Last weekend we spent some time skiing. My dear friend Megan and her son Aidan came into town for the President’s Day weekend and we skied for two days. Timmy took advantage of the beautiful skiing weather to take some video with his new camera mounted to his ski helmet. I’ll share with you right … Read more
I was as unsteady as I look here. Despite numerous warnings, I got on a snowboard and guess what? It wasn’t that bad!
This past Saturday at Monarch Mountain, with our sponsor cadet’s persuasion, I got on a snowboard for the first time.
I’ve been skiing since about age 18, gaining most of my experience during the two winters Dave and I were stationed in Korea. In fact, many of the resorts where we skied between 1998-2000 will be venues for the 2018 Winter Olympics! After over a decade of hiatus from 2000 – 2012 while the kids were little (skiing just once in those 10 years), we are skiing routinely now and the whole family truly enjoys it.
Timmy got a GoPro-style camera for his birthday. Tonight they tried their first video…an 11-minute chess game. We put it in my iMovie software on my MacBook and adjusted it to double-time. So it’s now 5 1/2 minutes. There’s no sound…we’re still trying to figure that out on the camera…. Jacob’s on the left, Timmy’s … Read more
A bit unorthodox for me, but I have some green chile stew simmering on the stove. It’s a new recipe. The house smells SO GOOD, and the tastes I’ve had are SO GOOD, I need to write down this recipe now before I forget. Not only does it mean I get to share it with … Read more
Operation EAT WHAT WE HAVE. This is what I call our family’s monumental effort to clean out partially-used foods in the pantry and fridge before a military move. We aren’t moving anytime soon but between my full time work and holiday meal planning, our pantry is full of partial packages of things that we need … Read more
The view from the top of a 14er has an entirely different meaning when you hike up!
Pikes Peak.
The inspiration for the poem that eventually became “America the Beautiful.” (Did you know that?)
This mountain stares at us almost daily. Why not hike up to the top?
This 14,110′ mountain towers over the city of Colorado Springs and greets us every day on our drives to work. We have a decent view of the mountain from our back deck and from the 2nd floor of our house.
A view of Pikes Peak (on the far right) from the 2nd floor of our house.
Colorado has over 50 “14ers“, which is the affectionate nickname for the state’s 14,000’+ mountains. Pikes Peak is the 30th tallest of the Colorado Fourteeners, but has the second highest “prominence” in the state, with only Mount Elbert having a higher prominence. In other words, climbing Pikes Peak takes a bit more vertical effort than most of the others.
For Dave’s 40th birthday, he invited a group of friends to join us on a hike up the 13-mile Barr Trail from Manitou Springs to the peak. This isn’t a casual walk — while the first 9 miles or so are straightforward, once you go above about 11,000′ the trees disappear and you’re exposed to the elements — wide open.
We made it to the top at about 1:30pm on Dave’s 40th birthday. It was an unforgettable experience. Read on about our hike.
Our June/July 2014 summer vacation to the American southwest was fun and filled with National Park goodness. We are grateful for the National Park Service’s “Military Annual Pass” program which saved us nearly $80 in entrance fees on this trip. Here’s the summary of everything we did: Drive to Durango Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge RR … Read more
Canyonlands National Park is incredibly underrated. Much of the park is accessible only via hiking, biking, rafting/kayaking, or 4-wheel drive.
Just a few miles up the road from Arches National Park is a turnoff that takes you about 25 miles to the northern entrance of Canyonlands National Park (the Island in the Sky District). This park offers a completely different look at Utah’s wilderness, with the Green and Colorado Rivers traversing throughout.
I’m trying to clean up some of the widgets (stuff on the right) on my blog. Pardon the construction dust — especially with the “archive” widget. The one I had used for years is no longer and I’m trying to find a new one. In the meantime, enjoy fresh new Facebook and Twitter widgets, as … Read more
My awesome boys!There’s much more to see at Arches NP. This is near the “Devil’s Playground” part of the park. Another popular hiking spot.
After our morning hike to Delicate Arch, we elected to drive through the rest of the park because it got very warm in a hurry. It took us about two hours to drive through the park enjoying the additional arches and geology.
