4th of July in Steamboat

I spent most of the morning of the 4th lying in bed, hungover from the "Stars, Stripes & Sequins" themed bicycle pub crawl the night before, considering whether or not I wanted to make the four hour trek up north to Steamboat. I finally had a weekend off from whitewater rafting. At noon I called "B" to confirm it was still o.k. for me and my pup to spend the weekend on his couch. I was on the road by one. Since he's a good buddy from SIU that I used to black out with quite frequently I knew this was gonna be good times. We drank lots of beers, barbecued, biked everywhere, rode some pretty rad trails, saw the Woodbox Gang and played shuffle board with local drunk "Florida Joe" at the Steamboat VFW. Things were good until we came home from the show to a house filled with piles of my dog's steaming turds. Apparently she had gotten into one of B's roommate's protein bars. Word to the wise; dog shit will destroy a carpet. Not cool Sydney, not cool. Other than my dog being a total spazz all weekend and my allergies getting the best of me, it was an awesome time. Then I had to drive home. Holy shit, don't ever travel on I-70 during the weekend, especially a holiday weekend. I spent 4 hours on a fifty mile stretch of road. Un-freakin'-real. So anyway, Steamboat is sick with an endless network of trails that are all accessible from almost every doorstep. I'll be going back in the winter if not sooner. Thanks to B and all his roomies for being so cool and I'm really sorry about the carpet.