Family-friendly Colorado travel (that's fun for all ages); Major reclamation project; A few great Colorado whiskeys; School lunches; & More

[00:00:04] Welcome to another episode of the The OutThere Colorado Podcast. Once again, I'm Spencer here with Seth. Hello. We got Tim in the booth on the audio and the video for today. And once again, a lot of interesting Colorado topics to chat about. For a middle of the week that we sometimes keep short here, we might have a fair warning to our dear listeners. We might go a little long. Yeah, we'll see. We'll see. Now you jinxed us. Now it's gonna be like a 10 minute episode. I'm trying to get better at brevity. It's gotten, you know, it's gotten cold. We've seen this sudden shift. We were just talking about that. Yeah, I literally just was talking about how I'm going to get into it. I'm going to get into it. I'm going to get into it. I'm going to get into it. I'm going to get into it. I'm going to get into it. I'm going to get into it. I'm going to get into it. I'm going

[00:00:34] I was at Lowe's like early this month. I think it was like right around the end of March or start of April. And people were like buying plants. And I was like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no do that. I didn't say that. I'm not that guy, but falling for fake spring. Right. If they planted that stuff, then probably regretting it. Yeah. I mean, at least in the springs, it's been like in the forties. Right. Like, I don't know how cold it got last night, but looks like winter out there. It does. Yeah. Well, especially

[00:01:04] Pikes Peak, the mountain for I have no clue how much snow Pikes Peak has gotten. But last night it said 21 inches overnight was the mountain forecast prediction and National Weather Service was saying pretty much through Wednesday night into Thursday into the first part of Friday about they had a potential for about 30 to 36 inches on the high end report, but expected was 24 to 30. I mean, even on our lower hills, you know, it looks like some frosting got dabbled on overnight.

[00:01:31] Yeah. Looking at the report from the National Weather Service right now, it's showing another 18 to 24 possible on Pikes Peak from Thursday morning through, I mean, through Sunday morning. But the snow, I think as far as I know, is supposed to pretty much end on Friday. Seen a nice little bump in the snowpack too. I don't know if you've been following along with that USDA chart there, but we have seen a nice little bump, not anything significant.

[00:01:55] We're still on par roughly with the first week of June, but we've been on par with roughly the first week of June now for about a week, week and a half. So that's good. It does actually look, depending on how this widespread snow hits over the next few days, there's a chance that we kind of at least maybe touch the record low by May 5th. If we're able to maybe increase our snowpack a little bit, maybe hang on to it.

[00:02:22] Right now, the record low snowpack for May 5th is slightly below where it is right now. And that's not that many days away. So we'll see. We'll see. All right. Yeah. I haven't even looked at the U.S. drought report yet today, but that's always interesting too. I'm going to pull that up right now. It gets published on Thursdays conveniently. Looks like 100% of the state is now in drought, opposed to 98% last week. Yeah. Yep. As far as progress goes.

[00:02:51] The drought severity index did go down by one point. It is now a 366 instead of a 367. Yeah. So that is maybe something positive there. Looks like the area in the state that is at that most severe drought stage four has dropped a little bit. Just a little bit. Just a little bit. It's still very widespread. We've been so gloom and doom, so we've got to celebrate just a little bit.

[00:03:17] Yeah. Just a little bit's nice. And I mean, with this snow on the way, I bet that drops again next week. Maybe we'll see. Yep. Yeah. All the places you're going to want to go this summer, though. Very drought heavy. Very drought heavy with some of the most severe drought that's been recorded in a long time in those areas. Yeah. So, yeah, something to keep an eye on. You want to tell folks what you're drinking there?

[00:03:39] Yeah. So I figured since we don't have a drink sponsor for the podcast, I'm just going to drink vague colored liquids out of a cup until... Kind of like on Love is Blind, the gold cups are just in every shot. Yeah. Right. They're home with the family and they've got their gold cups. Yeah. So this year... At a hotel? Who knows? Orange flavored drink of some sort. Gotcha. From far across the office, it looked beerish to me. So, you know. It does. Maybe that's just like what I need to start walking around with all the time. Right.

[00:04:09] Just so people think I'm constantly just... Right. We talk about beer. We obviously drink beer, but we're working professionals. Yeah. Not in the office. We don't drink beer on the job. Yeah. There's only one time that we've ever had beer on the job and it was a small taster... That's right. ...of Coors Light with green chili mixed in it whenever we were trying to see... You had to remind us. Yeah. You had to remind us about that. You can find that video if you scroll back, but trying to see if green chili really is good on everything. Good with everything. We debunked the theory.

[00:04:37] Yeah. I mean, it definitely wasn't good on... Ice cream. ...the Ho-Hos, right? The little... I don't think... Or the Swiss cake rolls. It got away with the pizza, I think, right? I mean... Yeah. That was about the only thing where I was like, it makes sense. The beer was fine. I would say the beer was fine. There's green chili beer. Yeah. Yeah. I was a little bit more prepared for that. But it was chunky. Remember? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That wasn't great. The gummy worms, too. That was weird. We have way too much fun. And the pizza, too. I mean, that was one of those... That was the cheapest pizza I could find at King Soopers. That was like a dollar. Microwave pizza.

[00:05:08] That was like elementary school. Yeah. Remember like the little rectangle... Did your school have the rectangular pizza? Yeah. I wonder if they had that in Colorado. Tim, did they have that in Colorado? Rectangular pizza for school lunch? Or was that a Midwest special? Tim's the only one that went to elementary school in Colorado, so you gotta ask you. They expected us... Rectang... Yeah. Yeah.

[00:05:33] Yeah. I mean, they expected us to eat rectangular pizza, chocolate milk, and mashed potatoes at 10 a.m. Yeah. You know, for lunch. Oh, no. People wonder about our health crisis. I still remember Tuesdays were pasta day, and you'd get scoops of pasta. Yeah. They're pretty liberal on how many scoops you could get. So yeah, 10 a.m., just scooping up Alfredo, like Rotini, and then pouring marinara all over it, and then just going to sleep the next period, whatever that was.

[00:06:01] I still have nightmares about mashed potatoes with a mysterious yellow gravy. Yes. It was yellow. Yeah. I haven't seen such gravy since, and I never want to again. Yeah. We had Bosco sticks, too. Sure. I remember Bosco sticks. Classic. Shout out. Shout out to Bosco sticks. We did... Well, we had Hot Pockets, which essentially a pizza puff. In Chicagoland, I know they call them pizza puffs. Now, it's a delicacy. Yeah. It's a delicacy. Pops are great. That's our segment of lunch specials. That's our food specials.

[00:06:29] We hope kids are eating better today. I have a preview of what elementary school food is like in Chicago suburbs and in southern Indiana. You wonder why I look like this, all right? It's not my fault. Yeah. Man, we had the plastic bags of milk. You ever have those? Whoa. It was just a bag. Plastic bags. Basically, like a Ziploc bag without the Ziploc. It was just a bag of milk, and you stuck a straw to it. Like a Capri Sun kind of thing? No, no. Like it's set flat on the table. What the heck? And you put the little plastic bag on there.

[00:06:59] Wow. Stick a... I mean, geez. That's a different level of savage. We had the cartons at least. Yeah. I mean, we had those eventually. But yeah, in elementary school. It was plastic bags. And I went to elementary school in like small town Indiana. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like very rural small town Indiana. And yeah. Plastic bags. You got a straw. The straw came like taped to the bag. We might need to spin out a video segment on this and just hear about people from Colorado, what their lunch experience was like.

[00:07:28] I mean, if we got listeners in the 90s, this is probably all ringing some bells. Yeah. Yeah. Unfortunately. Were Colorado school lunches any better or worse than our Midwestern lunches in elementary school? That's a hot topic, I think. Oh, man. Yeah. Yeah. Speaking of, I guess we're on the topic of youth. I was going to say, there's no segue you can make. I can make a segue here. All right. So we're on the topic of youth. Oh. Yeah. We're going to talk about some family friendly destinations in Colorado.

[00:07:57] A listener named Melanie recently reached out and she was like, hey, I'm coming to visit Colorado. Haven't been there since I was a kid myself. Now we're coming out with the family. We got a lot of kids coming in the group, various ages. What would you recommend for a Colorado family friendly adventure? So I gave her my ideas. I said the first place to look is, are you thinking about a city experience or a mountain experience?

[00:08:27] City experience, going with Colorado Springs. And I'm going to explain why. Mountain experience, going with Breckenridge. I mean, really, Colorado Springs, less hustle and bustle than Denver, right? You've got attractions like the Olympic Museum. Which is very interactive. The new one. Caters to, you know, it's like a hands-on experience. If you've got kids that are energetic, good a place to take them to wear them out probably.

[00:08:52] You've got Garden of the Gods, beautiful nature scene that's, you know, very approachable. You've got the paved walkways around. There's park rangers on site. There's never a lack of people around. You're not really at a risk of getting lost as much or encountering, like, dangerous wildlife, etc. Your car's always relatively close if a storm rolls in. You've also got Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. You can feed the giraffes. We were talking about that a couple weeks ago.

[00:09:21] Cheyenne Mountain Zoo all around. You know, it's a great zoo. And it is on a mountainside there. Just very beautiful, regardless of your age. Just that scene in itself. And it is a very interactive spot. And the giraffe feeding is affordable, which is something that appeals to families, I would imagine. You've also got things like the Pikes Peak Highway, which is a drive with plenty of places to stop along the way. Plenty of little nature spots to stop at. You've got the Penny Arcade in Manitou Springs. Yeah, I was going to say. You've got to have the Penny Arcade on there.

[00:09:51] Yeah, that's a good one. Plenty of ice cream spots as well. You've got the one in Manitou. You've got some around the city. And then, yeah, my reason for saying Breckenridge. I mean, you've got all those activities right there on the mountain. It's easy to get to. It's right off of I-70. It caters to tourists coming to the state compared to some of these smaller mountain towns, I would think. Tends to go a little bit harder throughout the summer months. So it's not like it's one of those towns where you get there in the summer and, you know, things close early. Things stay open late. There's a lot of options.

[00:10:19] You've got an arcade bar there. It was Eric's downstairs, if I remember correctly. You've got some pizza spots. You've got Main Street, which is just entertaining to walk around. You're right there by Frisco, which has a little historic tour through the old Frisco town, which is kind of fun. You've got Lake Dillon right there. So, yeah, those were my two picks in terms of what family-friendly spots someone should go to during the summer in Colorado.

[00:10:47] If you've got kids of all ages, I think both of those options would be good calls. You can always add in some of those more extreme things like the zip lines. You know, go to Cave of the Winds in Colorado Springs. Yeah, Cave of the Winds is cool. Yeah, they've got the big canyon swing, too, which, I mean, get your 13-year-old on the canyon swing. That's probably going to be the coolest thing they've ever done. Yeah. I don't think you can underestimate like a cave experience feeling high in the mountains. Yeah. I mean, that is really unique.

[00:11:14] Yeah, and they've got the high ropes experience there, too, which is really cool. Farther afield, getting into Teller County, past Mantu Springs, you've got like that Wolf Center in Divide. You've got that dinosaur. You can go from dinosaurs in Woodland Park to wolves in Divide to a troll in Victor. That's Rita the Rock Hunter if you want to get a little more Wild West out in Victor there. Yeah. You could do a whole day up in Teller County there. Yeah, very good point.

[00:11:42] You can even like venture down if you're kind of setting your base in Colorado Springs. That's one of the things I said, too. It's like in Colorado Springs, you're two hours from a lot of things. Like you can get to Breckenridge in two hours, spend a day in Breckenridge, come back. Sure can. You can also pop down to Canyon City, do some rafting. Royal Gorge. 45 minutes away. The train. Train ride is fun. Kids like trains, right? Probably. Did you mention the train up Pikes Peak? Oh, yeah. Yeah, the Cog Railway. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, there's a lot of- You can really fill it up in Colorado. Yeah, a lot of options.

[00:12:11] A lot of options for sure. Even go over to Broadmoor and check out like they have the Zipline tour there. They've got the falconry show, which I think that is something that is- I've seen it. It's wild. I've met that falcon. We were doing a little film project for them one time and we had the- like you lined up and the falcons or I think it was maybe an owl or something, but it flies like a centimeter. They put you two people face to face and then it goes between your faces and it's crazy

[00:12:39] because you can't even comprehend it at the time. It's going so fast. We have slow-mo video from that and very cool stuff. Maybe I'll try and track that slow-mo video down and get it in the video portion of this. But also, owls are really soft. Yeah. Have you touched an owl? No, I don't touch owls. Yeah. They let you touch the owl that they have there. And maybe a lot of people haven't touched an owl.

[00:13:07] But they look really like if you were to strip an owl of all of its feather and fluff, right? It would be a little scrawny animal. Kind of like a fluffy cat, you know? Like fluffy dog. Take Spencer's word for it. But you touch its hair. We'll say it's almost more like hair than it is feathers, but these like really fine feathery, whatever they call that. And you touch that on its head and it's like it just like feels like you're putting your finger through air. It's so like light and just fluffy. You can like hardly feel it and then it's a little heads there.

[00:13:37] It's kind of starting to creep me out, man. Hey, owls are cool. Owls are very cool. I'm with you. I throw at Estes Park. Yeah? Yeah. Because I mean, Rocky Mountain National Park speaks for itself. I mean, you can just get really iconic Colorado scenery in that park. Just take the drive up Trail Ridge Road. Got to have that reservation this time of year, right? When does reservation start? May 1st, I believe. Yeah. We're pretty timely there. That's coming right up. So that's part of it for sure.

[00:14:07] But, you know, just like the town of Estes Park, you know, walking up and down the shops, which feels like the majority of shops are like candy shops. Yeah. Including this new Stanley Chocolate Factory right downtown there that I want to check out. I think that's pretty dang new onto the scene. Like this Willy Wonka inspired, I think, as it's been billed, Chocolate Factory right downtown. It really feels like it's going to maybe transform the downtown Estes Park experience a little bit. Haven't checked that out, but it looks like a big time thing. That sounds good.

[00:14:37] So that, see how progress is on that. I'm not totally sure on operations right now at the Stanley Chocolate Factory. But of course, there's the Stanley Hotel, which, you know, kids might get a kick out of. Adults most certainly do. But more so like the theme park right in town there, right? Kids can go crazy at the theme park with all the rides. And what am I remembering? Like bumper cars and big water slides, I think. And then you got the gondola, right?

[00:15:06] The fun Estes tramway. Yeah, the tramway. And recently got new ownership too, right? Right. Within the last year or so. Celebrating some kind of big anniversary there fairly recently. Very cool history behind that one too. Yeah. Takes you up to this little mountain summit. Yeah. Yeah. It's really cool. And then there's a little movie theater downtown there, the historic park theater. You know, if you just want to sit the kids down and tell them to be quiet for a little while, you know, sit back and enjoy a movie in a historic theater

[00:15:36] right in town there. I think Estes Park is a good little family. That is. Oh, and I got to do a shout out to the, what's the cherry? What am I? Colorado Cherry. What's that? It's like the longtime family owned eatery on the way that does pies. In lines? Yeah. Ooh. Yeah. Right off the highway. You've driven right by it, dude. Yeah. 4.8 stars. Yeah. Another, another highly acclaimed recommendation. I only have them set. So the pies are really good.

[00:16:04] I'm remembering like the meat pies, like the hand pies. Don't overlook those. Cherry cider, you know, just, just kind of a classic Colorado stop for sure. See them buy some chili. Yeah. Yeah. That was good. Yeah. Perfect for a day like today. Sweet and savory. It's all good there. Dang. Yeah. Good recommendation. Yeah. Also about Estes Park too. I really like how it's one of the places where you're maybe most likely to see wildlife in the town. Yeah. In Colorado. Yeah. So that's got to be exciting for all ages, but especially for kids.

[00:16:34] Also, I mean, Stanley Hotel, it's haunted. Right? Yeah. Like a Stanley Hotel ghost tour. Like I said. Yeah. That's memorable. I've taken those tours. I don't, I don't remember kids being on those tours. Yeah. But you know, I think, I think kids. Maybe teenagers. Yeah. For sure. For teenagers. Yeah. But yeah, cool place to see for sure. It is, it is funny because like all of these recommendations that we have for like a family friendly getaway in Colorado are all things that I would love to do too.

[00:17:04] Yeah. For sure. We're all kids at heart. Yeah. Yeah. Colorado caters to that type of person. I mentioned this some weeks ago, Dinosaur Ridge, something free right in Denver. If you're just flying into Denver, I mean, that's a really cool thing. Just go shoot over at the Dinosaur Ridge and walk up literally this, it's a wide path going along this ridge where right on the side of the rock, there's like dinosaur footprints and just encased like fossils, you know, that's a really cool thing that I think Denverites

[00:17:30] tend to overlook because there's a lot of cool things more West, you know, and people just drive right by it. But for families. Yeah. I think that's another one worth shouting out. Very cool. Yeah. Hey, that's a good little recap of a family friendly trip. And also. We're here for the families. Also, you got airports in Denver and Colorado Springs, you know, like you can fly directly into Colorado Springs. And yeah, it's easy to get to all these places just with a rental car and a couple hours of driving. So yeah. Yeah. Cool stuff. Nice. Yeah. What else we got here?

[00:17:59] Oh, you want to let's get let's talk since we've been kind of chattering about Colorado Springs here. There's an update on Pike View. Right. And while this is Colorado Springs for those listening, you know, outside of the Colorado Springs area, it's pretty interesting. And I think it has some farther reaching impacts. Yeah. So tell us about that. I totally agree. And people here in Colorado Springs know exactly what we're talking about. That scar as it's referred to on the mountainside north, you know, if you're thinking like that

[00:18:29] Woodman exit on I-25. Kind of looks like a pyramid shape. Right. Yeah. It's like this red blotch that's been in the mountains between there. Same thing. I mean, people coming into town, even if you don't know it, you've seen it. I mean, it's just that glaring, you know, so it's got that sort of reach. I mean, if people have been in Colorado Springs, they know what we're talking about. And in terms of that broader interest that you brought up, for one, the state approved

[00:18:56] reclamation at this quarry right around the turn of the start of this year. And that was really significant in terms of reclamation jobs everywhere in Colorado. I mean, the way the state director put it to me was this was pretty unprecedented for how they actually achieved reclamation at that big, steep property on the mountainside there. Well, and to give us a little bit of history on it, like how long was it a quarry? Yeah.

[00:19:24] I was going to say, I mean, that's where we got to start. Right. I mean, this is the quarry is a story of many, many chapters going back to 1903. Right. When it's easy to imagine it started more or less as a scratch. They started mining rock and material that would build, literally build Colorado Springs as we know it today. Very notably, the Air Force Academy was built from this quarry, from material out of this quarry.

[00:19:52] And, you know, over 100 years, there was a lot of chapters in there. Like I said, maybe started as a scratch, but became this scar as we know it now. The whole time, the town growing closer. The town is growing. Yeah. It's a great way to put it. I mean, that scar is growing. The town is literally growing thanks to it. And it sort of becomes this symbol of progress, but also blight, you know, glaring blight.

[00:20:19] And I mean, the 80s are kind of remembered as this time of the scar wars here in the Springs and beyond when environmentalists and advocates really rallied and including the governor at that time and said, how can we allow these things to grow in plain view of our mountains that we so cherish? You know, how can we allow this? And there was a lot of things that happened at that time, including here in Colorado Springs at Queens Canyon, right? Over Garden of the Gods. Yeah.

[00:20:47] Where we had a similar quarry just looming over Garden of the Gods. That's now a green, more or less, patch. Oh, is that the story of the big flat area that you can see there? That was a former quarry. That was a former quarry. It just looks like a flat mountain now. They did a good job. Yep. And so that is the hope for Pikeview, too, that it takes on. It looks a lot different now. And the hope is that it keeps looking different as things grow.

[00:21:12] And again, the state approved that reclamation that was more or less five years in the making. And so where are we now? What's the update now? This all happened over the past five years with what was a fairly controversial deal that was made between the company and the city that involved other open spaces. And it was a package deal, more or less.

[00:21:38] But part of that was that if reclamation was successful in the city's own environmental review deemed it suitable, that the city would adopt that property, that steep scar with a tough history of sliding, some massive slides over the years at that scar. Rock slides, yeah. So it goes without saying, there was a lot of controversy about that.

[00:22:01] Should the city be making a deal with the company with 100 years of complicated history, including these slides, right? Could this really ever be suited for the city that envisioned or that other people in town have long envisioned to be this world-class mountain bike park? Yeah. As it's been floated. Those have been the words. World-class mountain bike park on this place. Yeah, I know. We both know Corey over at Medicine Wheel, trail advocates.

[00:22:30] Then one big proponent. He's a big proponent of it. As are a lot of... While this reclamation was going on, mountain bikers in town have been saying, man, what if that could be a downhill mountain bike park, right? And so we're maybe one step closer to that. The city recently... The city council recently approved that transfer to adopt that property. Some more steps to play out, including zoning. Into that question, could it be a mountain bike park?

[00:23:00] That's coming ever closer to the forefront. And I would say still remains a loaded question. Just in sort of following the process over the years and following some planning around the adjacent Blodgett open space there. And hearing neighbors over the years and people living there and people elsewhere in town.

[00:23:27] I think there's a lot of concerns about what's been described as a theme park coming to that part of town. Basic concerns that you might imagine in a neighborhood. It is surrounded by homes. People who worry about traffic, security. When there's more people, there's maybe more chance of we're out of fire, right? In people's minds. Those concerns exist. Still environmental concerns exist.

[00:23:52] Can we really put people on this place that has been the site of massive rock slides? In a lot of people's minds, that still exists. Despite the vegetation growth that has happened. The slope stabilization that goes with reclamation. That goes with approving reclamation, right? So there's still some of that feeling out there. And then, man, you know, just about every time I've been up there in reporting this over the years,

[00:24:20] I've almost always seen bighorn sheep. Oh. So there's going to be people talking about, there's going to be people talking about, are we going to displace, are we going to potentially displace those bighorn sheep? Again, maybe some speculation in my mind, but I just, I can see that conversation coming. I mean, take it from one neighbor there who I've known over the years, who's been a kind of a local activist and guy who's been plugged in with parks department over the years. I mean, the way he puts it, he's put it to me like he expects that would be highly controversial.

[00:24:51] Yeah. This idea of a mountain bike park. So. I mean, I could. Interesting to see. I can see both sides there. I mean, and on the flip side too, people like Corey, who's an advocate for this, view it as a chance to really put Colorado Springs on the map. For sure. As a mountain biking hub. For sure. Right. And you and I both know, I mean, when the conversation becomes about the economy, becomes about a potential tourist attraction and economic shot in the arm.

[00:25:20] I mean, that can carry a lot of weight. Yeah. In conversations. No doubt. Yeah. And that's something we were talking about that panel that I went to a few weeks ago, but that this was a topic that was being discussed and we kind of touched on it a little bit there. But I mean, as far as Colorado Springs goes, I've always thought this was the case. It doesn't get the, it doesn't really get the recognition that it deserves on a national or even like an international scale for being an outdoor recreation hub of America. People tend to be thinking places like Moab, right?

[00:25:49] Or even Denver. And you look at, I mean, Colorado Springs has a similar number of trails roughly to Moab, a little bit less, I think. But it's easier to get to, you know, there's a very wide variety of what's offered here. And then you compare it to places like Denver or Boulder and it's like Colorado Springs blows both of those places out of the water in terms of the available outdoor recreation. That's just local, at least in my opinion.

[00:26:13] I mean, you have a wide range of things that you can do, especially if you're expanding that to within an hour of Colorado Springs. Less hustle and bustle tends to be a little bit cheaper. And the environments, right? You can talk about a 14,000 foot mountain in Pikes Peak. Talk about red rocks like at Garden of the Gods. But as locals, more so go to Red Rock Canyon open space. Yeah. Talk about big, steep canyon environments, North Cheyenne Canyon. Yeah. You know? Yeah. I mean, there's all sorts of cool places to explore in town.

[00:26:43] And yeah, I mean, to say, if they could say they have a world-class mountain bike park to go with that. Yeah. And I mean, it's on that northern side of town. You'd probably be drawing people down from Denver. Sure. Yeah. I think, too, if you're building a mountain bike park there, there's probably an opportunity to have some other activities, too. I can see the concerns. I mean, too, in terms of it being in a near residential area. People have looked at this quarry scar for so long. Do they want to look at a mountain bike park now? Right.

[00:27:12] So I can see where some of those hyper-localized concerns would be a factor. Same thing with the safety, with the rockfall risk and the rock slide risk. I'm sure they have means of determining how well they've mitigated that. Mm-hmm. And then, I mean, like you mentioned with the bighorn sheep, that is something that tends to halt development in Colorado. You're looking at, like out in Vail, there was that recent situation where I think they were trying to build some employee housing. Right.

[00:27:40] And bighorn sheep were cited as a major reason why this shouldn't happen. I forget how that shook out. But I don't think they built it. Or I think they were still trying to figure out how they could build it. Yeah. But that's an update from like a year ago. So it might be different now.

[00:27:55] You know, we've talked about it before, and I think we're going to keep talking about it because I do see it as a really fascinating flashpoint of history, for one, you know, in terms of mining and how cities like Colorado Springs have been built, in terms of the environment, in terms of the economy, in terms of the growing mountain biking scene that we've seen in Colorado.

[00:28:19] I mean, I think a lot of things just converge at this former site of blight that is now recovering and maybe becomes a recreation destination. Kind of like harkens back to that Rita the Rock planter idea where she's like pushing the rocks back into place, so to speak. I never thought about that until you brought that up. And it's like, you know, is that something we can do with a lot of these spots that have been destroyed by development, essentially?

[00:28:46] Red Rock Canyon in Colorado Springs, a famous spot where, you know, it was a quarry for a long time, then a landfill. And that's been reclaimed and is now one of the most popular spots that people go in the city for recreation, especially locals. That's a great point. I'm glad you brought that up. Yeah, we have an example of it right here in town. Yeah. So, I mean, it can happen. And, I mean, it's just a matter of figuring out what the will is. Yeah, and what that looks like. Yeah. Conversations to come.

[00:29:14] Yeah, Sidia said, you know, next steps from here are going to be this process of more review, environmental review, and more public engagement. So, I think there's going to be a lot of talks, and something tells me we'll be talking about it again. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. What else we got here? A quick shout out to, I did want to mention this. So, to switch gears in a big way, this is just a quick mention, but the London Spirits competition took place.

[00:29:42] And Root Shoot American Single Malt Four-Year Bottled and Bond Whiskey produced at a fifth-generation family farm in Loveland, Colorado. It was the best whiskey in America, or best spirit in America of the year. So, it got a very high score. It got a 97 out of 100. And this is a pretty prestigious event as well. What's it called? The London Spirits. Oh, it's a Root Shoot Single Malt Four-Year Bottled and Bond Whiskey. Okay.

[00:30:11] Yeah, it got a 97 double gold designation. It was dubbed the Whiskey of the Year worldwide. So, that's important. Yeah. It was dubbed the American Single Malt Whiskey of the Year and the Spirit of the Year for the United States. So, they can be found at about 60 bucks a bottle. Stranahan's also got some awards there, too. They got a couple gold medals, double gold medals for a few of their things. Their top rated one in Stranahan's out of Denver.

[00:30:40] Their top rated one was a 96 double gold score for their Stranahan's original. So, whiskey lovers listening to the show. There's your quick update on that. But we were talking about beer and those awards last week. I'm always looking for the next whiskey in Colorado. I got to try. This distillery out of, ooh, is it Arvada? Talnua Distillery has been a big winner over the years, too. Yeah. You see them pop up in a lot of awards. It is Arvada. Yeah. Yeah. You see them pop up 4.9 stars.

[00:31:10] Another good review, Seth. Another good recommendation. I haven't had it yet, but I really want to. I'm just waiting for Seth to mention something that's like 3.2 stars on Google. I don't think it's ever going to happen. It can't be that good. Yeah. But yeah, 4.9 stars. I always like a bottle of whiskey for my birthday. Like a new bottle of whiskey. Yeah. I'm getting my candidates in line. Yeah. Hey, this is a good one. I don't mean. Yeah. What else? We got a couple good ones local, too. You mentioned Axe and Oak last week. Yeah. 2.9 is really good.

[00:31:40] Yeah. 2.9.1, too. Yeah. My dad will get that shipped to him. Is that right? Yeah. 2.9.1. But they have a nice little tour, as well. Mm-hmm. I learned a lot during that tour. Cool story behind it, too, where it's this. It was started by a photographer, like I think a fashion architecture photographer. And the first still they had, if I remember correctly, was melted down metal plates from where they would print the photos, you know? No way.

[00:32:07] And so if you look inside of that still, you can see some of those images from his career as a photographer. That's cool. Yeah. I didn't know that. Came out here and apparently was a very noteworthy photographer, too. Like was very good at his job. But escaped the hustle and bustle of life in, I believe, New York City. Might have been Chicago. I think it was New York City, though. And yeah, came out here and started that. So that'd be a good profile. You should reach out to him and dig into that. Yeah.

[00:32:38] Noted. Yeah. Cool story there. So that's 291. But yeah, good whiskey. And you get to try a lot of whiskey on their tour also, which is fun. Always a big draw. Always a good draw. They have a nice little lounge, too. Good live music. Kind of hides out there. Yeah, it does. Like an industrial zone. Yeah. We were about to pull off and go visit the other day. Yeah. Yeah, it's a cool spot. What else we got here? You want to talk about this Matthew's Winners expansion and save it? What do you think you want to dig into it? Real quick. News is out there. People might have heard about it. We mentioned it on Monday.

[00:33:08] Yes. This 347-acre acquisition that Jefferson County announced expanding Matthew's Winners Park there. Right up against Red Rock's Amphitheater, right along that corridor, that open space that you see there. And for long, forever, there had been this big private chunk, essentially behind Red Rock's. If you're looking at Red Rock's as we all know it, this property, these 347 acres, this former ranch.

[00:33:38] So behind the seating area. Right. Exactly. Yeah. And kind of right in between, if you're looking at a map, right in between Winners Park, Matthew's, as people have known it, you know, it's kind of how it's situated there. Described to me as pretty steep, kind of incised valley, more or less going back in there. Really rugged, noted for its biodiversity. I mean, there's been a lot of wildlife and flora and fauna noted back there.

[00:34:05] And that was kind of the big draw to acquire that former ranch and preserve it as open space forever. The big question everyone wants to know, when can we get back there? I'm told, you know, that no timeline right now for when that could be, you know, there's still a lot of planning and a lot of reviewing to do. But they do indeed want to put some A-trail or some trails back there. There's some pretty interesting potential I was told about.

[00:34:32] Like, again, if you look at the map, it's kind of where Mount Morrison, that trail from Mount Morrison, as you connect into that from Red Rocks and get up to that steep promontory over there. There's some really interesting potential about, like, continuing a loop from there into this property. Which would be pretty interesting. But super scenic, you know, views looking out to Mount Blue Sky is my understanding.

[00:34:57] And just another notable open space acquisition on the Front Range, where we think everything is private and everything is getting built up. There's still potential for open space to grow, like we saw here in a really highly visible, popular area. Very cool. Yeah. Something to pay attention to, for sure. Also, to follow up real quick on this 11 mile, or on the Ontario Reservoir. Ah, yeah. Update. You want to touch on that here? Yeah, I'm seeing what you saw, man.

[00:35:27] The state parks. Well, I guess we should say, fill people in on Ontario not being filled anymore. Yeah. So, coming up soon, here on May 2nd, Denver Water is going to start moving the water from Ontario Reservoir down to Cheeseman Reservoir. So, that'll be taking place over the course of at least a month. I think it's going to stretch into June. But they'll be draining that reservoir.

[00:35:53] We talked about why that was the case on a couple episodes ago, but essentially to prevent the evaporation of about 25% of the water that is in Ontario Reservoir just during the year of drought and during the year where water is already lacking. This is going to reduce the pool on Denver Water's sources west of the Continental Divide, which is an important thing.

[00:36:18] I think we said it was enough water that they're transferring to supply about 15,000 to 20,000 single-family houses for a year. So, a significant amount of water. But yeah, Ontario Reservoir, a very popular spot for fishing and camping. So, a lot of people were probably disappointed to hear this news. Last time Ontario Reservoir was drained due to drought, it took about five years for them to refill it. Notable. Or at least to reopen it.

[00:36:48] So, that's notable as well. But now there's a side effect that comes with that draining that is further impacting fishing. Yeah. You were alluding to it. I mean, when decisions like this in the complicated, complex water world happen, there's always a domino effect, right? For streams and rivers adjacent. And in this case, 11 Mile and Spinney State Parks are kind of jointly managed state parks.

[00:37:13] They put out a notice recently letting people know what this draining is going to mean for the South Platte River. I mean, man, that's got to be... Is that the most fished river in Colorado? I mean, it's got to be up there. It's got to be up there. Yeah. You know, so in their words, it's going to make fishing on the river as well as at Spinney Mountain and the Dream Stream, as people know it, going up from there between two 11 Mile Very popular fishing spot.

[00:37:40] In their words from the state park, it's going to make fishing extremely difficult because of larger flows that are going to come from initially from this draining. After the water is moved downstream, we expect flows to be lower than normal due to the current drought conditions and caution should be exercised in regard to fishing and water temperature. So it's going to go from high that makes fishing tough to low that could make fishing maybe impossible. Yeah. Essentially is the message here.

[00:38:10] Yeah. As I'm taking it. Which I'm sure people that are... You think about the people that are in like Teller County, right? Teller County tends to be a spot that attracts a lot of anglers and I mean, Antara Reservoir is a go-to spot for them. And so is the Dream Stream. So is Spinney Mountain State Wildlife Area. And so is 11 Mile Canyon. And it sounds like a lot of those areas are going to be impacted. In the case of 11 Mile Reservoir, also very popular, right? The bigger body of water there.

[00:38:39] The state park is anticipating that it won't be affected as I read it. And that could mean bigger numbers of boaters and anglers. So it could be really... It's always pretty popular. It could be really popular. Yeah. Yeah. If this plays out how they think. Yeah. I went to 11 Mile State Park last summer for a camping trip. And that was really nice. Yeah. Hidden gem. Totally hidden gem. But yeah, man. If that gets popular, you are able to take some certain types of boats on the water. I don't know what those restrictions are.

[00:39:09] But yeah. It'll be interesting to see how this impacts just the fishing culture in that part of the state. Yeah. That popular fishing corridor. Yeah. Yeah. Something to note there for sure. Yeah. I think that's about all we got to chat about today. So you got anything else? No. I mean, I don't think I got anything more to talk about as far as my elementary school lunches go. You know, we got that covered. Yeah. Hey, people need to stay tuned. Stay tuned next week.

[00:39:39] And maybe I'll have a glass filled with a different color of liquid in it. That'll be the big surprise. Yeah. Or maybe this will be a way of getting people that are only listening to actually watch the podcast on YouTube. I wonder what he's drinking today. Yeah. I need to just bring more and more ridiculous cups and drinks every week. Start wearing costumes. Just do all sorts of things to get those viewers. I've got a weird dragon man on mine. Yeah. Have you ever noticed that? Is that a fireball? It's a fireball breathing dragon man.

[00:40:07] No, is that the fireball whiskey logo? I don't know. Is it? If it is. Can I show it to me? Yes. That is the fireball whiskey logo. I have nothing to do with fireball whiskey. I kind of hate that stuff. No offense to people who drink it. I had no idea. I don't know where I got this water bottle. I don't mean to be promoting fireball whiskey. I like. All right. I've had. I don't mean to offend fireball whiskey. Times of my life. But when you're like, is that the fireball whiskey guy? I was like, I have no idea. You know.

[00:40:38] Wow. Canadian whiskey infused with cinnamon and sweeteners. I don't know the origins of this water bottle, clearly. Yeah, that is definitely. That's funny, dude. A bottle a day I'm at. What is Meemaw? What is that? I have no clue. Maybe someone. Let's see. We might be diving in. Where do you get this? Do we want to dive into a history that we don't want to dive into right now is the question. I don't know.

[00:41:07] I don't know anything about this water bottle. I inherited this water bottle as far as I know. Oh, wait. Here we go. I see an article on Awesome98.com that says, Fireball Whiskey offers huge prizes for seniors. How to nominate Meemaw. What? I would imagine that this water bottle that you've been carrying around for a long time. I'm kind of embarrassed.

[00:41:32] It was a prize Fireball gave away during promotion for senior citizens. What? What? There we go. Wow. All right. You could have, at the time, if you were born between, or born in 1935 or earlier, you could enter a contest by heading to lifetime supplyoffireball.com. There's just no indication. There we go. This one, I mean, this is definitely going to get people to tune into YouTube. They need to see this. Yeah.

[00:42:00] I mean, the show today started in a way that no one anticipated, and it's ending in a way that no one anticipated. Yep. Yeah. So there you go. I guess we go out while we're down here. Yep. We'll see you out there. Yes. See you. Wow. That's definitely the guy out there.

[00:42:30] That's definitely. That's cool. You will see you. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.