Giving Thanks

We were so happy to have a house-full of family for Thanksgiving.  Our nephew Matt came in from Utah, his dad came in from Pennsylvania.  Mom Mom and Carol flew in.  Rosie, Brian, and baby Aidan flew in from Maryland.  So with the four of us, it made 11 at the table.  Sleeping arrangements got a little hysterical as people bounced around slightly to figure out how to sleep, but it was nice.

Everyone was in for at least five days just hanging or going exploring.

Elizabeth loved having Aidan around…

On Thanksgiving Day we tried to do a photo shoot, but Eliz thought it was too funny to have her tongue out in 99% of the pictures.

Here is Aidan, the cool dude with his Jeff hat, sweater, and of course a beer in hand.  Just like Eliz, he is starting young.  (Just kidding, of course!!)

Unlike Elizabeth, this boy slept.  A lot.  But, he too, might have to go through a thumb-sucking intervention in a couple of years.

On Saturday, Andy and I took Bob and Matt up to Brainard Lake.  We had hoped to drive up to a trail head further in from where we started with Nick to get right to the beautiful glacial lakes.  But what we discovered was a closed gate even before the entrance gate and booth.  The National Forest doesn’t plow after September 1st.  So we had to hike the two miles down the road just to get to Brainard Lake.  The wind was blowing and we all quickly realized we weren’t really dressed properly – this happens when it is warm at the house, and a whole ‘nother climate in the mountains.

But it was peaceful, and beautiful, with mountain views and the occasional lake sighting.  It was a great opportunity to catch up.

We made it to Brainard Lake…

And then turned around.  Next visit we’ll get them down the trails.

It was nice to have a rare opportunity to have family in town to help us with our Christmas Tree.  We bought it and put it up and let Mom Mom, Elizabeth, Aunt Carol, and Matt help us decorate.

The LED lights on the tree threw interesting disco ball patterns on the ceiling and wall.  I liked seeing this outside on the trees in the snow, not sure if I loved it inside the house though.

Either way, this was one of our best trees.  A great shape, softness, and fullness…but the most important thing to remember about this Noble Fir that we got from Costco was that it lasted!  While other trees were drying out by Christmas, this one was so soft even after we returned from Christmas vacation (and not being watered for a week) that we were able to light it after our return and keep it up til January 8th!  It was nice to enjoy the tree in early January.  I think we finally found a place to get our trees in the future.

More pictures on November’s WebAlbum.

Brainard Lake and Nick

Our nephew Nick came into town for a long weekend and we wanted to show him a gorgeous area, so we took a chance on an unvisited recommendation from a friend.  It’s always nice for us to get someplace new too!

We decided on the Brainard Lake Recreation Area (Indian Peaks Wilderness).  It’s up Hwy 119 near Long’s Peak.  And it was perfect.

Glacial lakes with a tall mountain backdrop.

Cold creeks flowing through a thick forest.

We took time to skip stones in the lake and test the temperature.

Elizabeth enjoyed hiking with her cousin/Godfather Nick.

We all loved the view from this meadow, too.

I carried Elizabeth some of the way since our hike was a little longer than we planned.  We parked at Brainard Lake, but then decided to make Lake Mitchell our destination.

We took a lovely snack break streamside.

I love these shots – with Eliz and Daddy walking side by side or even better if I can catch them holding hands!

Lake Mitchell = Gorgeous.

Sometimes you can’t get a feel for the beauty without taking a panorama.  It was quiet and the water was freezing (Nick says around 40-degrees – he should know, he walked in it).  We could hear water rippling in the outgoing creek.

The kids (all 3 of them) were throwing rocks into the water trying to splash each other.  Just as I picked up the video camera, they said they were going to stop!  Good thing things got worse before they really quit throwing things at each other, otherwise I wouldn’t have gotten this funny video!

It was a beautiful spot and we hated to leave to head back to the car.  But at least we know we’ll be back soon.

The only negative thing that happened during our hike was the fact that the rangers had to do two separate rescues while we were there.  It is very impressive to watch, though, and not our first time witnessing such a thing.  They had helicopters, ambulances, and men and women running down the trails with huge packs.  One women had a pack towering feet over her head and she was carrying, oddly enough, a large tire.  She explained it was used to help when transporting the stretcher over the rough terrain.  Later on along the trail we’d find supplies left by the side of the trail.  As rescuers got to the injured parties, they’d radio back to the others if they didn’t need everything that was being carried so then they’d drop things and hurry on.  Must be very hard not knowing what type of a situation someone was in and what supplies would be needed until you hiked miles into the wilderness.  God bless these amazing people who risk their own lives to help others in need.  Much gratitude!

Here’s Steph and Nick when we took some time out to go get dinner and drinks before Nick left the next day.  It was a nice night walking around Golden.

Thanks for coming to visit us Nick!  More pictures on September WebAlbums.

RMNP and Winter Park

We took an overnight trip to Winter Park and decided to go the long way.  Well, it was longer in distance and longer time because of our stops along the way, but the I-70 route probably would’ve taken us awhile but sitting in traffic.  So the slow scenic route was a good choice…it was up and through Rocky Mountain National Park.  We debated about taking Old Fall Road, but decided on the Trail Ridge Road because I really wanted to see the tundra wildflowers.

Good thing we took Trail Ridge Road, otherwise we wouldn’t have seen BIG HORNS!

A traffic jam alerted us to the potential upcoming sighting, but we assumed it was going to be elk.  How wonderful to see a Big Horn here in the park.  It was the first time, I believe.  The poor thing started to panic when he realized that there was no way to cross the road with two lanes of traffic blocking his way and people standing all around taking his picture.

I got this shot of him from the car before he bounced off the back side of the rocks to the rest of his herd.

Elizabeth was so happy hiking the Alpine Tundra Trail.

Steph helped carry Elizabeth when Eliz wasn’t running up the path.  At 12,000’+ that was some feat for the little girl.

I think Eliz liked this area so much because of all the rocks.  We helped her climb up the big boulders and let her climb over all the little rocks by herself.  The wind was ripping up here at this elevation, so we took a rest on the leeward side of the rocks.

But Eliz still wanted to climb, so she started walking her feet up the rock face.

Daddy helped her go even higher!

There are some cute videos of her climbing skills in the webalbum if you want to watch some.

Then as we continued our drive to the Alpine Visitor Center, we saw our elk.  Two had 12-points.  All males in this area, which I thought was interesting.

You’ll have to visit our webalbum for a funny video that Steph filmed for us.  She was in the front passenger seat, closest to the elk.  You won’t see too much elk in the footage but you will get a chuckle out of the audio.  Granted, this huge elk was probably a foot and a half from Steph’s window as we demanded a good picture…and all she wanted was to get away!

(Months later, Elizabeth still laughs whenever we see anything with antlers or horns and she says, “Stephie is afraid of that!”!  ha!)

Here’s Steph teaching Eliz all the right things to do while hiking in the national parks…not!

Sometimes I wonder if Elizabeth really understands and appreciates the beauty that surrounds her when we go out for a hike.  Here she is hiking over rocks at probably 13,000’ with a 360 degree view of nothing but clouds and mountains.  I love this feeling of being on ‘top of the world’.  The openness, expansiveness, and the appreciation that I am truly so small in this world. 

But she does indeed appreciate nature’s beauty.  She points out flowers and rocks and butterflies to me.  We sit and listen to the birds and talk about squirrels and wildlife.  We have sat down and watched clouds float by or water flow over rocks.  As life gets crazy, it is imperative that she remembers to slow herself down, look around, and appreciate what is around her.  I have found that that is my saving grace whether I’m on a beach, or as now, in the mountains.  I need these mountains and these moments to ground me when things get too busy.  Elizabeth has learned to breathe deeply when she needs to relax before bed, and I hope she’ll also use nature to find peace as well.

Unfortunately the tundra wildflowers were past their peak, but I just adore these miniature beauties.  They are delicate, yet so strong!  Amazing plants.

At the Alpine Visitor Center, looking for more elk…

At the Alpine Visitor Center, sucking on a Huckleberry lollipop!  Not sure if she noticed the view while we were here ;)

As we proceeded over to the west side of the park we were blessed with a moose sighting.  It has been an awesome day for animals – big horn, elk, marmot, and now moose.  All we missed on our trip was a pika and a bear!

The next day we took a hike on the Vasquez Creek Trail in Winter Park.  It was like we entered a rainforest in the NW Pacific region of Oregon or Washington.  Everything was wet, there were mushrooms and moss, ferns, and more.  The feeling was so NW that I had to keep reminding me I was still in the high-desert state of Colorado!

It is a Forest Service trail, so as usual, we had a little bit of a hard time finding the trail head.  Good thing a camping family walked us through the woods to the trail itself, though it wasn’t the trail head – which we had driven past not knowing.

Elizabeth loved the trail because it was littered with rocks and it ran along the creek the entire way.

So we played near the water doing her favorite activity – throwing rocks into the creek.  While Andy played his usual games of throwing rocks into the creek or bushes trying to scare us!  I’m used to it, but Steph was not…feels kinda good having someone else taking the brunt of Andy’s antics!

She loved the challenge of climbing over fallen trees.

We enjoyed our little getaway.  These trips aren’t nearly long enough, but since we’ve been working many Sunday mornings this summer that has put a damper on our weekend travels.  I’ll take what I can get, but we’ve agreed not to do festivals next summer so we can take our much-desired trips.

It rained that Saturday night while in Winter Park, so Steph was kind enough to stay in the hotel and watch Eliz while Andy and I got to run into the village for a beer.  Thanks Steph for being a trooper and babysitting even on our nights away!

More pictures and videos on July WebAlbum

Van Buren, MO - On the River

Our initial plan was to only stay in Van Buren one night.  But after seeing that our RV park was right on the Current River (and it looked perfect for kayaking or tubing), we ended up staying for three nights.

Here's the pavilion which was our special place for happy hours and for working (WIFI was unreliable at our camp site) - not a bad office, though!

We were practically within the Ozark National Scenic Waterways NPS boundaries.  Down the street was Big Spring - the largest single source spring in the world.  I'm not used to seeing springs that create rapids.

The water was a beautiful, crystal-clear blue green.  But a bit chillier than our springs in Florida.  It was 55 degrees.

We were able to squeeze in a multi-sport adventure one day.   We had thunderstorms one day, and threats of them the second day, but a window in the weather allowed us time to play.

Our multi-sport adventure was so we could self-shuttle for a one-way kayak down the Current River.  We drove our car to the boat launch in Big Spring Park.  Then rode our mountain bikes the 4-miles back to camp.  We used our mountain bikes because the road surface isn't the smoothest.  The area is within the Mark Twain National Forest.  This ride has ranked 'tops' as the hardest 4-mile bike ride of our lives.  Killer hills.  Worse than we expected - even after driving the road twice.

After arriving back at camp on our bikes, we dragged our kayaks to the river's edge and dropped in.  I can't really say this was a "paddle", though.  It was more of a "float".  There was a good current on the Current and we reached the boat launch a little over an hour later (about 4-miles on the river, too, I'm guessing).  We saw one power boat our entire voyage.  Perfect!

Funny.  In our rush to get out and play we forgot about some of the basics of safety.  No maps, no idea what the boat launch looked like from the river, no real knowledge of distance or expected time on the river, and so on.  So when an hour passed and we weren't sure if we missed the launch or not, we started to discuss survival tips if we had to sleep on the shore - thunderstorms, chilly nights, huge horse flies, etc.  But we're here to laugh about it, so no worries now!

When we were driving out of the park after our kayak-float, we stopped to admire the mist that was settling on the stream near Big Spring...

Normally you could see straight through the water and see the grasses below the surface.

 

We only did a tiny, tiny part of this national park.  If we explored more, we could've found other springs, waterfalls, caves, hiking trails, and so on.  Worth a re-visit...