The weather has been beautiful here lately. Even though I think I’d rather 20 feet of snow, it’s hard to dislike sunny short-sleeve top down weather. Highs in the upper 70’s, no humidity, few clouds. Jonah insists that May is the time to visit us in Colorado. Looks like you folks missed it. Except Imzadi. And Cynthia.

Last night I took Jonah to Il Vicino for pizza. Up until just now, I thought it was a local place, but it’s apparently got a few locations. This is in spite of Jonah telling me several times that it’s a chain. It’s good, fairly Italian Pizza cooked in a wood-fired brick oven. They also brew their own beer. We had a Quatro Stagioni, which as Jonah explained to the waiter who brought it to us, means “Four Seasons”. Just what can be what season is up to interpretation. In this case it was Artichoke (spring), Olive (summer), Mushroom (winter), Ham (fall). I think. The Pizzas are Italian-sized, which means one per person, but we just ordered one and split it.

After that, I realized it was still too early for the movie, so we walked down to Oscar’s (you’ve gotta love their logo) for some fried oysters. It routinely amazes us that Oscar’s has good oysters here in Colorado Springs. They were a little less than excellent this time, being a bit fishy, and they fried them with a corn meal batter, which they usually don’t do. I’m hoping it’s an off night, rather than a change. Oscar’s has incredibly inconsistent food. They also have two-fer-one draughts all day every day. We had Laughing Lab, which is also local.

After that, we walked back up to our local indie theatre to watch Son of Rambow. We had some New Belgium brews–gotta love it when the theatre serves beer. I had a Fat Tire, and Jonah a 1554. The movie was a lot better than I expected it to be. It wasn’t excellent, but it wasn’t bad, and I enjoyed watching it. The beer helped, i think.

After that, we walked to Jack Quinn’s for “Chips and Dip”. Translation: beer-battered, fried potato wedges covered in cheddar and bacon with curry dipping sauce. They’re excellent, just ask Ben and Amanda, who make us get them without the bacon. I think French Fries and variations therein are possibly the best food in the world. I had plenty of Newcastle with dinner, but Jonah was driving so she stuck to water. Otherwise she’d probably have gotten a cider. She always gets cider there. We also split a beef burger medium rare with cheddar on top. Jonah wanted the soup, but allowed as to how I could have more chips (fries) if I wanted. I did. And ate these with lots of vinegar.

We got to Jack Quinn’s at about 7:30pm. I know it was about 7:30pm because Stephanie (her real name is Katie) asked for my ID when I ordered a beer. I accosted her because I had to show ID at the door just to get into the place, and really, who cards me when I’ve got stubble? I’m not sure I’ll miss getting carded when I’m old enough, but then, my Dad gets carded all the time. He refuses. I don’t blame him.

We stuck around until 9pm, ordering and eating slowly until the music started. The music turned out to be the Jake Loggins Band, which was surprisingly good. Jake Loggins, despite being a skinny white dude, sings the blues like he means it. His bassist, Noel, was no Victor Wooten, but was still amazing. It made me wish I could produce music. We listened for a nice long time before Jonah finally wanted to leave.

We had originally planned to hit our fifth downtown location (Josh and John’s) for some ice cream on the way home, but Jonah was developing a headache (must have been the blues) and opted to forgo ice cream. She rarely opts to forgo ice cream.

All in all, it was a really nice night. Apologies to anyone who was drunkenly text messaged from Jack Quinn’s. Also, apologies to Rachel who gets an IM conversation blogged. And, now that I think about it, Dave as well. Also, if you’d like to be included on future drunk text messaging, but I don’t have your telephone number, you really should send it to me. Especially if I can’t spell your gmail address.