Last weekend I turned 30. Not a big deal; not like I have a big hangup about my age. In fact, I had a much worse time when I turned 27 1/2, for some reason being halfway between 25 and 30 seemed like the end of the world for me. My only real issue with being older is that I didn't start climbing sooner. I know it's not too late; all I need to do is hear Jerry Moffatt in "Black Lung(Black Lung)":http://trulycrap.com/movies/blacklungbig2.mov talking about how you can be stronger in your 30s and 40s than ever as long as you climb smart.

Anyway, on to my birthday weekend! I thought it would be nice to have a little vacation, so I went out to Colorado to visit "Tina":http://feralboy.com/photoalbum/photos/20040131_judys_60th/P1010002.jpg.

First thing was I had to actually get to the airport. Instead of going through downtown during rush hour traffic, my co-worker suggested I sort of head north and then south-west; avoiding traffic. Ha ha ha. Big mistake. Instead of being stuck in highway traffic, I was stuck in single-lane back roads traffic. My flight was leaving at 5:45, and what should have probably been about a 1/2 hour trip turned out to be more like an hour and a half. I had visions of missing my flight and either sleeping at the airport waiting for the next flight, or bagging the whole trip. Anyway, I get to the ticket counter at about 5:30, and the automatic checkin kiosk doesn't want to work. Put in one credit card (for identification only) and it doesn't know who I am. Put in a second card (for identification only) and that one doesn't work either. Luckily there's the one USAir guy helping people with auto checkin, and he prints out my boarding pass right away (without checking my ID), and tells me there's no way I'll make it through security in time.

I take off in a dead run, movie-style. Make it through security without a hitch, which was funny considering I had about 20 gizmos in my messenger bag; Tina's "iPod":http://www.apple.com/ipod/, my "digital camera":http://feralboy.com/log/archives/000192/, and enough cords and charging cables to make it look like I was going to blow up not just a plane, but the whole damn airport. Make it on to the train, and more movie-style running through the terminal. Finally get to my gate, and everyone is still standing in line. Apparently boarding was happening late, which would have been a nice thing to be told by the guy who printed out my boarding pass.

After the flight and a late dinner at "California Pizza Kitchen":http://www.cpk.com/, it was sleeeeepytime.

Saturday morning after getting some "fantastic":http://feralboy.com/photoalbum/photos/20040207_my_30th/P1010012.jpg "presents":http://feralboy.com/photoalbum/photos/20040207_my_30th/P1010013.jpg, we headed off to downtown Boulder to have some breakfast as "Le Peep":http://www.lepeep.com/ (which I haven't been to since I moved from NJ) and check everything out. Boulder is a super-cool town, "wacky cults":http://feralboy.com/photoalbum/photos/20040207_my_30th/P1010023.jpg aside. We walked around, saw a cool bike shop that had "tools tied up":http://feralboy.com/photoalbum/photos/20040207_my_30th/P1010026.jpg outside where anyone could just walk up and use them, day or night. Biking is huge in/around Boulder. There's bike lanes everywhere (although jackasses still use the sidewalk to ride around), and you can even ride your bike on the interstate! Yep, instead of signs saying that biking/hitchiking/walking is prohibited, they instead say "bikes keep far right". I still don't think I'd want to do that; helmet or no, you get pegged at 70 mph and you're D-E-A-D.

Saturday afternoon we went to the "massive REI":http://feralboy.textamerica.com/?r=375511 in Denver to exchange the snowboard pants I had gotten for my birthday, and then we stopped at the "Denver Chophouse":http://www.chophouse.com/ for dinner. I'm not really a huge red meat fan, but Tina and I both had the buffalo filets with gorgonzola cheese... Best. Meal. Ever.

Then we headed off to Breckenridge for the night. The weather Sunday morning was projected to be cold/windy/crappy, so we didn't bother to bring any snowboard gear. It was more just to have a little getaway and check out Breckenridge. Our room was really nice, with a "great":http://feralboy.com/photoalbum/photos/20040207_my_30th/P1010028.jpg "view":http://feralboy.com/photoalbum/photos/20040207_my_30th/P1010030.jpg, but I was so tired that I passed out on the couch watching Star Wars.

Sunday a.m. we walked around downtown Brek and looked at the remnants of the "snow sculpture competition":http://torus.math.uiuc.edu/jms/Snow/ from a week before. Lots of "neat":http://feralboy.com/photoalbum/photos/20040207_my_30th/P1010039.jpg "stuff":http://feralboy.com/photoalbum/photos/20040207_my_30th/P1010041.jpg.

On the way back to Boulder we stopped at the "Pearl Izumi":http://www.pearlizumi.com/ outlet, and I'm proud to say that I didn't let myself buy anything.

Back to Boulder, and a night of Limit Hold 'em with Tina's roomies. Didn't do as good as my game with JR last week; lost about $15.

Monday was a pretty quiet day. Quick lunch of "sushi":http://www.japonsushi.com/ in Boulder, topped off with a trip to "Cold Stone Creamery":http://www.coldstonecreamery.com/, and then off to the airport for my uneventful flight home. Certainly one of the best birthday weekend I've ever had.

Oh, and the best "picture(Photoalbum of my 30th birthday weekend)":http://feralboy.com/photoalbum/photos/?folder=20040207_my_30th of the weekend? "Right here":http://feralboy.com/photoalbum/photos/20040207_my_30th/P1010048.jpg.