September 25, 2011

When I was little, my Dad would buy season passes to Fiesta Texas and take my brother and I multiple times over the course of the summer.  The Rattler was the ride of the trip every single time.  It is a massive wooden roller coaster that sways and shakes precariously with every turn.  "Jostling" is too tame a word to describe what The Rattler does to its passengers.  Unfortunately, and perhaps appropriately so, I was never tall enough to ride The Rattler.  So, I'd wait while my Dad and brother were in line, wishing I would grow just an inch or two taller so I too could feel as if I were in a car accident upon walking off the ride.  Sadly, before I grew those lovely extra few inches, our visits to Fiesta Texas were over:  I never got my chance to ride the ride of all rides.  Today my day arrived with a trip to Fiesta Texas and a few more inches of height to my name.  Confidently, I walked up to the entrance to The Rattler, looked the hissing beast in the eye, and took my place in line for the last car on the tracks.  As I was thrown around the car up and down the steep hills, around the sharp twists, and overtop the rickety beams, it was impossible to miss the giant grin plastered on my face.  I may have walked off the ride with a slight concussion, but it was well worth the many inches and many years of waiting.

September 24, 2011

Another round of birthdays, another round of celebrations.  For her birthday celebration, Kelley rented a limousine bus for an afternoon tour of a few wineries in the Texas Hill Country.  After a visit and lunch at Rancho Ponte, we made our way to William & Chris Vineyards in Hye, Texas.  Now, I've had a bit of wine in my life; some very good wine, and also some very bad wine.  This being said, the wine of the William & Chris Vineyards just may be the best wine I've ever tasted.  Just as an example, the Hunter is a smooth merlot, cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc, tempranillo, and mourverde blend.  I'm not sure I've ever had such a wonderful balance of bold flavors with such a perfectly dry, yet smooth finish.  What's more incredible about my taking a liking to this wine is the alma mater of the Chris of William & Chris.  After a bit of goading, I found this lovely message on the bottle of Hunter I asked him to sign for us.  Many thanks to William & Chris Vineyards for amazing wine and some refreshing Longhorn-Aggie chatter.  

September 23, 2011

With more than 500 miles logged on my first pair of 101s, things started to go a bit haywire.  The tread has, understandably, worn down about 75%, making it difficult to navigate dusty declines and slick rocks.  I had adjusted to the tread, however.  Unfortunately, within the span of a few miles earlier this week, something that felt like a rogue pebble in my left shoe quite suddenly became an incredibly apparent broken rock plate.  This is problematic for a few reasons:  first, the rock plate began digging into the bottom of my foot and second, a broken rock plate no longer does its job.  With a monster of a race looming in about four and a half weeks, I knew it was time to replace my much loved kicks.  I briefly thought about trying the New Balance Minimus, but decided to stick with what has done me well and bought a second pair of 101s.  Hopefully this pair isn't a set of lemons and will get me through the end of next month reasonably well.