Foggy Fireworks

Not that the burgers and fries of Colorado weren't tasty, but it's nice to get home and eat real food again. The Mushniks came over for dinner last night and everyone got FCI Snapper (barbecued with the Fish Cooking Implement), spinach and pine nut salad, cucumber/tomato/avocado/green onion salad, grilled handmade tortillas from La Palma, saffron rice and fresh fruit.

It is sadly true that the older Plotnik gets, the more he likes the things he likes. It's probably not a good sign, but he can't deny it either.

Meanwhile, this morning the deck is covered with water from a thick, hazy fog attack that rolled in last night around 8pm. They'll still play ball at Braindead Stadium this afternoon, but tonight, while the rest of America is ooh-ing and ahh-ing over fireworks, Plot and Duck will squint helplessly through the thick, gray soup, which every thirty seconds or so will be added to by a brief reflection of red or blue. The Plotniks will be able to hear the fireworks exploding from a barge in the bay near the Bridge, but they'll see nothing, and anyway it'll be too damp to stand out there for long.

You can write it in your calendar: Fourth of July Fog. There have been only one or two years since the Plotniks moved to World Headquarters in 1993 that they've been able to actually see as well as hear the Fourth of July fireworks show. But, hey. Happy 232 to America, anyway.

The Plotzers are in town to play the Caribbeans and the game starts in an hour and a half. Plottie could hop on the J-Church and buy a standing-room-only ticket, eat a cha-cha bowl, watch two pretty good teams go at it. He's still toying with it, but if he's still here right now...jeez, what a lazy sack the old boy is becoming.

--

Note as to empty Tuesday and Wednesday: Can you believe there is no internet cafe in Steamboat Springs? They have wireless coffee houses, but if you don't have a laptop, there is nowhere that actually provides computers for use. Except the library, so they say, but "the library is down there a few blocks, past the pizza place, near the VFW, but there's so much construction of new condos going on you won't be able to see it from the street. Ain't gonna be much town left when they get done building."

And this is the sad truth. It's still pretty, but Steamboat's unique days are already done. The builders, the developers, the land-use pros, and all the money boys from LA and Chicago and Miami have grabbed up all the available close-in land to build units to rent to skiers in the winter. Whatever Steamboat Springs used to look like: adios, amigo. Shut up and buy a mountain bike.