Colorado Crawfish!

I guess everyone sent out some on-time-flight vibes because I got back from Ft Benning only 1 hour late on Sunday evening and made it to Colorado Springs on Monday. It's been a long, but productive week of meetings. Although I didn't like living here in the winters, Colorado is pretty amazing in the summer! The weather has been gorgeous since I arrived, plus I always feel like a rock star when I come back to the training center here! So many people to catch up with on complex, it's good to feel missed!

After a late conference call, I met up with some friends at a great Cajun restaurant here in the Springs called Culpepper's. I usually don't eat Cajun food outside of Louisiana, but I took a chance and tried this place out when I lived out here and their red beans and rice tasted pretty authentic. As luck would have it, this restaurant gets fresh crawfish flown in from Louisiana every Thursday and has a crawfish boil. Even though I knew crawfish season is over, I decided to join some friends there for dinner. We were not disappointed!

Paul had called ahead of time and reserved 3 pounds of crawfish. I laughed when he called me mid-day to tell me that. Three pounds, that's not even an appetizer! I don't think he realized the weight counted the shells! April and Paul's wife Karla decided not to partake of the boiled crawfish, so I told Paul we should order at least 5 pounds for him and I and get some sides to go with it. Although a little over-seasoned, the crawfish were really good as were the potatoes, sausage and corn-on-the cob that were boiled with it. We don't really have a name for the dip we make to go with boiled seafood at home but boiled seafood just isn't complete without it for me. I tried to describe to the waiter our Daigle family concoction and he said he would give it a shot. He came back with a huge boil of the mixture that actually tasted pretty close. A couple of Abita Turbo Dog beers to accompany the crawfish and an order of beignets for dessert completed our Louisiana dining experience. The sun setting behind the Rocky Mountains completed the eclectic evening.

Tomorrow will bring a morning of trying to answer the hundred or so emails I've fallen behind on and a couple more meetings. In the afternoon I go to the Harley dealership to pick up a rented 2008 Softail Deluxe for the weekend. I'll ride it to a social tomorrow night then take off for an overnighter to Ouray early Saturday morning with Suzanne & David. This rugged little mountain town out west has been dubbed the "Switzerland of America" and is nestled amongst towering 13,000 foot peaks. It was on my list of places to visit before I moved from Colorado, but time got away from me and I never made it. I'm excited to get the chance to check it out now and to ride there on a bigger, nice bike. My camera broke last week in Ft Benning, so I bought a new one out here. Hopefully I'll get some good pics from our weekend trip to post.