Sunday afternoon ride

Today was the perfect day for a motorcycle ride. Blue sky, sunny, and mild temps made for a perfect fall ride. We decided to head east and eventually found ourselves riding up Loveland Pass. The crazy thing was that we thought that the day was perfect for riding motorcycles while others decided to ride snowboards. Yes, in fact, the ski season has begun here in Colorado. There are two ski resorts on Loveland Pass, A-Basin and Loveland, and they are both open already!!

Motorcycle at A-Basin...notice the skier on the chairlift!!

Andy thought it would be fun to ride the motorcycle in the snow.

Loveland Pass

Having a little fun while riding on the back of the motorcycle.

Nearing home we decided to take the scenic way. Turns out that there is still some pockets of color on the road less traveled. In fact, we thought it was so pretty that we coasted back down a bit then turned around and took more pictures! We sure live in a beautiful place!!

Beaver Creek in the distance.

Colorful aspens.

The deer posed for a picture.

What a beautiful day!!

Snow is coming...

After watching the news and seeing images of fresh snow on the pass and up by the tunnel I decided to take Hobie on a little road trip. Hobie LOVES snow. He loves jumping in it, rolling around in it, and throwing it up in the air. Hobie knew we were going somewhere special but was confused about our final destination. He started whining as we were driving through Avon thinking we were headed for the dog park. Then as we neared the exit for Vail he started up again. When we passed the exit he seemed confused but intrigued. As we made our way up the pass Hobie seemed to notice the little patches of snow alongside the road. When we took the exit at the top of Vail Pass the boy was beside himself. There was abundant snow just begging him to come out and play. It was so cold near the lake at the top of the pass but Hobie was unfazed. He was too busy running and jumping and playing in the cold white stuff. Despite how cold it was and how much I wished I had remembered to grab a pair of gloves before heading to the winter wonderland, we had a lot of fun. I am continually amazed by the beauty of freshly fallen snow.

Harnessing the Power of Water

Out here in the desert there is not a lot of naturally flowing water. Water is necessary for life but its power must be controlled. In 1922, representatives for each of the 7 states along the Colorado River met to discuss the future of the river. They understood that they all needed access to the life-giving water and wanted to find ways to protect those living along the river's banks. Together they developed the Colorado River Compact which later paved the way for Congress to pass the Boulder Canyon Project Act. This act was the first step in creating what we now know as the Hoover Dam.

During our tour today we learned that it took 5 years to build the Hoover Dam and power plant. In the middle of the Great Depression, hundreds of men worked around the clock earning about $4 a day. We were laughing today because our tour guide told us that it took 5 years to complete the dam project but it took about 7 or 8 years to build the new interstate bridge above the Colorado River just beyond the dam. Modern engineering....not quite as efficient it seems.

The tour and movie were quite informative and very interesting. It was neat to go way below ground and see the humongous pipes where the powerful water roars through. Our tour actually took us down in a tunnel that was used to divert the river water during the construction of the dam. The tunnel is now sealed with large amounts of concrete to prevent the water for taking that detour again.

After the tour we made our way outside and took pictures of the river, the extremely tall wall (726 feet from bedrock to top), and man-made Lake Mead. One of the things that I find funny and sad at the same time is the very distinct line on the canyon walls showing how high the lake used to be. It looks like a toilet bowl ring but is an obvious reminder of how low the water level is. Many, many years ago the water was really high. Our tour guide said that the overflow tunnels had only been used twice in their existence. Once right after the dam was built they purposefully allowed the lake to fill above capacity to test the tubes and once in the 80's the lake flooded and the lake came within feet of the road level.

Overall, our trip to Hoover Dam was informative and very interesting. This was not our first trip to the dam but I feel like I definitely got more out of it this time around. Hoover Dam is definitely an engineering marvel!!

Lake Mead

Half of the 17 enormous turbines. The flag is hanging from an orginal crane used in the construction of the dam.

Hoover Dam!!

New bridge connecting Nevada and Arizona.

Lake Mead, a bit lower now then in the past.

Running from the snow

We've had this little Vegas getaway planned for months now but it turns out that the timing was perfect. The weather in Vail has been pretty pleasant lately but the weather people kept threatening us with winter storm watches and reports that a foot of snow could fall on the mountains. I do like snow but I'm not sure I'm quite ready for the change. I am definitely still in the capris and chacos mindset. For goodness sake, I wore a summer dress to church on Sunday because it was so nice outside! But that doesn't mean anything to mother nature. It's kind of funny, the last time we came to Vegas we left a night earlier then planned because we were trying to outrun a winter storm.

That said, yesterday at about 5:30am we pulled out of our driveway and hit the road for an expected 9.5-10 hour drive to the desert. It was chilly and rainy but no snow. The drive out of the valley was a bit wet as we ran into lots of rain. Each time we hit another bank of clouds and drove through another rainstorm we speculated that this system must be the front that the weather man kept referring to. It wasn't until Utah that we actually found the front we had been looking for. As we were driving up a mountain pass with a max elevation similar to our house we found the snow. Just a little at first but it hit with a vengence a little ways up the hill. The road was slushy then coated with a layer of snow that had us praying that our all-season tires would hold on for the ride. We discovered later that someone had deemed the storm worthy of salt when we reached Vegas and found a nice layer of it stuck to the bottom panels of the car.

Thankfully, Vegas does not know what real snow looks like and we were greeted by warm temps and sunny skies. It was a wonderful feeling changing out of jeans and boots into capris and chacos during the first 10 minutes of our stay. Ah the desert, gotta love it!
Last night we further rejoiced at our good fortune when we started receiving updates from home saying that snow had hit the valley. Not the mountain tops, the valley. Talk about good timing! We outran the storm again!! Oh how the pool below our window is calling my name! Enjoy your snow Vail, I'm going to work on my tan!!

Fall Hike

October 1st proved to be a beautiful day for a hike through the aspens near Whitney Lake. The temperature was perfect and the colors were vibrant. It's amazing how breathtaking a bunch of yellow leaves really can be. We don't get a wide variety of colors here, not the oranges and reds that I am used to in Michigan falling off the maples and oaks but a hillside covered in yellow is still pretty neat. The leaves are changing all around us. According to the tv news and newspaper, this past weekend was our color peak. So many people are taking advantage of the beautiful weather by taking hikes and drives. Andy took a motorcycle ride toward Aspen and took pictures that seemed as though they were professional paintings. Like someone said on our hike on Saturday, "How can you look around at all this beauty and not believe there is a God?" What a great question! God is good and he is definitely a masterful artist!!!

Colorado Road Trip

Last weekend the three of us (Andy, Me, and Hobie) took a mini road trip around the state of Colorado. The first stop on our journey was Great Sand Dunes National Park. One of the things I miss living here is the sandy beaches of West Michigan and I especially miss visiting Sleeping Bear Dunes. These sand dunes are a bit of an anamoly though. There are not a lot of nice sandy beaches in Colorado. Lots of mountains, yes, but sand is something the state is not known for. The dunes were huge! Oh, and in the middle of nowhere. We just kept driving down what seemed like an unending country road wondering where in the world this giant pile of sand was located. It wasn't until we were a couple of miles away that we finally saw our first glimpse and at first we thought it was a mirage. Eventually we made it and there before us was a beach nestled between big mountains and acres of farmland. It was a beautiful day but not very hot which worked out well for us, specifically Hobie. The ranger at the booth explained that on hot days the sand is way too hot for puppy paws but that Hobie would be just fine if he ran around on the dunes that day. He also thought that Hobie was cute and sweet so he said we could let him run around without a leash if we wanted. Bonus!! Hobie is much better behaved off leash then on leash in situations like this. The boy could hardly contain himself. He was so excited to play in the sand. He just ran and twirled and ran some more. He really enjoyed chasing after his ball but when he slid to a stop to grab the ball he received a face full of sand. After a few rounds of fetch his tongue was coated with mud. There came a point at which Hobie was able to play fetch with himself. He would drop the ball at our feet, the ball would roll down the hill, Hobie would run after it, then drop it again starting the process all over again. We had a lot of fun taking shadow people pictures as well. I wish the sand dunes were closer so we could play there more often!!
After playing in the sand for awhile we decided it was time to pack up and move on. We still had a lot of distance to cover and the sunset was nearly upon us. Our goal was to make it to Pagosa Springs before setting up camp but we decided to stop for the night after dinner near South Fork at the foot of Wolf Creek Pass. We pulled in to the campground, set up the tent, then prepared to call it a night. Hobie thought the tent was pretty cool when we were setting it up but when it came time to zip the tent shut for the night he kind of freaked out. He tried deperately to claw his way out using the door zipper and when that didn't work he tried to escape through the back window. At one point Andy unzipped the window a bit. Hobie stuck his nose up against the screen through the little flap and stood as rigid as a board. I haven't seen him point like that in quite some time! We couldn't move him. He just stood his ground and starred at who knows what for awhile. Andy finally closed the zipper but Hobie still wasn't ready to relax. He paced around the tent for a couple minutes before flopping in a corner. Eventually he did decide to let us sleep and throughout the night changed sleeping positions more times than I can remember, sometimes cuddling next me, sometimes next to Andy, and other times he squished himself right in the middle.
We woke up before sunrise, packed up the tent, and hit the road once again. Because we had stopped before we intended to, we were a bit behind schedule that morning. We did wake up a bit earlier than originally intended so we were able to make up most of that time. By morning though we were just plain cold and ready to sit in the heated car. It seems that we might need to get some new sleeping bags if we plan to sleep in freezing or near freezing temperatures again in the future. We had ice stuck to the outside of our tent. Way too cold for those who are not avid tent campers!!
Our destination for the second day of our 2 day trip was Mesa Verde. This national park is known for its collection of Pueblo cliff dwellings. We chose to tour the Cliff Palace. It was really neat to hear about the history of the dwelling and get a glimpse into the lives of the pueblo people so many years ago. Again one of those places that I wish was closer so we could visit again.
After touring the dwelling we hit the road again and made our way over a couple of beautiful mountain passes and past some cute little mountain towns. At one point we saw a sign for Andrew's Lake. Andy thought this was pretty cool so we decided that even though we were a little pressed for time it might be fun to just take a quick break. That lake turned out to be a hidden gem! It was so beautiful! Surrounded by mountains this little fishing lake turned out to be one of my favorite parts of the drive home. We decided to get out and stretch for a bit, oh and of course take pictures! We took so many pictures on our road trip that we ended up having to find a Walmart in one of the towns so we could buy a new memory card!!
Our mini road trip took about 32 hours (sleeping, eating, driving, and sightseeing) and covered 782 miles.

Fall Color Tour-Mt Evans Edition

I have been talking about driving up Mt. Evans again for quite some time. Mt. Evans is the highest paved road in North America. This mountain is one of Colorado's 53 "fourteeners" or one of the mountains in this state that have an elevation of 14,000 ft or more. Mt. Evans has stunning views, crazy drop offs, and occasional wildlife sightings. This time of the year you can only make it up to about 12,500 feet. They shut down the rest of the road after Labor Day due to snow and potentially hazardous conditions. The drive up to the lake is still really neat and the little parking area allows visitors to take hikes around the area and up a bit to see more of the impressive mountain. Yesterday was a beautiful blue sky day, perfect for a drive up the mountain. Depending on how many times you stop on your way up and how much time you spend at the lake, this trip up and down the mountain can take a couple of hours. We really enjoyed hiking around the lake area and even found some snow to play in! On our way down we encountered a traffic jam of sorts. Not cars but animals, a whole herd of what we believe to be elk, blocked traffic for a couple of minutes because nobody wanted to try to drive around them (big drop off without a guard rail) and nobody wanted to have an animal impression in their car. So we did what any good tourist would do...we took lots of pictures :) Unfortunately I can't seem to load any of the pictures at this time. After the animals cleared the road we did run into a traffic jam, this time people stopped alongside the road to take pictures of big horn sheep.

Return to blogging

This is the first of hopefully many updates on our adventures this summer. I have had trouble this summer making posts. My goal is to start with the present and work backwards a bit over the next few days and weeks. Stayed tuned for updates from Summer and Fall 2011!!

Sunshine and Arches

Last week mom came to town for a little visit. Winter still has a strong hold on the Vail area (currently under a winter storm watch predicting 8-16 inches) and we wanted to find some warmth. After checking the weather and discovering that our favorite Utah hot spot was supposed to be in the high 70's on Friday we made plans to make the 4 hour drive to Moab. We left before 6am and drove west for a couple of hours. After breakfast in Grand Junction we were on the road again. Andy thought it would be a good idea to get off the freeway once we hit Utah so we could experience more of the natural beauty. The road was windy and at times the shoulder was nearly nonexistent along the cliff above the river but the sights along the way were breathtaking. Soon we were driving along a two-lane road next to a steep cliff where people much more daring than I were strapping themselves in to climb up the cracks on the sheer rock wall. Before parking at the trail head, Andy took us past the famed Vail Church Men's Moab Trip camping site along the river. Across the street we piled out of the car, tightened our laces and sandals, and made sure we had enough water in our back packs. Hobie was beside himself as he ran around sniffing everything within a 15 foot radius. Soon we were on our way. According to our research, the hike typically takes a couple of hours and climbs a few hundred vertical feet. The trail was well marked with piles of rocks known as cairns. Along the way we met quite a few people and Hobie greeted the occasional dog with the obligatory sniff sniff. At one point there was a short but steep rock wall that people scaled with a ladder. There was a family with a little dog at the top who were trying to figure out how to get their dog down. While the family were discussing options, the dog noticed Hobie at the bottom. The dog forgot its fear of heights and ran straight down the side of the rock toward Hobie. By the time the family realized their dog was no longer at the top with them, the two dogs were happily sniffing one another. Too funny! Hobie made it up to the next section of trail and we continued on our way. Soon Hobie and Andy found a shady place to sit. It was nice to cool off for a couple of minutes but we got out of there as soon as we discovered a scorpion hiding under a rock. A short hike later we were standing beneath the Corona Arch. What a beautiful sight! What a beautiful day! Blue sky, red rocks, and temps in the high 70's...what could be better?? About an hour later we returned to the car and made our way to Milt's diner, home of Andy's favorite milkshakes. They were quite good! After filling our bellies we climbed back in the car and drove to Dead Horse State Park. With a rich history and stunning views of the nearby potash lakes and sheer cliffs down to the river, it was a worthwhile detour. It's amazing how a couple of hours in the car can take you to a completely different world!





Fun little arches and holes that Andy likes to explore when he comes to Moab with the men's group from church.











A boy and his dog walking along the trail.














Andy, always the tour guide :)












Random tree along the trail. Very picturesque!













The arch!













Taking a break in the shade.














Hobie, hanging out in the shade all cute as can be!













The arch!!












Really cool hole in the wall














Looking up at the arch.












Men's camping site across the street.













Signing the book at the end of our hike.













Big expanse and steep drop-offs at Dead Horse State Park.













Snowy mountains in the distance and potash lakes below.

Snowshoe adventure

This weekend the sky was cloudy and no new snow had fallen for a few days so we decided not to go skiing. So what is one to do on a Sunday afternoon. Well, it just so happens that a few of our friends were thinking the same thing as we were. So we decided to join together for a little romp in the woods snowshoe style. After grabbing something for lunch, we met up and made our way to the trail head. By the time we piled out of our cars the snow had begun to fall softly around us. Hobie lept 0ut of the car and began playing in the fluffy white stuff. He kept us all entertained as we strapped on our snowshoes and pulled on our final layers. We laughed as Hobie ran back and forth between people, begging us to hit the trails with him. Before we were even a few minutes into our travels, we were already throwing one another in the snow. There is just something about jumping and throwing others into fluffy powder. Hobie, true to form, found many nice sticks along the way. At one point Hobie decided to take an entire tree down the trail with him. The "stick" was longer then him and when carried horizontally in his mouth, it stretched from one end of the trail to the other. We definitely needed to watch out behind us. Those not paying attention found a stick to the back of the legs as Hobie came bounding by. About an hour into our trek we found one of our favorite jumping spots. We beat down a trail up the side of a hill, made our way through the trees, then found our way to the edge of a mini cliff. Then, one at a time, we jumped off the edge into feet of soft, powdery snow. I just love jumping into snow that is nearly as deep as I am tall! After landing in the white stuff, it took a bit to climb out of the hole created and roll the rest of the way down the hill. One of my friends lost her boot and snowshoe in her attempt to free herself from her landing zone. She ended up rolling down the hill without her boot and Andy had to find it after he landed his jump. Hobie even made it over the edge though not without some help. Hobie is not a fan of drop-offs so Andy had to push him down the first part of the hill before he ran down the rest of the way. After everyone had a chance to jump in the wonderful powder, we continued down the trail a bit for some nice photo ops. On our way back to the car we ran into another group of friends at the jump site. Once again Hobie and I traversed the side of the hill and jumped into the wonderful powder once again. Between jumping in the snow, being thrown in the snow, and being snowed on from above, we were quite covered in the white stuff. We were also pretty soaked because our winter gear is not quite as waterproof as it used to be. Thanks to my wonderful husband, my coat is waterproof once again so I am ready for the next winter adventure whatever it may be!!

Fun in the snow

So, it's been awhile since I last wrote and for that I apologize. I will try harder to keep up with our life in the future.

That said, Andy, Hobie, and I had a lot of fun playing in the snow today! After church we made our way a couple of miles down the road to a series of trails that begin by one of the local golf courses. The path is well tracked out. Yesterday a friend and I (and Hobie of course!) traversed the trail on snowshoes. Andy and I do not currently have snowshoes but I had concluded that the trail was tracked out enough to walk in just our boots. Hobie had so much fun bounding through the snow along the edge of the trail. It was crazy how deep the snow was just inches off the trail. One wrong step and you could be up to your knee or thigh in snow! We had a lot of fun jumping off little ridges and cornices. Nothing like trudging through waist deep snow! At one point we ended up jumping into a river. Thankfully the river was covered in feet of snow. Unfortunately Andy had dug the snow a bit and found the river. Thank goodness for (mostly) waterproof boots!

Last week was memorable because we managed to ski at 2 different resorts in 2 different counties and still make it to church! We began the day at Beaver Creek which is the resort closest to our home and minutes from church. Our goal was to make first tracks. We did not manage to make the first chair up but we did make "fresh tracks". After skiing an hour we made our way over to the top of the Centennial chairlift where they serve free hot chocolate at 9:30 every morning. Nothing like a warm cup of cocoa after a few beautiful runs on the mountain. After finishing our hot chocolate we skied the rest of the way down the mountain, boarded the bus down to the parking lot, removed our skis and boots, then drove the 2 or 3 miles to church. We made it in time for the second service! After church we chatted a bit with friends, grabbed a bite to eat, then hit the road once again. 45 minutes later we had made our way over Vail Pass and crossed into Summit County finally making our way to Breckenridge. Breckenridge was one of the Vail Resorts that I had never visited on skis. This resort has quite a reputation. A regular stop on the annual Dew Tour, Breckenridge is referred to as "Breckenfridge" by many locals because of the intense wind encountered on many of its runs. Even on the nicest day, Breckenridge can be cold and windy. To it's credit, Breckenridge has many fun and challenging runs that continue to call locals and tourists alike year after year. Since it was such a bright, warm, sunny day last Sunday we decided it was as good a time as any to attempt a visit. We had a lot of fun. It was pretty crazy trying runs I had never seen before. We took a T-chair above tree line and took a very windy but powdery ride down a black diamond run that would have left me in tears only 2 years ago. We skied the mountain until it closed then returned home exhausted but exhilarated as well.

The weekend before that I did not make it out on the mountain but heard a lot of great powder stories. There was hardly anyone in church that weekend. Partly because we got so much snow they couldn't get out of their driveway (I was 35 minutes late for practice that morning because I couldn't get out) and partly because 25 inches of snow over a 2 day period is more than most avid skiers can pass up. Monday also brought a lot of snow. It was crazy out there! I could not see anything on my way home from babysitting that night. On top of that, my car decided to throw a belt in the middle of the crazy storm! I had Andy on speakerphone that night because I was pretty nervous about the drive. All of a sudden I interrupted his story with "It sounds like something just fell off my car! Oh no! Now it smells like something is burning!! Come get me!!!" I pulled off into a parking lot, turned the car off, and prayed that Andy would not get in an accident on his way down the hill to get me. Everything worked out just fine. A friend towed my car home the next morning and we found out that in the middle of the crazy snowstorm another friend had managed to make it to the hospital and had given birth to a healthy baby boy. Hooray!

What else? We skied at Keystone awhile back, that was fun. That was also the day that I discovered that my camera was broken. (Part of the lack of motivation to post lately...)

We are enjoying the great outdoors here in Vail. We are trying to make the most of our ski passes and having fun in the snow on the few days that our passes are blocked. For instance, our passes our blocked this weekend because of the President's Day holiday. Believe it or not, this is a very busy time for the resorts! Vail is especially in a tizzy this weekend with a swarm of secret service agents. It turns out that the Obama ladies are in town for a fun ski weekend. Who would have thought!

Well, that's all for now. I will try not to wait a couple of months between posts in the future. Happy Sunday!