MY STORY

On January 20th 2010 I departed for my Colorado adventure. Final destination is Telluride, CO. My previous employer closed our Boston office on October 31, 2009 and this seemed to be the most opportune time to do something different. My inspirations are two things really. They are both movies. First is "Into the Wild", a movie about a person who leaves his life behind to pursue a life in the Alaskan wilderness and along the way he meets people that shape his life. The second movie is "The Bucket List", a movie about two terminally ill men who escape a cancer ward with a wish list of to-do's before they die. The #1 item on the wish list is "Witness something truly majestic". My adventures are not exactly similar to these movies, but underlying themes and life changing perspectives are. As far as the location, I thank my sister for that. She lived in the beautiful & remote town of Telluride for five years and met Paul there. Their 1997 wedding was in Telluride (Trout Lake). Telluride is nestled in the dramatic Rocky Mountains of Southwest Colorado.

BLOG 101

If you are new to blogs so am I. Here is an intro. The home page http://mycoloradoadventure.blogspot.com/ has all the posts (the write ups) in order and they work so that most recent is at top of the order. i.e. Day 1, my first post/write-up, is on the bottom page of all the posts/write-ups. On the left side of the blog site there is a "Blog Archive" section where you can navigate to pick and choose year, month and then specific daily posts/write-ups. I wanted to share this in the event you are new to blogs.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Day 57 - 3/17/10 - St. Patrick's Day














"May St. Patrick guard you wherever you go, and guide you in whatever you do - and may his loving protection be a blessing to you always" - Irish Blessing

Today is Wednesday March 17th 2010. It is St. Patrick's Day. The mountain is full of people wearing green shirts, jackets, hats, gloves....and a guy without shirt and his torso painted green. The town is full of sun, people talking and my pictures of the day. These small children have their own St. Patrick's Day parade going. How hilarious is that? It was really funny to see and many people stopped to view their parade. They got a lot of attention on Main St. in Telluride. If you did not notice they are tied together by green string. That ensures the safety of all the kids sticking together. A little research today reveals the origin of the "wearing of the green". From Wikpedia:

Originally, the colour associated with Saint Patrick was blue. However, over the years the colour green and its association with Saint Patrick's day grew. Green ribbons and shamrocks were worn in celebration of St Patrick's Day as early as the 17th century. He is said to have used the shamrock, a three-leaved plant, to explain the Holy Trinity to the pagan Irish, and the wearing and display of shamrocks and shamrock-inspired designs have become a ubiquitous feature of the day. In the 1798 rebellion, in hopes of making a political statement, Irish soldiers wore full green uniforms on 17 March in hopes of catching public attention. The phrase "the wearing of the green", meaning to wear a shamrock on one's clothing, derives from a song of the same name.

Though the children's parade did not outsize the Boston (Southie) parade it was a starting point. I sadly missed the Boston parade this year. The Boston parade began in 1737 and is the longest running St. Patrick's Day parade in our country. It draws a regular crowd of over 500,000 people each and every year. I've been a regular at the Boston parade and I can say this is the one outdoor party where I witness more intoxicated people than anywhere else. NOTE - I have not been to New Orleans.

Speaking of intoxicated people, here are ten facts on a largely popular Irish alcohol:

Guinness
  1. 2009 was the 250th Anniversary of Guinness.
  2. St James Gate was not the original site for the brewery. Arthur Guinness began brewing beer in Leixlip, a town in County Kildare.
  3. In 1759 he moved to an empty St. James's Gate Brewery in Dublin, Ireland. A bigger brewery in a bigger city for bigger production. The St. James's Gate Brewery was leased for 9000 years at an annual fee of £45, or $65 USD! This lease INCLUDED fresh water rights. Imagine paying only $65 for rent for a year on anything.
  4. In 1769, Guinness exported six and one half barrels of beer to England, their first exportation. This brought awareness of the product to a whole new market. As people emigrated to the new world, they would of course take their favorite brew with them.
  5. By 2001, almost 2 billion pints a year were sold world wide.
  6. Contrary to popular beliefs, Guinness does not contain oatmeal! It actually contains roasted malted barley, hops, yeast, and water. Also, the beer is not black, but actually a dark ruby red.
  7. Guinness is brewed in more than 150 countries worldwide, including Nigeria and Indonesia.
  8. 40% of all Guinness sales are in Africa. Africa is hot!
  9. Over 10 million pints are sold every day and Guinness contains only 198 calories per pint. That is less than most light beer, wine, OJ, or even light milk.
  10. The perfect pour should take 119.50 seconds. It is a result of a double pour at a 45 degree angle. The result a creamy head on a smooth dark beer served at 6 degrees Celsius.

Tanya arrived to Telluride to visit. She got in late on March 16th so our first day of Telluride fun was today. Glad that she got to see the parade of kids. We toured the town and rode the Gondola into Mountain Village. It was probably 45 degrees today so I am hoping a huge snow storm rolls in to show her what Telluride is all about.

Good night from Telluride, Happy St. Partrick's Day and whether it was Guinness, Jameson, some cabbage or Italian food, I hope you had a safe celebration day. Slainte! (Good Health!)
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