Attempted Frozen Dead Guy Days for the first time last year – in a blizzard – only to find all events postponed to Sunday. Awesome BBQ, beautiful blowing snow, laughs with friends but overall, kinda a bummer.
Fast forward one year. Sunshine and 30’s.
Drove Canyon to Nederland with my new housemates & secured amazing parking in the mud off Third.
Arrived 20 minutes before the start of the infamous hearse parade. Crazy, ridiculous bunch of characters – costumed coffin racing teams, blue monkeys, the Incredible Hulk…followed of course by a line of hearses.
New, vintage and even a flame throwing Cadillac hearse. Nope, not your everyday parade 🙂
Quick BBQ lunch at Wild Mountain, then off to the coffin races. Scored a great viewing spot on the hill while Ash & Tom lost themselves in the beer tent. Watched the Pink Socks retain their title, defeating the top qualifying Frozen Justice entry. This day Spiderman, Hulk & Batman were no match for the mighty Pink Socks.
Missed both the frozen tee-shirt contest & Polar Plunge but cheered on ice turkey bowling participants & later watched a short movie on Grandpa Bredo – ‘the Frozen Dead Guy’.
Crazy ridiculous fun. We’ll be back next year – it’s tradition 🙂
The Pink Socks did it again! Five Frozen Dead Guy Coffin Race wins in a row. The defending champions came to Nederland on Saturday, carrying their humble but sturdy coffin and bringing a lot of good cheer and optimism. If they did it four times, they could do it again. And they did: with ease. No one even came close.
The 13th Annual Frozen Dead Guy Festival was blessed, at last, with perfect weather. The snow came on Friday, smothering the Nederland area with about eight inches of gorgeous, sparkling snow, creating a winter post card of our recently dirty snow-filled town. As up to 15,000 people filled every empty space with their vehicles, the businesses and sidewalks and streets became parking lots for pedestrian traffic jams.
Everyone loved the sunshine, the no wind, the warm air and the crazy fun events that kept them moving from venue to venue. Music from band tents on either side of town kept the atmosphere upbeat and visitors said there was nowhere on earth they would rather be for the day.
CLICK to WATCH ‘Frozen Dead Guy Days – Coffin Race Championship’
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- Frozen Dead Guy Days in Nederland
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- 4-time coffin race champs, the Pink Socks
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- Flame Throwing Cadillac Hearse – yeah, they take their Hearse Parade serious
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- Beware of the Blue Monkey!
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- Who doesn’t love a coffin race? Check out that crowd!
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- ice turkey bowling
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- The Ned-Mess: BBQ (w/ fiery XXX sauce), mac n cheese layered over sweet potato fries. They say it’s not pretty to look at, but the taste is pretty amazing!
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- sunshine & 30’s — FAAANNNNTASTIC day!
Last month Ashton mentioned ice fishing as a possible birthday adventure. Sounds fun, right?
Quick google search, followed by a phone call to Big Ed’s & our reservation on Dillon Reservoir was set.
Woke crazy early on Saturday – sure it’s snowing, but we’re scheduled to be on a frozen lake by 9am.
Unfortunately, our state’s only east-west through-way, I-70, was operating at a standstill – multiple accidents. 3 hours later, highway closed just past Georgetown. ARGH! Plan B? Enjoyed breakfast at the Happy Cooker & rescheduled for ice fishing Sunday.
Day 2, another early start. Arrived in plenty of time to help our guide set-up & drill holes with an electric ice auger. 4 feet of solid ice, fluffy snow & sunshine. Beautiful lake, beautiful day.
Fishing Guide Randy started us out with jigs, then bait. Salmon eggs. Two nibbles but never a real bite. Ash, our experienced fisherwoman, dropped line & soon after snagged a small rainbow trout.
An hour later, a 2nd trout (which she threw back). And a third which jumped line after cresting the surface.
Ashton 3, everyone else ZERO. Runner-up honors to Tom who reeled in at least 4 yard-long sticks. AND special thanks to Matt who chauffeured us cross state – not once, but twice.
Ended the day with Randy talking up Ashton – and only Ashton – on fly fishing this summer, while the rest of us stood around hoping to be included. LOL>
Sunshine, snow & 3 fish — what’s not to love? Ice fishing in the Rockies, highly recommended 🙂
UPDATE:
Later I prepared Ash’s catch while everyone was showering. HUGE FAN of rainbow trout! Tay-stee 🙂
CLICK to WATCH ‘Ice Fishing (Dillon Reservoir, CO)’
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- I-70 closed: no Saturday ice fishing
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- downtown Georgetown
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- Plan B — breakfast & hot drinks at the Happy Cooker
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- BUFFALO!
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- Day 2 – Dillon Reservoir
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- electric ice augers ROCK!
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- laddling ice & snow from our fishin’ hole
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- drop the line ’til it hits lake bottom
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- switched from jig to bait
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- in a pinch, use salmon eggs
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- first strike?
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- fisherwoman & her catch
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- err…catches
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- Ash 3, everyone else — ZERO
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- tasty rainbow trout – thanks Ash!
3 years in Colorado and zing – Denver’s first Super Bowl appearance since 1999. The Broncos have been killing it all season. Quarterback Peyton Manning set all-time passing records and won most every major athletic award this year – including MVP & SI’s Sportsman of the Year. This is our year!
Ash & Tom now live in Colorado but are huge Giants fans. This year’s Super Bowl was played in New Jersey – for the 1st time ever (in Giants stadium). Coincidence? I think not. Serendipity – this year’s Super Bowl is ours!
Why do we care? The Super Bowl is much more than a football game. There’s crazy big budget commercials, the halftime show – and of course, Super Bowl FOOD.
You call for Super Bowl food and I deliver.
Wings, jalapeno poppers, BBQ chicken pizza & black bean salsa (with chips). Agreed, Ashton delivered. FAAAANNNNNTASTIC!
Unfortunately after all that buildup, the three of us were the only ones to show up to the Big Show.
Broncos flubbed the opening snap, ball bounced off Manning’s helmet & the Seahawks scored a safety. Three hours later, just never got any better – 43-8, sad sad situation.
Don’t ever wanna relive that game, but already looking forward to leftovers. Thanks Ash 🙂
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- BBQ chicken pizza
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- black bean salsa
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- wings & jalapeno poppers
