Saturday, June 26, 2010

Garden of the Gods

After our trip up Pike's Peak, we had a little of bit of time left to sight-see so we went to the nearby Garden of the Gods.  Garden of the Gods is a small group of mainly red rock formations.  You go into the park and it is almost as if you've gone into the dessert but flanked by a mountain range.


Balanced Rock

Pike's Peak

Sunday after breakfast with the new Mr. & Mrs. Jacob Gilbert, we headed down towards Colorado Springs for some sight seeing.  It had been years since Darren or I had been to Colorado so we wanted to do a few "touristy" type things during our free day.

Our first stop was Pike's Peak.  We hadn't done any planning but hoped we could take the Cog Railway up the mountain.  Due to the timing and the slower traveling, we missed the earlier train and then didn't have long enough to take the later train to get back to the airport.  We decided to drive up the mountain instead.  It was a super warm day, about 95 degrees at the base of the mountain and what they referred to as a "Hot" at 56 degrees on top with the wind chill in the very low 40's!  Brrr!  I was not dressed appropriately for 14,000 feet!

Views from the top!

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Hindu and Jewish Traditions

Here is the program that detailed out the Hindu and Jewish traditions in the wedding ceremonies.  It was pretty interesting different the symbolism from a general Christian wedding.

Reception at the Inverness Hotel

After the beautiful ceremonies, we headed indoors at the Inverness Hotel. 

Jake & Ashima's first dance.


Lifting Jake up during the Horah dance.  Rumor has it Ashima did not want to be lifted for fear she would be dropped.  Fortunately Jake was not hurt in the lifting of this chair!


Darren and me.


Darren with Ken who he and Jake lived with during college in Baltimore.


Jake & Ashima pose with Darren and me.

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Gilbert/Gupta Wedding

This weekend we had the pleasure of going out to Denver for Jacob Gilbert and Ashima Gupta's wedding.  It was my first time at a Jewish wedding as well as my first time at an Indian wedding!  They had two ceremonies and had a quick outfit change in between then..  They provided a program that told of the different traditions in the ceremony so those unfamiliar would understand the symbolism behind each. I'll try to post the program later. It was really interesting!  The Jewish type ceremony was officiated by a very excetric and excited judge.  On to the pictures.

The beautiful Ashima in her beautiful sari walking down the aisle.


Ashima and Jacob during the ceremony.


Husband & Wife - Part 1.


Ceremony 2 - Jake and his parents walking in.


Ashima walking in with her parents in beautiful dress.


Husband and Wife - Part 2.

Port 6 - St Maarten

All good trips must end and sadly St Maarten was the last day of our trip.  Such a great trip for my inaugural trip to the Caribbean! 

I've done a much better job than I normally do at journaling and think I documented well the memories that I will want to remember in the future.  I'll have to see if I can keep it up though.


And for the journaling:

Ouch!

But I do love those 4 winning Chicago sports teams!!

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Shamu

Southwest Airline's Shamu plane as seen at Chicago's Midway Airport on Monday.

Ribfest

On Saturday after watching the World Cup, we went up to Ribfest. Darren loves bar-b-que and I have a soft spot in my heart for ribs.  We tried tasting portions of six types of ribs. I'm glad the rained stayed away just long enough to chow down!

Thoughts on the ribs we did get to try:

Corner 41 Bar &Grill - This entry has won five times before.  Their ribs were super tender but the sauce was a bit spicier than I prefer
Robinson's #1 Ribs - These ribs were my favorite, they were tender and incredibly saucy.
Mrs. Murphy and Sons Irish Bistro - These ribs were ok, but I honestly don't remember anything specific about them.
Chicago BBQ Company - These ribs were super smokey and the least favorite of the ones we tried. 
Pitchfork - Home of the 2009 Champ.  These were good and probably my 2nd favorite of the day.
BBQ Rub Company - This was a St Louis style rib but it lacked flavor.

I definitely have a date with Robinson's #1 Ribs on one of my next trips to Chicago!

Sox vs Cubs and a Little Blackhawks Thrown In!

Darren's mom bought tickets at a fundraiser for the Walter Payton School and invited Darren and I up to see the Sox take on the Cubs this last weekend at Wrigley.  Oh so coincidentally the Blackhawks had won the Stanley Cup the previous Wednesday and celebrated their finals victory at the Cubs game that night.

The night started out with the Hawks bringing in the Cup.


Joel Quenneville throws out the first pitch.


The Cubs/Sox/Hawks pose for a picture representing three of the city's 5 major sports teams.


Jim Cornelison, the Blackhawks singer, sang the National Anthem.  The Hawks lines up on the baseline with the Cubs and Sox and the Stanley Cup at on home plate!


We had a great view from Murphy's bleachers along with unlimted food and drinks.


Harry Carry must have given the Cubs some good luck because they took the final game of the series and avoided the sweep.  Lilly pitched a great game and held a no-hitter through 8 innings.  It didn't stand but the Cubs did win 1-0.


A very awesome experience!  I would recommend the rooftop at least once in your life!

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Monday, June 14, 2010

World Cup Cheering

To celebrate the start of the World Cup on Saturday, we joined Kevin and Beth and some of their friends at Paddy Longs.  There were chants of U-S-A and impromptu singing of God Bless America and a little beer throwing when the US scored!


There were some tequila shots....


And Kevin & Kevin sporting some cousin-in-law love...


And more free Jose Cuervo free gear....


Glad the US pulled out the draw but hoping they fair better against Slovenia on Friday!