Strasburg Rocks!

Celebrating Strasburg, Colorado, a small, friendly town in the plains east of Denver...

GoPro Time Warp Bicycle Ride

You are here: Home / Archives for Alan

And I Thought Strasburg Was Infested!

by Leave a Comment

Once again work has forced to stay on a horrible island, in a horrible hotel, with a horrible view from my horribly high room:

View from the room (daytime)

Feel terrible for me, right?!

When I went out for dinner, Augie asked if I could use Pokémon Go and get him some great water Pokémon. For some reason it’s a bit harder to find water Pokémon in Strasburg.

You know, in a place with absolutely no permanent water. Go figure. 🙂

So, after dinner I fired up Pokémon Go and, right from get-go, they were all over the place. Below are pictures of each and every Pokémon I caught for him, minus the first one at the surf shop my friend manages (something like a Pidgeotto). He also had an egg hatch, got an award, and went from a level 12 to a 13! (If the same Pokémon exists twice in the gallery…then it means I caught more than one…)

Oh, and all kinds of stuff gathered from the myriad Poké Stops between the place I ate and my hotel!

Now, it’s 1:15AM my body’s time (just landed earlier today…well, yesterday for my body)…so to all a good night!

View from the room (nighttime)

P.S. The gallery will grow this week as I capture more…so check back! 🙂

P.P.S. I really have to stop turning the game on. Since I finished (level up to 13 was that picture), I’ve gotten three Pokémon he didn’t have before and hatched another egg. ‘Night all!

Launching a New Weather Service

by Leave a Comment

Please check out the placeholder site for Augie.News & Weather, like its Facebook Page, and follow its Twitter Account.

Augie.New & Weather coming soon graphic

The broadcast launches September 3rd, but I’m sure Augie and dad will have plenty to share even before then!

Braving a Storm #tentlife

by Leave a Comment

Augie and dad in the tentOkay, it wasn’t much of a storm. 🙂

But, Augie and I did our normal Friday night activity of sleeping in the tent last night, and although it was predicted in WeatherBug for midnight, it came through 10:30ish. Here are a few tweets during it…sneaking them out before waking up the little guy, heading to breakfast, and getting haircuts.

Good morning Strasburg and towns nearby! It’s a beautiful, high plains morning…may it be an awesome weekend for you!Continue Reading

TaoTronics DJ Headphones Review

by Leave a Comment

Sometimes on Strasburg Rocks! I do reviews of local businesses…this time I want to throw up a quick video one of some in-ear bluetooth headphones that I highly recommend:

Video snapshotI got them for a discounted price to provide my evaluation…and I’ll admit they are better than anything I could have imagined. You can buy them on Amazon here.

Oh, they say, “DJ Headphones”…and I think they would work well as that too…but I recommend you get them to exercise with…or for “normal” listening…

Now to go collapse downstairs as I battle some strange chest thing I’ve been fighting all week. 🙂

Time-Lapse Video (July 11, 2016)

by Leave a Comment

Sun settingI’m just back from getting eaten alive while using my FujiFilm XP90 to capture this time-lapse of a sunset on E 48th Avenue near Strasburg Road. Maybe more photos tomorrow. 🙂

Infested with Pokemon!

by Leave a Comment

Augie's PokedexIt appears that Pokemon Go is all the rage (just Google it if you are unfamiliar), and sure enough, our eight year-old, Augie, has decided to become a Pokemon trainer. Good news is to catch many of these elusive creatures, kids need to get out of the house. 🙂
Augie and dad before a scooter rideSo, out we went as a father/son team…scootered from home to The Pizza Shop…and then walked to the Strasburg Convenience Store. Now, without the game you cannot see just how infested our wonderful town is with these somewhat magical rodents. Augie caught four or five during our short trek downtown!
I also snapped this photo while heading back to The Pizza Shop from the corner before Valley Bank and Trust:

I-70 sign
Just love the way forcing a flash worked…

Hope you all have had an awesome weekend!

Happy 4th of July! (2016)

by Leave a Comment

Motorcyclist with American flagHappy Independence Day everyone! (240 awesome years and counting….)

I am just back from my Cub Scout Pack 439 Cubmaster duties. First, we marched with Troop 439 at the front of the Independence Day parade in Byers, Colorado. (I am so proud of our boys!) Second, we met up at Lions Park in Strasburg, ate lunch, and then watched a Cub Scout/Boy Scout/visitors water fight that moved from water balloons to squeezing water bottles at each other. 🙂

The parade had all the usual…floats…old cars…politicians…emergency vehicles…and since we are in cowboy/cowgirl country…horses…and one goat. 🙂

Now, I should note that I had to march in the parade, so I tried to snap photos of everything ahead of time. However, since we were at the front of the parade, I was able to take a bunch of pictures walking back to the car. Before sharing those images, however, here are four videos…starting off with the 2016 Dust Devils doing a little dancing:

Their float also has this cool fake shotgun action:Continue Reading

Hawaii (Glad to Be Home!)

by Leave a Comment

Cityscape from in the waterI realize that after more than two weeks in paradise, it might be hard to believe I’m not just publishing this to rub it in. 🙂

But I’m not. It is a test of a new gallery plug-in that I’ve purchased for a far better reason. (More to come on that hopefully soon.)

In either case, I was in Honolulu for 2+ weeks…fourth trip for work this year. These photos are from at least a couple of those visits. Now, you may find many boring or odd…but I have to admit I am not near the adventurer as others after traveling for my employers a lot over my career.

Hawaii is paradise, but I wouldn’t trade Strasburg for it, because truly Strasburg Rocks!

Well, now for the gallery… 🙂Continue Reading

My First (Tornado)

by Leave a Comment

Excitement here on Basil Street in Strasburg as we saw a tornado from our next door neighbor’s porch. It was the first sighting for my wife, eight year-old son, and me. First, a picture:

Tornado visible over roof top

Second, a video:

I did not hear of any injuries and am not sure it actually was more than a funnel cloud. We love Strasburg, but with every place you’ve got to take the bad with the good…

360 Degrees (Well, More Like 270)

by Leave a Comment

East-south-west pano

A day or so ago I discovered that if you did a panoramic photo on iPhone and published it to Facebook, the iPhone Facebook app allowed you to do one of those 360 rotations of the image. Today, on my bicycle ride, I tried to do a full 360, but the iPhone seemed to stop about 270 degrees. I do not know how this Facebook post will show up elsewhere, but here goes. 🙂

If it doesn’t do anything for you here on Strasburg Rocks!, please try opening the Facebook entry on your smartphone…and while you are in Facebook…send me a friend request. 🙂

P.S. This was the original one that keyed me in on the interaction between iPhones and Facebook:

Cows and Airplanes

by Leave a Comment

It could be I am such a simple man that pretty un-amazing things excite me, but as I was leaving breakfast at McDonald’s in Bennett, I really found this low-flying crop duster a lot of fun to watch (although I didn’t know it was a crop duster when I took the video):

Mom and the munchkin headed home in her car, and then I climbed on my bicycle for the eight miles back ride. Along the way I decided this might be a good way to spend the rest of Sunday:

Cows resting in a field

Alan in bicycling gear at end of rideWhether you are having a lazy Sunday like the cows…

Are working like the crop duster was…

Or are out-and-about exercising like I did earlier…

Here’s hopin’ you are having an awesome day!

I learned there that innovation is a very difficult thing in the real world.

Richard Feynman, “‘Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman!’: Adventures of a Curious Character: Adventures of a Curious Character”

Mickey-Ds and Two Wheels

by Leave a Comment

I felt like climbing on my bicycle…and I was going to have to cook for myself ’cause mom and munchkin were going to be gone for a bit…

And I like excuses to eat out…especially if I can reduce the diet-guilt factor through exercise. So…guess what is about 8 miles from where we live in Stradburg…

Me in front of McDonald's
Now, being a simple man, I see McDonald’s as being an awesome target for a ride (and a great reward for arriving). However, a few pictures will show that the ride itself is also a reward.

This was just as I came to the top of the worst incline on the way to Bennett:

Sun in sky looking west
It wasn’t that dark…but I like the effect of the lower exposure.

On the way back I saw someone who was very curious about the strange being on two wheels:

Deer in woods
However the deer’s location wasn’t surprising given this being so close:

Creek
After snapping pictures of that fellow (gal?) and the creek, I climbed back on my bicycle…and then only stopped to snap a picture of one of my favorite views heading east on 36:

Looking at Strasburg at the top of a knoll
Why do I love that view? Because it’s when you can first see Strasburg.

When you can first see home.

Of course, late in the day as it was, the prettiest views are the other direction:

Sundown
And with that last picture I wish you and yours a goodnight…mom and munchkin should be home soon. 🙂

Remembering the Fallen (2016)

by Leave a Comment

Rifles with flags in the backgroundStrasburg has no cemetery (to my knowledge), so on Memorial Day we join our neighbors in Bennett to remember those who have given everything so we can have the freedoms we cherish.

The first remembrance was at the Mount View Cemetery at 10:00AM, and the second at the memorial beside the Bennett Recreation Center at 1:30PM. Here is a video from the first one with a couple of biplane flyovers, a 21 gun salute, and taps:

Four gravestones: WW I, WW II, Korea, and VietnamWords can not properly express what we owe the men and women who gave their lives to protect us; nor can they compensate the wives, husbands, parents, and children left behind for what it cost them in tears and heartache.

We cannot thank those who are no longer with us, but we do thank their families. May God bless you and yours this Memorial Day…and may God bless America!

Some additional photos:Continue Reading

…nor have I anything to offer my readers except my conviction that when pain is to be borne, a little courage helps more than much knowledge, a little human sympathy more than much courage, and the least tincture of the love of God more than all.

C.S. Lewis, preface to “The Problem of Pain”

Our Purpose

The sole purpose of Strasburg Rocks! is to celebrate Strasburg, Colorado, a small, friendly town in the plains east of Denver. It does not exist to make money. However, should Strasburg Rocks! produce any net income, it will be donated back to the Strasburg community.

Subscribe via Email

Please enter your email address to subscribe to Strasburg Rocks! and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 12 other subscribers