Wies'n Visitors

One thing I love about the Wies'n (which is what the Munich locals call Oktoberfest) is that it brings us visitors from all over.  This year it was B's cousin A from the US, the B Family from Prague and my PT and his friends from Colorado.

The very first weekend of the Fest brought us two sets of visitors.  With Cousin A and the 2 kids of the B family, we had a full house.  Not that we were in it much as we spent most of our time at the Theresienwiese, the name of the official grounds.  Since the kids are all still too little to enjoy the beer served inside the tents, we planned our visit for before lunch so that we could sample some traditional snacks and ride a few rides before the adults headed back that evening for a proper Oktoberfest experience.

MadHatter and Stinkerbell with O (Stinkerbell's bestie from Prague) and J.

Stinkerbell is up there - it is her all-time favorite!

Even the big kids got in on the rides.

A must!

Back home we quickly changed into our own festive outfits and ordered the kids a pizza for dinner.  We said goodbye and made our way back to our final tent for the day.

We had a private table at this tent.

(A picture from earlier in the day before it even opened).

Prost!

A snap of the capacity crowd.

When they finally sang "Angels" by Robbie Williams (I don't know why, but that is the song that closes the night) we were exhausted but not ready to call it a night.  We walked just off of the grounds (they kick you off at 11) and hit up the afterparty for a short while.  When our feet started complaining too loudly, we grabbed the train home and settled in and dreamed of all of the fun we had at Munich's biggest party.

The next weekend, I was back at it again.  This time with my Physical Therapist from Breckenridge.  E, his brother, and a few friends were traveling through Europe to celebrate his 30th birthday.  (Just typing that made me feel old).  And when your 30th falls during Oktoberfest you make sure you are in Munich to hit it up.  I snapped a few pictures but only got one of us all together so it will have to do.  You'll just have to imagine the fun we had singing along and dancing on the tables.  Visitors always make the experience so much more fun!

And yes, they make me look small!

Shooting the Rapids

The cousins were in town.  It was D's birthday.  We needed something exciting and fun and memorable to do.  Whitewater rafting!  

We were booked for the afternoon half day tour so we made it to Buena Vista just after noon.  We needed to get suited up (though we over suited thinking it would be freezing) before boarding the bus that would take us to the drop in spot.  But first, a selfie...

It was about 10 minutes to the river.  Along the way, they gave us some safety instructions so that we didn't kill ourselves while having fun.  And boy did they scare the dickens out of you but I guess they have to so that you don't go try anything dumb.  Because dumb in a raging river can truly get you killed.  We needn't have worried though because we had an excellent guide (though she did tell us our rowing style was "unique") and a cooperative river.  The hours flew by and we all remarked that next time we have to take the full day tour!

Happy Birthday D!  Hope it was the best one yet!

 

Breckenridge Distillery

 No trip to Breckenridge would be complete without stopping by the Breckenridge Distillery's tasting room on Main street and trying a free sample or two of their latest offerings.  Our family has been a loyal customer since the very first taste of that very first vodka and as the product line has grown so has our love for their liquors.  It was about time that we visited the Distillery in person and took a tour to hear how it all started and how it got to be one of the best distillerys in the world in such a short amount of time.

In 2007, Dr. Nolt (the founder) had a gem of an idea while standing thigh deep in his favorite fly fishing hole.  As a whiskey nerd (his words, not mine) he pondered what the pure snow melt would taste like distilled.  A class in distilling, a partnership with his instructor and 10 years of growing pains have led to countless medals awarded to the highest distillery in the world.

Our after hours private tour afforded us an up close and personal look at the inner workings and the makings of this liquid gold.  If you ever find yourself in Breckenridge, stop by.  They also do free tours every half hour during the work day but I do think that the private tour is worth the few dollars as you get to wander around unhindered by the crowds and you get to taste more of their premium offerings.  Which is really why you are there anyway, right?

We started in the store and just had a chance to look around as we waited for our whole group to show up.

 We even got a peek at the Top Chef run restaurant - though it was closed.

 First things first - a tasting of each of their clear liquors.  Because whiskey needs a few years to age the bills needed to be paid somehow in the meantime.  That somehow was with their vodka which is still one of my favorites (but don't discount their Gin - it is award winning).

After a few nips, we went behind the scenes and got a lesson in distilling (I won't bore you - take the tour).  And then off to the bottling room...Since this is the only line bottler they have and it is set to run the airline vodka bottles (if you fly Frontier this is what you will get) the rest of their hooch is bottled and labeled by hand.  And if you are local, and lucky, you can get a last minute call to come in and help them out for some free booze.

 Filled 3 at a time, then labeled by hand, then boxed to go.

 Our tour guide (awesome!) showing us the barrels and letting us taste some very expensive bourbon.

 The bourbon was in glasses, not from the tap.

We finished up the tour back at the same bar where we tasted the clear liquors this time tasting the dark offerings.  not including the two below as their price tags per shot are more than I spend on a bottle.

 All in all it was a great way to learn a little more about how hard liquor is made and to be able to taste a few in good company.

An Epic Discovery

One of the girls favorite things to do while we are in Breckenridge is to visit the Epic Discovery park on the mountain.  We try to go once a year and spend the whole day riding the coasters, jumping on the trampolines, finding our way through the human maze and panning for gold.  This year we were lucky enough to have B and his cousins join us for the day.  And, for the first time, Stinkerbell was tall enough to ride the zip line!  

What fun we had spending a day outdoors and on the mountain though nobody indulged me by screaming as they rode the zip line (or the coasters).  Oh well, maybe next year.