A side note: My cross-browser testing cycle has been significantly streamlined lately, thanks to my switch to Mac hardware this past year, VMWare Fusion, and Xenocode’s browser virtual machines. I’d implore anyone who has trouble with this annoying but necessary part of web development to give this workflow a shot. Here’s my post-X-testing screenshot, showing IE6, 7, 8, Opera, Chrome, Safari, and FF Mac/Win. Cool!

Back in the summer of 2006, when I was a wee sophomore moving out of the CU dorms, I spent nine days on perhaps the nerdiest road trip ever taken. Driven by my friend Nick Bradley’s dream to visit every single county seat in the great state of Colorado (there are 64), Nick and I, along with our friends Ryan and Kristina, planned a route 3434 miles long (longer than the distance between Seattle and Miami) which visited every last nook and cranny in the state. To do this, I wrote a Python script which queried Google Maps for driving distances between each county seat in the state, and a Matlab program which approximated a Traveling Salesman solution for the matrix to give us the most efficient order in which to visit them. (I warned you it was nerdy.) If anyone thinks they could do it in much less than 3434 miles, I’d love to see a better route!

The trip was amazing: we visited some of the greatest strange tourist attractions, small towns and homemade castles in the state, and to prove that we visited each and every county seat, took a series of progressively more absurd snapshots in front of each and every county courthouse. And, since we were all engineers, we blogged the entire trip (including a map of our progress, miles traveled, and a careful log of each album listened to) from the road, at coffeeshops and truckstops, as it happened. That blog has been located here, but I’ve recently imported all the entries to my new blog on this domain. So, without any further adieu, please enjoy “The County Trip,” a nine-day road-blog, presented for the first time on cognitiveharmony.net:

Photo: Andrew Hyde

Photo: Andrew Hyde

Photo: Kit Seeborg

PCB’09 Diary:

7PM 1/23: PodCampers convene to decide the fate of tomorrow’s unconference. Much beer is consumed, (thanks to Slice of Lime,) though the only bottle openers present are a fork and Griffin’s wallet. Topics discussed include podcasting, wordpress plugins and hacks, Twittiquette, and animated .GIF’s. I sign up to talk about API’s and the Semantic Web.

2:30AM 1/24: I go to bed, and wish I hadn’t spent so much potential sleep time on tweaking my presentation for tomorrow.

9AM: Sleepy PodCampers devour Einstein bagels + coffee.

10AM: Neil Simon gives a great presentation on creating a WordPress plugin, something I was learning anyway for this blog. Includes handouts of all code, commented and annotated. I love my geeks.

11AM: Jeremy Tanner and friends talk about WordPress hacks. I never realized how many awesome WP plugins exist.

12PM: Discussion about Amazon’s EC2 elastic cloud services, led by Ronald Lewis. I’ve always wanted to give this a shot, but I always figured I had to pay an initial fee and be a l33t sysadmin to get started. In fact, Amazon charges only by bandwidth/storage, and has tons of pre-configured server images. I can launch a server instance from my iPod, and therefore feel like a badass. Thanks Ronald!

1PM: Eric, Griffin and I retire to Illegal Pete’s for some burrito action. We return to an open keg of K-9 Winter Ale, courtesy of Flying Dog, just in time for me to drink some courage before my 2PM preso!

2PM: I lead a relatively well-attended discussion about API’s and the future of the semantic web. It is filled with nuggets of brilliance from all involved. Afterwards, I have a cool dialogue with Jed White, and decide he is effin’ smart. See my presentation here.

3PM: After lots of meandering, I end up in a talk about advertising and new media, especially as they relate to podcasts. We decide that, while targeted advertisements via semantic contextual analysis (ie. GMail, Dapper et al) are cool, there is another variable involved: reputation. I am much more likely to buy or be interested in a product if it is directly mentioned by someone whose opinion I trust than if it just appears in their ad area, even it’s directly related to what I’m reading about.

4PM: The moment everyone has been waiting for arrives: PodCampers morph temporarily into zombies in order to learn the Thriller dance, led by Naomi. Jeremy posts a video online, to the chagrin/amusement of all involved:

5PM: More beer is consumed. Cornbread hates being called Cornbread. I bid a sad adieu to my PodFriends, and they head to Goremet (scary movies + scary food) in Denver. A long, great day comes to an end, and I leave feeling inspired.

Thanks again to all organizers, sponsors and attendees! This was an awesome event, and proves that a conference does not require lots of $$$ and expensive speakers to foster truly brilliant conversation.

Until then, you may occupy yourself with my resume.

We pulled into Nick’s driveway in Boulder at 7:20 PM on May 19th, after visiting every county seat in the state of Colorado! Ryan celebrated with this battle cry (70KB WAV file). Here’s photos from the last day on the road:

Last night, after traveling further than we expected, we stayed at a condo owned by a coworker of Nick’s dad’s. It was incredible! Thanks for letting us stay, Dave.

We watched the classic film 12 Angry Men, to help get us in a justice-y sort of mood for the last day of visiting courthouses.

Ryan looked like some sort of larva in his sleeping bag.

Our first stop was in Leadville, where we saw this strange house with an eyeball for a window (in the upper left).

We drove up around Leadville’s historic mining area and looked at all the old, abandoned mines.

There are all sorts of abandoned mining buildings in the area. We hiked up to this one, although we had no idea what it was for.

Leadville’s altitude is above 10,000 feet, so there was still some deep snow. Hiking in this snow is hard, and we all sank in past our knees every other step we took.

Ryan decided to jump off this ledge into the deep snow below…

…and promptly got stuck up to his waist. I’m not quite sure what he expected to happen, but the outcome was humorous.

We spent a good part of ten minutes digging him out. You can’t tell here, but Ryan was wearing shorts, and his normally-pasty legs turned a bright shade of pink.

This was the method of choice for sock-drying. We got some very strange looks from passers-by.

And this – Beau Jo’s Pizza in Idaho Springs – was our sustenance following the mine-hiking. The pizza here is so thick, you feel like a mountain man when you eat it. It just makes you want to grunt.

We crossed the Continental Divide another two times today, marking our 7th and 8th times overall. Here’s number seven on top of Fremont Pass…

…and number eight, inside Eisenhower Tunnel!

After a long day of driving, we finally reached Nick’s house, and were faced with the daunting task of unpacking the car…

The Bradleys had these balloons waiting for us, though! Thanks, Bradleys!

And thanks to everyone who’s been following this blog. It’s been a kick and a half. I’ll post a couple of final statistics and whatnot later on.

We visited 8 county seats today! Here’s the proof:

Leadville, Lake County

Georgetown, Clear Creek County

Gambling on the steps in Central City, Gilpin County.

Picking our noses in Golden, Jefferson County.

Littleton, Arapahoe County.

Attempting to lick our elbows in Denver, Denver County.

Brighton, Adams County

Rocking out! Our last county courthouse in Broomfield, Broomfield County.

We felt like we had to return to Boulder, for our last photo. Huzzah! 64 counties in nine days!

Our progress so far:

DAY NINE STATS:Miles Traveled – 269
Total Miles Traveled – 3434
County Seats Visited – 64
Percent of counties done – 100%

Leadville (Lake County)	5/19/06	8:39 AM
Georgetown (Clear Creek County)	5/19/06	11:02 AM
Central City (Gilpin County)	5/19/06	1:24 PM
Golden (Jefferson County)	5/19/06	2:15 PM
Littleton (Arapahoe County)	5/19/06	2:55 PM
Denver (Denver County)	5/19/06	4:01 PM
Brighton (Adams County)	5/19/06	4:58 PM
Broomfield (Broomfield County)	5/19/06	5:57 PM

Albums listened to:

• Rilo Kiley – Rilo Kiley
• Rogue Wave – Descended Like Vultures
• Miles Davis – Kind of Blue
• Rush – Chronicles
• The Mars Volta – Frances the Mute
• Ben Folds – Songs for Silverman
• Jack Johnson – In Between Dreams

Last night was our second and last night at Dan’s house. Thanks, Mary and Pete, for having us! …why is that mayonnaise on the front porch?

We got up early this morning, so we did a lot of this in the car today. Note: Kristina does not like this photograph.

When we got to Meeker, Ryan and Nick woke up enough to have a shoulder-touch fight. They do this a lot. Whoever gets their shoulder touched is the loser. (In my humble opinion, they’re both losers.)

Another shoulder-touch fight action shot. I just can’t look at the expression on Ryan’s face without laughing aloud.

Later, Kristina woke up for an excellent game of Hey Cow! (Right click and click Save As… 500KB WMV file)

This is another one of those photos where I’m not sure what’s going on. I think Nick is getting trampled by some iron sheep, and we’re encouraging them.

Another nice day of driving in the mountains: This is the view from Rabbit Ears Pass in Northeastern Colorado.

High altitude! There’s still more than enough snow for a snowball fight on Rabbit Ears Pass.

These two rocks, which apparently look like a rabbit’s ears, are the namesake of Rabbit Ears Pass. I think they look like two square rocks next to each other, but I suppose that name isn’t as catchy.

At the top of Rabbit Ears Pass, we all piled out of the car. Ryan ran off into this forest, and we wondered if he was making some sort of attempt to commune with the woods. He eventually returned though: he’d received a call from nature of a different sort.

We hit 3000 miles on our trip odometer today!

One of many, many shots of Ryan with his head out the window at high speeds. At some point, one has to wonder just how much human DNA he actually has.

We crossed the Continental Divide another three times today, marking our fourth, fifth, and sixth times overall. Here’s our fourth, at the top of Rabbit Ears Pass…

…our fifth, at the top of Willow Creek Pass…

…and our sixth time, at the top of Hoosier Pass.

We also saw this Continental Divide sign, and came within 50 feet of it, but we turned just before crossing the line, so it doesn’t actually count.

We visited 7 county seats today! Here’s the proof:

Meeker, Rio Blanco County

Craig, Moffat County. (Ryan? I’m not even going to ask.)

Steamboat Springs, Routt County. We’re upside down! Note: we tried doing handstands, but this was the best we could manage.

Dead on the steps in Walden, Jackson County.

Hot Sulphur Springs, Grand County. For this photo, we tried to get all of us in midair. Out of more than 20 attempts, this was the best photo we got!

Breckenridge, Summit County

Fairplay, Park County. It was the end of the day, and we were getting a little goofy.

Our progress so far:

DAY EIGHT STATS:Miles Traveled – 432
Total Miles Traveled – 3165
County Seats Visited – 56
Percent of counties done – 87.5%

Meeker (Rio Blanco County)	5/18/06	10:09 AM
Craig (Moffat County)	5/18/06	11:21 PM
Steamboat Springs (Routt County)	5/18/06	12:27 PM
Walden (Jackson County)	5/18/06	2:19 PM
Hot Sulphur Springs (Grand County)	5/18/06	3:44 PM
Breckenridge (Summit County)	5/18/06	5:34 PM
Fairplay (Park County)	5/18/06	6:23 PM

Albums listened to:

• Badly Drawn Boy – About a Boy Soundrack
• Bishop Allen – Charm School
• Josh Rouse – Subtitulo
• Tapes ‘n’ Tapes – The Loon
• The Libertines – The Libertines
• Loose Fur – Born Again in the USA
• Nada Surf – The Weight is a Gift
• The White Stripes – Get Behind Me Satan
• Soul Coughing – Ruby Vroom
• Stephen Malkmus – Stephen Malkmus
• Thelonious Monk & John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall (1957)

Today, we took it a little bit easier and hung out in the Roaring Fork Valley most of the day, visiting only three houses. It was nice to have a day to breathe before heading out at breakneck pace again!

Our first stop was at the Pitkin County Clerk and Recorder’s office in Aspen. Dan’s dad used to do a lot of work at the courthouse in Aspen, and we visited his old friend, Lyndee.

Across the street, we found the new record high gas price: $3.72 for regular unleaded in Aspen!

Next on the agenda: we went over to the playground on the Aspen Mall to play on their spectacular spinny things. We all got dizzy and sick, and enjoyed the strange looks from the moms and little kids.

For our next sidetrip, we drove up to Ashcroft, an old ghost town 11 miles outside of Aspen. Everything was going well, and we were all enjoying the scenery, when this happened: A very large bird left us a very large present on our windshield. Ryan shook his fist and vowed to get back at birdkind.

The drive was still quite scenic and gorgeous, as long as we looked out the side windows.

Here’s Ashcroft! A sign informed us that “Ashcroft was established early in 1880 as a mining camp. It was abandoned in the 1890’s when the silver boom ended. The town was a stage station on the old Taylor Pass Toll Road.” The sign also commanded us to “HELP PREVENT FOREST FIRES.”

The town was still in amazing shape. This is Ashcroft’s old hotel, restored in the 1970’s, which you can now walk around inside!

Ryan played in the river.

Later in the afternoon, we went to the Garfield County Courthouse in Glenwood Springs (see photo below), and saw Dan’s Aunt-but-not-really Judy! We also found that Glenwood Springs has quite an overabundance of helicopter seeds! (Right click and click Save As… 500KB WMV)

Next, we went to Eagle and saw Dan’s friend Jamie. We didn’t get a photo of her, but we got a photo of her car, which is nearly as good.

At the end of the day, we hiked up to Hanging Lake, near Glenwood Springs. All the snow was melting, and the water was really high!

Here’s Nick watching… something?

At the top, we saw a cool lizard! Ryan was going to touch it, but chickened out because he thought it was poisonous. Wimp.

Finally, we reached the trail’s namesake: Hanging Lake! This incredibly blue lake is perched hundreds of feet above a canyon, it’s like a little oasis.

Ryan climbed up the rocks to get a closer look at the waterfall.

Here’s the canyon the lake is located in. We hiked late in the day, so the canyon was all shaded. What a day!

We visited 3 courthouses today! Here’s the proof:

Aspen, Pitkin County. We’re all being Aspenites and talking on our cellphones!

Glenwood Springs, Garfield County

Eagle, Eagle County. Note our eagle poses (and Ryan’s monkey pose?).

Our progress so far:

DAY SIX STATS:Miles Traveled – 186
Total Miles Traveled – 2733
County Seats Visited – 49
Percent of counties done – 76.6%

Aspen (Pitkin County)	5/17/06	10:56 AM
Glenwood Springs (Garfield County)	5/17/06	2:11 PM
Eagle (Eagle County)	5/17/06	3:07 PM

Albums listened to:

• Pink Floyd – Atom Heart Mother
• Pink Floyd – Obscured by Clouds
• Badly Drawn Boy – The Hour of Bewilderbeast
• Best of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
• Thelonious Monk – Riffin’

Last night, we ate at Ryan’s grandparents’ house in Cortez, Colorado. It was great! Not only did we eat real food, Ryan’s grandma made us strawberry shortcake! Unfortunately, I don’t have a photo, because the shortcake’s awesomeness blinded my camera. Oh well.

Another successful night of camping at McPhee Reservoir, north of Cortez. We got in late and left early, so we didn’t get to truly enjoy the site. We did, however, have another great, if small, campfire.

This is what Ryan does every time we stop for gas. I think he enjoys it a little too much, but thanks Ryan.

Today, we drove through Ouray, Colorado. Wow! The scenery in all the mountain towns is neat, but Ouray is incredible.

Ouray is located in the middle of a box canyon with huge walls. People call it “Switzerland of the Rockies.”

After leaving Ouray, we went over Red Mountain Pass, which has some very cool tunnels. This one is just a hole, bored straight through the mountain.

This one’s even cooler: It’s slanted so that sliding rocks and water can go right over it.

When we got to Silverton, it was also beautiful. However, not everything was pretty. Like this: $3.34 for the cheap stuff. It’s the most expensive gas we’ve seen so far!

In Montrose, not only do they have a Sheriff’s car, they have Sherrifs’ Posse cars. They really say posse on them! The County Trip is kind of like a posse.

For awhile, we weren’t sure where to eat lunch. However, we soon spotted a Sonic. Wow. This made the day. Here’s Nick on the SonicPhone!

And Kristina enjoying her burger…

When we got to Grand Junction this afternoon, we had some time to kill, and went to a park to be lazy for a little while. What a nice day.

Dan’s enjoying the fresh air: None of us has showered for three days, so the inside of the car is getting a little… ripe.

Ryan jumped over this table, ’cause he’s awesome like that.

After a long day in driving, we arrived in El Jebel, near Basalt, at Dan’s house. Dan’s parents greeted us with this huge sign on the lawn! Yay for parents. A house to stay at means good food, apple pie, and most importantly, showers! Stay tuned: tomorrow, we’re taking a short break, visiting only three courthouses and wandering around the Roaring Fork Valley.

We visited 6 county seats today! Here’s the proof:

Telluride, San Miguel County

Ouray, Ouray County

Silverton, San Juan County

Montrose, Montrose County

Delta, Delta County

Grand Junction, Mesa County. That’s our West Side Story snapping pose.

Our progress so far:

DAY SIX STATS:Miles Traveled – 423
Total Miles Traveled – 2547
County Seats Visited – 46
Percent of counties done – 71.9%

Telluride (San Miguel County)	5/16/06	8:50 AM
Ouray (Ouray County)	5/16/06	10:21 AM
Silverton (San Juan County)	5/16/06	11:22 AM
Montrose (Montrose County)	5/16/06	1:09 PM
Delta (Delta County)	5/16/06	2:56 PM
Grand Junction (Mesa County)	5/16/06	4:08 PM

Albums listened to:

• The Shins – Chutes Too Narrow
• Elliot Smith – Either/Or
• The Who – Live at Leeds
• Engineers – Engineers
• The Elected – Sun, Sun, Sun
• Pavement – Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain
• The Hold Steady – Separation Sunday
• Death Cab for Cutie – Plans
• Iron and Wine – Our Endless Numbered Days
• Dave Matthews Band – Crash