cramped but the ambiance was nice. Our waiter, Doug (not his real name) promptly greeted us and provided us with the dinner, tapas and beverage menus. After perusing the many selections of wine, I ordered a lager from a local a local brewery. The selection was made from the “Bottled Beer” section but the beer was delivered in a can. Hmmm, I most likely wouldn’t have ordered it knowing it was in a can as the aluminum typically changes the physical characteristics of the hops and alcohol bringing on a metallic taste which forces the tastebuds to go into panic...

We were so relaxed in Belize, we didn’t feel like updating our blogs. We will probably update them soon so you all will be up to date with our journey. Until then…..