DMSki 2020 was the last YOE before the first lockdown in 2020. It was only fitting that DMSki was the first official YOE in our not-quite-post-COVID era of office re-openings. Our crew took precautions before starting the festivities – everyone had to receive a negative PCR test result prior to the weekend. Once we all arrived in Denver or Breckenridge, we took rapid tests to be safe.

New House, Who’s This?

After many years of renting the same lodge in Silverthorne, we decided on something a little different! The new house was conveniently located in Breckenridge. The majority of DMSkiers with Epic Passes were able to take one of Breckenridge Mountain’s shuttle buses to and from the slopes each day. However, the most gung-ho skiers wanted to ensure they made first and last chair every day with no wasted time. They insisted that the walk to and from the slopes wasn’t that bad!

First, we explored all 3 floors to help each other locate which of the 13 bedrooms we had each selected for the trip. The new house also meant a new kitchen to get familiar with as we cooked breakfast and dinner each day. 

As usual, our talented DMChefs did not disappoint. Morning menus ranged from breakfast burritos to more frozen waffles than we could consume. Dinners featured a spaghetti bar, pizza, and the most delicious sliders (shoutout to Oliver Reed for almost single-handedly preparing the tastiest tiny sandwiches!)

The new house featured a snazzy gear room to stash our equipment in the evenings. The boot rack was equipped with warming tubes – perfect for pre-heating our boots and gloves before chilly mornings on the mountain!

Triumphs & Tribulations 

DMSki is such a fun event, it attracts skiers and snowboarders of all levels from offices all over the country. Seasoned natives lead the charge down the more challenging slopes on the mountain. Although snow conditions were not ideal this year, the most adventurous skiers chose to brave the wind and hard packed snow to check out the Peak 7 bowls – including John Williams, who decided to bring a snowboard on the trip this year instead of his regular skis.

John recalls heading down the treacherous slope at the top of double black diamond Whale’s Tail thinking, “this would be a really bad time to fall”, only to see Nikhil sliding headfirst through a particularly rough patch. A little rattled but high on adrenaline, the adventurers made it down the challenging slope in one piece… and did not feel the need to do a second lap.

Stephen Shull successfully navigated through a challenging tree-filled mogul run called “Ore Bucket”. Needless to say, his pose indicates he struck gold! Gabby Martinez, who recently relocated from Texas to our Denver office, reports that she made it down her first-ever black diamond with the Ikon pass squad at Copper mountain.

This trip marked Ramone’s first time ever on skis. He recounted a messy “yard-sale” fall on one run on the first day, but by the last day ,“I knew my goal. I needed to finish Lower Lehman without falling. After learning parallel turns and practicing them all day, I embarked down Lower Lehman. Taking the widest possible turns, I slowly descended down the slope without falling and declared my trip a success!”

My group spent Friday afternoon perfecting our turns through the glades on Peak 7 in search of an elusive woodsy hut. In a rare moment of overconfidence, I opted to “send it” over (what I thought was) a small snow-covered log. I quickly realized the mound of snow was hiding the rest of the tree and landed hard on my face, cutting our hut hunt short for the day.

With ski patrol’s blessing, despite having no kids in tow, we took ourselves through Rip’s Ravine and found some other fun huts instead.

With a mild concussion, I thought I was going to have the worst crash/injury story of the trip – only to walk back into the house and see Tommy sporting a black eye and a chipped tooth (as well as a concussion of his own).

Tommy had also been enjoying catching some air on one of his runs and hit a bump with a kicker on it. The landing area was obscured by the jump itself which led to a miscalculation between amount of air gained on the jump and distance to the surprisingly flat landing.

Thankfully, all our DMC cohorts are smart enough to wear helmets… maybe next year we’ll exercise a little more caution to look before we leap.

On Saturday, a second search squad was successful in hunting down the smoke hut I missed out on. Despite some unpleasant odors around the hut, the interior decorations were so cool it was definitely worth the adventure to find it.

Hot Toddies and Hot Tub Bodies

The best way to nurse some tired and bruised bodies after hard days on the slopes is with some après ski beverages and a nice, warm hot tub. At the new house, getting to the hot tub required walking through the snow (note to self: bring sandals next year)!

The first crews back from the slopes got first dibs on the best spots in the tub, and front row seats to watch others slip and slide down the increasingly icy path to enter.

 
Hot to cold transitions are good for circulation, right? Maybe that’s why some crazy people chose to jump into the icy stream next to the hot tub when they started to get a little too toasty. “Just jump in the stream, Nikhil. Everyone is doing it!”

Big Hydration

After the retirement of an old favorite game called “big container”, this year’s DMSki crew invented a new game dubbed “big hydration”. The rules are pretty simple: obtain the biggest vessel you can find, fill it with water, and pass it around chanting “BIG HYDRATION.”

It was definitely a hit and we’re looking forward to introducing it at future DMC events where people could use some extra hydration.

All Fun & Games

Rejuvenated by the hot tub, hydration games, and dinner, the squad broke out into groups for all sorts of games every night. Some of our DMC game night classics made regular appearances: Blokus, Codenames, and Bananagrams.

We also tried out some new games, like ‘Skull’ – an easy game to learn. Skull involves betting, a little bit of luck, and a sprinkle of social psychology.

The layout of the new house meant quieter games that required more focus took place upstairs, while the rowdy crew of beer drinkers headed down to the basement to set up some more high-energy games. Supply chain issues made red solo cups hard to come by in Breckenridge village!

Two brave soldiers ventured out to get ping pong balls and passably suitable cups from the local convenience store so we could play stack cup and bobsled.  

“Ski” You Next Year!

With all the remote new hires and people working from home, there were many faces on this trip that I didn’t recognize on the first night! But after four days of playing games, sharing stories, and even occasionally talking about work, I can’t help but be grateful for finally being able to spend time together.

As we bade goodbye and packed up our cars to head home, we speculated about which office would be the next to throw a YOE this year. One thing’s for sure – barring any more ¬unforeseen circumstances – we will all be first in line to sign up for DMSki 2023.

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We kicked off the 2020 YOE calendar with another spectacular weekend in Silverthorne, CO. Forty DMCers and their plus ones took on Vail, Breck, Beaver Creek, and Copper Mountains with steeze (that’s mountain slang for style + ease).

Shenanigans on the Slopes

Blue skies and warm weather welcomed the DMC crew to the slopes each day! With a few inches of fresh powder overnight on Wednesday, we had beautiful conditions all weekend at every resort. Our crew has grown significantly since the early years of DMSki trips, and we split up to different mountains during the day. About half the group had passes for Copper Mountain, and the other half explored different Vail resorts each day.

Blue Sky Basin at Vail really lived up to its name this year. The Epic Pass gang met for lunch outside at the peak where we enjoyed the warm sun, gorgeous views, and snow angels in fresh, deep powder.

Some of us took “hitting the slopes” a bit too literally. With almost everyone skiing and riding all day from the first chair until 4 pm, there was certainly no shortage of “yard sale” wipeouts, mogul mishaps, and close encounters with trees. Thankfully, no one was seriously hurt – Jon’s jacket took the most damage, but still didn’t keep him off the slopes for the rest of the trip!

My crew, bored of the flat catwalk run we were taking down the front side of Vail, decided to take a shortcut back down to the base. We ended up on a black diamond trail called “Pepi’s Face,” infamous for being steep and icy in the afternoons, and became unwitting participants in a wipeout contest. Dozens of onlookers from nearby restaurants and base area gave a riotous standing ovation to Mike for a spectacular wipeout after hitting a particularly icy patch on our last run of the day.

Mountain Munchies

Even though our group varies significantly in skill level and fearlessness on the slopes, we all made sure to meet up for lunch each day. It was great to meet up with the whole squad and compare notes on our favorite runs while we refueled for the rest of the day.

John King made sure the entire Copper Mountain crew was aware of his favorite waffles at Flyer’s lodge.

On Saturday, part of the Epic Pass group decided to venture out Beaver Creek mountain. Rumor has it, Beaver Creek gives out free cookies every day! Sure enough, as we made the trek through the ski village up to our first lift in the morning, we were each handed a chocolate chip cookie. At 3 pm (which is official “Cookie Time”), we made sure we were at the base of Centennial Express to receive two more fresh, warm cookies each.

The Copper crew ended each of their days with an Apres Ski beer at the Ten Mile Tavern with gorgeous views and great company. 

Apres-Ski Adventures

DMC engineers are some of the biggest board gamers I’ve ever met – we all had plenty of opportunities to jump in on new games and old favorites when we got back to the house each evening. From the most intense game of Bohnanza, a bean farming card game, to thought-provoking rounds of Codenames (“Is a ship a place?”), there was no shortage of (mostly) friendly competition to join in on.

A new favorite this year was a card game called “Oh Fruck!” which combines rules from games like Uno and King’s Cup. We tried to play with more than the recommended number of players. We ended up going around for over an hour as we tried (and often failed) to remember all the special rules, which might require someone to wiggle their spirit fingers over the card they just played while saying, “I love you, Madam Diet Coke. 10-4.”

Even a “plumbing emergency” at the house that shut off our water for two hours one evening couldn’t put a damper on the fun. In fact, despite the lack of water, no one in the group stopped doing what they were doing. The dinner crew kept things cookin' to deliver mac and cheese, chili, and BBQ chicken. Board gamers still enjoyed snacks and beverages… although perhaps with a little extra moderation, since the bathrooms were off-limits. People even still enjoyed the outdoor hot tub.

DMC Directors and DMSki veterans, Jesse and Tim, made sure the late-night party crowd at the house had enough to eat by baking up batches of garlic bread and cookies all Saturday night. We were happy for more snacks after three tough days of skiing.

Farewells and Flights Home

Saturday night brought in several more inches of snow, so some people soldiered on for a fourth day on the slopes. The rest of us cleaned, packed, and rubbed some aloe on our sunburned goggle lines as we bid goodbye to our friends and coworkers from almost every different DMC office. Despite returning to work on Monday feeling like I need a vacation from my vacation, I’m already looking forward to DMSki 2021!

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Every year, each DMC office hosts a Yearly Office Event (YOE) open to any DMC employee and their plus one. Team members from across the country meet near one of DMC's offices for a long weekend of fun that is partially sponsored by DMC.

This year, DMC’s New York and Boston offices combined forces to host their YOE together in Newport, Rhode Island (or YOE-de island, if you will). We rented two vacation houses for the weekend.

Fun in Boston

The DMC Boston office kicked off the festivities the week leading up to the YOE. On Tuesday night, we took a trip to Bow Market, a courtyard with food and drinks in Somerville near the Boston Office. After sharing an assortment of empanadas, poutine, and poke bowls for dinner we headed to Aeronaut Brewing Company for some beers and board games. 

On Wednesday, the party continued at Boda Borg! Boda Borg is a questing experience where you and a team of three to five people navigate through rooms with physical and mental challenges trying to escape before the time runs out. Boston is home to the only Boda Borg location in the United States. 

The beginning of our Boda Borg adventure.

Welcome to Rhode Island

By Friday night, our YOE was in full swing! To kick off the weekend, we enjoyed an amazing dinner of homemade ramen. Altogether we had 37 attendees representing the Seattle, Chicago, Houston, New York, and Boston offices. 

Adam enjoying Ramen he cooked for the YOE
 
On Saturday, we all took time to enjoy the gorgeous weather with local activities! One crew took to the beach, indulged in lunch at Flo’s Clam Shack, and visited a winery. Another cohort explored the Newport Cliff walk and then toured some of Newport’s famous mansions. 

Just after spotting a jelly fish in the water on our Newport cliff walk
 
We gathered back together at our rental properties and enjoyed another delicious homecooked meal of Korean braised chicken and maghmour, a Lebanese roasted eggplant dish. We played games and took advantage of the nice weather in our backyard and on our rooftop deck. 

On Sunday morning, we started our last day in YOE-de Island with pancakes and coffee. After cleaning and packing up, it was time to say goodbye to the beautiful view and head home. 

Panoramic view from the porch at our rental property
 
On the way home we couldn’t resist a couple more pitstops at the Tennis Hall of Fame and Sweet Berry Farm for apple picking. 

The Tennis Hall of Fame
 
It was a great weekend of bonding with DMCers from around the country and exploring more of the East Coast. Another fantastic DMC YOE in the books!

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Occasionally as adults, we get the chance to relive some of our childhood highlights, and that’s exactly what DMC Chicago decided to do this summer. We hosted a summer camp-themed YOE in Sawyer, MI and invited all the other DMC offices to join in on the fun!

What exactly is a YOE?

If you’re not familiar with this DMC acronym, YOE stands for Yearly Office Event. Each year, every DMC office has the chance to host a weekend of fun in their part of the country and attract visitors from all the other offices. Past examples include hiking in Seattle, skiing in Denver, and bronc riding at a Texas rodeo. 

How you pronounce said acronym is a topic of heated debate here at DMC and may vary depending on your current office location, your mood that day, or your desire to make the word pun-able with your home city. For example, here in Chicago, we went with the (correct) long ‘o’ pronunciation of YOE when dubbing our summer camp, Camp ChicaYOE (Shic-ah-YOH). As in, “YO MOE, did you GO to the YOE in ChicaGO?” 

Despite being adults, we managed to remember how to climb trees

Camp Kickoff

We kicked off the weekend with a rooftop cookout at the DMC Chicago office. We welcomed everyone to Camp ChicaYOE with a chance to sign the camp banner and tie-dye their very own Camp ChicaYOE t-shirt. While the tie-dye was a blast, everyone left talking about the yummy s’mores cupcakes made by one of DMC Chicago’s resident bakers and Camp Director, Justine.

Before we headed out for the night, we picked teams and learned the rules for the weekend-long scavenger hunt and got a glimpse at the merit badges and the coveted gold medals that would be awarded throughout the trip.

(Left) S'mores have reached a whole new level. (Right) The coveted prize.

The Early Bird Gets the… Wine?

Friday morning, some eager beavers hit the road early to take a wine tour near our campsite. Okay, okay, so visiting wineries probably wasn’t on anyone’s camp schedule as kids, but how could we have camp in the middle of the Michigan Wine Trail without making a few stops?

Waiting for wine

We managed to keep the summer camp vibes going (even while tasting wine) by climbing trees and scoping out possible scavenger hunt finds. While no one took home a sommelier level of wine knowledge, we did take home several bottles—which is just as good.

Last stop on the wine tour. We were NOT allowed to drive the tractor.

Fun and Games

Everyone met back at camp and picked bunks. We were lucky enough to stay at an awesome property in Sawyer, MI that featured tiny cabins with bunk beds, a fire pit, all the lawn games you could ask for, and plenty of room for tents (for the purists among us).

We spent the days playing lawn games and found out that several among us had hidden skills at cornhole and KanJam, and others discovered newfound talents at a mysterious Swedish lawn game called Kubb, which we were not entirely sure how to pronounce (or perhaps play) correctly. We sang campfire songs, made friendship bracelets and played ghosts in the graveyard when the sun went down—all the summer camp classics.

Cozy cabins for camping

Hitting the Beach

We took advantage of our four-minute drive to the beach and spent a lazy day laying out on the sand. The crazy brave among us explored new heights and tested their mettle, hanging hammocks well above sea level and braving the still quite icy waters of Lake Michigan. Meanwhile, we land lovers competed for the “most protected from the sun” merit badge and (mostly) made it through the day unburnt.

Adam just hangin' at the beach

Last Day of Camp

All great things must come to an end, and so we eventually had to pack up camp, exchange friendship bracelets, sign pillowcases and promise to write our camp besties. Of course, merit badge points were added up, the scavenger hunt victors were revealed, and ultimately one team stood CAMP-ions for the week. It was all pretty campy. 

Blue S.N.A.K.E.S. sporting their gold medals and performing their team chant 

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What's a YOE?

YOE stands for “Yearly Office Event” (and its pronunciation is hotly contested across the company). Every year, each office has the option to invite colleagues from across the company for a couple of days of showing off their stomping grounds.

DMC employees fly across the country to work in a different office and have fun with people they don’t get to see very frequently. It’s a great tool to put a face and a personality to people we work with every day.

The Great Northwest

Seattle has a plethora of fun options within driving distance: ski resorts, mountains for hiking, a major Canadian city, and even a rainforest! We decided to show off the city during the weeknights and head to the Cascade Mountains for a long weekend.

We treated our visitors to a boat tour of the Puget Sound on Monday night. As the locals say, “The Mountain was out!”

We took our guests on Tuesday night to a local favorite spot, Optimism Brewery. We had a few beers and played some games like Pass the Pigs and One-Eyed Jack.

Wednesday we played a DMC staple Killer Queen at Jupiter Bar in Queen Anne. Killer Queen is a 5-on-5 arcade game that can bring out the competitive side of many DMCers. It was League Night, so we got to play with some seasoned vets who showed us the ropes.

Thursday was our last night in Seattle. We went to Golden Gardens, a beach park in Seattle, to watch the sun go down over the Olympic Mountains across the Sound. We had a fire and made S’mores!

Mountain Escape

We stayed in a couple of amazing houses in Cle Elum, WA. We shared the responsibility of cooking meals and cleaning up from them. After dinner, we’d play games like Secret Hitler and Codenames.

Friday, many of us went on a hike to Lake Colchuck. The weather was great even though some of the mountains still had snow on them.

Saturday was a bit windy, but that didn’t stop a few brave souls from trying to canoe and kayak. Only a few of them ended up falling in the water!

Those who didn’t boat hung out near the houses and played lawn games and played with Dan Freve's dog, Scout.

On Sunday, many of the visitors left the mountains to see Seattle one last time before flying back to their respective cities. We had DMCers from six offices – more than any other YOE! Stay tuned for more on other offices’ YOEs in the coming months!

YOE Quote Board

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What is a YOE Anyway?

DMC’s YOEs, or Yearly Office Events, are a partially sponsored gathering of DMC employees and their friends that each of our offices hosts near their location.

In Denver, we hit the ski slopes, in Chicago, we go to the lake, Boston likes to head to the shore, and our newest offices will have their first YOEs soon. Previously, DMC Houston has hosted a Houston Rodeo YOE (2016) and a San Antonio YOE (2017).

Houston…We Have a Party!

This year the party got started with most of the crew arriving on Wednesday afternoon. We kicked things off with a crawfish boil hosted and prepared by DMC Houston’s Head Sheriff (Project Director) Jason Mayes. For many, it was the first time experiencing this spicy, southern delicacy, colloquially called “mudbugs.” 

After dinner, we headed to Midtown to partake in a “Pedal Pub” ride. A team of 16 people at a time (including a bartender) worked together to pedal the giant, bike bar around a handful of Midtown’s hottest bars. This year even featured a stein race at the German-themed Bar Munich.

Target Practice

On Thursday the crew headed out to George Bush Park to partake in one of Texas’s long-running traditions: shooting guns! Everyone tried their hand at obliterating some clay pigeons on the shotgun range, and a smaller crew spent some time at the rifle range as well.

Giddy-Up to the Rodeo 

Later that evening, we drove out to Crosby, TX to check out the Crosby Fair and Rodeo. The Crosby rodeo hosts all the events you would expect: steer wrestling, team roping, saddle bronc riding, bareback riding, barrel racing, bull racing, and, of course, mutton-bustin’. 

Following the rodeo, DMCers got a taste of some Texas country music with performances by up-and-coming artists Adam Hood and Parker McCollum.

Heading West to Hill Country

After a late night at the rodeo, the group got up early and piled into the DMC Houston office for our monthly all-company meeting. Following the meeting, we jumped into a Westbound caravan to check out the Texas Hill Country with an obligatory stop at Buc-ee’s along the way. 

A group went to explore the natural swimming holes at McKinney Falls State Park, while the rest of the crew headed to Wimberly Valley Winery to sample some Texas wines. After sampling all they had to offer, we picked up a barbecue feast featuring one of Texas’s oldest and most famous pit BBQ restaurants, The Salt Lick.

McKinney Falls

Wine Tasting 

The night carried on at a lake house in Seguin, TX, with a variety of card games, board games, swimming, and even a bit of dancing on the deck!

Floating the Guadalupe

Saturday morning kicked off a small group participating in a Beer Mile competition. Afterward, we hopped onto our very own party bus to ride in style to Horseshoe Bend on the Guadalupe River; a trip complete with car karaoke, dancing, and one emergency stop at Buc-ee’s.

The party didn’t miss a beat as we set off down the river in our tubes. Cold beverages kept us cool on the journey as we made our way down the river, stopping at the famed Party Rock. 

When we all returned to the house, we continued the evening with a cookout followed by more games, swimming, and relaxation.

Sunday morning came too soon, and the group packed up to make our way back to the lands from which we hailed. 

Back in Houston, we are now anxiously awaiting the 2019 Houston YOE-DEO!

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It's a great opportunity to have fun together and hang out with co-workers who live in other cities. As we expand, it's also a great chance to get to know cities that we may not have been to before.

Thursday – Relaxi Taxi

The fun began Thursday evening, with our coordinated Welcome Party ready to embrace our out-of-town guests.

By lunchtime, the New York office was all abuzz! We satiated the starving masses with pizza from one of Brooklyn's finest, Roberta's! What is Roberta's? Pizza, with a non-descript front entrance, rustic exposed-beam ceiling, and twinkly lights.

Essentially, the epitome of Brooklyn. Technically, we got our pizza from the Roberta's Manhattan location, so it was way less hipster, but it has hipster roots!

At the end of the day, we were ready to head out into the city! We made our way to Fat Cat in the West Village where we grabbed some beers and played shuffleboard and ping pong while a live band played in the background.

Friday: Embracing Our Inner Tourist

New Yorkers take their bagels and fish seriously. We started off the day right with bagels nearly the size of your head and a smattering of Nova, Sturgeon, and Scottish Salmon from two famous appetizing stores, Barney Greengrass and Russ and Daughters.

Then the Manhattan tourism began! We made our way up to Central Park, making sure to stop by Levain Bakery for their people-wait-in-line-around-the-block-for-these cookies and the Dakota (former home to John Lennon).

At the park, we treated ourselves to mid-morning mimosas, then headed downtown where we checked out architecture, including the beautiful New York Public Library.

We grabbed lunch at Grand Central, where Jesse and Christian bonded over their unique pizza folding style.

Finally, we ended up at the top of World Trade Center. What. A. View!

We rejuvenated after our over 10-mile walking journey with an amazing dim sum dinner in Chinatown.

And then headed off to the AirBnB, complete with both an outdoor patio AND roof deck, for games.

Saturday – No Sleep 'Til Brooklyn

In keeping with the weekend theme of food, we started our day with ALL THE FOOD at Smorgasburg, an open-air food market in Williamsburg. We sampled such delights as spaghetti donuts, home-made ringdings, and juice from actual fruit cups!

No meal is complete without beer. After we had plumped ourselves up, we headed over to Brooklyn Brewery for a tour, tasting, and games!

With Jon as our guide, we had a brief tour of Brooklyn as he walked us over to our next surprise location: a secret pinball bar behind a laundromat!

Our last stop was the Brooklyn Bridge! By car, subway, bike, or foot – everyone chose their favorite mode of transportation and met up at the base of the Brooklyn Bridge for Grimaldi's pizza and ice cream before walking across this historic landmark and taking in the stunning views.

At the end of another long day, we reconvened at the AirBnB for more games, hang outs, and construction of interesting sleep structures.

Sunday: Recuperation Day

Most people headed home Sunday, but those who remained finished off the weekend with some final views via the tram to Roosevelt Island and some rest and relaxation in the park.

We ended the weekend with full bellies and lots of memories of exploring Manhattan and Brooklyn. Thanks to everyone who joined us in making the first New York YOE a success!

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Hello Boston Harbor

For our first night in Boston, we made plans to explore Boston Harbor on a sailboat. Our group of five boarded the Winter, a large racing sailboat, and set out at a brisk pace.

When we were clear of shore, we put some muscle into the lines and lifted our sails headed toward Spectacle Island. As we sailed beneath a bright blue sky half-filled with fluffy clouds, planes lifting off from nearby Logan airport joined the seagulls soaring overhead.

Our most experienced sailor and captain, Dan, taught us how to tack the sails. It took some teamwork and flexing our muscles, but we managed without tipping the boat over.

It wasn't long before we dropped our anchor near Spectacle Island to enjoy some snacks and locally-brewed cider, beer, and wine as the boat rocked back and forth in the waves.

When the sun began to set, we lifted our anchor and set sail for the harbor once again. The sky was lit up in an incredible range of golden colors as the night rolled in. We capped off a great day by heading back to the office for camp-in with a no shortage of deep fried treats. 

New Hampshire Bound

As DMC has grown, we've gotten creative with locations and housing to accommodate the number of people attending Yearly Office Events. This year, we booked three houses in Mittersille Alpine Resort just outside Franconia, NH. Each house took turns hosting meals and game nights.

Given the location and time of year, it felt reminiscent of summer camp where everyone spends the day getting sweaty, comes home smelling of deeps woods bug spray or sun screen, and rinses off just in time to scarf down dinner before catching another amazing sunset.

Rock Climbing

Day one in New Hampshire was mostly dedicated to rock climbing. We were lucky to have some experienced lead climbers with us who set up ropes for less experienced adventurers to climb on. Climbing outside was a big change from climbing in an indoor gym, however, the biggest differences between indoor and outdoor climbing can be boiled down to just a few important details:

1. Bugs
2. Climbing Holds 

Indoor climbing is gloriously free of mosquitos, but the view is lacking. Although gyms will build routes with holds they install, searching out a hold you can trust on a real rock face offers an added challenge. You might have hints left in chalk showing you what a previous climber tried, but an outdoor climb is a lot more open to interpretation the further you make it up.

After conquering the rock, we escaped nagging mosquitos and cooled sore muscles in a nearby creek before heading back to our alpine village.

Hiking the White Mountains

Over the next few days, we broke into groups of various sizes for hikes of all sizes. Some trails were a modest mile or two, while others stretched on for more than 10 miles and were aimed at conquering Mount Washington's peak. 

Our Favorite YOE Moments

Having formerly worked in the Boston office, one of my favorite parts of the YOE was just getting back to Boston for a few days. Working at my old desk, seeing the DMCers I used to see every day, and meeting a few new ones. New Hampshire was beautiful! I had a blast hiking, rock climbing, and swimming in the lake. – Ryan Landwehr

I really enjoyed seeing Boston from the harbor when we went sailing. The view from the New Hampshire house also was great while I got a little knitting done. I had never been to New Hampshire so it was neat to see a little of the state and nice to have real maple syrup everywhere. – Anne Patterson

I think my favorite part about going to the Whites was that everyone could do as much or as little as they wanted. You could do multiple difficult hikes and reach the tallest point in New Hampshire or you could sit in the serenity of the mountains and just wait for the beautiful sunset. – Phil Schaffer

My favorite moment was probably when they sent out a lifeguard to keep an eye on me since I had been swimming for 45+ minutes at the end of the roped area in Echo Lake. – Frank May

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So, there were high expectations for DMC Chicago to host its second annual Yearly Office Event (YOE). Each DMC office hosts a YOE every year for visitors from our other offices. It's a great chance to enjoy fun activities together and relax with co-workers who live in other cities.

If I had to pick one word to describe this year's Chicago YOE, it would be BOAT-TASTIC!

Boat-Tastic DMC

Our first out-of-town guests from the New York and Boston offices arrived on Wednesday and the YOE officially began. DMC's president, Frank Riordan, treated a group of us with a ride on his boat.

We cruised out of Belmont Harbor onto Lake Michigan, then headed downtown and onto the Chicago River. Under the shadow of the city's skyscrapers, we docked the boat and had a delicious dinner at the House of Blues. The evening was topped off with a fireworks show over the lake near Navy Pier.

Boat-Tastic Architecture

On Thursday, more out-of-towners from our Houston office joined us. We headed up to DMC's rooftop patio when the clock struck 5 to socialize, then showed our remote co-workers just what Chicago deep dish is all about with Pequod's pizza.

"After everyone had their fill of pizza and beer, the group headed downtown to embark on a historical architecture tour along the Chicago River. We took in some of the city’s best sights, and learned a few fun facts that surprised even the Chicago natives." -Lexi Torres of DMC Chicago

Training in a Different City

We were up early Friday to attend DMC's Monthly Company Meeting. Each month, the offices in all six cities meet virtually for a variety of updates on the status of the company. This followed a series of other trainings held throughout the week. A benefit of having remote employees in town is sharing these skills and knowledge in person. 

"Getting to be a part of roundtables, user groups, and even weekly status meetings gives a different insight to how different offices operate and how people think and react to different situations." – Phil Schaffer of DMC Boston

The rest of the day passed in giddy excitement, all of us eager for the weekend to begin.

Boat-Tastic Michigan

When the workday ended, we drove to Saugatuck, MI to set up camp at a beautiful house on Silver Lake.

"After exploring the house and the lakeshore, we all pitched in to get dinner started. Adam led the charge cooking salmon on cedar planks topped with goat cheese. We ate dinner on the huge back deck and started discussing what games we wanted to play that night." – Courtney Mitchell of DMC Chicago

Saturday morning was very relaxed. Everyone took their time waking up and eating a delicious breakfast. We hung around the house for the first part of the day playing yard games, fishing, and preparing for our next big boat outing.

That afternoon, we rented a pontoon boat and cruised one of the rivers that feeds into Lake Michigan. We couldn’t have asked for a more perfect day – the sun was shining, the drinks were flowing and the music was jamming as we sailed along.

We also found a nice cove along the way and anchored our boat so we could jump off, swim, and explore the sand dunes!

"We returned to the house later that evening and continued to fish and play yard games, with the addition of a cheap slip & slide that we impulse bought from Walgreens. We recorded some pretty epic first-person videos of the slide in action!" – Ryan Landwehr of DMC Houston

Saugatuck Exploring

On Sunday morning, we woke up to the smell of baked oatmeal, egg casserole and sizzling bacon made by our very own Jimmy Brady. We ended the weekend by exploring the town of Saugatuck, including the delicious fried fish at Phil's Bar and Grille.

The weekend came to a close, leaving us with happy memories and rosy cheeks. I think it's safe to say we are all counting down the days until we set sail on our next Chicago YOE adventure.

Check out other fun events that are going on at DMC.

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In Boston, we decided that everyone needs to pronounce YOE as “yo-ee.” Many people from the Chicago office joined us on our trip, along with a few visitors from Houston and New York. 

The weekend started with relaxing on the beach in Cape Cod. The house that we rented was really close to the beach, which was great! We built sand castles, flew kites, and caught up on some reading. Some people also played cornhole on the beach. 

On Friday night, we had a huge cook out with lobsters and clams. Each DMCer contributed to our awesome meal and everyone was impressed by the unbelievable cooking talent within the group! Before we cooked our lobsters, we decided to have a lobster gladiator race. 

When the race was done, and a champion was crowned, the lobsters were cooked and dinner was served. Along with lobsters and clams, we had different types of kabobs and lots of beer. 

On Saturday, some people in the group took off to Martha’s Vineyard for the day. We boarded a 45 minute ferry and when we got there, we stopped for lunch at Nancy’s. The highlight of lunch was of course the seafood, but also the pina coladas.

At the vineyard, some people bought kites and flew them around the beach. Others rented bikes and went on a 12 mile bike ride, and it was gorgeous.  We biked all along the coast. The view was amazing and the bike ride itself was very fun.

The weekend ended with more time relaxing on the beach at Cape Cod, eating more seafood and drinking more beer. There were also lots of sunburns. We made s’mores on the last night, and it was Leigh’s first s’more ever! We finished off Sunday night by watching the newest Game of Thrones episode. All in all, it was a very successful, fun and relaxing YOE! 

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