Hot Buttered Rum in Steamboat Springs

After the first week of classes, I went to Steamboat Springs, Colorado. My friend Reilly is friends with one of the musicians in Hot Buttered Rum, a bluegrass-y band from the San Francisco Bay Area, and they were performing in Steamboat Springs, so Reilly, two friends and I headed down for the show.

The drive down was simply beautiful – Steamboat is west of Denver in the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains and the drive included some great views of Colorado. We crossed the continental divide (something that has happened quite a few times since my arrival). The town is a popular skiing destination in the winter, but the weekend we were there, the USA ProCycling Challenge was coming through town, so every hotel was full and many fans were staying in tents or RVs on the pass, hoping to catch a glimpse of the cyclists. There were many amateur enthusiasts who were cycling the start of the route before the professional teams, as well as plenty of high-spirited supporters.

Since all the hotels were full, we too decided to camp (but in a campsite, not on a verge by the pass). Unfortunately, we erected our tent at dusk and some unseasonably-late mosquitoes attacked my back, meaning that when we returned to the venue, the Ghost Ranch Saloon, a short while later, I had to keep seeking out hard surfaces (including trees) to scratch my bites, giving me the unfortunate appearance of a bear (more on bears later).

The band and an energetic fan.

We got to hang out with the (super-friendly) band over dinner and then watch them perform. They were fantastic! It was so much fun – the music was great, there was plenty of dancing, lots of Stetsons and a guy named Lucky taught me the Two-Step. And then I tripped over a bucket.

The offending bucket.

It was a great weekend.