Colorado

Smartest City in the Nation

Published on by Casey

Using data from Sperling’s BestPlaces, Forbes looked at data from the 200 biggest metropolitan areas in the U.S. and ranked them based on the percentage of the population age 25 and over with at least a bachelor’s degree.

Boulder, Colo., may seem like a surprising winner, but it’s no ordinary university town. The University of Colorado’s students and staff account for about 38,000 of the city population of 282,200. Boulder, though, is also sticky enough to keep many of its own graduates around —and attract others.

“Boulder is recognized as a very exciting town to go live in,” says Bert Sperling, founder of Sperling’s BestPlaces. “It’s attracting young degree holders who want to go somewhere with an outdoor lifestyle.” If they don’t come for the mountain scenery, it’s for the employment opportunities. The National Center for Atmospheric Research, located in Boulder, has more than 120 Ph.D. researchers on staff and hosts hundreds of visiting scientists.

Here’s the full article…

Evergreen

Published on by Casey

Last night we headed to up to Evergreen to meet up with two other couples from our bible study group.  The group leaders have family in Evergreen, so we crashed at their house in preparation of a snowshoeing expedition.  This morning the 6 of us headed up some mountain (I have no clue which one) for a few hours of hiking through 2-3 feet of snow.  One friend Amy, went back to the cars early (accompanied by her husband Ben) as she wasn’t feeling well.  This was shortly after we were passing a sled with two huskies.  One of the huskies jumped on Noah, pulling my UCSB key chain lanyard from his pocket and breaking it.  🙁  Anyway, Jason, Allie, Noah and I trekked on for a while longer, awaiting Ben to catch back up.  However, even after stopping for lunch, we started to head back down the mountain just as Ben had almost reached our location.  Oh well.  It was a great trip but I am feeling the effects in my right hip, which started feeling as if the joint was grinding.  Not so much fun.  By the time I got back to the car I had worked myself into a limp.  Yet, it was all worth the time spent with good friends and the needed excursion in the snow.

3 Down, 3 to Go

Published on by Casey

Last week a restoration company that Floorcrafters gives out referrals for gave Noah’s office tickets to two Avalanche (NHL) games.  Noah scored the tickets for last night’s game.  So off we went to Denver in the snow, arriving just as the first period ended.  The seats were awesome, center ice and 20 rows up!  Only crazy people buy those seats since their face value was $108 a piece!  Neither of us had been to a hockey game before but soon learned it’s a fun game to watch, even if you have absolutely no clue why a ref blew a whistle and there’s a mini “rest” period where players are shuffled on and off the ice.  Last night the Avs played the Phoenix Coyotes, who’s coach is none other than the great Wayne Gretzky!  We were able to see him from our seats as he stood in the box (is it a box?  I have no idea…whatever hockey’s version of a dugout is called).  Anyway, the game went into OT with a disappointing loss for the Avs as the Coyotes scored within the first 3:30 minutes of OT.  I was really hoping for a Double Overtime.  Ha!

So, now that last night’s game has been summed up, I suppose I should decipher this blog’s title.  We have now been to games for 3 of Denver’s pro teams.  In July we went to a Rockies game for the soul reason that my Dodgers were here.  August we went to a Broncos pre-season game (more free tickets from Noah’s work), and last night was of course, the Avs.  The only teams left are the Nuggets (basketball), Mammoth (lacrosse) and the Rapids (soccer).

One of the Best Communities for Young People

Published on by Casey

Stolen from my neighbor’s blog…

Lafayette Colorado was recognized by America’s Promise Alliance as being one of the 101 best communities in America for young people. America’s Promise Alliance was founded by Colin Powell and his wife. It’s a partnership comprised of corporations, non-profits, foundations, policymakers, advocacy and faith groups committed to ensuring that children receive the Five Promises: caring adults; safe place; a healthy start; an effective education; and opportunities to help others –at home, in school and in the community.

A Visit from California

Published on by Casey

For once, to see family from the West Coast we didn’t have to take and 18-hour road trip (it actually took them around 20-hours due to heavy snow along I-70). Last weekend Noah’s eldest brother Joe, and his wife Erika came to Colorado sans kidletts for a much deserved week of R&R. But that’s not the real reason for their excursion, they drove the 18-hours to scout for houses and jobs in the Boulder County area. Another couple trying to keep up with the Joneses (I can get away with saying that since I’ll always still be a Jones). Noah and Casey – the trendsetters. Hah! Joe and Erika arejust succumbing to the fact that California is ridiculously expensive and Colorado has much more to offer! I hope they are able to find a house and jobs, allowing them to move out here. Wonder who will be next…Gretna?

Christmas 2007

Published on by Casey

Yesterday was Christmas Eve and I started my day by going into work for a few hours to get some things done before the end of the year since our office is closed until the 2nd on January. Yea for me! Off with pay! After dinner the plans were to finish wrapping gifts, go to church then have Christmas dinner at a friends house. The friends requested that we bring asparagus and bread to dinner, so I figured I would grab these items at the store on the way home from work. This plan was all well and good until I discovered that Lafayette was completely out of asparagus. So, Noah called the host couple to find out what else they would have us bring. Potatoes, yams and green beans were out and I was drawing a blank. One call to my mom and she saved the day! Creamed corn of course! Yum! My Grandma’s recipe and oh so much better than asparagus! Done. I headed home to finish the wrapping and making the corn and we were out the door for church…arriving 15 minutes late since our church is in Boulder. Oh well. We made it for the sermon.

After the candlelight service we headed to our friends house in Frederick where we had dinner. We were also informed on the news that there was a 50% chance it would snow last night. However, when we left our friends’ house the sky was only partly cloudy. I thought for sure we were going to get jipped and I was going to be without a White Christmas this year. Made it home around 11:40pm and we still had gifts to wrap. But when we made it to bed around 2am it had started to snow! Yea! When I got up this morning we found out that not only was it snowing, but we had a Winter Storm Warning and would get 2-8″ of snow!

Christmas morning, like last year, was spent opening gifts with my family, in California, via webcam. This afternoon we went to dinner at Noah’s uncle’s house, who lives 3 blocks from our house. So we bundled up and trudged through the snow, with the puppy on leash. It was awesome! We headed to their house on the open space trail and returned on the streets to view all the Christmas lights. If it weren’t for the kennel and wreath Noah was carrying and Lava trying to kill me by running around on ice, it could have been very romantic.

Our measurement of snow at home was 3″. I gained my second White Christmas and my first Christmas was falling snow! Christmas 2007 is definitely one to go down in the books!

When I get around to it, I’ll post a few pictures I snapped this morning of the tree, presents and Lava attacking her stocking.

Just Like in the Movies

Published on by Casey

Yesterday we drove to a neighboring town to purchase our Christmas Tree and to top of our search for the perfect noble fir the day was cold and snowy! We didn’t chop down our own tree (Home Depot had people that took care of that) but we did stand out in lots of falling snow as we looked at several different naturally flocked Christmas Trees! I was having more fun than Noah I’m sure. He grew up with snow. We loaded the tree in the back of the truck, flipped the transmission in to 4×4 and headed back through the icy streets. Due to the natural flocking, we stood the tree up in the garage to allow the snow to melt off before bringing it in the house. Once we did, we put it in font of the window perfectly. No rotations or adjustments necessary. Yea! Now, all we have to do is start decorating. 😀

Due to the snow this weekend, we didn’t get the lights up in the trees in the front yard. Maybe next weekend…The snow totals page has been updated. Be sure to check it out!

First Snow of the Season

Published on by Casey

It came but it didn’t stick around! The news and The Weather Channel said we could expect 2-4″ of wet snow today. We very well might have received that much, but with yesterday’s temperature hovering around 80* the ground was still too warm. Plus we haven’t had a good freeze yet (nope — that’s going to be tonight…more on that later)

Yesterday evening the front moved over our house and almost instantly brought strong winds with it. This morning pre-dawn we heard rain outside along with several loud crashes of thunder. By the time we got up, the rain had changed over to snow and was sticking to a few places in the yards. It snowed pretty much all morning with showers into the afternoon but like I said earlier nothing stuck around. I need practice driving in the snow, so I took the wheel to church this morning. Gotta start slow ya know…like when the snow melts as soon as it touches the ground. No ice today!

But back to the freeze. We are officially under a freeze warning tonight until 10am tomorrow morning. Since the storm has cleared on by the temps are expected to drop to the mid 20s tonight. There goes the rest of my tomatoes I’m sure. We planned ahead though and Noah turned off and prepped the sprinklers for winter yesterday (along with trimming the branches from the trees in the backyard).

However, as far as I’m concerned, I’m ready for more snow. Not necessarily driving in it, but I would like it to stick around longer the next time it falls. Unfortunately, there isn’t any snow in the forecast for the next 10 days…yet.

**Update** The official snow measurement for our area was .5″.