Can't Get There From Here.

The landing gear screeched down at about 1:20 A.M. Monday morning and I was home. It was a great trip. The thing about Telluride is the trip...hard to get to. I flew into Grand Junction Colorado Thursday night and met Glenn. We had a few beers, hit the racks early and set out for the 2 1/2 hour jaunt through high desert and into the San Juan range early Friday.The drive through the mountains and uphill has so many breathtaking views you could wear out your digital device and your digits.
We arrived at elev. 8750 on Main st. in Telluride and checked into the New Sheridan Hotel. This old joint has had a full makeover and restoration and is a luxury space in this old mining town turned hip ski mecca.
My friend Wight (featured in prior posts) has had a house in Telluride for 15 years. It was his 50th birthday weekend and Lehigh boys from around the country were converging to help him celebrate.
Wight and his lovely wife(also a Lehigh grad) did this thing right...hit the ball right over the fence. Friday evening they had reserved a Thai restaurant in town for cocktails and dinner. The food at Honga's Lotus Petal was fabulous and dining with Wight's wife,dad and sisters and a few of the boys was wonderful. We then returned to the historic "old West" bar at the Sheridan. This saloon is like a movie set...you expect to hear spurs jangling and Colt revolver's being cocked. All that got cocked was the Lehigh crew....boozing at 8750 feet in altitude is an interesting scenario.
Saturday was huevos rancheros and skiing. The weather was sunny and 60...unbelievable.
The highlight of the birthday bash was Saturday evening. Wight and his wife rented out the historic Sheridan Opera House and booked Donovan Frankenreiter for the gig. Donovan is friends with Jack Johnson and another "surf rock" mellow musician and damn good in his own right. He and Wight have been tight for several years as well.
This party was a blast...featuring the Lehigh boys being invited on stage by Donovan to lend a voice to an Allmman Brother's cover: "Can't You See." I wish/hope /fear there is video of this facet of the night. Midway thru the party, being fueled by Mount Gay Rum,and being the guy who makes his living public speaking in Court, I took the microphone and gave a birthday toast to my friend of 30+ years...recounting some semi-off color anecdotes from college and paying tribute to the stalwart friend and man that Wight is.
Anticipating our condition, Glenn and I had booked late flights out of Grand Junction on Sunday so we had a chance to hang at Wight's house and watch some basketball and golf and visit with his family in a more subdued setting before our 2 P.M. departure.
A great weekend and memorable.... as a bonus,both Glenn and Wight are coming to Philly this weekend to go see my heavyweight Joey Cusumano in his 3rd pro fight on Saturday.

Rocky Mountain High

This Sportsman is bugging out of the Mid-Atlantic Urban wasteland and heading for the Rockies. My college buddy Wight is having a 50th Birthday and he has invited the whole crew to Telluride. Wight owns a home in this high altitude old west ski town and a bunch of the college boys are heading out to celebrate our friend's 1/2 century mark....do some skiing and the inevitable boozing that takes place when the Lehigh crew assembles. I have a new Blackberry so I may endeavor to post some shots while out there. In the meantime...clearing up the office and packing my ski gear.

Lehigh Lacrosse

This program is certainly on the upswing. The Lehigh lacrosse team is off to a 7-1 start. In compiling this record they have beaten UNC,Army, Penn and Yale. This is a team reaching new levels of respectability. The partnership represented by this Logo allows alumni such as myself an opportunity to make donations that are specifically targeted to a program....not just deposited in a general students fund....you know, the fund from which Dean Wormer arranged an "honorarium" for Carmine, the mayor who didn't want:"No drunken riots in my town."
The team is now ranked #10 in the Inside Lacrosse D-1 poll....damn impressive. Riding on the upset of Duke, we Lehigh faithful would love to see some Lax success in the big NCAA Lacrosse tournament this May.

The Office

When I am not in a duck blind, goose pit,or chasing grouse or pheasants or fish, this is where I spend the a lot of my time. I wish I could say that about my home...but in reality I am in the office handling my client's problems, or in court,or in the office preparing for court. You know, shotgun shells and food for the hunting dogs and Filson gear and nicely engraved over and unders cost money.....

How 'Bout Them Engineers

Certainly, one historic upset. I am not much for College NCAA March madness as a general rule. When I was at lehigh, Winter Sports spectation was dominated by excellent wrestling. Watching grapplers in the famous "Snake Pit" of Grace hall.
But last night watch Lehigh upset NCAA powerhouse Duke....just fabulous. A group of shorter, non-scholarship kids, hustled their way into NCAA lore. One of my Law School friends is a veritable idiot savant of College basketball stats and history. He called me about 30 seconds after the final buzzer to express his amazement and state how thrilled he was to watch this colossal victory and how historic the win was in the annals of NCAA B-ball. facebook lit up with comments and my text icon was red-hot from the guys lauding our beloved Alma Mater kicking ass on such a National stage. Hell, if they can beat Duke in this tourney...who knows how far they will go.

Perhaps even more gratifying was a comment on the Bethlehem Police Blog...(Lehigh is in Bethlehem,PA) As follows: "And the Bethlehem police posted on their blog how classy the students were in their celebrations"

And the Police Chief stated:
"Standing at Morton and Adams, Bethlehem police Commissioner Jason Schiffer said, "They just pulled off the biggest upset in NCAA history. Let them party as long as they are not flipping and burning.""

A Brace of Hunting Dogs

On the left is Archie. He is named after "Archie Goodwin" from the Nero Wolfe books written by Rex Stout. He has been featured before. He is an excellent upland game dog....just kicks ass on pheasants,grouse,woodcock etc. He loves the goose pit and dragging downed honkers 40 or 50 yards over corn stubble or soybeans to my waiting grasp. Arch is 10 now and slowing down in the field...but still a loveable energetic knucklehead around the house. He won't let me out of his sight.
On the right we have the new addition: Genna. She is one year old, sweet as can be and just mad for retrieving.She is very eager and obedient. We are working on duck dummies and bumpers. In a few weeks we will move training down to the Farm for retrieves out of the duck blind and to get her used to riding in the boat.She should be locked and loaded for Waterfowl Season in October.
It warms the heart when you walk through the door after work and are greeted by these two faces.

Trump Chump

Never been a big fan of Donald. I always thought his book "The Art of the Deal" should have been titled: " Inherit a Ton of Dough." Deal schmeal...and that hair...do not get me started on that mess.
Now his sons are stirring controversy for Sportsmen. It seems these two trust fund wankers went on safari and killed a laundry list of African species...including an Elephant. The photo circulating on the web shows one of Donald's issue holding a tail he just cut from said pachyderm. He defends his actions saying the meat was donated to the villagers. Maybe so....
I just cannot understand wanting to shoot an Elephant...are they not endangered in many areas? Sounds like rapacious trophy hunters in my book. I cannot endorse or defend trophy hunting in this vein. We'll see what furhter info is tweeted or hits TMZ.